| Place: Kerrisdale Arena, Vancouver, BC CANADA. Jay Miron: It's our home and it's such a great BMX city. Ever since we started doing the Jams we've wanted to do it. It just took a little more work to get it done that we thought it would. Date: August 28 - 31, 2003 Metro BMX Jam team: Jay Miron, Stefan Goulet, Al Mohr and Chris Young. Sponsored by: Little Devil, Orchid Footwear, SoBe Beverages, MacNeil Bikes, Ten Pack Distribution, Oakley, Kink BMX, Primo Products, Chase BMX Magazine, 104.9 XFM, the Georgia Straight and Backlashbmx.com |
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| Ken Paul, www.fatbmx.com: After running three successful events in Toronto, Ontario over the past three years, everyone was quite happy to be heading to Vancouver for our first go at it in our home town. Expert Street and Flatland saw riders from across Canada and the Northwest US compete for a load of prizes from all of the Metro BMX Jam sponsors, including two fully stocked complete bikes. Derek Adams: The contest was one of the very best ever. Everyone rode insane! I could go on for days... It was done hella proper. Don't miss one of these contests if you have the chance to go. Klaus Dyba: The Metro Jam is over and it was one of the best contests I've ever been to. The riding was really, really good, along with the organizing and the street-course." Robbie Morales: Well, just when you thought you had seen it all, shit went nuts again. Seriously, the riding that went down was off the charts. Combine this with a cool venue, and beautiful Vancouver... I never thought I could feel what BMX was about at a contest, but it was definitely there in Vancouver... |
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| STREET | |
| Inside the Kerrisdale arena, riders were busting all weekend. The ams were ridiculous; the Vancouver/Northwest scene is definitely cranking out some amazing talent. In Pro Street, never before seen tricks were unveiled during the jam format run finals. Jay Miron didn't enter the contest. I don't think it's cool for me to enter the contest when I'm the one that designed the course, hired the judges, and made the rules. I also want everyone in BMX to know that these contests are in no way made for me to build my name and get rich. As long as I can pay the bills and enjoy a comfortable living, I'm happy. The sport comes first. Tobias Wicke was the man to watch. Ridiculously technical tricks fired out in machine-gun succession, along with a seemingly endless supply of energy, is going to keep Tobias on top for a while, in my opinion. He was all over the jersey barrier with a thousand nosepick variations, did a tailwhip to icepick on the sub, a 360 disaster over the sub rail, and blew the deck spine to pieces with countless 360 variations. If you ever get a chance to see him ride in person, don't miss it. Dustin Guenther rode smooth and big all weekend, topping things off by trying to nosepick the top of the fence on top of the seven-foot quarter. If his chain hadn't broken, he would have had it. Taj Mihelich was eyeing up a wallride transfer line that simply looked impossible. He blasted around the course, hitting up other transfers and big tricks, but he was focused on hitting the wallride, taking laps around the arena until everything was just right. When he finally went for it, the crowd got louder than they would prove to be all weekend; everyone was so stoked, even though he didn't pull it. It didn't really matter; the fact that he made it across the huge gap and got onto the wall at all was impressive enough. Justin Inman has a huge, flowing style, and got things rolling with a fufanu on the fence and didn't slow down from there. He and fellow Northwesterners Darrin Read and Jeff Landtiser were going crazy high over the jersey barrier/wedge hip. Guys like Ryan Guettler, Travis Lyons, Alistair Whitton, and Jim Cielencki packed a million tricks into their runs. Ryan Guettler pulled a whip to feeble on the grind box to end his run in the finals. Van Homan almost killed himself trying to barspin to icepick the fence, and just kept at it while most other riders would have moved on. He finally nailed it, and somehow found the energy to keep dropping bombs across the rest of the course. It was all tough to outdo, but Dave Osato managed it and wowed his hometown crowd. 540 nosepicks on the sub rail, opposite whips everywhere, whips to nosepicks, and an opposite 360-whip over the spine were just some of the tricks he fired out to take home the win. After the main contest, Oakley put up $1,000 for the best trick on the handrail. Riders had twenty minutes to bust out their best, and with a grand on the line, it was on. Jim Cielencki unleashed a long list of tricks on the rail, with just about every variation you can think of included. Robin Fenlon took a couple cracks at grinding all the way up the rail to barspin, and eventually got it, taking home the cash in the process. But Van Homan's dogged determination was the story here. He wanted to barspin to jumpover grind, and repeatedly smashed himself into the rail, his bike, and the concrete floor. Time expired, but Van had no intention of giving up. Time after time, he continued to take it, until he hit it perfectly and the place went nuts. Not to be denied of his contribution to the Metro Jam, Van Homan was awarded the Oakley Hardest Trick during the contest for his barspin to icepick on the 8 foot tall fence. |
Pro Street 1.Dave Osato 2.Tobias Wicke 3.Justin Inman (tie) 3.Dustin Guenther (tie) 5.John Heaton 6.Van Homan 7.Ryan Guettler 8.Jim Cielencki 9.Alistair Whitton 10.Benny Korthaus |
| FLATLAND | |
| The flatland comp had somewhat of a low turnout, but with guys like Nathan Penonzek, Dan Rigby, Ryoji Yamamoto, and Travis Collier on hand, it was still pretty intense. Nathan was just plain on, firing out so many spins and bike flips I could barely keep track. Travis was the same way; he dropped a couple of new switches I couldn't even follow. Ryoji...man, I don't even know how he does the stuff he does. | Pro Flat 1.Nathan Penonzek 2.Ryoji Yamamoto 3.Travis Collier 4.Dan Rigby 5.Chad Johnston 6.Efraim Catlow 7.Art Thomason 8.Shintaro Misawa 9.Aaron Behnke 10.Cory Stratychuk |
| Metro Jam team: The Vancouver Metro BMX Jam truly represented where the Metro Jams are going. Progressive riding with the top riders in the sport on an innovative and challenging course with a comfortable atmosphere are also an indication of where BMX is heading. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors (Little Devil, Orchid Footwear, SoBe Beverages, MacNeil Bikes, Ten Pack Distribution, Oakley, Kink BMX, Primo Products, Chase BMX Magazine [r.i.p.], 104.9 XFM, the Georgia Straight and Backlashbmx.com), all the volunteers, Empyre Ramps, riders, spectators, and media for the support of the Vancouver Metro BMX Jam. It's just the beginning! | |