Birthplace: Nottingham, UK.
Jamie: The days spent racing around the Ridding's BMX track were unforgettable, although my dad will tell you otherwise, as he always had to fix my bike. Three years later, on my 13th birthday, I was taken down to my local bike shop to choose the bike of my dreams: a DP Freestyle bike, tricked out with the best parts my dad's budget would allow. This was the greatest thing I ever owned.
Competitor since 1987
Jamie: Having picked up a co-sponsor (Hutch bikes) I won my first contest. What a thrill! The small marble trophy I was awarded felt like a bar of gold. It was a landmark in my life. I had unknowingly become a contest rider and for years after won and placed well in contests, both in England and in Europe. Life was great.
2nd place 17 ans rampe @ Worlds 1989, St-Ouen, France.
Grizzed one footer at Farnham BFA National, october 1989. Photo by Mark Noble.
Jamie Bestwick termine 1er du Best of Free organisé par l'AFF à Nantes au mois de mai avec candybar lookback, cherokee x-up, manual, ...
UKKOV ROUND 1.
5th place A-group @ United Kingdom King Of Vert round 1, Portsmouth, UK, june 17th, 1990.
Hild, Go december 1990: Jamie Bestwick is a rider renowned for his immense airs, both variation and height-wise. One example of his craziness is the turndown cherokee (seeing is believing). Combine that with some sassy lip tricks and successful tailwhips and there you have fifth place. Also, being the respectable young adult that he is, Jamie is co-sponsored by (get this) his local pub. Are we talking free beer here?
Jamie: When I was 20 years old, I had won the World Championships in Denmark. I was the happiest person on the planet. In such a short space of time, I had achieved what was considered the ultimate goal in the eyes of any competitive BMX rider. At that time, a lot of things began to change."
Jamie Bestwick was better than ever, cancan at about 10 feet, his great one footer cherockee, X-up one foot, cancan peg grind, smith grind, the Matt Hoffman grinds attempt (backward smith grind, bar whiped), backward peg grind, tail tape, nose pick, and a rad can can lookback worthy of Matt Hoffman.
KOC.
1st place A-class Vert @ KOC 1991
INVERT COVER.
Lookback on the cover of Invert october 1991. Jamie Bestwick has been long overdue for a cover photo on Invert. Southsea King Of Concrete, to 1st in A group ramps. I hope this sets the record straight. Photo by Mark Noble.
Jamie Bestwick doing a cherokee air during practise at the 1991 Worlds in Aalborg. Photo: Trond Husø/Spokesmen.
5th place Dirt A & 1st place Vert A @ 1992 Backyard Jam
Jamie Bestwick doesn't just need smooth plywood surface to get rad; clicked turndowns, tailwhip jumps and other manly variations on dirt. On the ramp, he did back to back tricks on both the coping and eight feet above: invert 540 one side to fully tweaked lookback 540 the over, tailwhip, peg grinds all ways alley oop and regular. He won Vert A.
2nd place pro vert @ 1994 Worlds, Cologne.
BACKYARD JAM.
1st place Vert A and Mini ramp A @ 1994 Backyard Jam, august 1994.
Jamie is riding for Haro.
RIDE BMX UK COVER.
Jamie Bestwick at Wakefield on the cover and interview in Ride BMX UK #16 april 1995.
Jamie Bestwick est en couverture du magazine Power numéro 16 de septembre 1996.
1996 X-GAMES.
3rd place pro vert @ 1996 X-Games.
Ride BMX UK june 1997: Jamie Bestwick was offered a good enough deal from German bike company KHE to prise him away from long time sponsor Shiner and Haro bikes.
WORLDS.
1997 Vert World Champion in Eindhoven.
1997 X-GAMES.
4th place pro vert @ X-Games, San Diego.
In practice, Jamie Bestwick pulled toothpick tailwhip, barspins to lookdown and stretched superman seatgrab.
URBAN COVER.
Cover and interview in the french magazine Urban #2 september 1997.
VIDEO.
Ride BMX US Thunder video includes some great footage from Jamie Bestwick
No foot cancan one hand at the X-Games.
Top side no foot cancan on the cover of BMX track and freestle march 1998..
RUK.
Jamie Bestwick by Paul Roberts in Ride BMX UK april 1998.
GT.
Ride BMX UK august 1998: Jamie Bestwick left KHE/Puma in June and signed for GT USA for the next couple of years to ride as their top pro in contests only -he won't be doing the Air Show thing.
BS FINALS.
1st place stuntman vert @ 1998 BS round 4 and finals, Oceanside, CA.
Big superman seat grab, seat grab no footed cancan
1998 X-GAMES.
5th place pro vert @ 1998 X-Games, San Diego, CA.
Jamie Bestwick did an alley-oop feeble grind to 270 drop-in and a One handed icepick grind.
PROPS.
Lookback on the cover of Props #26.
BMX PLUS COVER.
BMX Plus! december 1998.
1998 BS round 4, Oceanside
7th place stuntman vert @ BS 1999 round 1, Louisville, KY.
900 attempt.
X-GAMES.
6th place pro vert @ X-Games, San Francisco, july99.
GRAVITY GAMES.
Gold medal pro vert @ 1999 Gravity Games, Providence, RI, july99.
RIDE BMX UK COVER.
Jamie Bestwick with an opposite walltap at Derby Storm (photo by Paul Roberts) on the cover and interview in Ride BMX UK #42 august 1999.
RUS.
Poster and interview in Ride BMX US august 1999
INTERVIEW.
Interview in BMXup #20 juin 1999
KERRY.
Jamie Bestwick was married to his long time girlfriend Kerry on october 30th, a few weeks before they moved out to live in their new house in Pennsylvania.
US.
In 1999, against all odds, Jamie Bestwick risked it all and quit an amazing job in the aerospace industry to move to the US to pursue his dream of a career in BMX.
Jamie:I quit my job (blade inspector for an aerospace company). It was a task that I had longed to do, but could never afford to. Now I had bills to pay like so many of my friends. This was a gamble, and if I failed in my quest to ride my bike in a professional environment, it would be back to work with a need to keep my head above the water and the thought that I may be throwing away everything I had worked so hard for. The task of riding my bicycle became twice as hard.
PROPS 33.
Learn everything you ever wanted to know about vert rider Jamie Bestwick, with Ralph Sinisi doing the profiling.
1st place stuntman vert @ BS 2000 round 1 Lake Havasu. First ever attempted flair pulled clean.
5th place stuntman vert @ BS 2000 round 2 Louisville, KY.
Jamie Bestwick got 5th place by going all over the ramp with some of the best alleyoop and opposite tricks in the sport. He finished off his run by pulling a flair. However, that just wasn't enough for Bestwick. He landed the flair carved into the Snapple banner and did a front flip dismount over it !
3rd place stuntman vert @ BS 2000 round 3 St Petersburg, FL.
The UK's Jamie Bestwick got 3rd place with moves like an un-lookback, a sweet turndown 540, an alley-oop 540, and a superman seat grab.
Got X Games gold in 2000, ending Dave Mirra's three-year reign as X Games Vert champion.
Jamie Bestwick moved to Woodward training camp. Jamie must have done his first final run over and over again. The timing was exactly right. No-hander, opposite X down, double busdriver, 1-h-1footer, alley oop 1-handed invert, alley oop front peg grab, X-up, turndown to X-up, opposite 1 footed X-up, no-handed barspin, candybar, alley oop X-up, rocket X-up, alley oop no-handed 540 and to finish off his first run Jamie pulled two flairs in a row and topped it off with a tailwhip at coping height. In his second run, Jamie pulled the first turndown flair in competitive history. Gold for Jamie.
Jamie Bestwick was flowing all over the ramp with tons of crazy variations like he usually does. Besides alley oop barspins to turndowns, nohanded 540s, and downside tailwhips he pulled an opposite flair..
1st place stuntman vert @ BS 2001 round 2 Louisville, KY.
Jamie Bestwick was going off like a five ton bottle rocket aimed for the moon. He was riding like there was no wind at all. Nice inverts, barspin to nohanders, turn-up flairs and back to back variations for the first place finish.
1st place stuntman vert @ BS 2001 round 3 Grand Prairie, TX.
Broken elbow.
Video Clicked 05: Woodward trip with Jamie Bestwick.
Soul Rideo magazine #18.
RIDE BMX UK COVER.
Cover and interview in Ride BMX UK #58 april 2002.
1st place pro vert @ CFB #1 Merrit Island FL
Jamie Bestwick has more flow and style than you can shake a stick at. Besides Jamie's normal array of tricks, he debuted his newest variation, a fast plant flair.
1st place pro vert @ CFB finals Joliet IL
Jamie Bestwick flows a vert ramp like nobody else ever. It seemed like he was holding back a bit in qualifying because the ramp was pretty narrow compared to most contest ramps these days, but he destroyed the finals. His style is amazing, it's like he's riding trails, he starts off with turndowns and tables and x-ups and combines them with one another, then he starts throwing his bars around and taking his hands off, then he does some 540s then flairs, everything pulled perfectly everytime pretty much. He did a turndown flair in one of his runs and a tabletopped 540 then an opposite 540, and ended it all with a big alleyoop 540. After the contest Jamie was awarded the year end belt and straight jacket, and a whole bunch of money.
1st place pro vert @ CFB #1 Merrit Island FL, Bike 2002, 2002 EXPN Invitational Dallas TX, 2002 Vans Triple Crown North Carolina, 2002 EXPN Invitational Atlanta GA, CFB finals Joliet IL, ...
1st place pro vert @ Bike 2002
Flair lookdown to x-up, fast plant flair.
TRANSWORLD BMX COVER.
Jamie Bestwick at the North Carolina Vans contest on the cover of Transworld BMX september 2002.
Transworld BMX, december 2002: Jamie Bestwick is having some bad luck with the big contests. At this year's Gravity Games, he crashed on an opposite flair 28 seconds into his first run, breaking the humerus bone in his arm in half. He had to sit out of the X Games, just as he did last year, after sustaining an injury practicing at Woodward. Jamie's keeping a good outlook on things though; when we asked him how he was dealing with it, he just said, "No big deal; that's the way it goes." He now has a six-inch plate with seven screws in his arm, but 2-1/2 weeks after surgery, he was already out riding around on his mountain bike. Jamie has also hooked up a two-year deal with Zoo York, so expect to see him in their threads from now on.
1st place pro vert @ Global X-Games
After sitting out of X Games for the past two years, Jamie showed up at Global and threw down the first tailwhip flair ever seen in competition.
Jamie Bestwick, www.expn.com, may 2003: I won Bike Stunt Vert. I pulled off one of the biggest tricks in my whole career, so I'm definitely feeling awesome. The trick I won with tonight was the tailwhip flair. It came about at Woodward Camp this year after I learned the flipwhip. I thought, I can already do flairs well, so why not try it? I don't know if anybody noticed, but to execute the trick I have to kick the tailwhip downside instead of regular because of the flair. That's the big deal about the trick. The combination of the whip and flair means there's two main things to think about: Once you kick the bike around, you're spotting for your pedals and trying to find where you are on the ramp -- all at the same time. I pulled the combination off today and it was a gem of a trick for me. It was scary though. Before I dropped in, I was tripping out on deck. It took me a long time to roll into my run because I like to get ready and focused. The time on deck is my time. I go when I'm ready. This is a big deal for me and I don't want to start without being mentally prepared. During that time before my run, I'm thinking about good things -- my riding, having fun. Trying to visualize being at home in Woodward and riding like I do every day. For me, vert success is finding that place, then putting it together. My whole run was like a jigsaw puzzle -- every trick was connected to a different place on the ramp. I knew where I had to be at all times, and I knew what trick was going where. I planned this run for weeks, but hadn't done it on a ramp. The Global set-up and the L-shaped ramp enhanced the flow because I didn't have to stay on the blank side; I could use the opposite side and give the run some variation. My line felt clean -- after the alley-oop five, I did a bar-spin to x-up, a regular air and an alley-oop one-handed invert. Once I landed that, I thought, "This is it, it's either all or nothing." I was thinking: "The bike is going round. I'm going to catch it. I'm going to ride away. I'm going to air the hip and get back on line. Flair. Flair. Job done. Go home." And it worked out perfectly. What else could I ask for? Everytime I pull something new, it's a great personal achievement. A lot of hard work goes into my riding and I'm just glad everyone was here to see it. Everybody knows I've missed the past two X Games, and it was really disappointing for me not to be competing last year. This year, I knew if I was here, and I was healthy and riding, then nothing would stop me. It turned out great. At the end of the night, I figured out the toughest part of the trick -- trying to ride away with a massive grin on my face. That's the trick.
GOOD TIMES CONTEST.
Jamie, www.expn.com, june 2003: I put on this contest at the FLOW skatepark in Columbus, Ohio. The event was called the Goodtimes Comp, and it went very well. We had a great turnout - a lot of amateurs and a lot of pros. The sponsors hooked it up and the riding was incredible. This is the first contest I've done. I was surprised at how much time the little details took. My friends came in from England and helped take care of a lot of stuff that I had forgotten to square away. The highlight of the contest had to be giving the prizes to the amateurs. They got parts, frames, clothing, and a free week at Woodward camp. Plus, they got an invite to ride in the pro class the next day. They were stoked, so that was cool. We put this contest on because we wanted to make the amateurs feel good. They're the future and they're gonna be the ones coming through.
Flair tailwhip at the Global X-Games.
Jamie Bestwick à Woodward par Manu Sanz en couverture et interview par John Petit dans le Cream #9 novembre 2004.
Highlights from Jamie Bestwick's 2006 Dew Tour.
Jamie Bestwick throws a huge downside tailwhip on the Woodward vert ramp after having an amazing contest year and winning the NORA Cup on the cover of Ride BMX US february 2008.
Jamie Bestwick, www.jamiebestwick.com, december 2007: I am very honored to get this, and what many people won’t know about the cover shot is that I rode on one panel of the vert ramp and Keith Mulligan hung upside down right next to me, it was very close!
Jamie Bestwick is now riding for DK Bicycles.
Jamie Bestwick, bmx.transworld.net, july 2009: I stopped by DK a few months ago, and after a small discussion with Bill and Catfish we agreed that it would be a great idea if we could all work together, and as they had been hooking me up for a couple of years with bikes it seemed like a natural progression to move on to something more solid, a move on to DK. I picked the Brian Kachinsky frame because if Brian Kachinsky can’t kill the frame, then I have no chance. The dimensions were right and it comes in white, which is what I have gone with this year. (...) It was solely my own choice to not have a bike sponsor, after the whole GT thing I vowed I would never ride for another bike company. But after being with the System Cycle guys for a while they just put me at ease about joining a team again. It’s going to be a lot of fun.