Bikes take over airspace at Helm Jam

Apr 19, 2010

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 4547 times

Blue sky, no wind. When does that happen in Holland? Maybe when you've scheduled to host your event indoors. But no, this one was for real. The Helm "sping" Jam last Sunday attracted riders and visitors from all over the place for a relaxed dirt session. Mike van de Kerkhof and crew got the jumps ready just in time. Some banners were put up and Monster Energy once again made sure we had tunes for the day. It was a free dirt jump session that started at 13h00.

On the nearby kids track a little race was held in two classes: Minus 8 and 8 - 12 years old. The race wasn't announced big time to avoid licensed racers coming in with their screaming dads. It was for the locals and whoever fancied entering. The start was just a line that was drawn on the grond with a branche, same for the finish line. Call it old school or unorganised, I don't care, the kids were into it and had fun. 5 kids entered the -8 class and making it to the finals were Veerle de Jong, Jarno Henraat and Philip de Jong.

The 12 riders who entered in the 8-12 class were divided in 3 groups of which the winners transfered to the final race. Those were Wilko van de Kerkhof, Diquan Kleinmoedig andBas Oosterbos.

"Riders ready, 1 - 2 - go!" and Philip took the holeshot in the -8 class final and never looked back. Jarno Henraat finished 2nd and Veerle (age 3) "got on the podium" with a 3rd place. Each were stoked on the donated prices that they got to pick. The 8-12 years old class saw some good action with last year's winner Wilko van de Kerkhof looking for another win but he could not pass Bas Oosterbos who had taken the holeshot. Diquan had to settle for third but also got to pick out a prize package. It was a quick, but fun race.

And in the meantime riders were staying busy on the bigger jumps getting ready for the "30 minutes of fame" that was going to start at 16h00. If you wanted to, you could keep on riding and before you knew it, you were invited to pick something out of the goodie box. Sig Cools was ripping. If we would have done a high air contest, I'm sure he would have topped the maximum height. He moto-whipped to the left and to the right and got loose on some 360 inverts, no-handers and lazy style one-footed seatgrabs. Another rider going higher than any European plane all weekend was Dimitris. He's one of those riders that prefers style and air over tricks and he's a treat to watch because of it. Dennis Keunen did a few flips and 360-s over the last set.

Mike v.d. Kerkhof pulled his first barspin and others cleared a line for the first time, or did their thing which made them happy as well.

Jams like these keep the scene alive, they help keep the spots around and all in all they're a good time. Organise one yourself, put some effort in. Set your standards low. Have fun.

BdJ

Thanks to the following sponsors: Nike 6.0, Monster Energy, Paul's Boutique, Mirra Bike Co, Eastpak.