Lufthansa Spine Jam report + clip by Nicholi Rogatkin. ++MarciMaus video clip added++

Feb 10, 2011

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 5751 times

I just got back to the U.S. after an amazing experience at the Lufthansa BMX Spine Jam. A bit of history was involved in this event, as it was the first BMX contest ever held inside an airport. I wish that every time I was at an airport there would be a mini ramp to keep me busy. 25 invited pro riders from all around the world gathered to ride the mad nice 7-foot spine ramp in the middle of the airport. Mike Escamilla and I were the only riders from the US that made it out to Dusseldorf for the contest.

The prelims were Saturday evening, as all the riders got their first contest runs on the mini ramp. Unfortunately, neither Mike Escamilla or Chris Mahoney were able to make finals, two guys that have a huge impact on BMX throughout nearly the last two decades.

Finals Sunday Afternoon were unbelievable. All the guys threw down their craziest tricks. Sven “Sprosse” Leihmann had intense height and did dialed double whips, flairs, and tech tricks.

Janek Wetsky went crazy. His bar-spin variations in the sky gained him a lot of fans and made the airport go crazy. Sergej Geier nailed numerous impossible technical variation, including a 180 whip to 360 tap.

Felix Kirch won the high air contest, and did the highest flairs people have seen in a while. He also landed a backflip turndown to fakie. Nicky Van der Veen landed a whip to footjam whip and a flairwhip. Zdedna Pesek did many barspin and tailwhip tech tricks. Martin Cooper did two perfect runs of nonstop tricks. Markus Brauman landed a 360 tap to whip on the spine, fufanu to whip on the sub, and a flair 540 tap. Nicholi Rogatkin did a cannonball and a backflip on the spine.

And finally, Alessandro Barbero rode like a champion. Two runs of nonstop big tricks and action including a perfect 360 double whip on the spine and a 180 whip to fakie on the spine for best trick.

Overall, the event was a blast, and the airport fans really enjoyed the show. I really hope more contests in the airport start happening. The Lufthansa Spine jam was sick.

-Nicholi Rogatkin

Photo by: Flo Schlier

Video clip by Marci Maus:

Freestyle

Related items

More in this category: « Monster Energy at Simpel Session 2011 Monster Energy's Adam Kun - edit 2. By Sevisual »

About FAT BMX - The BMX Network

After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.

FATBMX.com is a FAT BMX Promotions production.

Check out our sponsor banners on the website.
Support them to keep FATBMX.com online.

FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998