Toer Dur Laarbeek 2006. 4 ramps in one day.

May 29, 2006

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 10313 times

The Toer Dur Laarbeek was a fun day of riding for the locals. Laarbeek hosts 4 mini ramps and all four were part of the little tour on Sunday May 28th. When the local council shows you their support by putting mini ramps in town, you can do three things:

1) Whine about it that the ramps suck and should have been better.

2) Accept what you get.

3) Show your appreciation on what you have and put on a jam to support the local scene.

Micahel van der Lee hip flattie Lieshout

The mini ramp in Aarle-Rixtel has seen quite some action already with small jams like the official opening and some (mini-)FAT-JAMs. The three other ramps in Mariahout (wide 1,80m high ramp), Lieshout (hip) and Beek en Donk (spine) were hit for the first time with the Toer Dur Laarbeek in 2005. Due to its success, Mike Smits made a project out of it to do it again in 2006. Hitting 4 ramps in one afternoon sounds pretty cool. If you can count on a serious tour bus to take you from spot to spot, it's even better.

Also this year everything was free from hopping on the bus to participating to watching the riding. This is not a tour to make money, it's a tour to stoke the riders and to show the council that kids do have fun on the ramps that they spent the money on. Sure, these ramps are way overpriced and three of them bounce like trampolines but I'd rather have them spend our tax money on ramps than extra street lights or something.

After two weeks of constant rain, the 28th saw some sunshine. That was very welcome. It's pretty amazing how we have been getting away with the bad weather each time an event is organized in Aarle-Rixtel. This one was no different. At 11:30am things kicked off in Mariahout. BMX-ers, skateboarders and Inline skaters joined the tour and each sport had their own contest going on. We'll concentrate on the BMX part here at FATBMX, hope you don't mind. The turn up wasn't big but it was still split up in two groups: Beginners and Experts (or however you want to call it).

In beginner were:

-Joost Challa

-Steven Gortemoller

-Davy Beekmans

-Max Moelans

-Nick v.d. Velden

-Berry de Kort

-De Walt

In Expert we had:

-Michael van der Lee

-Pim van den Bos

-Joeri

Coming from the Carhartt/Eastpak tour the weekend before, the level was a bit down, especially in Beginner class but everyone has to start somewhere and this is where it started for those 7 riders. Some had never ridden a mini ramp before and De Walt is a flatland rider who bought a street bike on Wednesday and was forced to enter the contest. There were prizes available for everyone who entered (all riders got a CD and Eastpak stickers when they signed on to start with) but prizes wasn't what this day was about. One rider stood out in the beginner class. Davy Beekmans did some big airs on his wethepeople bike and unanimously got first by the qualified judges (Dennis Keunen and Paul & Bart de Jong).

Things got more interesting in Expert where we saw 3-whips over the spine, 450 tiretap/manuels over the hip, fufanus on a fence and no-handers over the spine. Pim, Joeri and Michael all raised to a higher level because of the session that was going on at each ramp. In the end it was Pim who won with 540-s, 360-s over the spine and in the ramp, toe-jam Canadian nosepicks, fence fufanus and a dork run with a reversed helmet that almost cost him the win (just kidding). Second was for Michael who especially did well at the ramp in Lieshout although he claims he never really rides hips. Joeri is improving at a fast pace and did no-handers over the hip and the spine and all kind of fufanu variations.

3-whip over the spine in Beek en Donk - Pim

Sponsors of the event that donated prizes were: Paul's Boutique, Lageja Backstage, Eastpak, Vult, Vans, Carhartt & Beef. Thanks to Mike Smits, the judges, Ruudje (EHBO), Roadie Rick, Jan Pelleboer for the nice weather and all the people who showed up. See you next year.

BdJ

Results:

BMX Beginners:

1) Davy Beekmans

2) Steven Gortemoller