Ramp Rats Fall Classic contest. By Lloyd Ramsay

Nov 22, 2006

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 10731 times

Last weekend in Petaluma , CA another comp went down at Ramp Rats park. Owner Mike Krnaich gathered together a whole bunch of sponsors , had a product toss and even managed to fall off his bike. The morning section of the comp was for the young and reckless: 15 and under , 15 and over and beginner. These guys were just as much fun to watch as the later arriving pro class. When one of these guys grabs the tire/video/grips/cable they have won its like holding the gold at the olypmics for them.

Afterwards the Almost Pro class is held and these guys went for broke as well. Joe Chernoff was trying some sort of 1 handed 360 bar spin and reaped the soul of a Canon camera flash as well. Tailwhips , footjam whips , turndowns a-go-go.

When the Pro class hit the park everyone went nuts. These guys put on a show and everyone rode to their limits. Someone got local rider Thomas Raes full of cheap beer and on the mic which added some colour to the proceedings.

My picture of Psykopath rider Nick Valencia airing the lower section of the park never came out because he was up in the rafters. Nick's teammate Omar Romero threw down the evenings one and only frontflip. Local rider Nick Noble pulled the highest tailwhip air I have ever seen out of a quarter. After this point everyone started one upping each other. Chad Bautista with his balls out motocross style was hitting everything at top speed. Redline/ Etnies/Alpinestars rider Kevin Kiraly got crazy with the cheese whiz flairing, flipping, bar spinning and throwing down some footjam variations.

Park owner and full time bmx wild animal Mike Krnaich also hit the park and then the park hit him back. Mike got back on his bike and showed us a transfer up onto the upper section which surprised some of us sitting on the couch up there when he landed. Then Volume/Demolition rider Connor Lodes decided to drop into the same transfer throwing in a tailwhip during. Nick Valencia came back and showed us some Mike Aitken-like 180 to fakies over the sub box on the bowl.

The pro class made it almost as fun as it is when we ourselves are on our bikes.

Lloyd Ramsay

Event sponsors : Kink Bikes, Shadow Conspiracy, Fit Bikes, FBM, DK, S&M, MirraCo, Volume, Sparkys, Solid Bikes, Demolition, 2Hip bikes, Primo, Tip Plus and Animal