Awesome turnout and incredible riding at the 040BMXPARK comp in Eindhoven, NL. By BdJ

Jan 30, 2013

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 5411 times

With more than 40 pro riders signing up the contest at 040BMXpark looked promising from the start. It was the first big pro contest in Eindhoven after the 2011 rebeljam and riders from Venezuela, South Africa, Germany, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands showed up and Catfish was flown in to host the event. As usual the contest started a bit later than scheduled but that gave the riders some extra practice time. It's always good to have some extra riding time at a park that you have never visited before.

Out of the 40+ riders, only 16 made it to the finals. It wasn't an easy task by any means because the riders field was close and many of them were stepping it up in the 4-man jam sessions to make it to the final sixteen. Basically every rider had two runs and time for one last trick. Getting to ride the park all by yourself was basically only possible during the contest. Trying out the transfer lines during practice is almost impossible if you don't want to run into an other rider.

I was ready to see some new lines during the event and had high expectations from Greg Illingworth to show them. The South African indeed showed a new line from the vert quarter on the foam pit to the second quarter over which he had to jump opposite to land in. After a fail he managed to get it done and he got a spot in the finals. Unfortunately he was dealing with a bum shoulder and sat the finals out. Time for a Bavaria or two to kill the pain. Another new line came from Emile Bouwman. He rode across the top of the new step-up jump and jumped to flat. Straight down off the side of that huge thing (2,80 meters) and even threw in a barspin for all the ladies in the crowd. Not making the finals didn't mean you weren't giving it your all. "Danger" from Belgium pulled a few flips on the box and was going crazy. Big deal you say, but Dangir Samy from Belgium is only 10 years old. And more very young riders entered the comp. Two fourteen year olds made the finals (Timo Schulze and Paul Thoelen) and two sixteen year olds (Declan Brooks and Tom van den Boogaard) too who even ended up higher on the results list at the end of the day. More on that later.

The 040BMXPARK has been an amazing place ever since it opened its doors. It gives riders an indoor place to ride which is very welcome, especially during the wintertime. With a foampit, a resi and a box jump all with the same take-off, it is also a "trainingground" to get better without killing yourself. 040BMX regulars Nicky van der Veen, Gwen Geyskens, Paul Thoelen, Kenneth Tancre, Channon Balorian and Tom van den Boogaard had some home advantage and made finals. But it was incredible to see how quick the English riders adapted to the place. Having access to indoor riding facilities there (Ghetto Shed, Rampworks, a.o.) also helps them progress. The fina

ls had 6 Brits, 5 Germans, 4 Dutch riders, and two Belgians. Some riders got injured and couldn't ride the finals. Their places were filled up with the next qualified riders on the list. 17 made it in in the end and here are a few highlights:

Mat Armstrong from the UK had a fan in my son Philip. His triple barspin truck over the box was insane. Desmond Tessemaker wasn't sure he could ride the comp earlier in the week. But he got on the bike and made it work. He almost pulled that nothing to whip but did cannonballs and inverted 360-s all over the place. Gwen Geyskens pushed hard and pulled a flipwhip. Adrian Warnken did not pull that barspin G-turn on the deck of the box during the contest but pulled it in the end for Markus Wilke's camera.

Expect the footy in the FreedomBMX.de clip. 040BMXPARK rider Paul Thoelen from Germany wasn't going to ride the finals because he had crashed earlier in the day. But the pain faded enough towards the final and he got on the bike to finish 12th. Flips on the step-ups, no-handers on the way back, flairs, indian seatgrabs, not bad for a 14 year old. Channon Balorian just missed out on the top ten. Channon is not afraid to throw big stuff. In qualifying he pulled a flip double whip and in the finals he threw a frontie over the spine out of nowhere. Jack Clark messed up a few times to score higher but his alley-oop flair into the way, his handplants and tech riding got him 10th place. Kenneth "bombdrop" Tancre rode awesome on his new Voltron for 9th. Brakeless rider Mike Wuerzinger from Germany brought a neon green machine and ruled the quarter and went nuts on the box. Haro Germany rider Janek Wentzky is always entertaining to watch. He makes funny faces when he riders and goes higher on the box than most. He couldn't stick his 540 bar to bar but it was close. 6th place was for Tom van den Boogaard who had the ramps dialled and cruised around with style plus threw in some good tricks.

After a frontie went wrong, he got back up and pulled it clean. 040BMX rider Nicky van der Veen was well stoked with 5th place and he should be. The finals were tough but Nicky rode with energy and hit every ramp on the course doing 720's, flipwhips, 360-no-handers etc.

If one rider would get the most impressive rider award, I think it would go to Ashley Douglas. He's been hiding under the radar but impressed everyone in Eindhoven with his killer tricks. He pulled a 900 on a rather small quarter, did airs into manuals to whip out and also pulled a 1080 on the step up. That gave him the Best Trick award of the day winning an extra 250 Euros and a Vans guitar as well. Hella stoked with 3rd place was Isaac Lesser.

The Brit rode good though and pulled his best trick first try. I'd never seen anyone do that trick in 040BMXPARK. It was a wallride out of the bigger quarter there which required some speed to pull it off. Stoked for Isaac.

Two riders left. Jack Watts and Declan Brooks. Total Bike Co. vs Mutant Bikes. Both riders live in the same area and ride together on a regular basis. They're young and talented and brought many tricks with them to the 040BMXPARK. Jack pulled 720 barspins on the box, and also 3-whips to bar. On the quarter he did a crazy looking 900, or at least I think it was something like that. He did a decade down the step up jump as well. Impressive ride and much respect. Declan Brooks had shown up a day early and got a session in. The young Mutant rider is one to

watch for the future. 360 suicide double barspin on the box, No-handed flair transfer into the vert quarter, icepick on the edge of the vertwall to barspin-in, it all looked effortless. The win was his, and the 700 Euro check as well. Congrats.

The comp was over and the party was about to kick off. But that's an other story. Thanks to everyone for the good times. BMX rules.

Contest results:

1 Declan Brooks
2 Jack Watts
3 Isaac Lesser
4 Ashley Douglas
5 Nicky van der Veen
6 Tom van den Bogaard
7 Janek Wentzky
8 Mike Wuerzinger
9 Kenneth Tancre
10 Jack Clark
11 Channon Balorian
12 Paul Thölen
13 Adrian Warnken
14 Gwen Geyskens
15 Desmond Tessemaker
16 Mat Armstrong
17 Timo Schulze