Dreamline. The FATBMX report. By BdJ

Oct 24, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 2500 times

But once the weather settled it turned into a great day of riding trails with the best riders in the world in front of a loud crowd. The two hour session with the twelve finalists kicked off with an intro run but the riding was turned up soon afterwards. The riders were feeding off of each other and with speeds reached over 30 miles per hour, the height the riders managed to pump out of the tall lips neared 40 feet in the air. That alone was insane but the Dreamline finalists were there for a competition and started throwing down tricks starting at the top of the hill. Paul Langlands had hammer runs and looked well on his way to a podium spot in Asheville. Jaie Toohey has a pump which sends him to the sky everytime and he's not afraid to throw big tricks like flip double whips over the biggest sets. One of the most stylish riders out there is Matt Cordova. His flow and kick outs are what trail riding is all about. He changed things up by doing lip slides on the berm in front of the judges. He was also looking at wall riding the judge tower but decided not to in the end. He walked away in one piece and was ultra stoked on making finals. Corey Bohan was Paul's number one in qualifying.

The Aussie mixed tricks and style and came down that hill with a smile on his face every time. Then it was back up for more. The day couldn't be long enough for Bohan. James Foster is a maniac. He pushes the tricks to the next level and the a backflip triple barspin was prove of that. But he also brought a backflip barspin to tailwhip on the big set. The crowd ate that one up and James became a crowd favourite from that moment.

David Godziek from Poland made the final once again and rode to his full potential which is a good mix of flow, style and bigger moves. David had a scary crash on the top section where he lost his bike but he got back up and completed the final session.

Hucker entertained the crowd with his moves but ate shit a few too many times to end up on the top. It's always entertaining to watch the Red Bull rider simply because you never know what's coming. A sore thumb and a few bruises later the smile was still on. Chris Doyle rocked as usual for 5th place and Jaie Toohey brought the tricks be didn't get the reward.

Kyle Baldock is a machine. He might not have a typical trail riding style but the corked 720-s he casually does over doubles mid-pack is absolutely insane. 3-double whips too, supermans, you name it. When Kyle made it down to the bottom to hit the last three big sets you know that his box of tricks was opened. He dug deep and found a flipwhip to barspin in it as well.

Dennis Enarson and Pat Casey rode brakeless. Not sure if you've ever hit big jumps at 30 mph with no brakes on your bike, but Dennis and Pat did it time after time. They both whipped out of the huge shark fin which was hard to do tricks on. We didn't get to see any freecoaster tricks from the both of them but that is saved for next week's Texas Toast. Dennis and Pat both ripped and are always a pleasure to watch.

Fellow HARO rider Ryan Nyquist is never one to count out. After a mega crash in practice on the big hip doing a 450 he got himself together and rode to his full potential. It feels good when riders actually pull what they have in mind. With the top riders in the world trying to reach their maximum ability you get to see some awesome shit.

Ryan tricked out of the shark fin like no one else with 270 barspins and 270 one-handed X-ups. Add tricks on pretty much every set and 360 suicide no handers to late barspins and you've got yourself a winner for the event. 5 riders were picked out of the group that did not make finals and they had the toughest job ranking the 12 riders in order. Riding is one thing, judging is something else. Here's what came out of it:

Finals Results:
1- Ryan Nyquist Santa Cruz, CA
2- James Foster Redlands, CA
3- Kyle Baldock Queensland, AUS

4- Pat Casey Yorba Linda, CA
5- Chris Doyle Pittsburgh, PA
6- Dennis Enarson San Diego, CA
7- Paul Langlands Cambridge, NZ
8- David Godziek Suscek, POL
9- Mike “Hucker” Clark Huntington Beach, CA
10- Corey Bohan Corona, CA
11- Matt Cordova Longmont, CO
12- Jaie Toohey Sydney, AUS

Celebration with the fans followed soon after the comp was over. NBC did their podium interviews, fans got their autographs and the organisation, media and riders enjoyed some good food and drinks, from Yella beer to illegal moonshine. The camp fire and music made it a nice way to end a successful dirt event. Props to Anthony Napolitan, Red Bull, Adam Aloise and the course building crew for pulling it off when things didn't look too bright for a moment because of the rain. It's hard to stop BMX-ers from doing what they want to do. Dreamline was prove of that.

BdJ