Pro Freestyle The Hague 2017. Spot on!

Jun 07, 2017

Written by Bart de Jong

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Pro Freestyle is in its third year and we see lots of progression from event to event. The venue this year was spot on. The Beach Stadium in Scheveningen is the best location you could wish for if the weather cooperates. It was dry for five days in a row which was a big help. Only downfall was the strong wind from time to time but the kitesurfers weren't complaining about that one. The multiple sports event had BMX Street and BMX Park (Am and Pro classes) on the program to sign up for which were open for anyone who wanted to enter. Events like Pro Freestyle are needed for those riders who want to compete and hang out to see other riders do well in their runs. It brings the scene together and it's a way to unite with fellow 'urban sports athletes'. With a Park set up by 040BMXPARK and a Street set-up by Nine Yards the riders had plenty to choose from. The surrounding grandstands and office/bar next to the arena with pumptrack and sponsor stands nearby, it was the place to be.

As usual the best Park riders in AM could have entered Pro and in fact winner Maxime Vautrinot was a rider from France who had signed up for Pro but later decided to ride Amateur. Local Jari Roggeveen (NED) pulled it together for second place just in front of Gunis Atmats who made the trip over from Latvia with loads of others.

Results Park Amateur:

1. Maxime Vautrinot
2. Jari Roggeveen
3. Gunis Atmats
4. Tibo van Roeien
5. Steffen Buyle
6. Brent Verbaant
7. Brendan van Leeuwen
8. Niels van Maren
9. Bart van den Broek
10. Rudolfs Kronlaks
11. Michael Vernimmen
12. Timon van de Kamp

Pro Park was going off. The finals were nothing short of amazing. Each rider had two one-minute runs and three attempts for a Best Trick which was ranked separately. With both runs counting it was important to show packed runs with different tricks and stay on the bike. Michael Beran (CZE) did that the best out of the 12 finalists while Jack Clark (GBR) got second and Tom van den Bogaard (NED) styled into third place in front of the Dutch fans. After qualifying in first and messing up his runs, Brian Fox (USA) was fired up to go big. All he had left was the Best Trick contest where he went for a double flip transfer from the spine into the box landing. After attempt one went wrong, he got back up to nail attempt two (and the crowd went nuts). Brian continued and showed what he had in mind for his runs i f he did not crash. After the double loop he did a barspin flair on the quarterpipe and got enough speed to nail a 1080 over the spine. Fox received the Best Trick award for the double loop transfer and the 1080 was a nice bonus for the fans.

Results Park Pro:
1. Michael Beran
2. Jack Clark
3. Tom van den Bogaard
4. Kostya Andreev
5. Kenneth Tancre
6. Daniel Wedemeijer
7. Ernest Zebolds
8. Kevin Liehn
9.Arjan Ellens
10. Tom Selbeck
11. Brian Fox
12. Sem Kok

Street was the last BMX part on the 2017 Pro Freestyle schedule for the The Hague stop. The street scene had united around the course and when the finals started, the vibe was good. From time to time looking up to see the North Sea made you realize where you were. The tunes had been great all day and now it was time for the street riders to deliver. After doing individual qualifying runs, the finals saw three groups of four riders perform in a jam session of 8 minutes each. Pressure to not mess up a trick wasn't as high in the finals, but you still had to deliver the tricks to score well. Anthony Perrin (FRA) is becoming the Pro Freestyle man to beat. The French Red Bull rider was simply the most consistent rider in the field doing railrides to barspins, uprails, tooth hangers, truckdrivers and whips to score the biggest check. Niels Mertens (BEL) was on fire as well as a surprising Kostya Andreev (RUS) with double barspins, double whips and a flair fly-out for good measure. Yes, he did grind also.

Results Street:
1. Anthony Perrin
2. Niels Mertens
3. Kostya Andreev
4. Bart van der Kamp
5. Frank Nabuurs
6. Rodrigue Timellini
7. Jack Clark
8. Leon Hoppe
9. Milan Baars
10.Laurens Joosten
11. Anne Hofsink
12. Jack Nieraeth

All in all an amazing weekend at the beach with the BMX family. Let's see where 2018 will take the event in The Hague. The location is a no-brainer. Now it's time to fill up those stands for an even better vibe.

Next Pro Freestyle event: Heerlen, Netherlands 30 June - 2 July 2017.

BdJ