Up next on the program was Vert. It was good to see how many people had signed up for it. In the Open class as well as in the Invitational group. Park riders that gave it a shot. A girl that gave it a very reasonable go airing both ways showing that Vert is not dead, there are just not a lot of Vert comps happening these days. With Nass, Benny Kopp’s Bielefeld jam and the X-Games, this year the U-Pipe riders don’t have a lot of choice.
But when they get together, the action is good. The Final on Sunday also brought a decent crowd to the big ramp that is normally based at Southsea Skatepark. A vert contest actually fits well over at a British comp. It takes some balls to send it above coping and Ash Finlay as well as Kaine Mitchell sent their flairs to the moon. Oakley Way got a good flow going on the ramp and finished 7th. Jon Kearns has such a good flow going both directions where you don’t even know what his regular side or getting air is. Add a few feet to his aerials and he’s up there with the best of them. A pleasure to watch indeed.
Paul Meacher, Alex Landeros, Zach Newman and Vince Byron were the true vert dawgs at Nass this year with Paul going the highest of them all. Alex Landeros brought no-handed flairs for the Brits to enjoy and wall all over the ramp as was crowd favourite Zach Newman with his original riding style. Australian Vince Byron had to dig into his bag of tricks to get the top spot and the combination of height, riding both ways and his tricks got him first place after almost missing out on qualifying.
Next up on the program at Nass was Street, followed by Park. Both indoor events as the temperatures were hitting the 30 degree mark…..
BdJ
Results Vert Invitational class at Nass 2018:
1 Vince Byron
2 Zach Newman
3 Alex Landeros
4 Kaine Mitchell
5 Paul Meacher
6 Jon Kearns
7 Oakley Way
8 Ash Finlay
Pictures by Philip de Jong/FATBMX
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.