and he took over the organisation from Mike Smits and survived his first year. About 20 "riders" (Skaters/Inliners/BMX'ers) showed up and with hooking up the early 80's ghettoblaster with ipod the first stop in Mariahout was on. 
Lex from Mariahout blasted some really high airs in beginners class but did't have time to do all rounds, bummer. Its good to see progression after all those years so the riding was more interesting and it was not so easy to judge. Koen & Paul were the headjudges with Dennis, Ruud, Frans as " surprise " judge. Frans even entered the contest with his S&M Holmes with 44T KHE Grinddisc bu
t couldn't find the flow this time. We didn't have time for William the only inliner to have his run due to the rain but he was winning anyway so he did a demo on stop 2. Lieshout is only 3 miles up the road from Mariahout and it was dry!
Yes the weather worked with us so the wedge Miniramp was shredded by all riders. Ivo Kussendragger from Veghel was one of the two skateboarders but he was doing really nice moves like smiths/backside boneless/method airs etc so he was in the lead in the Sk8board class so far. Spine Mini in Beek en Donk was the next stop and Timo and Steven ripped the ramp with some nice tech moves, Joost from Zaandam learned a lot over the years and was trying a "360 to pedal disaster to 180 in" and did it perfectly.
Joost is riding a lot and it showed this time, he was leading the Beginners class by far. William came over from Friesland and inlined his way all over the mini and gave us a good "William show". It rained a bit but after hiding in the big tourbus with driver Rick it was time to see the BMX "Pro's". Stuart Gibson did some high 540's, Riccardo showed his frontbrake skills and General Lee flowed all over the mini.
Aarle-Rixtel is next and all the kids had a blast in the Tour bus with lots of cars following and lots of noise from Megaphones and horns. The sun was burning and the schedule was perfect on time so Koen can stay another year,hahahahaha. The medic Ruud was drinking some beers so it wasn't allowed to crash and nobody did, everyone left the Tour dur Laarbeek in one piece. Prices from Paul's Boutique / SNAFU / Eastpak & Vans were won by:
1st Skateboarding: Ivo Kussendragger from Veghel 1st Inline Skates: William from Friesland
1st BMX Starters: Joost from Zaandam
2nd BMX Starters: Timo from Aarle-Rixtel
3rd BMX Starters: Steven from Aarle-Rixtel
4th BMX Starters: Dennis from Beek en Donk
1st BMX Pro's: Stuart Gibson
We want to thank everyone that entered the contest, also Rick, Koen, Ruud, Frans, Dennis, Maat and everyone that helped us out to make this a good day in June even after the disaster the day before.
PdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.