Soul Bowl Huntington Beach, California

Jul 27, 2008

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 9020 times

We've been hanging out at the beach for the last few days. Now that's not really very interesting to report about in a normal case but when the Soul Bowl is built up on the sand and a whole lot of pros are invited to shred on the ramp, it's a different story. Add a "BMX Legends" jam and you've got yourself an event that you did not want to miss. The whole BMX contest a part of the US Open of Surfing festival and it's held right down in Huntington Beach. It turns the town upside down with tons of people on the streets and people on the road showing off their exclusive cars and motorcycles. It's almost like a circus but an ultimate weekend if you just want to watch people.

The BMX Legends jam turned out pretty good but could have been better if Mike Dominguez had not been injured, Tony Murray would have shown up in time to ride the bowl and if Eddie Fiola would have stepped on the bike. The riders who put on a hell of a show were Xavier Mendez, Dave Voelker, Brian Blyther and Ron Wilkerson. It went from good to better and the grand finale was insane.

Xavier cruised the bowl and was getting some airtime. Xavier used to ride with the boys in the early eighties and is a great guy. He remembered me from Las Vegas (which is possible), from the bar (which is possible) and you were drunk (possible too) but we had a good time. We actually hung out on Thursday night again and did the whole program again. But Xavier had to ride, and I only had to watch.

Brian Blyther had to change clothes coming into the Soul Bowl Legends jam. Gone was the officer's uniform and it was back to T-shirt, riding shoes and shorts. His goal was to get 4 feet out of the ramp and do a couple of 540-s and he succeeded in doing that. He had never ridden the bowl but was making everybody proud.

Ron Wilkerson blasted big airs and pulled big lookbacks, one-hander-one-footers and huge tables on his aluminium Pork. He slid out on a roll-in and hit his head on the flat bottom but luckily got back up quickly after that happened. You see, these legends are 40+ years of age and they do feel the difference between now and 20 years ago.

The Lord (Dave Voelker) for sure still has it. He could have rode the regular competition. His 540-s were huge, his turndowns were clicked and he was putting on a great show. To end it he did back to back 540-s straight into a backflip which he rolled out of. In 1990 at the First BS contest he yelled: "Freestyle is back motherfuckers!" and 18 years later he could be yelling: "I'm still here motherfuckers!" Read issue 24 of FAT-'zine to read the whole story next week.

The legends session ended on a high and that's where the current pros stepped in. We'll report about that in a little while but first enjoy the pics of some true BMX legends.