FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Both riders know how to ride a mini well and personally I thought Sprosse had a bit more flow but it was over for him after the first round. Alex B transferred to round two.

Brian Kachinski (USA) was no competition for Ondra Slez (CZE). That doesn't mean Brian rode bad. It's more that Ondra rode good! Kachinski had tech tricks and toothpicked the sub box like it was nothing. But Ondra flipped, whipped and 3-d the spine with several variations, flaired it at good height and had enough lip tricks to make it to round two.

It was a very close call between Arthur Dietrich (FRA) and Bjorn "Bommel" Mager (GER). For whatever reason Arthur has fans wherever he goes. After some Paul's Boutique fine tuning on his bike the Frenchman double whipped the mini, did those amazing inverts, tire slides and kept it going like an energizer bunny. Bommel had tech moves but seemed to ride less aggressive than usual. He is always fun to watch though and you never know what to expect. His biggest trick came after the time was over. Had he doen that during his run the outcome might have looked different. France 1. Germany 0. Arthur to the next round and the crowd went wild (again).

The rookies looked nervous. A rather big crowd had gathered around the miniramp at this time and there were camera's all over which didn't help Kevin Liehn (GER) keep his cool. In practice Kevin showed so many original moves that I thought it would be easy for him to transfer. But he was riding against a miniramp wizard by the name of Sergej Geier (GER) who rode the best we had seen that day until then. Despite a horrible back pain Geier made it to the next round with tech and original moves from beginning till the end of his run.

Brad Simms vs Dave Osato. USA vs Canada. Brad did not have much more than high turndowns, tailwhips and no-handers but still they were a highlight of the contest. Everyone was showing their pictures around that they shot of B-Rad going so high. Miniramp Icon Dave Osato made good use of his front brake and pegs to win this USA - Canada battle.

Anton (GER) made it to the event by winning a pre-event. He had to ride against Ben Hennon (UK) who had shown up early to build up the ramp and got a little pre-practice in before it started to rain on Saturday. Hennon on any ramp is worth watching. As soon as he drops in the throttle is open and he airs to the moon in a unique style, his own style. Ben does not care what tricks are hot or not, he does his own thing which makes him Ben Hennon and nobody else. Anton did turndown 180-s over the spine, whips and 360-s over the spine but also seemed a bit nervous on the (over)branded mini.

Before the heats were drawn Mark Koenig (GER) had one rider in mind that he did not want to ride against: Harry Main (UK). On Friday evening during the boat ride the riders drew their competitors and Mark Koenig did indeed end up having to ride against Harry Main. For a moment it looked like Mark did not have anything to fear about because he rode a very good first run. His tailwhip to icepick on the subbox was just perfect. But Harry Main had been shredding in practice already and it didn't take him long to make his mark on the competition. From the get-go he was the man to beat. His 360-s over the spine were insane, it is hard to understand how he does it, so high. He must just have the pump, has no fear, plus he gets the practice in being a pro rider. Mark Koenig had a nasty fall in his last run which put him out of competition straight away.

If you counted right, 7 guys made it to the next round. That's one guy short of having a quarter final. With T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson being main sponsors the solution was to vote one rider back in via text messaging. Bjorn Mager got that vote and was lined up against favorite Harry Main in the next round. Other heats were Arthur Dietrich vs Sergej Geier, Ondra Slez against Dave Osato and Alex Bourbignon against Ben Hennon.

Next round transfers: Sergej, Osato, Main and Hennon.

With XBox 360 being another sponsor, a 10 minute jam session was held for those who wanted to enter the 360 over the spine comp. Up for grabs were 3 XBox 360 consoles with different membership levels for the first three riders. Best trick counts. We will just give you the results of the 360 contest over the spine right here:

1) Ondra Slez: 360 double whip
2) Harry Main: 360 invert
3) Sergej Geier: Icepick Tiretap 360 to barspin in

Now this is where things went wrong for Ben Hennon. During war-up for the semi-finals he hung up on the spine on a 360 and smashed his face onto the wood. It wasn't looking pretty but a quick visit to the hospital showed that he did not break anything in his face. Ben could not continue though which meant Dave Osato transferred straight into the finals. Harry Main beat Sergej Geier. The session for third place did not take place because Ben could not ride giving Geier the third place check. The big final between Harry Main and Dave Osato was great but we'll leave that up to the videos to show what exactly went down.

It was unbelievable that the contest could be pulled off considering the weather right before and right after the competition. You get what you deserve is what I said to the organizer while taking a piss at the Mandarin club the night before. What they got was sunshine for the Summer Session and good riding from every rider who made it there.










Video: Third Place
Video Second Place
Video First Place

BdJ