The miniramp contest at the World's have always been a highlight. This year it wasn't any different. The pro finals took place at night and with enough lights, music and a big crowd, the 12 finalists stepped onto the Braun miniramp. The ramp set-up was a spine mini with a sub box on one side. In warm-up
Dave Osato jumped a spine and ran into a spectator who happened to walk on the ramp. It forced Dave to sit out the finals which was a real shame because we all know what Dave is capable of.
Ben Hennon sat out the finals too and saved himself for the street finals on Sunday.
Juan Ruiz jumped in and rode his heart out and whipped and flaired to 10th place beating Aussie
Clint Millar who pulled a sweet Canadian nosepick on the subbox.
Hector Garcia from Mexico is one hell of a rider. He 3-whipped the 2 meter high spine and had loads of variations on both sides.
John Heaton's highlight was the flair to axle stall on the subbox and overall smooth riding style.
Kenji Tsuruta from Japan rode the ramp with grace going both ways and airing super high. He also nosebonked the subbox to manual. The contest was run in a jam format withy 4 riders in each group.
Luke Fink could have easily taken up half the time of group 2 as his bag of tricks seems to be bigger than anyone else's. The Aussie went balls out and got 6th for his effort.
Alistair Whitton aired the hell out of the spine with huge no-handers and no-foot cancans. Ali adapts to every ramp in a second and that requires skills. Stoked to get 4th was
Mark Webb. Riding with a busted knee, the Englishman got loose and 540-d, flaired, 360-d all over the place. He put loads of tricks in every run and became a crowd favorite with his loose canon style, going for it again and again.
Top three: [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=386_1_420_0_0_aaaaa]
Sergio Layos rode well and seemed to have a good time on the ramp.[/url] He pulled all his tricks and added a lot of opposite stuff to his tricklist. 3rd for the Spaniard.
Morgan Wade had the crowd support. No wonder when you do 9 feet airs out of a 7 foot mini. The crowd wanted to see one more trick at the end of his run but after killing his own bike and then two borrowed bikes, the Mutiny rider stepped on yet another strange bike. But then he took off the glove, made his hand sweaty by running it through his hair and dropped in from the subbox heading for the spine. The spectators went wild but Morgan couldn't pull it off. [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=385_1_419_0_0_aaaaa]To see a clip ot the action, click here.[/url] Surprise of the mini comp was
Koji Kraft. I'd never even seen him ride mini before but he went for it Koji-style with the throttle full open at all times. [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=381_1_415_0_1_aaaaa]Watch Koji's winning run right here to get a better impression. [/url]
Dave Freimuth put it this way:
"The miniramp contest was the best vert contest of the Worlds." With all the riders going so high he was spot on.
BdJ.
Results pro mini:
1 Koji Kraft USA
2 Morgan Wade USA
3 Sergio Layos ESP
4 Mark Webb UK
5 Alistair Whitton UK
6 Luke Fink AUS
7 Kenji Tsuruta Japan
8 John Heaton Canada
9 Garcia Hektor Mexico
10 Juan Ruiz ESP
11 Clint Millar Australia
12 Dave Osato CAN
Photo credits for all images: @AlexSchelbert.de/zooom.at
Juan Ruiz jumped in and rode his heart out and whipped and flaired to 10th place beating Aussie Clint Millar who pulled a sweet Canadian nosepick on the subbox. Hector Garcia from Mexico is one hell of a rider. He 3-whipped the 2 meter high spine and had loads of variations on both sides. John Heaton's highlight was the flair to axle stall on the subbox and overall smooth riding style. Kenji Tsuruta from Japan rode the ramp with grace going both ways and airing super high. He also nosebonked the subbox to manual. The contest was run in a jam format withy 4 riders in each group.
Luke Fink could have easily taken up half the time of group 2 as his bag of tricks seems to be bigger than anyone else's. The Aussie went balls out and got 6th for his effort. Alistair Whitton aired the hell out of the spine with huge no-handers and no-foot cancans. Ali adapts to every ramp in a second and that requires skills. Stoked to get 4th was Mark Webb. Riding with a busted knee, the Englishman got loose and 540-d, flaired, 360-d all over the place. He put loads of tricks in every run and became a crowd favorite with his loose canon style, going for it again and again.
Top three: [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=386_1_420_0_0_aaaaa]Sergio Layos rode well and seemed to have a good time on the ramp.[/url] He pulled all his tricks and added a lot of opposite stuff to his tricklist. 3rd for the Spaniard.
Morgan Wade had the crowd support. No wonder when you do 9 feet airs out of a 7 foot mini. The crowd wanted to see one more trick at the end of his run but after killing his own bike and then two borrowed bikes, the Mutiny rider stepped on yet another strange bike. But then he took off the glove, made his hand sweaty by running it through his hair and dropped in from the subbox heading for the spine. The spectators went wild but Morgan couldn't pull it off. [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=385_1_419_0_0_aaaaa]To see a clip ot the action, click here.[/url] Surprise of the mini comp was Koji Kraft. I'd never even seen him ride mini before but he went for it Koji-style with the throttle full open at all times. [url=http://sports.freecaster.com/playmovie.php?req=381_1_415_0_1_aaaaa]Watch Koji's winning run right here to get a better impression. [/url]
Dave Freimuth put it this way: "The miniramp contest was the best vert contest of the Worlds." With all the riders going so high he was spot on.
BdJ.
Results pro mini:
1 Koji Kraft USA
2 Morgan Wade USA
3 Sergio Layos ESP
4 Mark Webb UK
5 Alistair Whitton UK
6 Luke Fink AUS
7 Kenji Tsuruta Japan
8 John Heaton Canada
9 Garcia Hektor Mexico
10 Juan Ruiz ESP
11 Clint Millar Australia
12 Dave Osato CAN
Photo credits for all images: @AlexSchelbert.de/zooom.at 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.