It's been a week full of sponsor changes. Harry Main is now riding for Mirraco but Daniel Dhers is switching frames from a Mirraco to a KHE. He's still working out the details but has designed a signature frame for them. In Berlin he rode on a standard KHE bike including that bar/stem combo. It got him second place behind Rob Darden. Third was for Alessandro Barbero and 4th went to Mark Webb.
In vert it was Chad Kagy who grabbed the biggest check right in front of Simon Tabron who broke his pinky finger on Sunday and moved to Manhatten Beach in California on Monday. He rode his last contest on that colorful Mongoose too. Third place went to Coco and party animal Zack Warden finished 4th. The riding in qualifying in both Street and Vert was better on Saturday when everyone wa still fresh than Sunday but still they put on a good show. The Offspring played live too for anyone who cares.-The UGP team for 2009 looks like this:
-Kevin Porter
-Jeff Klugiewicz
-Brian Kachinsky
-Mark Mulville
-Karl Poynter
-James Foster
-Tony Malouf
-Adam Baker
-Chad DeGroot
We're missing some names here but with a team this big you cannot say they don't support BMX.
-Mosh is no more. The parts brand, owned by Giant Bicycles, has stopped making stylish BMX parts. The team has stopped too. Riding for Giant now are Taj Mihelich, Corey Bohan and rider/TM Heath Pinter. Not a bad crew. Expect Giant parts and a complete new stylish BMX bike line from Giant for 2010.-Kris Bennett is now the Volume/Demolition videographer. His first clip was the Day In The Life of Chris Doyle which was awesome. More to come from Kris.
- BAWLS GUARANA SIGNS NBL #1 PRO STEPHANIE BARRAGAN!
-E-Man is off Volume and so are Nate Moroshan and Boy.
-Ben Green is on the S&M UK team.
-CJ McGuire on MCS Bicycles!
-SE Racing signs "the Fresno Bulldog", Austin Hiatt for 2009 Season
-The ABA National Number one Pro title was won by Kahlen Young this year. Not only was he stoked about his first ABA pro title but he received a brand new RMZ450 too!
-Crupi Europe picked up a sponsorship from Rockstar Energy Drink
-Lee Reynolds has been riding on a regular basis again. He made the cover of FAT-'zine number 10 in 1989 and still likes the vert walls. Here's a photo for proof.-Last night I checked my Facebook profile that I had not touched for over a month. I had quite a few friend requests of people that brought back some good memories. One of these days when I find the time I'll get in touch with you all. Good to hear you're still out there.
-It is almost Christmas and tonight Sinterklaas is coming to town. Check in with our sponsors and find some good gifts to give. Vans, etnies, Paul's Boutique, Mirraco, Hoffman Bikes, Felt, Mongoose, Eastpak, United, Snafu, Redline, Diamondback and also the folks at Parano Garage have a full place with anything you ever wanted. Support them.
-Vans are doing a photo exhibit and NIKE are doing another numberplate art show this month. If you live close to LA, you should check it out. Kindje is doing his plate this weekend.-The Nigel Sylvester Nike 6.0 movie part was a big hit on FATBMX. Over 13.500 Unique Visitors showed up on that Sunday to watch the clip . We'll announce the winner of the NIKE shoes and Mirraco frame soon.
I'll had this to DJ now with some news from his side:
-Well, Berlin T-Mobile event was nuts. As you already know Darden took the Park win which tops off an amazing year for him & Kagy to the Vert win but what you didn't know is that Daniel Dhers dances like Michael Jackson ALL NIGHT in the club, well worth seeing!! I personally don't remember getting home from Berlin or how I have the black eye I have. Good times for sure! -A busy month for UK's Harry Main who parted company with KHE & hooked up with MirraCo plus he also bagged himself a deal with Monster Energy & will be spending a considerable amount of 2009 in the USA.
-After making the US Pro team just a year ago Ben Wallace has been dropped by Haro... go figure! He is currently running a frame courtesy of UK Bike Co. -Mark Webb is running a prototype of his UK Bike Co signature "Voltron" frame. Ask Mark why he chose the name Voltron next time you see him.
-Next year see's the 25th Anniversary of BMX events @ Jugenpark in Cologne so there's a 99.9% next years Masters will infact be The Worlds instead, early July. Keep your eye on the fatbmx calendar & get your flights early.
-I just heard Chase Gouin has won a Flat contest in Panama beating a lot of new school pro's! That's the first win in over 10yrs for one of if not THE king of flat?!!
Outs!
DJ
-This week on FATBMX we've got a Daniel Dhers interview up. If you have not read the interview with the 2008 Dew Tour Park champion and X-Games gold medalist, do it now. I noticed he has been around in Europe quite a bit in 2008: Bikenight-Italy, BMX Masters-Germany, Nass-England, Simpel Session-Estonia, Street Session-Germany and the FISE in France. That should show that it is possible to do a lot of traveling and win the American comps as well. INTERVIEW! -Also a Joe Tiseo memorial park was opened recently. Al D visited the park and sent in a little scene report from the opening day.
-David Lombard moved to England and is now working at Proper Bike Co. He sent in the latest Product News from the Proper family.-The Dubai X-games are definitely not happening next week. Maybe February but we've even heard April is a possibility. We'll wait an see.
-Vans Why Not!? are having a video premiere at the People's Store in Cologne tomorrow. Tobias Wicke's Vans signature colorway is not coming out. Not enough pre-orders which bummed Tobi out because he really likes the shoe and has been wearing the sole pair that he had.
-Jorge Jovel went to Berlin, had a great time on and off his bike and then the airlines lost his bike on the way back to the USA. It sucks when that happens. It is so good when you receive the call though that they found your bike. It's even better when they show up at the door WITH your bike so you know it's there. Jorge decided to go brakeless after the German event. Check his bike HERE.-Here are the 2008 Golden Crank award winners:
-Rookie Pro – Denzel Stein (Redline)
-Pro of the year – Mike Day (GT Bicycles)
-Bike of the year – Intense
-Team of the year – Intense / Phantom / Ontrac
-Loads of BMX videos on FATBMX lately. Check the Believe it, or not!? section or go to Freecaster.tv for more BMX videos.
We're going to call it a day here. Thanks for checking in. Bookmark FATBMX, give us a link on your site, tell a friend, sign up for the FAT Friday, be part of it.
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.