FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Portland, Ore. - August 18, 2006 - Jamie Bestwick won the BMX Vert competition and Cam White captured the BMX Dirt title Thursday in the second day of competition at the Dew Action Sports Tour's third stop, the Vans® Invitational, at the Rose Quarter. Jamie Bestwick, 35, of Nottingham, GBR, earned his second consecutive win in BMX Vert finals. His winning run earned him a score of 94.25 with a no-handed barspin 540, finishing with three consecutive flair variations to seal the win. Gilroy, Calif. native Chad Kagy, 27, took second with a score of 92.25 with a run that included a double tailwhip 540 barrel roll, a first in BMX Vert competition. Kevin Robinson, 34, of East Providence, R.I., came in third with a 91.00.

“All I know is how to ride. I know how to ride every square inch of this course,” said Bestwick. “I tried to keep my run flowing from end to end and nail the tricks I know I can hit.” Bestwick, who earned the Dew Cup in BMX Vert during the 2005 season of the Tour, currently sits in first place with 275 points. 

You Don't want to know how often I made an attempt to writing the Pro Dirt report from the Rebel Jam. Again and again something else crossed my mind or something else came up where I got distracted. I apologize to those who have been waiting but I believe we're still faster than a lot of them out there. It's been a week since things were looking great at the Mellowpark. The weather was beautiful and everyone was having a good time. The vibe was chill and the riding with everyone there was awesome. Let's throw in a few names who entered the dirt contest and you'll be able to imagine what went off. Guettler, Young, Forte (all three of them), Cools (both of them), MacKay, BB, Guimez, Paulsen, Caro and Miller, just to name a few. Going into a straight final the riders were being judges on Style, Creativity and Hard Tricks. There were three awards in each category and place 4 - 10 got 50 Euros each. Actually, first place for Style, Creative and Hard Tricks was 1000 Euros, 800 for second and 500 for third. Quite good for a mellow contest like the Rebel Jam. 

It's unbelievable how quick you can turn around a trails spot with 15 guys who are willing to work. For the last few days the Sugar Hills in Aarle-Rixtel got a face lift due to the hard work of the locals and even riders who had to drive to get there. Only a few jumps remained the same and we can use all the rain we get. If you're staying home tomorrow because you think it will be muddy, you are out of your mind. The Sugar Hills trails have proven before that they can handle shitty weather. At the moment it's a bit too dry but it will work out fine, you will see. The new bank to wall has not been sessioned yet so if you fancy some street riding in the dirt, come on over.

The FATBMX/Easpak/Rebel Jam contest is over. Team manager Andy Zeiss has not picked one but two winners. Both will receive the Rebel Jam embroidered backpack and the custom Eastpak toilet bag. Next to the correct answers on the date and place of the event, they had a funny answer on the third question:

Winner 1: Femke Lust: Why do you need the Rebel Jam bag?
Well.... past weekend at the Suzuki Bmx Masters at 6 o'clock in the morning I walked back to my tent.. Totally fucked from all the beer.. (Yes I admit on the way to my tent I fell like a thousend times couse of all the tents on that little piece of grass) Brused and drunk I finally arrived at my tent.. looking for my bag... and what do you know... it wasn't there.. The next morning I woke up and went for the toilets... I walked pass a really trashed and puked on bag... You'll never guess who's bag that was....

There used to be a time that there were only 5 BMX events going on in Europe in the summer time. The Die-Hards made a tour out of it and went to Germany for the Cologne comp, Aarle-Rixtel for the FAT-JAM, the World's somewhere in Europe, a jam in some weird village and the King of Concrete in England to finish it off. Times have changed. This upcoming weekend there at least are 10 BMX events going on. That's more than we had all summer years ago. There are two flatland jams going, one in Belgium and one in Germany . The PSP The Champ contest in Augsburg, Germany is kicking off and we also have the FAT-JAM in Aarle-Rixtel on Saturday. Freestyle Holland is organizing some lake jumping on Sunday, The Pannonian Challenge takes place in Croatia, there's a BMX race with a special Freestyle class in Belgium and over in the USA a Chenga comp , a NY Bike Comp and the Dew Tour are taking place (Portland, Oregon). Then we heard that this Saturday will be the 5th annual Boyley Birthday jam in Hastings, England as well. I don't know what you think,  but I do believe that BMX is alive and kicking. Pick your event and have some fun this weekend. And drink one on Boyley no matter where you are.

YOYOYO, here's all the 2-HIp BIKE happenings; 2-HIp just picked up the street ripper, Marlon Europe from Brooklyn, NY, making the 2-HIp team just about the best team EVER. The 2-HIp goal is to sponsor a rider for each letter of the alphabet, aswellas to sponsor every single amazing rider named Steve-o:
-Jarrod Allen  -Marlon Europe  -Lino Gonzalez  -Fro-nando Gutierrez  -Benno Hankowetz  -Jake Ortiz Mauricio Ospina  -Steve-o East Coast  -Steve-o West Coast  -Wakey.com(Matt Wakefield).
We're plannin' a road trip to the Southern states in the Compound BMX motorhome directly after Interbike in vegASS- LOOK OUT, because when the team shows up at your spot, it will blow up and catch on fire. 

Reinforced magazine is fundamentaly a bmx magazine but will also have small alternate sections like snow, skate, art, breakdancing, bands, urban as well as covering the bigger more well known people, companies and events in bmx.  Reinforced will highlight the lesser known companies, events and riders which play just as big a part in sustaining our sport and industry. The Editor Of Reinforced is James Jones, who's roots are in bmx and has seen the sport Grow and change over the years, and has not fallen victim to all the 

Newquay, August, 2006 The Rip Curl Boardmasters 2006: Britain’s biggest lifestyle festival of the year took place last weekend in Newquay, with BMX, Surf, Skateboard and Freestyle Motocross contests and demo’s and a two night, sold out Music Festival. The Ripcurl Boardmasters played host to the third and final stop of The Braun cruZer Tour 2006 on the biggest mobile spine ramp in the world. Braun cruZer Tour Spine Contest: The exposed Newquay coast blew a cold, harsh breeze at the 12 BMX cruZer Tour Finalists, but the impressive location of the festival site, with it’s close proximity to the ocean meant that the riders forgot the wind and pushed to ride even harder and higher. With top pro riders like Mark Webb, Phil Aller, Mike Miller and of course Ben Wallace the final was destined to be an explosive contest. In the first qualifying runs on Friday evening the audience were totally stoked as the riders cracked the ramp with tricks like “540 barspin” or “540 lookback airs”. Everyone was really looking forward to seeing the final on Saturday and they weren’t disappointed. On the Saturday final runs, Phil Aller pulled out his “fufanu on the backrail” and a “360 tiretap to footjam nosepick”. 

August 2006 – Sheffield, home to some of the UK’s most talented riders, hosts one of Europe’s most prestigious BMX competitions as the etnies Backyard Jam 2006 (EBYJ) turns ICE Sheffield into a BMX Mecca on 27th – 29th October 2006. Complete with a street course expertly crafted by Nate Wessell of X Games notoriety, a retail area and more international stars than the World Cup!, the EBYJ is certainly one event NOT to miss this year. Following the mind-blowing riding that was laid down at the etnies Backyard Jam 2005 in Brighton, including the breaking of a UK Record in the SNICKERS ® Highest Bunny Hop contest, the EBYJ 2006 is coming back bigger and better to celebrate its 13th successful year as the UK’s leading core event. The riders list grows year on year and in 2006 it certainly reads like the BMX hall of fame with riders from teams such as etnies, SNICKERS ® and Primo including Ben Hennon (UK), Morgan Wade (US, X Games 2006 Street Silver Medalist), Josh Stricker (US), Aaron Ross (US), Bas Keep (UK), Taj Mihelich (US), Ali Whitton (UK), Gary Young (US), Max Vincent (CAN), Chase Hawk (US) and Matt Beringer (US), to name just a few. 

The Mellowpark had some new obstacles but is still roomy enough to pedal around them to get speed for other ramps. The amateur riders were up on Saturday and had beautiful weather. Pro street was completely re-scheduled for Sunday because some of the riders were having problems with London airports canceling flights (damn terrorists). With 54 entries in Amateur Street it was a long qualifying session. The 16 guys who made it to the final session came from Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and France. Making it in the top three wasn’t easy. Leroy Widmann just missed out and ended on 4th. He did pull a double tailwhip over the box which is an indication of how high the level was in the Am Street class. Local Sprosse wasn’t sure if he was going to ride the contest. He foot wasn’t completely healed yet and he did not have the okay from his doctor. With everyone riding his park, he couldn’t resist and grabbed his bike and showed how to shred the place. He did huge transfers on the jump box and high airs on the quarterpipe.