FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Jamie Bestwick Doubles gold total with BMX Vert Best Trick victory LOS ANGELES - It's hard to believe a BMX Vert Best Trick competition had not been held at the X Games prior to Saturday night. After what went down at STAPLES Center, it's safe to say it will be a part of X Games for years to come. Every run was bigger and better than the previous one and it seemed like a year's worth of progression was squeezed into the 30-minute jam session. And when all was said and done, it was Jamie Bestwick (State College, Pa.) that walked away with the gold medal after sticking the first-ever Flair Double Tailwhip. It was his second gold medal in three nights - he won BMX Freestyle Vert Thursday.

Dave Mirra Among Qualified Tour Athletes Competing for Coveted Dew Cup NEW YORK – July 19, 2005 – The Dew Action Sports Tour, the first-ever, season-long professional multi-sport tour in action sports, announced the athletes who qualified for the remaining three Tour stops. The 2005 Dew Action Sports Tour features competitions in the six disciplines of Skateboard Park and Vert; BMX Dirt, Park and Vert; and Freestyle Motocross. Depending on the discipline, 18 to 27 athletes have qualified to compete at the Vans® Invitational, Toyota Challenge and PlayStation® Pro. These athletes qualified because their cumulative points from the Tour’s first two stops were high enough to make the cut. Two or three wild card spots, per discipline, will be announced at a later date. The first two Tour stops, the Panasonic Open and Right Guard Open, included open qualifying competitions which allowed new talent to enter the contest with the possibility of competing for the rest of the season. The fields are now firmly established, with several open qualifiers making the cut.

The King Kong BMX team has grown with 4 riders after picking up 2 new distributors. In England Scoop distribution is now the company you need to contact for King Kong gloves and protection gear. Team riders in the UK are HARO Europe's Anthony Pill and Country Bikes' Craig Stevens. In The Netherlands Mark Vos (pictured) and Barry Kohne are the two new team guys through Soulcycle. To get in touch with the Head King Kong you have to call Poland. That's where Marcin Stypulkowski has set up his camp. Tel: +48-22-617 63 93

Vert riders have taken things in their own hands. When the Spin Like Hell company came out with the "Vert is dead" T-shirts, it got people thinking. Achim Kujawski started off the vert support with his indoor Verthaus session earlier this year. This upcoming weekend (12-14 August), you can go to Belgium for more. Peter Geys built a monster of a vert ramp in his backyard 2 years ago. The ramp will be the center of attention from Friday till Sunday for some great riding sessions. If you know Peter, you should know that the evening program is taken care of as well. There are not too many (vert) events taking place in Belgium these days. The Garden Of Vert is a chance to see some great riding from some of the top European halfpipe riders. The Bike Devil himself recently pulled his first 900 air in England and might pull his first one on his own ramp in Overpelt. For directions, sponsors, the program and more info of the event, surf to: www.gardenofvert.com

The Sprite Urban Games took place on Clapham Common, London. Overcoming the chaos caused by recent events in London which resulted in some riders not attending the event and a spot of rain on the Sunday morning, we have results and here they are! STREET 1. Colin MacKay 2. Mark Webb (Eastpak) 3. Ben Hennon (Eastpak/HARO) 4. Craig Stevens (Country Bikes) 5. Ben Wallace (Fox/HARO) 6. Markus Wilke (Eastpak/SNAFU) 7. Chris Mahoney (Eastpak/FELT) 8. Ben Manuel (Eastpak/HARO) 9. Martin Tambling (Eastpak) 10. Stefan Lantschner

Christoph Huber picked up some new blood for the Mankind Team. - New on the team is Juan Ruiz from Spain who wears a black helmet like Darth Vader , and who placed 4th in Pro Mini at the BMX Masters in Cologne. Juan was seen shredding at the FISE Contest in Montpellier and at the LG Contest in Barcelona this summer. The photo of Juan is from a contest in Spain which happened a few weeks ago. - Also new on the Mankind team is Andrew "Gee" Gregory from Australia. Gee just got the cover of Australia's BMX Press Magazine.

It's summer time and loads of events are happening all over the globe which means the HARO riders are staying busy representing the HARO brand. The 2006 models and catalogs are already being finalized and before we know it, the trade shows are around the corner. Read on for some news that happened this month. + Congratulations to Peter Geys for pulling his first 900 air. The HARO Benelux rider has haunted the trick for many years and puling one is very rewarding. Let's see if he can pull one at the Garden of Vert, a halfpipe contest that will happen from 12-14 August in his backyard. For more info on this HARO sponsored event, visit: www.gardenofvert.com + Over in Paris, France the 2005 UCI World Championships took place from 29-31 July. Warwick Stevenson was defending his 2004 Elite men world title but a missed gate in one of the qualifying rounds (1/8th final) had the Australian catch up with the other riders to finish out of the top 4 when the finish line neared.

At FATBMX we ran a poll regarding the Kink Bike Co. organized Demolition Derby. The race happened last week. Check if your vote made it to the top three. Here are some words and photos from the Kink posse: Wednesday night was amazing. The Demoltion Derby was so much fun, it was total chaos on a mud track. I think the derby lasted about 20-25 min with everything from car on fire like Cory's to Ryan, Brian Tunney and George Desantos driving around with no tires. It was a total mess, just the way we like it. If you look at Odyssey's car with Atkin's face plaster on it, by the end another car had Atkin's face plastered on it!

5000 flyers were printed for the Saturday night bowl party in Montpellier. With the FISE around the corner and a happy hour on the program, you could bet on the presence of the FATBMX crew. With some imported RedBull to mix with Vodka and some fine Nice Konass drink, it wasn't only beer to get wasted on. In fact, the real beer drinkers didn't like the taste of the served booze but it was free between 10 and 11pm or you could trade a Cream sticker for a beer, so there were little complaints.

Mobile Skatepark Series brings 100 extreme sports superstars back to Sacramento in world’s first interactive youth culture festival series. The Mobile Skatepark Series (MSS) was one of the hottest attractions of last year’s California State Fair. As the ferris wheel turned on the midway, the world’s biggest action sports superstars turned the heads of tens of thousands of fans on the MSS ramps set up in the Toyota Xtreme Zone. This September, the MSS caravan will roll back into town, bringing with it more excitement and drama than ever before – and even a few big surprises. “The people and the venue in Sacramento are incredible,â€? says Rick Bratman, president of ASA Events, the Los Angeles-based producer of the MSS tour. “The athletes really feed off the excitement of the California State Fair and the incredible support they get from the fans in northern California.â€?