FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

– El Cajon, California – Formula riders were once again proving to the BMX world that Formula is the premier frame brand. Factory team superstars AA Pro dR Donny Robinson, 17 Expert Warren McDow, and 12 Expert Chad Kerley made it out to Lake Perris BMX for the ABA Spring Nationals while Elite Woman Amanda Geving hopped over to North Carolina for the NBL’s Tarheel National at Tanglewood. Donny has been the top dog in the Elite Men/AA Pro ranks lately. But, with the return of Bubba Harris to the lineup, dR was excited for an already competitve class to get even harder. Here’s Donny on how the weekend went: 

Sophisticated Rider recently began providing AOL’s new partnered Action Sports content portal, Lat34, with a series of Blogs. Weekly blogs from the crew can be found on the [url=http://www.lat34.com]lat34 site[/url]. As a result of all the links they’ve provided [url=//fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1552]us[/url] on their site, we’ll be a bit more on our toes with our site, posting some regular (Sophisticated) downloadable freebies. One of our first exclusive treats is a small video of [url=http://www.sophride.com/updates.html#]John Parker's Draino[/url], 13 years in the making. The photo sequence will be out soon through our friends at UK Ride. Thanks to John Saxton for the video clip, and for bringing back Vander Rolls.

In the very near future we’ll have some videocast clips for the iPod gurus, as well as some free cell phone wallpaper. We are a print mag, though, so for the real updates check out lat34 throughout the season, (now in its BETA version).

The fifth issue of Sophisticated Rider will be out next month (July).

Last weekend the Vans King of Paca took place in sunny Marseille, France.

Here are the Pro Park results:

1 - Alessandro Barbero
2 - Fabien François
3 - Pascal Guerrad
4 - Guillaume Das Neves
5 - Maxime Charveron
6 - Béranger Cordier
7 - Jean Baptiste Peytavit
8 - Didier Debouze
9 - Damien Croce 

So this years wethepeople tour is taking shape and we'll be this year on monkey island as it's often referred to in friendly circles in Germany. Yep, the Uk. There is a plan, but with no plan. Thanks to Hotwheels in the UK, the immigration are letting us back in and are currently investigating our chances of benefits; hopefully one of those will be some decent bloody weather. Image three cars, each one ready for the scrap heap. Some classic Swedish metal and ready for the road. Then fill them with 12 of wethepeople's finest:

Flybikes sent in the updates on the Pantera 2, Mosca 2 and Diablo 3 frames. They all have some of the new features of the 3amigos and some more. Here are the new details on them:
- Integrated gusset. We are using now the asimetric tube to have an integrated gusset. It has a 2mm. Thickness on the bottom and 1.2mm. on the top so you have a gusset without the weldings that can weak the tube.

The 69th issue of FreedomBMX arrived and it's got a new format. The bigger pages and a stronger cover are a good change. Kay's ultra sharp pictures have a bigger canvas now. Gregor Podlesny went to Lisbon and scored the cover of issue 69. The issue isn't short of news (P.8 - P.12) and has got the summer dates on page 14 (FAT-JAM: 19 August!). The crew collected a whole bunch of DVD's and the reviews include Transcend, animal, SquareOne, Mutiny, Sentenced to Life, Props, Soul and ManMade. BoySetsFire were on the Deconstruction tour last year and the band gets some love in the Media section. The article about Contests is interesting. They ask riders why they compete and what it means to them. G&S traveled to Lisbon and Freedom was there. Mark Koenig had been around for ages and finally gets his interview in Freedom (page 30-35). Flatland is pretty strong in Germany and the Battle in da Club report shows that. Gallery 69 has cool pics from many photographers. 

Rampworx hosted the first Backyard Jam qualifying round for the expert riders. The riders who made it to the top 10 are allowed to enter the Backyard Jam. If you did not qualify in Liverpool, you have 3 more chances:  

Sunday 16th July - Y2sk8 -  Peterborough, England
Sunday 27th August -  Motion -  Bristol, England
Sunday 30th September - Unit23 -  Dumbarton, Scotland

This is the second version of the 4Q-Baked Pitchfork XLT. Because of all the changes the price is higher but after all the testing the S&M riders have done, they feel the extra expense is more than worth it. The changes to the new forks are:
1. The insert. This is what keeps the fork from bending where most forks bend just above the lower bearings. Because it's aluminum it adds very little weight. And because of its shape, it works from all angles unlike other companies steel insert plates that only work front to back. What are the odds your bike hits the ground with the front wheel perfectly straight? Whether you're on the bike or not, you're going to have the wheel turned slightly. This insert works from all angles.

Pro Park

1      David Dillewaard
2      Michael  Cleveland
3      Chase Hawk
4      Diogo Canina
5      Gary  Young
6      Brian Hunt
7      Brian Foster
8      Ryan Guettler
9      Morgan Wade
10    Colin  MacKay
11    Cameron Wood
12    Daniel Dhers
13    Garrett Reynolds
14    Mike  Shirley
15    A.J. Anaya

AMATEUR

1  DENZEL STEIN   1634  DESOTO 
2  JOE SOWERS   1631  GLENDALE 
3 JOSEPH SZUREK  1622  CORONA 
4  JEFFERY UPSHAW   1611  DAYTON 
5 TRAVIS OHRAZDA  1605  GARDEN GROVE 
6 CORBEN SHARRAH  1601  TUCSON 
7 LAIN VAN OGLE  1600  AUBURN 
8 BROCK HEFFRON  1600  GILBERT 
9 WESLEY GUNN  1596  PHOENIX 
10 CHRISTOPHER BLEVINS  1592  DURANGO