The LG vert riding in Birmingham was rad but like the old days it showed some casualties. Ricky Roich mysteriously dislocated his shoulder after he landed a perfect 540 at height in the beginning of his first run. Doubting if he should drop in again for a second run, he said fuck it! thinking of  the fact that he needed some of the (top 10) money. His 2nd run only lasted a few airs and then Ricky was pulling his own arm again trying to get it back into socket. Just recovered from a similar injury myself, I had to watch in another direction when he was fixing his shoulder. Mark Theaker was riding with a broken wrist but had a wrist guard to support it. He finished 14th and got no check for his efforts.

The Birmingham NEC came to an uncomfortable silence when John Parker (USA) knocked himself silly at the end of his first run and had to be taken off to hospital on a stretcher.


Parker did have a killer first part of his run where he showed no-handers at height, huge tailwhips, a 540 but crashed on a decade air.  After seeing this, Jon Taylor decided not to ride his second run.

Riders had 2 one-minute runs with the best run counting. Parker’s run ended up being good enough for 5th edging out Jason Branham (USA) by only a quarter of a point and Eduardo Terreros (Spain) by another 0.25.

Places three and four turned out to be a USA-England battle. In one corner we had Tom Haugen doing it for the USA and in the other corner was Zach Shaw. Tom threw some punches with tricks that included switch handers, plenty of one-handed x-up variations and an insane superman seat grab air. Zach fought back with table topped 540s, flairs, sweet inverts and x-ups to x-ups. Tom answered with alley-oop no-handers and a toothpick to full barspin out. Zach didn’t give up as he dug deep in his bag of tricks but it was Tom Haugen’s double tailwhip that was the uppercut that ended the fight. Zach 4th, Tom 3rd.

Simon Tabron had a great first run while Jamie Bestwick messed-up a tailwhip flair that he did as his second trick. This left a lot of pressure on him to do well in his last run. Simon had already pulled an awesome run together where he showed how to ride a vert ramp well. Opposite airs, smooth variations at height, a mid-run flair and an alley-oop no-handed 540 were part of it. Simon gave the crowd something special by pulling a 900 too. Jamie was the last rider on the ramp. It was all or nothing.

Watching Jamie ride is special. You just feel he has the control. Next to his super high and smooth variations, he pulled a few big bangers and that includes the trick he crashed on in the first run (tailwhip flair). In the end the difference between the two was half a point. Advantage Bestwick.

BdJ

BMX Vert Finals Birmingham, England - July 29, 2006
Rider              Hometown    Age      Score    Sponsors

1 Jamie Bestwick Darby, England 35  94.50 Sponsors: Sobe, Zoo York, Etnies, Boost Mobile, Spy Sunglasses, Bell Helmets, Ogio
2 Simon Tabron Newquay, England 32  94.00 Sponsors: LG, Mongoose, Adidas, Bell Helmets, Eastpak
3 Tom Haugen Minneapolis, MN 30  90.25 Sponsors: free agent bikes, UGP clothing, Snafu components, Bell helmets, EVS pads, Osiris
4 Zach Shaw London, England 35  89.50 Sponsors: Vans, Oakley, Eastpak
5 John Parker State College, PA 32   87.00 Sponsors: LG Mobile Phone, Mad Croc Energy Gum, Paul Mitchell Systems
6 Jason Branham Chicago, IL 23   86.75 Sponsors: Amino Vital
7 Eduardo Terreros Getxo, Spain 32   86.50 Sponsors: Fly Bikes, Red Bull, Dagroove, Terremoto
8 Jan Valenta Prague, Czech Republic 21    83.50 Sponsors: Author Bikes, Alex Rims, DC, Electric, Nixon, Skateshop CZ
9 Shaun Egglington Worcester, UK 24   82.25 Sponsors: GT, Relentless, Odessa, Fuse, Motorsport Marketing
10 Ronnie Remo Portsmouth, UK 29    80.25 Sponsors: Mongoose Bikes, Odyssey, Team Extreme
11 Toby Gresswell Cambridge, UK 24   77.25 Sponsors: Eastern Bikes, Odessa Footwear, The Buzzbar
12 Jon Taylor Chester, UK 34   77.00 Sponsors: Hoffman Bikes, Vans, GGI, Seventies
13 Ricardo Roich Buenos Aires, Argentina 31    76.75 Sponsors: Snafu, El Raidero, Marpione Distributions
14 Mark Theaker Liverool, UK 37   75.50 Sponsors: Eastern Bikes, Odessa Footwear

2010/9/1 22:25:24 - GFFT Video Contest - Anton Örn Arnarson
2010/9/1 22:00:00 - Woodward West Adds Massive MegaRamp
2010/9/1 21:00:00 - Road Fools 18 Edit 2 - Daddy & the Tree
2010/9/1 19:20:00 - Channel 4Down BMX :: Boyley Jam 2010. By Channel 4Down
2010/9/1 10:19:20 - Eurobike 2010. Open for 2 hours and the first update of the new 2011 BMX products. By bdJ
2010/9/1 9:50:00 - Akin edit. By Craig Tull
2010/9/1 9:30:00 - Road Fools 18 Edit 1 - Pre-trip
2010/9/1 9:00:00 - Tuesdays with Miles: Scott Ditchburn
2010/9/1 4:20:00 - Backyard Sesh At Mike Spinner's
2010/9/1 1:30:00 - FAT FAVOURITES list with Pat Casey
2010/8/31 22:50:00 - Kamil 'Robak' Nowak Promo edit. By Bodziu.
2010/8/31 19:20:00 - Sunday Edit - Horsham. By Ben Foster
2010/8/31 15:30:00 - Extreme Playgrounds miniramp contest Pinneberg, Germany. Report by BdJ
2010/8/31 13:50:00 - Stereo Bike Co. Mini-Trip Madrid 2010 edit. By Stereo Bikes
2010/8/31 11:30:00 - FAT FAVOURITES list with Damo Wilkinson
2010/8/31 10:06:48 - King Of Dirt 2010. By Lénaïc Maréchal / LMVisual
2010/8/31 6:30:00 - Mike Vincent "Back on Track" interview
2010/8/31 4:20:00 - Running the new line. By Bicycle Union
2010/8/31 4:10:00 - New line of Products offered by Insight BMX
2010/8/31 4:00:00 - VANS . US TEAM . LORDS OF DIRT. By GREENFILMS
2010/8/31 3:40:00 - We-Ride.net Project
2010/8/31 2:00:00 - Bikefight 2010 Randers. By Lasse Soeltoft
2010/8/31 1:50:00 - THE JAG BMX GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP Daytona, Ormond Beach, Florida December 18-22, 2010
2010/8/31 1:40:00 - Leatherback Chandler Bike Park edit. By Bink Seavey
2010/8/31 1:00:00 - Jared Swafford for Season bikes. By Levi Brewer