Waking up at 6:30am on the Friday morning was not nice and I really wasn't feeling the drive down to Newton Abbot to see the Empire Of Dirt. After a rough start and about 4 hours driving we managed to get to our campsite and made our tent for the night. We then proceeded to drive down the thin little country lanes following the signs to the event getting really excited. As soon as we parked up and looked down at the course from the hill we all immediately woke up and wanted to see the pro riders shred this course. Indeed they did 

shred too... Ruben was the 1st rider i managed to see go through the course and i was so impressed with the flow and style he possesses. I don't think he laid down anything that run but his style was super rad. After that a whole host of other pro riders went through the course. Corey Bohan was going through it effortless and Lima and Kye Forte were riding the 3rd wallride the highest all weekend. That was a treat to watch. The rider who I was most impressed with though was an Australian who I'd met about 2 years beforehand in Sydney. His name is Josh Stead and I rode with him a few times there. When he rode the Empire Of Dirt course though he was in a completely different league to what I'd seen before. He went so big over everything and was doing everything. Whips, tuck no hands and super nice turndowns and lookbacks.

Saturday we headed down early and I managed to get some fairly decent pics of the finals for you all to see ;) The riders were definitely knocking it up a notch when I thought it just couldn't get any better. But oh how it did...

The Australians were definitely the ones to watch. Dane Searls and Corey Bohan just absolutely ruled. You could tell they grew up riding trails an awful lot. Dane was doing really nice no foot cans over the 6-7ft spine. He was really riding on top form. Corey was doing such nice lookbacks and stylish downside 1 foot tables also. Then Gary Young had his super nice last run and oh my was I impressed. I couldn't really shoot any photos as my jaw was on the ground in astonishment the whole time haha. He in my view probably deserved to win. He was doing turndowns down the 1st few and then he let rip a 360 double whip and that sent the crowd absolutely crazy. It was amazing to watch. He then proceeded to dominate the course with really good looking 1 foot flatties over the spine and whips and tuck no hands everywhere. He was just truly amazing. He did all this with a smile on his face too which was amazing to see. Kye Forte rode amazing as well but crashed in his final run which didn't do him so well. But his flair was amazing to see and just his general stye too over the course.

I wish the Empire Of Dirt had never ended but it did and the results ended with Corey Bohan in 1st, Gary Young in 2nd, Dane Searls in 3rd and Kye Forte in 4th. After a medal presentation everyone got soaked with champagne and went home super stoked and happy.

Bring on next year!

Craig Tull

Rank BIB Last Name First Name Nat Sponsor Run1 Run2 Run3 Run4 Run5 Overall

1 15 Young Gary USA MACNEIL 90.00 86.00 90.00
2 12 Bohan Corey AUS RED BULL 88.33 89.33 89.33
3 14 Searls Dane AUS BACKBONE BMX 83.67 87.67 87.67
4 16 Forte Kye GBR RED BULL 87.33 85.00 87.33
5 11 Whitton Alistair GBR MACNEIL 87.00 82.67 87.00
6 13 Doyle Chris USA KINK BIKES 85.67 86.67 86.67
7 3 Layos Sergio SPA RED BULL 85.00 81.33 85.00
8 2 Hunt Brian USA DK BIKES 84.00 84.00 84.00
9 5 Forte Leo GBR UNITED 84.00 83.67 84.00
10 10 Stead Josh AUS 82.67 82.33 82.67
11 7 Reynolds Clint USA VERDE 82.33 81.67 82.33
12 4 Foster Brian USA FIT BIKE CO. 81.33 81.67 81.67
13 9 Keep Bas GBR RED BULL 81.00 81.00 81.00
14 8 Eltham Liam GBR S&M BIKES 79.33 79.00 79.33
15 1 Read Darin USA DIAMONDBACK 79.33 78.67 79.33
16 6 Hennon Ben GBR VANS 78.33 78.67 78.67

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