FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Former motocross world champions Joel Smets and Stefan Everts met behind the starting gate once again, but this time on BMX bikes. Some more MX starts were brought in (Ken de Dijcker, Joel Roelants and Gareth Swanepoel) as well as some roadies who used to ride BMX (a.o. Max van Heeswijk). All this happened as a celebrity race during the 10 years Dessel 2000 BMX weekend. On Sunday a regular BMX race was taking place but it become a special one as my Philip decided he wanted to enter his first BMX race.

What started out as a frame deal for this future BMX hall of famer quickly evolved into a full factory deal. Bubba's first race in Full Factory Supercross gear will be in 2 weeks at the ABA Redline Cup West Finals where Bubba will set up home at the Supercross BMX pits for the first of many times. Be sure to stop on by and pick up a Limited Edition Supercross Full Color Poster help welcome Bubba to the team and have Bubba, Kenth, Courtney and the rest of the Supercross BMX Factory team sign your poster.

Bubba like the rest of the Supercross Factory team ride on Supercross ENVY's - the Worlds Lightest Production Race frame for all their race track assaults. 

Junior/ Elite Men final
1. Raymon Van Der Biezen
2. Rob Van Den Wildenberg
3. Arthurs Matisons
4. Arnaud Dubois
5. Kristers Lejins
6. Toon Jacobs
7. Twan Van Gendt
8. Edzus Traimanis

Junior/Elite Women final
1. Manon Valentino
2. Maartje Hereygers
3. Dominique Daniels
4. Abby Taylor
5. Lieke Claus
6. Melanie Boudoux
7. Sandra Aleksejeva

When the job is done it's time for a beer or two. Get rid of the stress, bring on the good times. The two go hand in hand as experienced at the SX afterparty in CV. Some beers were brought into the OTC, the DJ booth got moved from the track to the party tent and it was on. Somehow Paul and I ended up there with the working crew and we made some new friends, worked the bar, and "set the dancefloor on fire". The camera bag was still around so we snapped some shots. Oh shit!

The NBL announced its guarantee of the $5.95 per rider track payout. CEO Gary Aragon explains, “Unfortunately, there are some who feel they speak for the NBL — even if they are not part of our Sanction or its leadership, and as such it has come to my attention that false and slanderous statements have been made about the New NBL, specifically concerning the per rider fees we will pay tracks.” “Let me be clear that the fees we will pay tracks, $5.95 per rider, per race, will not change at any time during a track’s contract period. Furthermore, we will write this clearly into every contract for every track. Thus, tracks will have that rate guaranteed for the full duration of their contract with the NBL — even if it is a long-term contract. What's more, we will likely increase the amount we pay to our tracks, and we will gladly amend any track's contract at their request to reflect the increased payout, but at no time would we decrease the amount during the contract period. Our goal is to continue to make this sport less expensive for riders while at the same time providing tracks with more income from operating our programs.” 

UCI’s third World Cup Supercross race of the year took place in Chula Vista, California. We’d arrived early to enjoy the full program. The Dutch crew rolled up first to get ready for warm up. The Time Trials had happend the previous day and World Champion Maris Strombergs had set the fastest time giving him first gate pick through his motos. First Dutch rider up was Raymon van der Biezen (6th) in the men’s class and Merle van Benthem (10th) in the women’s class. If you walk on a BMX SX track you realize that this is no joke. The first jump is a good 11 meters far. It’s a jump you hit with a speed of 50 km/h and 7 other riders by your side. If one of them loses control, things are likely you’re going down too. At this speed on a hard packed track, that’s not going to be fun. Merle van Benthem experienced just that. She went down hard on the first straight and the speed carried her up to the top of the second jump, unconcious. The Dutch rider had to be flown to the hospital by helicopter where they luckily couldn’t find anything else than the big concussion. Respect to all who go down that 8 meter high starting hill, welcome to BMX SX.