BMX Vert Series Round 2 write up by Chris Job

Sep 05, 2013

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 6243 times

The second round of the 2013 UK BMX Vert series took place at Ben Manuel’s Pitwheels Skatepark in Upton, Yorkshire on Sunday 22nd September. Zach Shaw seems to be taking the grassroots future of vert in his own hands, in more ways than one. Not content with organising this series, he is also starting to breed competitors for the junior groups.

The surnames in a number of groups had a familiar ring, and if you had perfected time travel and gone back 23 years the 11 foot vert ramp and competitors in A group wouldn’t have looked out of place.

A sunny Sunday in South Yorkshire played host to 3 groups - vert squirt, am and pro. BMX is becoming a family affair, as various father son/daughter/stepson/stepdaughter combinations stretched across the groups. In vert squirt the combined age of the 5 competitors was less than how long the majority of riders in pro had been riding. Awesome. Jessica Laidlaw, Zak Berstein

and Meadow Poland-Shaw (spot the surnames trivia vans) were content to push their carving skills further, whilst Moz Chudley threw undercoping airs and a myriad of candy bar and can can carve variations into her run. Kodee Jaykins took the win. And with carving airs out of the top at a mere 5 years of age, it is going to be amazing to see how he progresses with age. Too shy to collect his prizes, but anything but shy on his bike!

Amateur class saw a mix of dedicated old hands, the rarities that are young vert riders, and a few who decided to enter for fun after finding an 11 foot ramp fun to ride. The group saw whips, 540s, bomb drops (yes Barry Bl

ock!), barspins, back slams and more, and in the end Jaygun Evans inched out Callum Woodland for the win.

7 mostly greying or bald warriors took to the ramp for pro class, Steve Laidlaw, minus 80s surfwear showed he still had his mad 80s skills. Hell, everyone still had their mad 80s/90s skills. Mark Atkins and Cong tied for 5th, Dennis Wingham drove a mad midnight red-eye from a bowl win at KOC the day before to take 4th place and best trick for a lesser spotted Canadian nosepick (somewhat influenced by my front brake fetish). Mike Mullen, still looking as young as he did when h

e won the Worlds way back when put 2 solid runs in for third. Zach flaired and body jarred his way to second and kindly passed prizes on down a place, and the junior of the class, merely in his 30s (probably) Paul Meacher, stormed to first place and highest air, surviving a near castration on a missed barspin.

The vibe was mellow, the spectators appreciated the pints on offer at the bar next door, and, as most Pro entrants were relieved to point out, everyone walked away.

Big thanks to Zach for organising, and to Custom Riders, Vocal BMX, Total BMX, Etnies, wethepeople, Pro-Tec and homadebmx for their support with flowing prizes. Vert is still there guys, and still fun. Find the UK BMX Vert series on facebook, or better still, join us for the next round at Beast Ramps in Manchester on September 22nd.

-Chris Job

Results- Round 2 UK BMX Vert Series 2013 Upton Skatepark, Yorkshire.
Pro
1 Paul Meacher

2 Zach Shaw
3 Mike Mullen
4 Dennis Wingham
5= Mark Atkins, Jon “Cong” Barnett
7 Steve Laidlaw

Amateur
1 Jaygun Evans
2 Callum Woodland
3 Barry Block
4 Ben Snell
5 John Hall
6 Lucas Clayton
7 Jack Lannie
8 Joel Swain
9 Craig Kemp

Vert Squirts
1 Kodee Jaykins
2 Moz Chudley