Chase Hawk's #bornandraised jam report. Austin, Texas. By Lee SULTEMEIER

Aug 24, 2015

Written by Bart de Jong

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In the long tradition of epic Austin BMX events, the Chase Hawk / Empire Born and Raised Jam at House Park did not disappoint. It kicked off this past Friday with a bowl shred and a street course best trick contest. Bowl shredders included Austin Brunger, who was totally blasting and flowing, the lovely Nina Buitrago with her oh so stylish one handed grind into a nice one handed tabe, Tomas Fuentes and Michael Woodby were blasting, Santana was on the shred hard in the advanced class, and the little dude who pulled the no handed fakie was seriously awesome....

The best trick contest was held immediately following the bowl jam and it did not disappoint. The winner, as decided by judges Chase Hawk, Chad Kerley, and Dan Lacey, was Josh Dissinger with an epic nose manual 360 off the ledge into the bank, so sick! Other noise makers in that event included Jake Seely, with his epic manual and nose manual skills, Grant Germain and his gnarly up

ledge manual to 180 and Jake Seely with his rad action. Big shout out to Scotty Mescal and the Austin Land and Cattle food truck for being on the scene to supply refreshments...Day 2 was the am street course contest and, unlike my hangover, it was seriously awesome.

Darryl Nau was handling the announcing duties and he brought plenty of good vibes and energy to the event, as he does to any event he is at. I watched the contest with Austin BMX legends Ruben Castillo and EZ Chris Anderson. I was going to take a pic of Ruben and EZ, but my fucking phone had lost power and died. Good times for sure. The beginner class was great with Joey Gomez taking the win and Garret Ash in second place.

The intermediate class was dominated by Hoffman Bikes sponsored rider Dravin Groove Hallford (son of old school BMX legend, Davin "Psycho" Hallford) Dravin was absolutely killing it and took first place, with Lane Harmon in second.

The Advanced class did not disappoint, with lots of insane tech tricks mixed in with some big gnar stuff. Mike "Santana" Esparza didn't let the fact that his knee jammed up on him prior to his run slow him down. Mike brought his legendary speed, style, and flow to the event on both days. His skid on the bank near the judges table during his run was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. So good! In the end Justin Gautreau grabbed the win, with Matt Nordstrom and Lucas Dartford in second and third.

Josh Dissinger won best trick

Chase was very stoked on day 1 of his jam at House Park #bornandraised (that's the official hash tag of the event) - SULTEMEIER It was a VERY informal jam, there were tons of random dudes bombing in and the announcer couldn't recognize everyone and announce there names...

All in all, it was an epic weekend with tons of great riding. Big thanks to Chase Hawk and Empire for making it all happen!...Cheers!

-Lee SULTEMEIER