2016 EX&HOP Miniramp contest @ ISPO. By BdJ

Feb 01, 2016

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 1618 times

Pro contests can be held any day of the week. If you're a Pro BMX rider, you are available to ride any day, right? 20 pros lined up for the EX&Hop miniramp contest at the ISPO trade show in Munich on Tuesday 26 January. Some took a day off work, some skipped school and some just planned it into their pro schedule of things to do. An interesting mix of riders showed up. Next to the locals, riders like Mark Webb and Daniel Dhers made the trip to Bayern. Also some riders that you wouldn't expect to ride a miniramp comp showed up and started ripping the wide mini with plenty of extensions, and waves. Brad Simms showed up and isn't done traveling just yet. He's in his 10th year of making it happen and was happy with the invitation to come to Germany. He'll be on this side of the planet for a while. Also Larry Edgar (USA) flew across the pond and was the rider that everyone was talking about. The height he got out of this ramp was insane and everyone was looking forward to see him ride in the contest. Fly Stylers Stefan Lantschner and Sergio Layos also showed up at the ISPO along with JB Peytavit, ZoZo Kempf,

Kostya Andreev and Michael Meisel. 11 nations among the 20 riders made this an international event.

The ISPO Winter edition is a tradeshow for the sport business with focus on ski/snowboard and plenty of clothing. On arrival a quick lap was done around the show and we ran into familiar faces at Oakley, TSG, TomTom, Electric, saw Chris Boehm do a flatland show at the DJ1 booth, met up with DJ Mike Rock, ran into Axel Reichertz and Rich King and then made it to Hall B6 booth 325 for the Miniramp comp. We knew if we'd go there first we'd be stuck there for the rest of the time.

I had not been to an ISPO show for many years and to those you talked to, this was the old Volcom miniramp. It was wide and had a few extra things to play on. No hips or bowled corners but more or less a back and forth mini. With many riders not using a pegs or (front) brakes any longer, it would be interesting to see what tricks would be done on this thing. Riders like Kostya Andreev and Mark Webb sure know how to add tricks to their runs while Larry Edgar, Stefan Lantschner and Sergio Layos brought the flow and style to Munich. The Munich locals gave it all they had in qualifying and put on a good show for the tradeshow visitors on Tuesday.

12 riders rode the finals right after qualifying was done. Only one Germany made it to the top 8; Michael Meisel. The 18 year old Vans rider is one to look out for. He pulled a double tailwhip fakie in practice and has the height and tricks to back it up. The youngster finished 6th in the international field of finalists who all came from a 9 different countries. Hungary finished 8th in the name of ZoZo Kempf. Google his name and you'll find a good video that will blow your mind. ZoZo will need to work on his consistency a bit and he'll be a contender for a top spot in the near future. JB Peytavit (FRA) has the tricks and goes left and right like it's nothing. It was necessary to go opposite if you wanted to use the entire ramp and of course using the entire pipe was appreciated by the judges. 7th for JB, 6th for Meisel as we mentioned before. It's such a pleasure to watch Sergio Layos (ESP) ride. Smooth, good flow, height and he even threw in a tailwhip or two. The downside whip over the wave was massive as his last trick and 5th place was the result. Daniel Dhers knows how to ride a contest. You know that he isn't going full out in qualifying if he doesn't have to. At the EX & Hop comp he stepped it up in the finals by adding more tricks to his already impressively packed runs. He even got onto the skinny extension and did a barspin in. #streetcred. 4th place for the rider from Venezuela. It got tricky in the top three. It was style against tricks. Kostya Andreev from Russia scored an average of 92,3 which got him a third place finish. The Red Bull rider only needs a split second to add a no-hander or barspin to his tricks. He might not go the highest, but he sure brings the hard moves. Larry Edgar (USA) is impressing people wherever he goes. That strong pop which results in an extra 3 feet of air has everyone talking. Such a nice guy too which is a bonus. He'll be on the invite list for many more events to come simply because of the way he rides. No brakes, no pegs but you wouldn't even notice. The tech gets overruled by the flow, style, trick extension and height of the Vans rider and if that's your cup of tea, he should have won in Munich. 93,6 points and second place was his. It was Mark Webb who can never be left out when it comes down to the podium. The Brit was on a mission to see if his bag of tricks could beat Larry's stylish runs. And it worked. Variations on Flairs, 540-s, and airs and the use of his pegs shot him to the top of the list. His frontflip drop-in to the flat bottom(-ish) got the crowd on their feet resulting in a 94,0 score.

It never hurts to have a proper BMX contest at such a big platform as the ISPO. Who knows where it will lead to for some of the riders. You never know who's watching, even on a Tuesday afternoon.

BdJ

Results:
1. Mark Webb (UK)
2. Larry Edgar (USA)
3. Kostya Andreev (RUS)
4. Daniel Dhers (VEN)
5. Sergio Layos (ESP)
6. Michael Meisel (GER)
7. JB Peytavit (FRA)
8. Zozo Kempf (HUN)
9. Jonas Lindemeier (GER)
10. Stephan Lantschner (ITA)
11. Benny Petsch (GER)
12. Stefan Goetz (GER)

Highest Air: Larry Edgar (USA)