FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Baltimore, Md. –Daniel Dhers of Venezuela captivated the crowd in BMX Park by capturing the BMX Park victory at the AST Dew Tour’s Panasonic Open, the first event of the season at Baltimore’s Camden Yards Sports Complex. Dhers, a rookie and Dew Cup champion last season, posted a 93.17 to earn the win. This was Dhers second consecutive victory dating back to last season’s victory at the PlayStation Pro event.

"There was not really any extra pressure coming into the finals,” said Dhers. “I just like to ride for fun, so pressure doesn't really bother me. When I am having fun, everything comes together."

Michael Spinner of Oceanside, N.Y., placed second with a 92.67, followed by Dennis Enarson of La Mesa, Calif., with a 90.67. 

"I really thought that Spinner had it,” said Dhers. “I was really surprised by the results but, hey, I'm not complaining." 

Baltimore, Md. – Jamie Bestwick, England, continued his five event unbeaten streak in BMX Vert at the AST Dew Tour’s first event of the season, the Panasonic Open at Baltimore’s Camden Yards Sports Complex. Bestwick, who has won nine of 10 BMX Vert events he has entered on the Dew Tour, continued his domination by scoring an 89.17 on his first run in the best of two format. Chad Kagy of Gilroy, Calif., placed second with an 88.67, followed by Jimmy Walker of Chicago with an 87.67. “This trophy has been eluding me the last two years, but no more,” said Bestwick. “What can I say, it shows there are a number of great riders in BMX Vert.” BMX

Dirt competitor Stephen Murray of England was injured Friday night while attempting a double backflip. Murray, 27, was immediately attended to by tour medical staff and was taken by ambulance to University Hospital. He underwent surgery Saturday and is in critical but stable condition. 

The finalists for Park in Baltimore are known. It will go down today.  Here are the prelim results:
1st Dhers, Daniel 89.5
2nd Mirra, Dave 89.17
3rd Cooke, Allan 87.17
4th McCann, Steven 87
5th Enarson, Dennis 87
6th Spinner, Mike 86.17
7th Young, Gary 86.17
8th Nyquist, Ryan 86.17
9th Darden, Rob 85.83
10th Laird, Mike 85.67
11th Mast, Craig 85.67
12th Warden, Zack 85.67

On Friday evening the dirt finals took place at the first round of the Dew Tour in Baltimore. It wasn't as windy as in qualifying but it still took out one of the riders. This time it was Stephen Murray who was rushed to the hospital after a double backflip went wrong. Get well soon Stephen. An experienced Ryan Nyquist stepped on top of the podium after pulling 720 barspins and opposite 3-whips. Cam White placed second (flipwhips, x-up flips, double whips) and first place qualifier Doyle got bronze (big 3-s and a 720).

This planet brought more rain and more wind causing the Dew Tour '07 Park qualifiers and vert qualifiers to be cancelled. Park Open qualifiers got squeezed in there and look at the list of riders who made it in.
Results Park Open Qualifying:
1. Craig Mast
2. Dennis Enarson
3. Mike Spinner 

It was windy in Baltimore yesterday during Dirt qualifying. It resulted in the 2006 Dew dirt champ separating his right shoulder and other riders pressing the safe mode. Here's who qualified:
Dirt Qualifying Results:
1. Chris Doyle
2. Ryan Nyquist
3. Cameron White
4. Stephen Murray
5. Corey Bohan
6. Ryan Guettler
7. Luke Parslow
8. James Foster
9. Rob Darden
10. Dave Dillewaard
11. Allan Cooke
12. Colin Mackay

Dave Mirra gives you an update on his company and his team riders. He does this by doing a 15 minute promo video that you can watch for free on the internet. Will Stroud of Nine to Five films produced the video for Mirraco and it has footage of the team riders such as Mike Laird, Ryan Guettler, Dave Rytell, Rob Wise, Nigel Sylvester, Mike Spinner and of course Dave Mirra himself. It's an interesting piece and if you're thirsty, grab a drink first before you hit the image on the right. Enjoy. 

With the Empire of Dirt cancelled and still a lot of people in town, it was decided to have another session at the Decoy trails in Newton Abbot. The local Forte compound was being fixed with the help of everyone there and around 3pm the riding started. The trails were amazing. There was a little section up on the top that would take you to the main line at the bottom. It was also possible to haul ass and jump into a landing that would take you to three huge sets followed by the 180 degree right turn and the last line at the bottom. Being local for sure helped but the real trail bosses had no problems with the sets either.

As there was no contest, there was no pressure. It was just riding with the locals and a bunch of pros that were down for some riding. Red Bull set up some parasols and had a table full of food and drinks. They know how to do it right. It rained off and on which had everyone looking for cover under the trees, in the cars or under the parasols but it cleared up long enough to get some riding done. 

The Red Bull Empire of Dirt got called off. The rain that fell was too much to fix the amazing course. It would have taken a week to build it back up so the organization made the decision to cancel the event for 2007 and invite everyone back in 2008. So what do you do when loads of riders are in town and no riding can be done? After quick thinking and some improvising the complete crew was shuttled to a big bowling alley nearby.

We arrived at the Empire of Dirt late last night. After a 2 hour delay (Easyjet hooray) and a 2 hour drive down to the middle of nowhere, Sascha Richter (Zwanzig Zoll) and I made it to a "hotel" that was built in the year 1300. You can imagine that the internet connection is not the best so we will try to get you updates from the road when we can. If we don't manage to get things online fast, expect a big update on Monday.