FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Carry dropped Paul and I off at Eindhoven airport at 6am to go to the Snickers Soul Bowl contest. We were both hired to judge the comp. Once in the plane we had to sit there for 90 minutes because the air traffic control computer had crashed and needed to be rebooted. On arrival we saw a Snickers sign with our names on it. Thanks for waiting for us Wendy. From Heathrow airport all athletes, organizers, judges and riders were directed to the Ibis hotel to chill for a bit. The big Coach (Paul's Coach travels) was leaving for the Donnington Park at 15:30pm. It was a 3 hour drive from London but with everyone (a.o. Koji Kraft, Kevin Robinson, Jimmy Walker, Jamie Bestwick, Steve Swope, Page Hussey, Big Island, Jay Eggleston, Achim Kujawski, Stefan Geisler, Tom Stober and a bunch of skateboarders) in one vehicle it was bearable.

The philosophy behind the euroBMXstreet championship series: There have never been a BMX -Freestyle- European Championship and we would like to establish one. The increase in performance between the National Championships and the Oversee-dominated BMX-worlds is amazing. Also the financial and organizing expenditure of a World Championship is very huge and it is very demanding for the riders and promoters. BMX Freestyle deserves its own European Champions. The thing should be for fun and it should work, because of that we would like to start with the street-discipline in 2004. So we can keep the expenditure easy to grasp and we can gather some experiences, too. In 2005 there will be some more disciplines, if the idea is successful in this year.

The euroBMXstreet (european mastership BMX freestyle street) is taking place in 2004 for the first time. The first round was held in Heerlen, The Netherlands at the Promise park on the first weekend of May. The EuroBMXstreet championhips are hold as a series in three rounds at three different places. Every round consists of qualifications (takes place on Saturdays) and the final-round (takes place on Sundays). For the total result only the two best rounds will count. For every round there is a result base 1000 points (and then counting down), that means #1 = 1000 points, #2 = 999 points, #3 = 998 ...

CANADIAN CONQUEORS CARDIFF AT THE RED BULL THREE DEGREES Around 6,000 people flocked to Cardiff Oval Basin today, one of the hottest days this year, to witness legendary rider Jay ‘The Beast’ Miron from Canada take first place at the Red Bull Three Degrees BMX event.

Becky, Marketing co-ordinator over at Hotwheels sent me an E-mail to inform me about their latest team rider trip to Scandinavia. Together with the pics it makes for a good tour report for FATBMX. Read on what Becky and the boys experienced on their trip up North. I just wanted to let you know that the Hot Wheels roooooadtrip went real well and we returned from Scandinavia last week! We visited Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden, Oslo in Norway and Copenhagen in Denmark - it was amazing! I really didn't know what to expect, all I wanted was for the guys to have fun, get to ride some different places, sample the local night life, meet new people and friends! and on top of all that I wished for good weather!! I guess that is actually quite a lot to ask for when visiting new countries, you can never be sure the way things will work.

ROOTS JAM ORLANDO FLORIDA 2004 “Going back to the ROOTSâ€? was decided a minute after last years Roots jam, this is gonna be in my schedule every April from now on. Florida is not the worst place to travel to in April, nice weather, good nightlife, friendly people and what more. Over 160 amateurs thought that too and with lots of flatlanders and Pro’s it made this one of the biggest comps in the USA.

THE QUEST OF THE FLAMINGO At a time where football is taking over our TV, Italy is without a doubt the place to go. The greasy long hair kind of superstars are running after the ball, and the loud supporters are leaving the streets. No cars means no traffic jam and no fear. I am telling you, go to Italy. And if you have the chance to know some of the guys at Wethepeople, it could be possible that you would spend a long week of insanity. Wethepeople goes Italy [article by Ben Bello from Soul Magazine, comments in brackets by Rob Harrison]

19 September 2004. Cologne, Germany. At 16:00hrs the IFMA Bike Challenge King Of Dirt Finals were on the program. The set up was the same as last year. A drop in ramp followed by 3 sets of fairly easy double jumps that were shared by BMX and mountain bike riders over the weekend. 13 riders made it to the finals. 12 actually qualified but somehow they forgot Andreas Kittel on the score sheets (he had tied with 2 other people in the qualifiers). Big surprise was the appearance of David Theissen in the finals. The 9 year old HARO/Ferdi Fuchs rider cleared all sets on his 16 inch bike! He might have got some kid-bonus points in the qualifying round to make it to the main event but it sure was cool to see him jump all sets on his little Mirra machine.

The 2004 Kzoo BMX Jam went down this weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan and it was a blast! Saturday night was a hot and heavy session from 6-midnight with dudes (and even a couple girls!) flying all over the park, both inside and out. It was seriously nuts outside for awhile with the Van Orman brothers (Beeler and Ted), Jeff Degryse, Project Pat and everyone else getting it done. There was even an appearance by a dude simply known as "The Legend", who tore up the park in a curiously wild style.

- Jamie Bestwick is organizing the first round of the 04 GoodTimes contest on 29/30 May next. Venue: FLOW skatepark. $ 8G pro purse. More info on Bestrick.com. It's good to see the pros caring about the BMX future. - KGB part owner Martti Kuoppa had planned to stay in Signapore for three months as a personal trainer of a kid in the East. After some personal problems the Finnish flatland ace took a flight back to Helsinki where he's riding in a crappy cold garage again working on his solo video project and KGB bikes. He's on his 3rd prototype now and happy about it.