Hannah Roberts, Lara Lessmann, Angie Marino, Nikita Ducarroz, Ellie Chew, Charlotte Worthington, and the rest of the best ladies in BMX throw down in the finals at FISE: Edmonton.
The Park Finals on Sunday afternoon brought a decent crowd to the indoor park at the Nass Festival. After three days of heavy partying in the heat, the indoor place wasn't exactly a place to chill. It was hot and people were drained, but the 12 finalists wanted a piece of the Pro Purse. 2 runs each of 60 seconds per run with the best run counting was th format, and the riders went for it. Nick Bruce's first run was killer but he crashed on his last trick. That shot Justin Dowell in the lead which he never gave up. Justin tricked on every ramp he hit for 60 seconds straight to win Park at Nass in 2018. After a few years of absence a posessed Jack Watts was back like he had never left. Riding at Southsea on the daily sure has helped him get back at it. James Jones showed why he's part of team
We left for NASS on Thursday morning. On board were MC Andy Zeiss, Philip de Jong and uncle Paul, a great road trip crew. For people not in the know, NASS Festival takes place in the middle of nowhere in a field in the South-West of England. People camp out, use the showers on the premises and eat whatever food is available at the festival. With 5 days ahead of us we had packed three coolers, some tents, chairs, some snacks, food, and whatever else we thought we would need. In other words, we came prepared. On arrival it took a bit of smooth talking to get the Vito next to the Glamping Tipi tents that were already set up. Andy, Paul and Seb Heijna shared one of those. Philip and I both threw a 2 second tent in the air, rolled out the self inflating Decathlon mat and threw the sleeping bag on top. We had no electricity so powerbanks, gas tanks and batteries took care of our needs such as light, and coffee. But first we had some adult drinks to kill while they were still icey cold. Folding chairs were put up, a strong table was placed in the middle and a phone played our favourite songs. We were camping out to the fullest.
Every single day we woke up in a sauna. England enjoyed a heat-wave which meant at 8am the sun was already up and tried to get everyone out of their tents. It worked better than an alarm clock. The camping area was just a short distance away from the NASS Festival where the Dirt, Vert, Street and Park events were held next to all the concerts that were planned. Nearly 20.000 people were around, looking for a good time. Those who came for BMX could enjoy the music. Those who came for the music, could enjoy a bit of BMX.
Up next on the program was Vert. It was good to see how many people had signed up for it. In the Open class as well as in the Invitational group. Park riders that gave it a shot. A girl that gave it a very reasonable go airing both ways showing that Vert is not dead, there are just not a lot of Vert comps happening these days. With Nass, Benny Kopp’s Bielefeld jam and the X-Games, this year the U-Pipe riders don’t have a lot of choice.
But when they get together, the action is good. The Final on Sunday also brought a decent crowd to the big ramp that is normally based at Southsea Skatepark. A vert contest actually fits well over at a British comp. It takes some balls to send it above coping and Ash Finlay as well as Kaine Mitchell sent their flairs to the moon. Oakley Way got a good flow going on the ramp and finished 7th. Jon Kearns has such a good flow going both directions where you don’t even know what his regular side or getting air is. Add a few feet to his aerials and he’s up there with the best of them. A pleasure to watch indeed.
Paul Meacher, Alex Landeros, Zach Newman and Vince Byron were the true vert dawgs at Nass this year with Paul going the highest of them all. Alex Landeros brought no-handed flairs for the Brits to enjoy and wall all over the ramp as was crowd favourite Zach Newman with his original riding style. Australian Vince Byron had to dig into his bag of tricks to get the top spot and the combination of height, riding both ways and his tricks got him first place after almost missing out on qualifying.