photo: Marco Knezevic
In this story on Fort McDowell's 10th annual BMX competition, I'm going to focus on some of the most remarkable riders and personalities that made an appearance on November 19th and 20th, 2005. No messing about; I've got a video to edit, so let's begin, shall we?
photo:
Derrick Riggs
photo:DerrickRiggs
Shawn Sexton, Winner, Pro Street--I remember first seeing Shawn when he was this little kid with a disproportionately large head that learned tricks super fast. He moved away for a while, and when he moved back to the Valley he was a full-on shredder. He's been hovering around the contest scene for a while, sometimes entering am, sometimes not entering at all, but this was his year to shine. He turned pro and shot right to the top of AZ comps.
photo:
Matt Pavelek
photo:
Derrick Riggs
photo: Marco Knezevic
Nate Berkheimer, Winner, Pro Dirt—Vegas liver, friend of Ricardo Laguna, goddamned job done getter. He didn't have any one trick that blew everyone away, but he went higher than a mug and did rad variations over every set, every time.
photo: Derrick Riggs
Tuba Mike, Winner, Game of Bike—Brian Golembiewski touts him as the best rider in Arizona. Well if he isn't, he's most assuredly the one with the deepest bag of tricks. As Brian pointed out, after the trendy kids were seeing who could hang five the furthest in a straight line, Tuba went out there and hanged five a couple loops around the sub rail. I felt honored to have taken him out of the game of bike last year, and this year he returned the favor, and booted everyone else's asses out as well.
photo: Matt Pavelek
photo: Derrick Riggs
Pete Ulibarri, Winner, Best Trick-- If you talk to the Flag kids, they'll say Pete has generally gotten screwed at local comps. Actually, they'll say they've generally gotten screwed at local comps too, and they'd be right on both counts. Best trick is one of those comps that is not subject to the nuances of a hungover, grossly unqualified judge's skittish brain patterns. You either did the best trick, or you didn't, and the audience will make it perfectly clear who gets the prize. Somewhere along the way, Pete realized that screwing with that monstrosity of a sub rail was the key to taking home Best Trick, and he screwed with it until it relinquished a three-tap over it's frame.
photo:
Matt Pavelek
photo: Derrick Riggs
Johnny Stevens—This is another one of those sleeper kids. I've known how good a rider he is for a while, but everyone's catching on now. He didn't place so well (see above paragraph for possible reasons), but he tore shit up with more style than KC Badger and a thousand and one more tricks. And now he's got that new bike-friendly Prescott Skatepark to hone his skills on. Like RJD sings, “Look out!”
photo:
Marco Knezevic
photo: Derrick Riggs
Greg Litecki-- Dude fired off a bunch of rad shit
in pro street before he got broken off, but his contribution to this year's comp
produced much more than just a few oohs, ahhs and WOAH's. He pitched in bigtime
with Jack to pull the comp off this year, and the solid new ramps can testify to
that. He's opened up the Fort three times since the contest, and his taking of
an ownership role out there can only be good for this scene.
photo:
Marco Knezevic
photo: Derrick
Riggs
The Kink team—WOOOOO! How lucky are we! The Kink team showed up! But what did they do besides desperately try to prove how much cooler they were than everyone?
The Odyssey team—See above paragraph.
photo: Matt Pavelek
Danny Williams, 540 tailwhip tailtap.
Derrick Riggs, Marco Knezevic, and Matt Pavelek—These guys all contributed excellent photos for this article. I'm stoked to see riders doing some quality photography. Capturing and presenting riding for other riders, the general public, and posterity has always been just as important as riding itself. I saw an X-games calendar shot by professionals in Safeway less than a year ago, and it was pure shite. It's guys like Derrick, Marco and Matt that show the beginners, the advanced, and even the pro photog's how to shoot bmx right.
photo: Matt Pavelek
Devin Kalt—He shot pro on Saturday then edited together a nice little vid for the web on Sunday. He's been hustlin' this thang like a Southside pimp, but if perchance you haven't seen it yet, click here:
http://www.powow.com/thur5d4yf4n/fort%2
(Editor's Shameless Plug: Devin may be giving his
video away for free, but ain't nobody peeps'in what I shot until I release “The
Impetus of Cletus” on DVD, coming soon to a bike shop near you. Or until the
premiere.)
In 10 years, the Fort Contest has come a long way from the single big dirt jump contest it was back in '96. Sure, it had a couple low years, but it's bounced back. We're pretty fortunate we have the Fort Comp here in AZ. It would be difficult to find any local annual bmx contests around the nation that have gone on, year after year, for ten years. When you go to the Fort, you can at least be sure of one thing. I believe Doug Coffee from Flag said it best-- “When you're at the Fort, you forget to eat, you forget to drink enough water, you just ride.”
