etnies

La Revolution 2003 Results

La Revolution
September 27-28, 2003
X-Dreams Skatepark
Rochester, New York

A lot of the contests these days really do blend from one to the next, but the La Revolution comp in Rochester is a little different. The main reason that is that the X Dreams park there is very unique in the sense that its basically one huge ramp. There is not one ounce of floor showing around any ramp. The guys who built and run this place wanted to make it as smooth as possible (plus the floor beneath was pretty crappy), so they built and layered everything in a high-quality masonite, giving the park one hell of a smooth ride.

The comp was put on in its usual hardcore fashion, ran by the guys at Hell on Earth productions, with its usual loud and heavy music rocking. The jam- style format runs really do work the best for contests and it shows by allowing guys to put time and effort in concentrating on individual tricks or combined runs, making for some exciting moves and some exciting crashes (just ask John Heaton).

Twelve guys made the finals and I think everyone had a banger to finish their runs--guys were really throwing down some stuff. Some of the high points were Derek ғManiac Girrard hucking himself across a huge gap and snapping his crank arm and chain all in one foul swoop.
Brian Kachinsky nose wheelieing everything in sight--rails, ledges and decks. Dan Bogart (who in my opinion should have placed higher) is around fifteen or sixteen and completely shredded the whole place with a silky smooth, awesome style and a lot of original stuff.

Cory Martinez (a crowd favorite)--who is not officially on etnies, but was rocking the shoes and a shirt for the finals--is just so consistent and stylish that itԒs hard to ignore. He is definitely the future of bike riding. Smooth lines and hard tricks made up Corys runs for a well-derved second place. First went to MaNeil / etniesҒ own John Heaton. He didnt plan on going to Rochester, but constant badgering from his team manager got him down there and it paid off. Huge 360 tables, 360 turndowns, tailwhip gaps, huge Fufanu back rails and a 360 side rail Fufanu on the mini-rampҗall with crashes that would have been the end of any other mere mortal--John Nailed it in more ways than one. Going home with $2000 in his pocket was definitely worth getting off the couch for.

Results
1. John Heaton (etnies)
2. Cory Martinez (representing Etnies)

3. Shanton Wilson
4. Brian kachinsky
5. Dan Bogart
6. Tony Hamlin
7. Eben Fischer
8. Brad Simms
9. Quinn Semling
10. Trey Hinton
11. Anthony Napolitan
12. Derek Girrard ManiacӔ

Backyard Jam Returns To Derby

October 25-26, 2003
Storm Skatepark
Derby, England

On October 25-26, the etnies Backyard Jam returns to Storm Skatepark in Derby for its final event of 2003. Already well-known for going against the grain of some of the more mainstream x-tremeӔ sports events, the final Backyard Jam of 2003 will be no exception. The rider list will be massive and boast some of the top names from the U.S. and the U.K., including team riders from Hoffmann, MacNeil, Fit, S&M, Terrible One, Metal, Kink, Primo, Federal, FBM and UGP. At the last Etnies Backyard Jam in Derby, over sixty professional BMX riders entered to show off their jaw-dropping skills. 2003 can only get bigger!

So far this year, etnies Backyard Jam events have been held in Bournemouth and Coventry and were THE events to attend if you were truly into BMX. The main reason for this is that fun is one of the main factors andӅthe atmosphere is relaxed.--Dig magazine. Riders confirmed to be coming so far include Jay Miron, Bas Keep, Ben Hennon, Mike Aitken and Jon Taylor. Expect to see the usual etnies U.S. riders--Joe Rich, Brian Terrada, Ruben Alcantara, John Heaton and Garrett Byrnes, to name a few.

Not only is there a Street course at Derby, but a Flatland upstairs, with riders such as Brian Tunney and Amos Burke competing. There will be over sixty expert riders competing on Saturday for products--always guaranteed many loose cannons in this group. The last etnies Backyard Jam held in Derby was sold-out and those lucky enough to get inside were not disappointed, as there was absolute carnage on the street course. The Canadian Beast, Jay Miron, knocked himself out cold before getting back on his bike and finishing his run, and Terrible OneԒs Taj Mihelich ended-up with ten stitches in his bottom lip. This time round, practically a year to the day, expect nothing less than edge-of-your-seat, boundary-breaking, progressive riding.

For more info, scope: www.backyardjam.com

Simon O'Brien Interview

Where are you originally from?

Down under--near Sydney, Australia.

How old are you?
Twenty-three.

How and when did you start riding?
About nine-and-a-half years ago, just from friends. I liked seeing kids on bikes, liked seeing tricks--it was good.

Did you ever ride bowls and street, or just flatland?
I used to jump a bit and rode some street, but I mainly ride flatland these days, because it helps me get around the world [traveling to contests] and it's fun--I like it.

Is this your first time in the U.S.?
It's my second time in the U.S.

Where are your favorite places you've traveled to so far?
Australia, Germany, Scotland and Paris is pretty good.

What about America?
Greenville, North Carolina is not too bad, and Canada's good.

What's been the greatest accomplishment so far in your career?
X Games.

Let's talk about your recent win at the X Games and what you had to do to get there.
I just ride a lot, practice and try to become a good rider. You've got to totally focus mentally and know that you want it.

You won the superbowl of freestyle. How do you feel about Americans sitting on their couch with a bowl of potato chips and a beer watching you on TV?
It's great--that's funny, that's really good.

What are your strengths and weaknesses in riding?
My weaknesses would be consistency, and I don't get to progress as much due to traveling. My strengths would be that when I'm at home, I progress.

Flatland looks like it's gone into another direction completely compared to street, ramps and vert. What do you think about that? What do you personally do to push the sport of flatland?
I try to progress as much as possible. I think there is definitely so many possibilities in flatground with rolling, flipping and flowing, for sure. I think riding and sometimes stumbling across new tricks and sometimes thinking about new tricks is all good. I just ride and try to progress.

Just take flatland in your own direction?
Exactly.

What does it take for the average person to understand what is going on when you ride, when even most of the other professional flatlanders can't understand what you're doing? How can you make people comprehend what you're doing on your bike?
If someone is riding down the street and feeling good on a bike, just pedaling and rolling. It's the same kind of feeling for me--but in a creative, artistic kind of way.

What do you think it'll take to get flatground BMX in the public eye more?
If TV shows would cover it more. I heard 54321 are doing more on it, which is good. Just more coverage, I think. Recently, Alex Joumilen came out with a flatland DVD. I think he displays the sport with a really good image, which definitely helps.

What other sports do you engage in?
I go bodyboarding a lot. Sometimes I like it so much more than riding--it's really fun just to go bodyboarding with my brother. I also listen to music.

What are your planning on doing in the near future?
I'm going to the Metro Jam in Canada, then on a road trip with Nathan Penonzak, then I'll go home and just ride flat and surf. 

Are you going to go to Disneyland first?
No, I dont think so.

I hear it's the happiest place on Earth.
(Laughs)

What about this next Winter, which is Summer for you? What are your plans?
To just go home. I've got to work, and hopefully travel Australia at the start of next year. I'll think about traveling the world again for some contests, then I have to come back to America again for the next X Games, so I'll spend some time here for that.

The Busiest Bees In BMX

Mike Escamilla has been on the Sprite tour (a hip-hop tour) for the last four weeks. The shows have been going off and getting great responses from everyone. He is also riding samples of his third signature etnies shoe (coming soon). Mike arrived home Monday, September 15.

Taj Mihelich has been working on a retrospect issue of Props video magazine, which means sitting through years of issues. Hes also been drawing-up some new shirt designs. Taj has been home rehabbing a little after returning home from the Vancouver Metro Jam, where he drove himself into a wall pretty hard and gave himself a good hipper--not to mention his previously injured wrist. He's been going to the gym to work on the portions of his body that are actually functioning. Taj has also been riding the 9th Street trails some and the T1 ramp now that it's cooled down a little in Austin. Taj wants to get as healthy as possible, because heҒs going to start filming his own section in the T1 video thats in production as we speak. With fingers crossed, the vid should be out by the end of the year or maybe Spring 2004. Taj turned thirty years old on August 31. The Rock shows continue at the Ritz.

Joe Rich, Ruben Alcantara and Garrett Byrnes all attended the Vancouver Metro Jam, but none of them entered for one reason or another. Following the comp, all the guys left on a West Coast road trip heading South from Vancouver down through Washington, Oregon and then into California (check out the upcoming story in Ride and my version here on the etnies web site soon) before finishing up in the LA area, where they did some photo shoots for etnies ads, web, catalogs, etc. for five days. Joe took off back home to Austin to take on some of the work burden that Taj has had for the last eight or so months and also to start work on the first-ever T1 video.

Ruben headed straight out to hang with friends in the Dominican Republic for ten days, checking out the scene down there and having a good time. His signature shoe on etnies is near completion. Ruben's birthday was on September 13. Garrett went home to New Jersey to take care of some insurance issues and then he's heading down to hang-out with Ruben in the Dominican Republic.

Sandy Carson has been hanging out in the Northwest with friends and doing the couch tour thing, hitting all the awesome spots that Vancouver, Washington and the area has to offer. Sandy entered the Vancouver Metro Jam, as well as covering the comp for Dig. He has also been working super hard on getting the next issue done.

Josh Stricker is just a hop, skip and a jump away from being done with school. He will probably be the first college grad on the etnies BMX team. With some time off, Josh did a ghetto tour with the guys from Faction magazine around the Philly area. The weather finally cleared-up enough for everyone to ride out doors (the weather has sucked all summer, according to Josh). HeҒs been riding with street legend Van Homan and shot some photos with BMX Plus's Adam Booth.

Jason Enns finished-up his part on the new Ride -magazine video, Digital Interface. He also got the cover (with his dog) of Dig magazine this month. Jason has been on Props Road Fools #12 for the last week-and-a-half with the likes of Cory Martinez (who has been rocking etnies lately), Ryan Nyquist and Gary Young. Check it out soon. Jason has been home enjoying some rest and relaxation. He also got approved on the house that he and his girl Portia put in a bid on, so they will be moving in at the end of October.

Before going to Vancouver's Metro Jam, John Heaton attended the Woodstock Ontario Beach Festival, where he got pretty sunburned doing shows with some friends who have a stunt show team called The Crazy Crew. John was also at his boss, Jay Miron's, contest in Vancouver, the Metro Jam, where he did pretty darn well. John is home chilling enjoying some decent weather. His birthday is on September 20.

Nate Wessel is still nursing a healing ankle / broken leg (he's at about seventy-five percent right now) at Woodward camp out in Pennsylvania, while hanging with the kids and working on some new ramps out there. Nate has been riding a bit, but just taking it easy until the doc gives the green light for him to go full-bore.

Dave Freimuth has been helping build the new Area 51 skatepark across town in Appleton, Wisconsin after the old one had to go away. Dave has an upcoming etnies ad, so check it out. He also attended the Metro Jam in Vancouver put on by Jay Miron and the Ten Pack crew. Dave shredded and made the finals with his original tech style, teaching some of the new blood on the scene that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Edwin Delarosa is home in New York right now and has been taking care of his broken wrist, trying to get in good enough shape so that he can go to the last Backyard Jam of the year in Derby, England. He is still praying he doesn't need surgery. Edwin went out to Cleveland, Ohio to hang-out at the Gravity Games. Although he claims that he didn't, I bet he did hang with Vanilla Ice at an after-party.

Brian Terada has been riding locally around Camarillo and also spent a couple of days at Woodward West. He has a hipper right now, which he is nursing and trying not to fall on again. Besides that, he has been working at the Camarillo Bike Factory and hanging with his girlfriend.

Nate Hanson time has been consumed with getting his business up to speed. What with all the inspections by the city, insurance and product liability, etc. it's been a real headache, but Nate seems to be weathering the storm quite well. Besides that, Nate has been working part-time at Tip / Primo on their new catalogs. In between his busy work schedule, hes been able to get some sessions in on the Primo ramps and hang with his wife, Michelle.

Sandy Carson On Movement

The second issue of a free Canadian BMX magazine called Movement
is out now, featuring our very own Sandy Carson on the cover.

Says main man Dan Heilbrunn: "Movement
was a natural extension from an old zine that I used to put out called Sleepy. People always ask me whether Movement
is a zine or a magazine, and to be honest, I don't really have a good answer for that. I am definitely not going to get into the details of what makes a mag a mag or what makes a zine a zine. I don't have time to expend much energy thinking about stuff like that.

"So, this leaves me with only one explanation: Movement
is a mag / zine I run because I think its fun. I gaurantee that anybody you talk to who has made a zine in the past will tell you the main reason they did is because they had fun doing it. I may print a lot more copies than your average photocopied zine, but the enjoyment behind doing it hasn't changed a bit."

Movement
has got amazing distribution around Canada (1664), USA (Hell on Earth and UGP) and the UK (Seventies). In fact, with the demise of Chase
magazine, Movement
will soon be the only BMX mag in Canada, and the staff really wants to step up and make it available on a regular basis. Let's keep independent BMX publishing alive in Canada!

Web site
: www.reverb54.com/movement/

Metro Jam Results

2003 Vancouver Metro BMX Jam
Pro / Expert Street and Flatland Competition
Kerrisdale Arena, Vancouver, BC Canada
August 28-31, 2003

Results

1. Dave Osato
2. Tobias Wicke [etnies]
3. Justin Inman [etnies]
4. Dustin Guenther [etnies]
5. John Heaton [etnies]
6. Van Homan
7. Ryan Guettler
8. Jim Cielinski
9. Alastair Whitton
10. Benny Korthaus
11. Dan Montgomery
12. Ryan Sher
13. Matt Beyers
14. Jeff Landtsier
15. Travis Lyons
16. Taj Mihelich [etnies]