etnies

Bestwick Grabs Gravity Games Gold!

Taking the gold in contests is quickly becoming business as usual for etnies Jamie Bestwick. Less then a week after wining a gold medal at the LG Action Sports Championships in Pomona, California, Jamie grabbed another at the Gravity Games in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, September 18, 2004.

Jamie, who once gave up a really good job to chase his dream of being a professional BMXer, has proven once again that heҒs made the right choice. This past weekend, he overcame every challenge that was laid in front of him, and beat out Chad Kagy amid high winds that were felt tremendously on top of the vert ramp.

Jamies first run was so flawless, even a fall in run two wasnҒt enough to take him out of the top spot. He posted a 94.8, easily beating Chad, who earned a silver with 90.6. Congratulations again, Jamie! Keep racking up the gold!

Ian Carmichael Tribute Jam!

BMX Team Report 09-21-04

Mike Escamilla competed in the LG Action Sports Championships, where he rode well and placed a decent 16th, but just not good enough to make the podium. This week, Mike went up to Woodward West for a day to hang out with Dave Parrick and session the hell out of that place. He also went and rode the new bike-friendly Long Beach skatepark that has a BMX rider-designed bowl, where he crashed and got a good-sized hipper. Despite that, Mike will be riding the Triple Crown this weekend in Huntington Beach. Go buy his new etnies pro model shoe, the Rooftop 3 right now.
Taj Mihelich finally moved into his new pad and has been doing some hardcore decorating and making the place habitable with the Taj touch. He also got some riding in for etnies teammate Joe Rich, who was filming some final footage for the oh-so-nearly-finished Terrible One video, which will premiere in Austin, Texas. Besides all of the above, Taj has, as usual, been working hard at T1 and on the video release party. Taj's third etnies pro shoe, the Roscoe, will be available in January 2005
Ruben Alcantara just got back from a Fly Bikes road trip that took him and friends up to Portimao, Portugal to compete in a contest, where Ruben placed 2nd. Following that, Ruben and the Fly crew headed out on the road around Portugal to sample some culture and ride hot spots. They sessioned some really good places in Lisbon, and the trip ended in Vigo, where they rode the Fly Bikes warehouse. Ruben is home right now in Malaga, Spain, where he celebrated his birthday on September 13. Hes currently riding in prototypes of his upcoming etnies pro shoe. Look for it coming soon in 2005.
Jamie Bestwick has been one competing fool as of late. First, he rode the LG Action Sports Championships in Pomona, California, where much to the disgust of his competition, he won it for the second year in a row. Jamie then spent the week home in Pennsylvania, riding trails and getting in some wife time with Kerry before heading out to Cleveland to compete at the Gravity Games.In the presence of his wife, sister and mom, Jamie destroyed the competition, leaving them all in a cloud of dust. Jamie and his $26,000 then went straight home to chill, play golf and hang with the family. In a couple of weeks, he will be heading out to Vegas to attend Interbike and hang out in the etnies booth. Jamie will finally be getting lasik eye surgery right after the trade show.
Joe Rich has had his hands pretty much tied with editing the new Terrible One video, which will debut in Austin. He did manage to get in some final filming of his Terrible One co-owner and etnies teammate Taj Mihelich. Somewhere in there, heҒs managed to eat and sleep, also.
Dave Freimuth has been home in Appleton, Wisconsin, chillin' like a villain with his wife, Pattie, riding at Area 51 skatepark and getting ready for the Baco Halloween Jam at Area 51. Things are coming together nicely for the Jam. This past weekend, Dave had a BBQ at his house and invited some good friends over to enjoy the festivities. Next week, he will be hanging out with etnies / MacNeil Bikes teammate John Heaton, who is putting on a charity for a good friend of his who died a little while ago.
Sandy Carson is playing catch-up after being gone for awhile. Dig magazine is keeping him busier than should be allowed. Sandy has also been enjoying time with his girl, riding trails and T1, and shooting photos.
John Heaton has been doing shows locally after returning from Vancouvers Metro Jam. He kind of messed his elbow up a little at the shows, so he has been chilling, playing some golf, and, even though heҒs hurt, hes still been riding some street and getting ready for the benefit jam that he is putting on this September 25 for a good friend that recently died. JohnҒs birthday was on September 20.
Garrett Byrnes is home in New Jersey, still nursing his broken but fixed wrist, and not doing too much except bugging the crap out of his girlfriend, Crystal.
Josh Stricker just got back from the FBM Ghetto Comp in Binghampton, New York. He planned on entering, but showed up late after the comp had already started. The S&M Bikes video premiere was there, much to everyones appreciation. Josh had the first section, which nowadays has become kinda like the final part in a video if you have a couple of guys who should have the final part, but no one wants to make the decision. Josh is going to head to the Brooklyn Banks next weekend for the Animal Bikes Jam. Red Bull is putting on some kind of Tri-City street contest coming up soon, and Josh, Brian Wizmerski and Van Homan will be there representing Philadelphia. The other two cities will be New Jersey and New York, with riders to be decided.
Nate Wessel has been riding at Woodward East and is currently building a mountain bike street course for an event that Red Bull is putting on up in the Northeast.

Bestwick Grabs LG Gold Again!

With huge eight-foot airs and consistent runs, etnies Jamie Bestwick once again claimed 1st place and the gold medal in BMX Vert over the weekend at the LG Action Sports Championships in Pomona, California.

With runs consisting of massive 15-foot drifted flairs, opposite fast plant flairs and no- handed-540s, Jamie simply owned the BMX Vert Finals, leading the way from the very start. Even before the scores came back, the crowd knew Jamie had walked away with the $30,000 and another gold medal to add to his collection.

Congratulations on your repeat, Jamie, from your friends at etnies Footwear!

Metro Jam!

Vancouver, BC
September 2-5, 2004

You couldn't choose a better town to have a contest in than Vancouver. Its scenic, the weather's awesome this time of year, and there are 80-plus bike-friendly concrete skateparks--probably some of the best in the world--in and around the city. This is the second year here in Vancouver for the Metro Jam, an event held at the Kerrisdale hockey arena (minus the ice). And what an awesome venue it is--great location, perfect seating situation and one of the best park courses a contest could have.

Jay Miron and the Ten Pack crew run a tight ship, and know exactly what they are doing when it comes running this thing. Qualifying for amateurs was on Friday and the am Finals went down on Saturday morning. Sometimes I donҒt understand why some of these kids enter as amateurs, as they are at such an amazing level, they could definitely hold their own in the pro division. On the other end of the spectrum, there should for sure be a novice class, which should go for the pro class, as well, because there are some guys that are in way over their heads. But, I guess they can do whatever they want.

Pro Qualifying was Saturday afternoon, and if this was a foretaste of Sunday's action, it was going to be nothing short of awesome! I would be surprised if anyone walked away without shedding some blood. Sunday rolled around, with most of the Qualifying riders in the Pro class up bright and early--although some were a little worse for the wear from the night before. But for the most part, everyone was in one piece and functioning somewhat.

Sixteen riders made it through to the Finals--four groups of four battling it out in the jam-style format that everyone likes so much, creating a real session-like feel to any contest. Four guys are on deck at any one time, with eight minutes to get the job done and show the judges their stuff. Without going into too much detail and boring your pants off, here are some highlights with the results below.

Dave Osato (rocking etnies) killed it in Qualifying, but couldnt quite repeat it in the Finals, suffering a few falls. He fired out some pretty amazing nosepick 540Ғs on the Jersey barrier, a pretty bad-ass nose wheelie jumping from the barrier up to a six foot tall block and dropping onto a wedge, a pretty dope 360 tailwhip, which, consequently, was the only time he jumped the box. Dave capped off both Qualifying and Finals with a hop-whip to grind attempt that came pretty close, but no cigar.

Stephen Lilly brought trail-style riding to the comp and flowed the hell out of the course. Jake Honesto pulled one of the most amazing tricks of the comp: a 360 tire tap on top of the five foot tall pagoda to tailwhip in on the other side, sending him into 12th. As quoted by the announcer, Grotbags, of the Metro Jam, every time Brian Foster (rocking etnies) entered the course, Brian is the best all-around rider of all time.Ӕ He wasnt too far off-base, actually, because coming from an AA racing background, Brian can haul ass around a park course while still firing out all the tricks that make him a great.

Australia's Clint Miller is a lip trick wizard. Right out of the gate, he pulled an awesome stalled double tailwhip nosepick. He could have probably thrown a few more tricks in there to rub some salt in the wounds of his competition, like some techie tail tap / ice pick / 270 business up on the pagoda, giving him a respectable Final placing. Josh Harrington, the human toothpick. YouҒd think this guy couldnt hold up to any kind of fall, but believe me, he is one tough cookie. Josh rides fast, goes high and isnҒt afraid of too much. With some bike problems and a fall on a wallride to barspin, he could have placed higher. Van Homan, thats all I have to say about him.

CanadaҒs best kept secret, Dustin Guenther, has the perfect blend of smoothness, street skills, tech and burliness that makes him a great. Text book inverts, huge whips and a gap 360 over the driveway to feeble down the ledge gave him a decent final placing. Your 1st place Qualifier goes by the name of Morgan Wade. This guy one of the gnarliest, no-holds-barred, yet nicest guys around--he goes massive! Hes a tailwhip king with a bad-ass style, and being the only guy alive to consistently pull the bike flip, no wonder he rules.

Ryan Nyquist has come of age. A couple of years ago, he was pegged as a one-jump chump. He always did barspins and it was aggravating to his competition that he placed so high. Well, those days are long gone. Ryan now has an overflowing bag of tricks that have put all nay-sayers to rest. 720Ғs, tech lip tricks, awesome 360s, double truck 540Ғs and the biggest flairs I think anyone has ever seen, make this guy sure-fire winner.

All this was no match for San Diego Californias finest, Gary Young, a kid with way too much energy and way more moves on a bike than a human should have. Fast and furious would describe Gary well. He can hit more tricks in 90 seconds than any other rider. Beyond big wall rides, whip drop-ins off of the pagoda, 450Ғs, fast lines and a rear tire slide on the pagoda to revert culminating his run was all it took for the win.

After the Finals were over, the Oakley Best Trick contest went down on the driveway. A lot of good stuff happened, including Dustin Guenther again pulling the 360 to feeble across the whole driveway then down the ledge, some other kid with no name pulling a 540 across the whole driveway after the bell (so it didnt count), and the winning trick pulled by a guy named Mike Hoder, who gapped the whole driveway to over-toothpick on the down rail. It was a good twelve-foot gap, and the rail was pretty sticky, so seeing him pull it cleanly convinced the judges he should be crowned
Pro. Final Results
1. Gary Young
2. Ryan Nyquist
3. Morgan Wade
4. Dustin Guenther
5. Van Homan
6. Ryan Guettler
7. Josh Harrington
8. Clint Miller
9. Jeff Landtiser
10. Brian Foster (rocking etnies)
11. Eric Ream
12. Jake Honesto
13. Stephen Lilly
14. Dave Osato (rocking etnies)
15. Paul Kintner
16. Darin Read
Oakley Best Trick
Mike Hoder, driveway gap to over-toothpick down the rail

BMX Team Report 09-09-04

Mike Escamilla spent the majority of last week up in Vancouver for the Metro Jam that happened this past weekend. He enjoyed riding all the awesome concrete skateparks up there, plus shooting photos and filming. Mike just missed the cut for the Finals at the Metro Jam by one place, but got another opportunity when a rider dropped out. After a near testicular debilitating collision with another rider, however, Mike was unable to participate.
Taj Mihelich spent the beginning of the week at home in Austin working at T1. The paperwork finally went through on Tajs new place, so he has been couch surfing for the last couple of weeks until he moves in. Taj headed up to Vancouver for the Metro Jam in hopes of riding, but his ribs were still hurting, so he decided not to enter. Good thing, too, cuz knowing Taj, he would have gone balls-out and hurt himself even more. He got roped into judging instead. Taj is currently wearing the final samples of his third etnies shoe, the Roscoe. Look for it in January 2005.
Ruben Alcantara has been home in Malaga, Spain for the last week-and-a-half since returning from an epic South Africa trip with etnies teammates Joe Rich, Sandy Carson and Sergio Layos. He has been chilling as much as possible, swimming and surfing a bunch at the beach, since temperatures have been over 100 degrees on a daily basis. Later in the day, when the heat dies down some, Ruben and his friends have been riding a new BMX track in town. He says it's lots of fun, because you can race the whole track without pedaling, which is always a plus. Later this week, Ruben is going to Portugal to ride at a local contest. From there, he will be heading out on a Fly Bikes road trip. Ruben is currently riding samples of his long-awaited etnies shoe, the Terranea.
Jamie Bestwick has been home enjoying life and getting ready to head out to California, where he will be defending his LG Action Sports Championships win from last year. Living near Woodward has its perks, but in the meantime, he has been riding trails quite a bit and getting a little more ballsy, hitting bigger sets and doing some of his bigger tricks through sections he previously thought a little too gnarly. Following the LG thing, Jamie will pretty much be heading straight to Cleveland for the Gravity Games.
Joe Rich is under the gun to get the long-awaited T1 video done before Interbike at the beginning of October. LetҒs hope he gets it done! Other activities coming from Joe have been working at T1, riding his motorcycle and riding trails a bunch in between scorching hot days.
Dave Freimuth and John Heaton spent the whole last week up in Vancouver, BC shooting photos and filming for MacNeil bikes, as well as riding some of the most amazing concrete parks on the planet and getting ready for the Metro Jam. John rode in the Jam, but didnt make the Finals, even though he did some amazing shiz-nit. Dave scratched his attempt at entering after riding practice and figuring out he just wasnҒt feeling it. He still has a pretty swollen elbow sustained earlier back home in Appleton.
Sandy Carson started the week at home in Austin by being a sick little boy and visiting the hospital because of a staph infection in his elbow. He did get some riding in between the hot weather. Later in the week, Sandy took off to Vancouver to attend the Metro Jam. Whether or not he was going to ride was up in the air, but Sandy ended up shooting photos of some of the action for an upcoming issue of Dig BMX. Good call, Sandy!
Nate Wessel is out at Woodward East, chilling, riding and designing some skateparks that he will help build in the future. Hes also getting ready to head out to California, where he will judge the LG Action Sports Championships on September 11-12.
Josh Stricker is back East shredding Philly and surrounding cities and filming for the upcoming S&M video with the rest of the team. He has also been shooting photos for an upcoming Ride UK interview
Garrett Byrnes is home and healing up fine after wrist surgery a month-and-a-half ago. He is hoping heҒll be all good and healed in time for the etnies Backyard Jam at the end of October in Derby, England. In the meantime, Garrett has been at home pedaling around on his beach cruiser, skateboarding a little and hanging with his girl, Crystal.

Ian Carmichael Tribute BMX Jam!

Evolutuion Skatepark
2600 Rutherford RD
Vaughn, Ontario
L4K 2N6
Canada