BMX Allnighter
I cant remember the last time I was in a room full of over 300 BMX-ers who all wanted to ride, who all had great ability and who all went absolutely nuts with the incentive of winning a couple of quid to fund their next pub crawl and a new pair of Rockports. Well that was pretty much the Rampworx all night jam summed up into a small media friendly sound bite!
Rampworx Skate Park is the largest indoor skate park in the UK and has been heavily involved in BMX since its doors opened around 11 years ago. It’s also a charity now and the ‘all nighters’ have become an annual event on the BMX calendar and this one proved to be the biggest yet. The whole thing was organised by Rob and Ian who own the gaff and BMX front brake misfit” Bongo” who pretty much promoted through the 8th wonder of the world that is “My Space”. To add a little flavour to the event the first screening of Matty Lamberts latest street DVD “Non Stop” was going to be previewed and if that wasn’t enough, United bikes promised a couple of big shots from across the pond. It soon became apparent how popular the event was when I arrived and joined a half a mile long queue of BMX-ers waiting to get in and ride.
The evening was divided into a bit of a free for all and then a few friendly comps on various obstacles. First up was the ‘triple bar spin’ challenge. A modest 100 buff was put up for grabs for the first rider to land one of these. I can think of a few who might have won and taken the beer money but to my disbelief no one even tried it. No sign of bar spinner Ryan Brennan, Jason Phelan was injured and Ian Morris was spectating. If only it was1998!!!
Next up was the jump box comp where best trick won 60 biggies. I remember the Telford Backyard Jam where Jay Miron came to town and busted a Three whip and blew everyone away. Nowadays it’s a set up trick on the rhythm section before dropping a hammer. Lots of good stuff went down including Shaun Mc Cracken’s double three whip to late X up but it was pint sized local ripper “Bombhead “ that took the win with a huge 180 barspin and a shed load of other bangers! I’m sure that the Krazy House will look forward to the £60 as much as he did!
Having a jump box comp always seems a little unfair to me as there’s loads of street riders who are brilliant, but don’t ride box. However this was put to rights and a driveway/rail comp was held where another 60 large on offer for the best manoeuvre! In my opinion the stuff that went down on this was some of the best riding I’ve seen a long while. United’s Nathan Williams owned it right from the off and did quite a few moves that I’m sure wont be repeated for some time; including an ‘Ice pick grind up’, across and down the big rail was the beast that got him first place and also a ton of respect from just about everyone in the place. Scott Ditchburn literally didn’t stop riding all night and pulled an old school no hander gap to ice grind over the entire driveway. Add another 100 rail variations and a nasty spank that left him with a tweaked knee and that was the ‘Ditchburn’. Local hero, BMX veteran and all round shredder Owain Clegg pulled a gap to nose wheelie over the driveway to grind box whilst taking a few good ‘uns for the team and the session was topped off by Robin Fenlons rail 50/50 to hop over 50/50 grind box combo.
KHE’s Harry Maine at around the ten feet mark won the high air comp. Local lunatic Sam Ward actually went higher but in true Ward style crashed and ended up in a tangled mess. Too much went down to write about but goes to show how big BMX is right now and what fun can be had when its organized by BMX-ers, people who actually care and a venue willing to support BMX. People travelled from all over the UK to come and ride from ‘dusk til dawn’, meet new friends and share one hell of a night on board a kid’s bike.
-Northern John
Rampworx would like to thank all of the sponsors of this event for making it possible and ask that you support those that support you.