Round 2 of the Flatland World Circuit, the BMX Masters in Cologne, Germany took place on July 4th and 5th. As usual it was held in a big party tent on painted OSB wood surface. Never the best surface to ride on, because it is spongy, it was certainly not the worst either. The Masters organizers tried to make Flatland look even better in the media by building a round fence around the riding area. It was a nice idea for pictures, but it also minimized the riding area for practice and not everyone was happy about that.
Among the 43 pro riders trying to qualify for the finals, the top ten finishers of the Voodoo Jam were present as well. Would the Japanese Voodoo winner Ucchie be able to repeat his back wheel magic and win again? Would US boy Matt Wilhelm be able to one up his second place finish with his precision spinning? Or would the new comer of 2008, Dominik Nekolny from the Chech Republic jump his front wheel switches to victory? Well, all three of them made the 14 rider final, but none of them was to be in the top three this weekend.
As opposed to Voodoo Jam, the Masters were not held in a battle style format, but each rider had one run only of two and half minutes to show their skills. Terry Adams made the most of his chance, entertaining everyone with his big tricks as well as his facial expressions, earning him 3rd. Hungary’s hot shot Adam Kun had a great run, pulling many original tricks and switches to prove he is worth second place in a tough final. The win went to a young rider from England who handled the pressure of qualifying in first place and stayed up there. Sam Foakes not only took first place in Cologne, but also took the lead in the ranking for 2008, just ahead of Ucchie.
The FWC and KOG Finals in Tokyo in October will be very exciting and will also determine the winner of the 2008 Flatland World Circuit. Be there to witness some Flatland insanity!
Ranking after round 2:
1 Sam Foakes 1761 points
2 Yohei Uchino 1745 points
3 Matt Wilhelm 1735 points
4 Terry Adams 1714 points
5 Matthias Dandois 1705 points
5 Justin Miller 1705 points
7 Dominik Nekolny 1609 points
8 Hiroya Morizaki 1473 points
9 Raphael Chiquet 1467 points
10 York Uno 1459 points
11 Shintaro Misawa 1386 points
12 Hidekazu Kuga 1346 points
13 Yoshiaki Mukai 1141 points
14 Adam Kun 939 points
15 Alexandre Jumelin 778 points
16 Michael Steingraeber 761 points
17 Art Thomason 728 points
18 Moto Sasaki 696 points
19 David Weathersby 681 points
20 Effraim Catlow 665 points
20 Wolfgang Sauter 665 points
22 Mickey Gaidos 635 points
22 Chris Boehm 635 points
24 Aaron Frost 620 points
24 Martti Kuoppa 620 points
26 Ed Nussbaum 605 points
26 Waldemar Fatkin 605 points
28 Takao Fukuoa 590 points
29 Viki Gomez 576 points
30 Des Maarsens 562 points
31 Peter Sarlos 548 points
32 Michael Sommer 534 points
33 James White 520 points
34 Peter Szabolsci 507 points
35 Sascha Heydemann 493 points
36 Stephan Fabien 480 points
37 Shinichi Kiba 467 points
38 Martin Drazil 454 points
39 Markus Reich 442 points
40 Alexis Desolneux 417 points
41 Giannis Caternellis 405 points
42 Frank Lukas 393 points
43 Gilles van de Sompel 381 points
44 Georgios Kikos 370 points
45 David Hoffman 359 points
46 Syste Winkel 347 points
47 Manoe Daskalakis 336 points
48 Daniel Henning 326 points
49 Jonny Kramer 315 points
50 Niko Vorselas 305 points