Have
you ever been sensed that you were living a significant event
? When you tell yourself “I ‘m living something that
will be remembered for a long time”?
Well, even if the word is excessive, that’s the ambiance
of this Saturday and mainly this Sunday, 8th of May 2005 in Achere,
a quiet little Paris-suburban town.
Except the fact, always impressive, to see Lee Musselwhite chatting
with Jesse Puente while Viki and Wolfgang ride in jam with Pete
Brand, not far away from Terry Adams, Alex Jumelin, Martti kuoppa....etc.
Something did happen :
This contest has been more that a sum of pro-riders, it has been
a real Alchemy of the mad scientist Alex Jumelin, who finaly set
fire at the lab!
First, when you arrive on saturday morning, You take the usual
slap in the face : The first pros. In front of your half asleep
eyes an extraterrestrial called Michael Sommer performs a “switch
foot pedal steam roller” (the only trick the speed allows
you to identify) Then you put your bike down, sit, and watch.
Actualy, all this is seen like you were dreaming, without really
undestanding what is going on. But in fact, the tricks, pleasure,
the ambiance, everything is growing up till Sunday evening, and
then, with the pro-battle, we ain’t far from the overdose!
I feel sorry for you, poor reader who missed this legendary moment!
I give up trying to convey the feeling achieved there, I’ll
just tell the facts, which are enough to consider the event.
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Click
the image to see more ..
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By
the way I’d like to say that at the begining I didn’t
like much the word of “battle”, I imagined a jealous
competition for money, the result has been really different:
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Scott
O’brien is already gone wild, while running arround
the flat area he announces the beginning : in the first
corner of the ring Wolfgang Sauter, in this one Martti Kuoppa,
in the other corner, Viki Gomez, and there Alex Jumelin
preparing himself to the clash. And so begins 30 minutes
of high speed jam, the tricks follow on very, very; very
fast. Except Wolfgang who keeps on excelling in his art
of fluidity, small contrast indeed, between the famous KGB
riders and this incredibly smooth rider.
What’s more this contrast has been obvious with the
results : Martti, Alex and Viki are riders who can be classed,
there level of the moment and theirs best tricks aren’t
the same at all but can be compared, but Wolfgang, perhaps
too different couldn’t access the podium.
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Exception
made of this major event of the contest, the other pros
were in the place too ! The impressive jumps of Terry
Adams will be remembered as well as his (ritual but still
appreciated) pedaling deathtruck. We don’t introduce
Jesse anymore his reputation was before him, even if he
kept saying “bad day” apologizing not to pull
his hardest tricks... Believe me he really impressed us.
Bad day but great rider! He also made a friend, John la
Knette Leblond, from Grenoble in France, who even rode
with his bike in the end!
Lots
of young riders discovered a prodigy who comes too rarely
in europe : Pete Brand, and the man was in great shape
: a real trick machine! Although he scared every single
pro at the practice, his final run didn’t allow
him to go further than the 5th place, too bad!
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What
has been really impressive compared to the other contest
i saw, is that the ambiance was GREAT, the competition between
riders was still really positive, and everybody were talking
with everybody, were meeting new people. Even if the riders
were stressed out with the contest, it hasn’t broken
the vibe.
Pros were revealing an human face, for instance Wolfgang
who was playing with his little kid, and Alex and his son
who was calling him during his run. We forget too often
that our idols are human beings.... Moments like that are
great!
So a 98% perfect recipe, the 2% missing would be : First
the fact that the wonderfull KGB frame special edition was
won by the 1st master instead of the first amateur like
it had been announced. Second thing, the final pro podium
: the 3 KGB riders...It leaves some doubts...
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I’m
not saying that they didn’t deserve it! Viki and Alex
seemed at the top of their form and Martti who (according
to some people had just gone through health problems) wasn’t
at his best level, has pulled some crazy links anyway. However,
each time he fell, he kept a beaming smile, and this is
a proof of the ambiance which reigned for this edition of
the ninja spin, a contest that keeps on improving itself.
Can’t
wait for next year! |
Results
Pro
1. Viky Gomez
2. Martti Kuoppa
3. Alex Jumelin
4. Wolfgang Sauter
5. Pete Brant
6. Jesse Puente
7. Michael Sommer
8. Justin Miller
9. Bram Verhallen
10. Peter Sarlos
11. Sam Foakes
12. Raphael Chiquet
13. Terry Adams
14. Alexis Desolneux
15. Adam Kum
16. Sebastien Pospichil
17. Efrain Catlow
18. Lee Musselwhite
19. Sven Steinbach
20. Michael Steingräber
21. Sergio Concalves
22. Christophe Dassie
23. Sebastien Grumbinger
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Master
1. Nicolas Ferrando
2. Benjamin Gros
3. Winkel Syltse
4. Pierre Fabre
5. Romain Georges
6. Alex Alexandridis
7. Antoine Andoque
8. Stephane Ferrard
9. Fabien Stephan
10. Yannick Chauvel
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21st
of May 2005 - Ilan Giguel (thanks to my dad for all the photographs)
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