phil townsley - 2020 bmx magazine

PhilTownsleyPrintMedia/Design/Layoutwww.philtownsley.com

www.revolutionmtb.com.au

www.2020bmxmag.com.au

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My GT Bikes team manager and I have been trying to expand the GT program for a while now. Especially outside of the contest style of things. We wanted to be able to go on some trips to film and shoot photos and just hang out with no worries of trying to good at a comp. This year we’ve started to get our way and were lucky enough to get three of the GT flow riders out to Australia for a one week trip around Brisbane and beyond.

This is what its all about. Meeting new people, riding new spots (and all the ones I already knew of). We ended up getting much more than we planned to and the trip was a huge success. Thanks to Chuck(TM) and GT Bikes for making this happen!

Dillsy

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Justin was without a doubt the iron-man of the trip. At a skate plaza, Justin was without a doubt the iron-man of the trip. At a skate plaza, Justin was without a doubt the iron-man of the trip. At a skate plaza, Justin was without a doubt the iron-man of the trip. At a skate plaza,

he was filming Dave and a rock got caught up in his wheel on his he was filming Dave and a rock got caught up in his wheel on his

skateboard. BOOM!skateboard. BOOM!

The HVX goes flying across the floor, ejecting memory cards and breaking The HVX goes flying across the floor, ejecting memory cards and breaking

the shell of his fisheye lens. I rode over and said, “Dude, is the camera the shell of his fisheye lens. I rode over and said, “Dude, is the camera

alright?” Little did I know, Justin had broken his thumb. It swelled up real alright?” Little did I know, Justin had broken his thumb. It swelled up real

nice and quick, and he said it didn’t hurt that bad. nice and quick, and he said it didn’t hurt that bad.

We bent his fisheye shell back into shape, and he said, “Dave do you still We bent his fisheye shell back into shape, and he said, “Dave do you still

want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure. want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure. want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure. want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure. want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure. want to film that line?” I was in shock! This guy is a trooper for sure.

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Collin, well, what can I say Collin, well, what can I say Collin, well, what can I say Collin, well, what can I say about Collin? The dude goes about Collin? The dude goes upside down so much and that upside down so much and that is amazing to me. I couldn’t is amazing to me. I couldn’t even imagine doing half of the even imagine doing half of the stuff he does on his bike. I stuff he does on his bike. I think I got in his head a bit think I got in his head a bit though because after the first though because after the first couple days he stopped doing couple days he stopped doing flairs and back-flips. I was flairs and back-flips. I was bummed about that for sure.bummed about that for sure.bummed about that for sure.bummed about that for sure.

We shredded some spots that I could We shredded some spots that I could We shredded some spots that I could We shredded some spots that I could

only dream about back in Arizona, ate only dream about back in Arizona, ate

kangaroo meat, rode a park 50 feet from kangaroo meat, rode a park 50 feet from

the shore, watched my teammates do the shore, watched my teammates do

some insane trickery, and watched rugby some insane trickery, and watched rugby

for a good three hours straight trying to for a good three hours straight trying to

figure out the rules.figure out the rules.figure out the rules.figure out the rules.

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Without a doubt one of the m

ost infamous riders out there in

Australia today. A

lways keen to ride, keen to get hooked up

and keen to im

press. Josh has been shredding hard over the

last months and pulled in som

e banger shots, so it was only

right to pull together an insight into one of the more enigm

atic

people in BM

X today. Love him

or hate him, you m

ight do best by m

eeting him instead of jum

ping on the bandwagon. O

pen

your eyes, judge for yourself, the proof is in the riding.

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TeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains Jam

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As a newbie to the BMX scene, being asked by Matty Lawton of Tempered Bikes to photograph my first jam is a daunting task. I met Mat 8 months ago when I purchased my second ever BMX. I was 7 when I got my first, a redline series three (quite some time ago). Since meeting him I have got to meet the guys from the Tempered Bikes team, an amazing group of riders who have welcomed a BMX virgin.

The Filthy Drains Challenge is brought to you by Tempered Bikes and run by Mat Lawton. This sort of event represents what I have come to love about the BMX scene. Mat is a passionate rider who gives back to the industry with the hard work and commitment typical of an underground company.

When did you start riding?

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t riding haha!

How did Tempered start?

Tempered started when I was about 15 and it has grown into the world wide BMX brand it is today. It’s kind of funny, I never realised how far it would have come from just a few bucks in my pocket. I started off just doing tees and stickers and then I grew more and more eager to get into the parts side of the industry.

Why did you want to start it?

At the time, there were no real core BMX brands in Australia and after selling tees for a year I decided it was time to try and create something really great with what I had.

What inspired you to start the Filthy Drains Challenge 3 years ago?

Once again, at that point in time there was nothing amazing happening in the direction I loved, apart from the annual Flemington banks jam, but I wanted to create something grimier and gnarlier and try to make it the biggest BMX jam in Australia.

Why do you think it is important for companies to put jams on like this?

I definitely think it’s important for Tempered because jams like these are everything we stand for. As far as other companies and brands go, it just depends on how lazy they are and what they’re doing for BMX.

Where do you see FDC next year?

After this year’s FDC and seeing the 250 plus riders throwing themselves at the creations we built, I can only imagine next year’s event being twice as gnarly with twice as many competitors battling it out for the challenges.

Those ramps looked pretty ghetto. Who built them?

Some of the ramps were built in my garage with the help of Thomas Dunn, Tom Stretton and Wazza. Everything was built on location with the help of Garreth, Drew, Jerry, Macca, Tom NZ, Morrisey, Andy Uber and there were a few others, but these guys were the solid crew. But if it wasn’t for Garreth and Drew busting their balls I don’t think the day would have been so rad!

I heard it was a stealth mission getting the timber for the ramps.

Haha, you could say something like that! There was a group of us that spent weeks doing night missions to steal pallets, ply and other random crap.

Tell me about the trailer blow out.

Haha, well it started with a phone call to Jack asking if he was down to go out that night and borrow a bunch of supplies, of course he was down for the cause. I already had a trailer that I borrowed from Andy Jansen, I’m not sure if it was registered and I knew for sure there were no lights on it. But I didn’t think we would get into any troubles. I made plans with Drew Mclean to meet him at his place around 8 that night but we didn’t get there till around 10. First off, we left my place and got onto the motorway, then we realised the trailer had gotten a flat tyre, so we pulled over and thought, “Yeah sweet we got a spare so let’s get the jack and switch it over”. About 30 minutes of going through Jack’s car we realized he didn’t have a car jack, so there we were, stranded on the side of the motorway with huge trucks speeding by and no way to change the tyre. We tried a few other things but after another 30 minutes I decided to call Jerry and ask if he could lend a hand, so he kindly drove to us with tools and a car jack and we were once again on our way. That was just the beginning of the night, the rest involved being followed by

FILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGEFILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGEAs a newbie to the BMX scene, being asked by Matty Lawton of

FILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGEAs a newbie to the BMX scene, being asked by Matty Lawton of As a newbie to the BMX scene, being asked by Matty Lawton of Tempered Bikes to photograph my first jam is a daunting task. I met

FILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGETempered Bikes to photograph my first jam is a daunting task. I met Tempered Bikes to photograph my first jam is a daunting task. I met

FILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGEFILTHY DRAINS CHALLENGE

TeMPerEd Drains JamTeMPerEd Drains Jam

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best rail trickbest rail trickbest rail tricksecurity, no ply at the main spot and being caught out by an Afghan man in a pet van.

Are there any unofficial sponsors you would like to thank for the ramp builds?

Steve Morrisey for all the ply and his help, Bunnings for leaving pallets unattended, Garreth Hadfield for his carpentry skills and Drew Mclean for his well skilled ramp building. Also Jason Starr for lending some power tools and always arriving with bags of screws. But if it wasn’t for Garreth, Drew and all the Tempered guys, Drains Challenge 2009 might not have been functional.

I couldn’t believe how many people turned up. There must have been at least 200.

In true drains challenge form I rocked up a little later than I expected and although I stated on the Tempered site for people not to rock up until 1pm, there was over 100 riders there around 11.30am and by 3pm there was an easy 250 plus riders there shredding the ramps we had built over the last few weeks. It was such a good feeling seeing so many riders throwing it down in a set of drains, thank you to everybody for coming and having a good time.

There were some pretty big names at the jam. Who were they?

There were a few dudes there who are well known for their wild styles and trickery, but the standouts to me were Nick Cooper, Mitchell ‘Macca’ Macdonald, The Bolter twins from NZ, Clint Miller, Mikey Cz, Cooper Brownlee, Snappa and of course all the Tempered guys were throwing down for the crowd throughout the day.

What makes the Tempered guys different?

The Tempered crew are a big bunch of chillers who shred gnar no matter what the prize or outcome may be, they are all down to have fun and talk smack.

Mikey Cz did a massive drop from the railway line. What was with that?

Haha before the drop I had seen Mikey smash at least five beers so I’m not even sure if he even knew what was with that! After Gumbie bitched out last year, Mikey definite-ly had some big shoes to fill and he blew those shoes to bits.

You had a bunch of challenges. What were they?

Yeah every year I try to get as many riders involved in the challenges as possible and this year we had some pretty wild riding going down. The challenges were ‘Highest Mark on the Wall’ won by Nick Cooper, ‘Longest Jump’ won by Brodie, ‘Longest 180’ won by Nick Cooper, ‘Best Rail Trick’ won by Macca, ‘The Mazz Challenge’ won by Thomas Dunn, ‘Best Wall Ride Trick’ won by Chris Courtenay and ‘Best Spine Trick’ was a tie between Clint Millar and Macca.

What the hell was the MAZZ?

The MAZZ happened one night when me and Warren Bowers got drunk and one thing led to another and the MAZZ was born (out of wood, nails, hammers and a lot of hand saw action). Haha it was pretty much just a big wave that went into a small kicker and it was very tight to ride. Only the best made it through.

Did you see Snappers slam man? That was so wild, that would have hurt?

Haha, I didn’t actually see the slam but I saw the aftermath and it didn’t look too pretty. Snappa is a wild man that’s for sure.

Yeah it is so cool seeing people just having fun. That is what it’s all about hey?

Of course dude! I spent over $500 on spray paint and nails, not to mention all the fuel spent looking for wood and all the hours put into building, yet I made nothing in return, but to me the day was the reward in itself. And that’s what is gonna keep me doing things like this for Australian BMX.

Things got a little crazy near the end hey?

In true Filthy Drains style something had to get set on fire and old TV’s had to get thrown off something. But I was a bit annoyed to see someone set fire to the couch because it ended up burning the whole rail stage, not to mention making half the people sick from the couch fumes which were toxic. But, it’s all fun and games right?

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best rail trickbest rail trickbest rail trick

How did you get the sponsors together and who were they?

I always get in touch straight away with Jamie Moore at Stowaway and Mike Daly over at Kickass and 2020. These guys have been supporting me 100% since day one and they always help me out so much with these events. Steve Morrisey at Ride On helped out a bunch last year so I thought it would be dope to get him on board again. Andy Jansen from UberDistro who has been doing so much for me and Tempered lately stepped in and helped out so much with prizes and organising. I also had two clothing companies, one was from the US called Legend Status and the other was from QLD called Dirty Gremlin. Both of these brands got in touch with me at late notice but I was very happy that they came on board cause they are both doing a lot for BMX. And I’m glad they came on board. Also this year Triple 666 helped out with a lot of Eclat products, big thanks to Sam for that.

Is there a video coming out on the blog of the drains? Where can we find it?

There will be one up on the Tempered site by the time this goes to print at www.temperedbikes.com.au Raphael Jeroma-Williams filmed all day for Tempered and Jack Birtles will be editing it together. Peta Shepard also helped with filming on the day.

I can’t wait for the jam next year. Same place, same time?

Same time definitely in April but same place not sure yet, we will see where our Drains finding is coming along.

highest mark on the wallhighest mark on the wall

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highest mark on the wallhighest mark on the wall

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FBM has a long-standing reputation as one of the most travelled and respected companies in BMX so we thought it was more than overdue to get some of their pro

team out to mix it up on some of the best terrain Australia has to offer. We didn’t want this trip to be purely a “pro” tour where the kids barely catch a glimpse of their favourite riders strutting their stuff only to disappear into the tour bus/hotel room and are on their way again. We wanted to mingle with the riders at their own spots and give them a time to shine and more importantly have a damn good time while we did it!

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BMX tours are a dime a dozen these days and with good rea-son, travelling the unknown road with good mates and your

trusty steed should be the best times of your life. That said, stinky hotel rooms, weak wi-fi connections and hire car bills could all bring the fun to a rapid end before you know it.


What could be better for the visiting riders than sleeping out under the stars in swags and getting to meet and ride with the local riders at their favourite spots?

Answer: Nothing. We cranked up the fun meter as we trekked from Canberra to Goulbourn then onto Sydney and Newcastle before heading that much further west to Dubbo then to the coast at Coffs Harbour up to Lismore and Byron Bay to the Gold Coast and spending the last of the 12-day tour in sunny Brisbane. The crew consisted of FBM owner Steve Crandall, Garrett Guillams, and Kenny Horton all from the USA. As well as Peter Koh, Lou Reeves, Kie Ashworth, Kelvin Pentland and Pat O’Neill, who all make up the Australian portion of the FBM team. Dave Rubinich came along to shoot and Kane Chappell and myself driving the rigs and keeping it all together.

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In the past 30 years there has been six outstanding BMX freestyle rider’s in my book. Bob Haro, Eddie Fiola, Mat Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Jamie Bestwick and Ryan Guettler. When I say outstanding I mean just that.

They have the entire package. Great rider, fantastic personality, very driven, focused people. Basically a marketing companies ideal sportsman. To achieve this you have to have the entire package. It seems to be every five or so years someone just stands out from the crowd. I have seen it, I have lived it.

Now I am privileged to say I believe I have found the next thing in BMX freestyle. Jaie Toohey! This kid has it all, height, style, originality, consistency and to finish it off has all the most difficult tricks out there under his belt already. Jaie has an amazing personality, he is fun, caring and very considerate of other’s. So anyway, enough about me lets meet the real Mr Jaie Toohey!

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Has it been weird riding against crew you looked up to and in some cases making a final over them?

It’s really weird. I’ve been really nervous riding against the people I have looked up to for a long time. When I make the finals with them it is an amazing feeling.

What’s your dream, what are you shooting for?

My dream is to ride bikes, do well and buy Guettlers Chrysler 300C off him.

And what keeps driving you to progress your riding?

Lately seeing Mark Webb and Harry Main. Those two guys are out of their minds. They just want to make you get up and go out there to try and learn new stuff.

What’s your top 3 tricks right now?

Flair whips, fakie front flips and up-side down 360s.

And what’s been the hardest trick for you to learn? Is there one that’s always bugging you?

Probably the fakie front flips. You got to get the fakie so right so you can pop straight off the coping to come around and land perfectly.

I saw you handling the 180 at warp speed into a fakie front flip at Slam, is that going to be unleashed on the AST Tour?

Well maybe if I get the time to take my sprocket bolt out so I can roll backward without pedaling yes!

What’s the best video part you’ve seen lately?

Probably would have to be Endsearch, Josh Harrington’s section for sure.

Any word on a Jaie Toohey video part anytime soon?

That would be an awesome dream, but unfortunately nothing like that yet. Maybe in a few more years time!

What would you be doing if you weren’t killing it on a 20inch?

I would be racing supercross for sure.

What kind of advice would you offer to anyone out there that wants to follow in your footsteps?

Just don’t get into BMX for the money. Get into freestyle riding for the love and passion of riding.

So, any thanks?

Mum, Dad and my family. Thanks so much for believing in me and for everything you have done for me. Forgotten BMX and John Buultjens, without the confidence that you have in me I would not have got as far as I have gotten today, thanks mate! Vans shoes for doing heaps for me in the States and with my visa, Jerry Badder’s thanks man. And Les from AA cycles, Charmhaven. Having Corey always there to check my bike over. Richard from Slam Factory’s, it’s great place to ride. Thanks heaps to the guys at Jet Pilot for the past 6 months and to my new current clothing sponsor Unit. I am so looking forward to be your newest team member. Huge thanks for all the people who help me out, please forgive me if I have forgotten anyone! Peace!

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Mongoose Road Trip (sort of)

Most things in BMX never really go according to plan and the Mongoose trip was no exception. It was looking good from the start though, with email’s fl ying around talking about a no-plan trip leaving Melbourne after the BMX Games and ending up in Canberra the following weekend for Cam White’s Dirt Jam. A van and crew of Mongoose heavy hitters were organised along with Big Salad, AKA Troy Charlesworth, along to fi lm.Story and photos Nick Gascoine

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Mongoose Road Trip (sort of)

Most things in BMX never really go according to plan and the Mongoose trip was no exception. It was looking good from the start though, with email’s fl ying around talking about a no-plan trip leaving Melbourne after the BMX Games and ending up in Canberra the following weekend for Cam White’s Dirt Jam. A van and crew of Mongoose heavy hitters were organised along with Big Salad, AKA Troy Charlesworth, along to fi lm.Story and photos Nick GascoineStory and photos Nick Gascoine

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540

Hur

rica

ne B

arsp

in

Of course the whole trip went to hell before we even got going. If it wasn’t one of the Mongoose riders getting hurt riding in the Games, it was one of them getting hurt before the Games even started. Basically this left Vince Byron as the only rider until we managed to recruit Daniel Donges along for the trip. This didn’t make his girlfriend very happy though because she would be enjoying the 11 hour drive home all by her lonesome.

After spending a night on the teams Formula 1 floor, we all got an early start by sitting in the van while big Neil took Vince on a mammoth walk to get his leg looked at by a doctor. It was horribly infected from continuously putting his pads back on over a bad cut. With antibiotics in hand we headed off to Rampfest to get some clips with more people who weren’t on the trip than there were on it. At least we did manage to get our lenses warmed up with the untouchable flow of Donga boosting the shit out of the box jump, with clicked as hell turndowns and tables, massive to say the least.

As quickly as it started, the fun was cut short when on re-entry we all heard a loud crack from his forks that ended the session and subsequently most of the riding for him on the trip. So with not much going for us at this point in time, apart from Salad’s insane sense of humour and split personalities, we called it off and headed for the closest McDonald’s to find the free WIFI so we could find our next destina-tion. This would become a staple point of our days to come, trying to find free WIFI while eating shitty food.

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540

Hur

rica

ne B

arsp

in

Of course the whole trip went to hell before we even got going. If it wasn’t one of the Mongoose riders getting hurt riding in the Games, it was one of them getting hurt before the Games even started. Basically this left Vince Byron as the only rider until we managed to recruit Daniel Donges along for the trip. This didn’t make his girlfriend very happy though because she would be enjoying the 11 hour drive home all by her lonesome.

After spending a night on the teams Formula 1 floor, we all got an early start by sitting in the van while big Neil took Vince on a mammoth walk to get his leg looked at by a doctor. It was horribly infected from continuously putting his pads back on over a bad cut. With antibiotics in hand we headed off to Rampfest to get some clips with more people who weren’t on the trip than there were on it. At least we did manage to get our lenses warmed up with the untouchable flow of Donga boosting the shit out of the box jump, with clicked as hell turndowns and tables, massive to say the least.

As quickly as it started, the fun was cut short when on re-entry we all heard a loud crack from his forks that ended the session and subsequently most of the riding for him on the trip. So with not much going for us at this point in time, apart from Salad’s insane sense of humour and split personalities, we called it off and headed for the closest McDonald’s to find the free WIFI so we could find our next destina-tion. This would become a staple point of our days to come, trying to find free WIFI while eating shitty food.

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The next thing I know, I wake up in the back of the van with recollections of being in Melbourne CBD, only to look around and all I could see were paddocks. Phil, our driver and Mongoose team manager, had decided our best bet was to hit Warragul Skate Park. Warragul has a great park but has some weird locals. Most notably the scooter brothers who turned out to be twins. I turned around at one point and found one of the twins standing right next to me with my face and his being the best part of two inches apart, this in turn really freaked me the f*ck out. Seems like this was their signature move, and they proceeded to freak out everyone else in turn. In a short time, Salad had become buddies with the creepy-twins and kept them out of the way while I shot Vince destroying the big bowl quarter with flairs, tables, old school no-handers and 540’s.

We eventually packed all our shit up and piled it all into the van, but before leaving and trying to find our accommodation for the night, Salad had enough tome to hand out some stickers, sign a copy of 2020 and also sign the back of some kids phone. Pro.

Day two of the trip was looking promis-ing from the start, everyone was keen and we hit the road to find our next skate park for a possible clip. But then the realisation hit that it was so f*cking hot outside that no one wanted to be out there. So riding was now kept to the evening where it was at least 5 degrees cooler and you didn’t melt in the sun. On the plus side, Donga did find a fishing rod next to Sale skate park. So from there on every time we stopped in a town, the question would be asked ‘Where’s Donga?’ and inevitably we would see him walking out of the local fishing tackle store.

After getting our Macca’s WIFI hit, we cruised into town to get a headset for a broken bike. Thanks goes out to Glen at Rawsons in Bairnsdale for sorting us out.

Leaving town, we soon spotted what seemed to be a BMX track from the 80’s, which had turned into just a track of large grassy, rocky mounds. We all got excited and swerved the van in to check out the ‘local shred spot’. We all got our bikes out and chopped like mad around the course with Donga leading the

charge by boost jumping from one jump to another more or less while the rest of us sat in the shade of the van drinking beer. The highlight was most definitely when Salad strapped into Vince’s full-face helmet and slayed a one hander over a jump for the camera.

After that we decided that our resting spot would be Lakes Entrance, which we knew had a skate park and at least some sort of fishing facilities that Donga could get right into. We hit up the local park in the late afternoon and once again ‘Big Salad’ was on, riding nothing other than a borrowed Mongoose. Troy chopped at the bank-like quarter and busted a suicide no-hander, a tailwhip to one foot lander and the all time best, a bar spin to landing so hard the bars moved back into his lap. We finished the session by having a cast down on the dock with Donga and called it a night heading back to the ‘accommodation’. After drinking a few beers and solving all the worlds problems we headed to bed in a one bedroom thing which six people were going to sleep in.

Day three shaped up to being an interest-ing day with more driving and small towns but ended on a high with us hitting up Pambula skate park. If you ever head this way, make sure you head down to Pambula beach and sneak a bounce on the big pimple down at the caravan park. This thing was probably the most entertaining non-riding-thing we found on the trip, and had all of us laughing so hard. With our boosted morale, we hit the park for our most productive day so far with Vince getting a number of tricks locked down. 540 hurricane bar spin, a massive downside whip over the large hip and he also boosted the shit out of the BIG vert quarter.

The fourth day being the last day of the trip we found ourselves doing some driving to make it to Canberra for Cam’s jam on the Saturday, but we did find time to hit another small town skate park. Eden has one of the worst parks I have ever seen, there was not a lot of motiva-tion to get out of the van and into the heat, but the-machine-that-is-Vince got out and fufanu’d the back rail of the strangest flatbank spine/bank/tranny quarter combo.

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Always keen to steal the banger though, Vince called 10 bucks for Salad to rail-ride-to-barspin a one foot high shotgun flat bar in the middle of the park. Never scared to earn the cash, Troy proceeded to ride at the rail on an angle and managed to hit a pine cone that had been put on the ground for foreground effect in a photo. This threw him into death wobble mode and he ended up with wheels on opposite sides of the rail. As we all watched in almost slow motion, he ate shit on top of the rail with his arms by his side, swan diving into the ground. I can’t remember laughing so hard. Props to you Salad for getting amongst it brother!

After making it to Canberra in decent time, we headed to Weston Creek where Vince once again found some form and banged out flair no-handers and flairwhips like they were nothing until myself and Troy were happy with the photos and the footage.

Apart from the sometime small, smelly and hot conditions on the trip, a great time was had hitting the more unknown places for BMX up the east coast and having a good laugh along the way. A big thank you has to go out to Mongoose Australia for letting us do this, and an even bigger thank you goes out to Phil Townsley for organising everything and making sure it all went to some sort of plan.

Fufanu

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Always keen to steal the banger though, Vince called 10 bucks for Salad to rail-ride-to-barspin a one foot high shotgun flat bar in the middle of the park. Never scared to earn the cash, Troy proceeded to ride at the rail on an angle and managed to hit a pine cone that had been put on the ground for foreground effect in a photo. This threw him into death wobble mode and he ended up with wheels on opposite sides of the rail. As we all watched in almost slow motion, he ate shit on top of the rail with his arms by his side, swan diving into the ground. I can’t remember laughing so hard. Props to you Salad for getting amongst it brother!

After making it to Canberra in decent time, we headed to Weston Creek where Vince once again found some form and banged out flair no-handers and flairwhips like they were nothing until myself and Troy were happy with the photos and the footage.

Apart from the sometime small, smelly and hot conditions on the trip, a great time was had hitting the more unknown places for BMX up the east coast and having a good laugh along the way. A big thank you has to go out to Mongoose Australia for letting us do this, and an even bigger thank you goes out to Phil Townsley for organising everything and making sure it all went to some sort of plan.

Fufanu

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Jaie Toohey. Thats all.

PHOTO Raine Turnbull

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AFTER 3 YEARS OF PUTTING ON THE HILLSIDE DIRT JAM, CAMERON WHITE DID NOT DISAPPOINT, AND THIS YEAR PROVED TO BE THE BEST SO FAR. THE JUMPS WERE MORE DIALLED THEN EVER, SMOOTHER THAN LAST YEAR AND HAD EVEN BEEN BUILT UP, MAKING THEM EVEN MORE MASSIVE. THEY ARE EASILY SOME OF THE BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE WORLD. THE HILLSIDE JAM IS A CHARITY EVENT AND THIS YEAR PROCEEDS WERE GOING TO THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONS AUSTRALIA, WHICH IS A CHARITY GROUP WHO HELP OUT THE 5 MAJOR CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS IN AUSTRALIA.

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Saturday the 31st January 2009

In the afternoon as everyone turned up it was clear that there was a much larger turnout of riders and spectators this year. There were even a few riders that made the trip over from America including Mike “Hucker” Clark, TJ Ellis, Nate Berkheimer and Anthony Napolitan. It’s pretty awesome to see riders travel from the other side of the world to ride some jumps in rural Canberra!

The format for the jam was simple. A one hour jam would take place and at the end the riders would vote for the winners of best trick, best style and king of the hill. The jam got under way just after dark, and straight away the riders were killing it. It is so hard to name everyone who was shredding, because everyone was riding amazing, but here are some of the main high lights:

*Young local Chris Harti has stepped it up recently. He is one of the only true locals at Cam’s jumps, riding the place just as much as Cam does and it shows. He boosts every jump so high with awesome style, and was even flipping the last set and 360ing mid rhythm. The kid is so good, and so young I cant wait to see his riding in a few years.

*Jaie Toohey is unstoppable, even in practice he couldn’t help but throw down. He was lofting these amazing dipped 360’s on the second set, and big flip inverts over the 40 foot fourth set. I’m pretty sure I saw him triple whip the last set in the jam and maybe even flip whip as well.

*Dane Searls is the back to back winner of king of the hill from 2007 and 2008, but had a bit of bad luck this year crashing on the last set splitting open his chin. But before he crashed he was putting on a show. Dane is so comfortable on real big jumps its ridiculous, I guess he just loves going high and I don’t blame him. Big stylish no foot cans, superman’s. And he was throwing these amazing off axis 360 whips on the last set. So good to watch!

*Cam White was so busy running round organising everything you wouldn’t even think he would have the energy to ride at all, but he still rode and was doing all his usual bangers. Keep in mind Cam’s usual bangers are insane, it is incredible that he can keep such massive tricks on lock. Big flip whips, double whips, and the Cam White original: Backflip barspin to tail whip. Cam also front flipped the 40ft set, which I don’t think any one has ever done before over that massive jump.

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* TJ Ellis Nate Berkheimer

*Mike “Hucker” Clark

Hucker!


*The Las Vegas crew was in full effect, and and Nate Berkheimer made the trip out and did not Nate Berkheimer made the trip out and did not Nate Berkheimerhold back. Nate was quick to adapt to the massive hold back. Nate was quick to adapt to the massive jumps, doing big slow flips over the 40ft and 360’s jumps, doing big slow flips over the 40ft and 360’s mid rhythm. TJ Ellis is a straight up badass, I saw mid rhythm. TJ Ellis is a straight up badass, I saw him flip tail whip the 40ft set and go straight into a him flip tail whip the 40ft set and go straight into a massive front flip on the last set. He also did a 360 massive front flip on the last set. He also did a 360 double whip and a double back flip on the second double whip and a double back flip on the second jump, which was voted by the riders as the best trick jump, which was voted by the riders as the best trick of the jam. of the jam.

*Mike “Hucker” Clarkstates and was quick to become a crowd favourite. states and was quick to become a crowd favourite. Every time he rode there was a big grin on his face, Every time he rode there was a big grin on his face, like he was having the time of his life. Rumour has like he was having the time of his life. Rumour has it that two days earlier when Hucker had his first it that two days earlier when Hucker had his first attempt at the jumps, he made it thru first go and attempt at the jumps, he made it thru first go and back flipped the last jump. Before he had even back flipped the last jump. Before he had even jumped it straight… WTF! In the jam he was the only jumped it straight… WTF! In the jam he was the only rider 360ing the 40ft set, and the only rider to ever rider 360ing the 40ft set, and the only rider to ever do it. It seemed that he enjoyed 360ing that jump so do it. It seemed that he enjoyed 360ing that jump so much that he basically did it every run. Couldn’t help much that he basically did it every run. Couldn’t help himself. He was also doing massive 360’s on the himself. He was also doing massive 360’s on the last set both ways, and massive flip whips. These last set both ways, and massive flip whips. These insane dipped 360s on the second set that looked insane dipped 360s on the second set that looked more like crazy barrel roll flips. And then to top it off, more like crazy barrel roll flips. And then to top it off, Hucker fired out a perfect double flip over the last Hucker fired out a perfect double flip over the last set, spinning amazingly slowly since the jump is so set, spinning amazingly slowly since the jump is so huge. The kid is crazy! This insane riding scored huge. The kid is crazy! This insane riding scored him king of the hill, a well deserved title.him king of the hill, a well deserved title.

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The Las Vegas crew was in full effect, TJ Ellis made the trip out and did not

hold back. Nate was quick to adapt to the massive jumps, doing big slow flips over the 40ft and 360’s mid rhythm. TJ Ellis is a straight up badass, I saw him flip tail whip the 40ft set and go straight into a massive front flip on the last set. He also did a 360 double whip and a double back flip on the second jump, which was voted by the riders as the best trick

Mike “Hucker” Clark was also over from the Mike “Hucker” Clark was also over from the Mike “Hucker” Clarkstates and was quick to become a crowd favourite. Every time he rode there was a big grin on his face, like he was having the time of his life. Rumour has it that two days earlier when Hucker had his first attempt at the jumps, he made it thru first go and back flipped the last jump. Before he had even jumped it straight… WTF! In the jam he was the only rider 360ing the 40ft set, and the only rider to ever do it. It seemed that he enjoyed 360ing that jump so much that he basically did it every run. Couldn’t help himself. He was also doing massive 360’s on the last set both ways, and massive flip whips. These insane dipped 360s on the second set that looked more like crazy barrel roll flips. And then to top it off, Hucker fired out a perfect double flip over the last set, spinning amazingly slowly since the jump is so huge. The kid is crazy! This insane riding scored him king of the hill, a well deserved title.

Hucker!Hucker!

PHOTO PHOTO Raine Turnbull

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Zac Miner telling it how it is.

ALL PHOTOS Cooper Brownlee

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Jed Mildon. The big New Zealander loved to go big on everything but copped a blow to the head half way through the trip which resulted in him having to fly home. This gentle giant may have been tame but I’m happy I was on his good side.

Stu Munro. Shit talker extraordinaire, Stu kept myself and the rest of the crew in hysterics most of the trip with quick and constant disses of anyone and everyone. Also with prank calls to a bunch of random people to pass the time, trying to buy their cars or tell them they have been dropped from their sponsors. The head filmer spent more time talking then he did filming.

Clint Millar. Running the ship, Clint drove most of the trip and still killed it! The ramp whisperer has definitely still got it. He nose-picked everything in his path along with ice-picking some solid rails. One night Millar took the van on a 4x4 mission at Cam White’s house, weaving through trees and ditches when all we needed was for him to turn the bus around. Thankfully a small tree was the only casualty!

Scottish John. Came on the trip to get away from it all and help keep the trip moving. Scottish rode shotgun the whole trip and got his hand crushed by a swarm of kids at an instore wanting free stickers.

Liam Fahy Hampton. Only on the trip for a couple of days, he clocked some footage while he was there and managed to have a messy Wizz Fizz fight with Alex in the bus (some of which ended up his nose!). Liam jumped a car and front flipped out of old Mordy half pipe.

Josh Mete is a crazy kid on and off the bike, up ledge to 3 whip at Varsity park in Queensland.

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Zac Miner. A man of many skills on a bike, he wrecked himself early on with a foot injury but still managed to produce! He lost his long locks for ‘The List’ and kissed a prostitute in a case of mistaken identity in Brisbane. At the last instore he randomly threw out his pants during the giveaway.

Ryan Guettler. I had never really met Ryan properly and was quite interested in what he would be like, mainly because he lives quite a different lifestyle to most other BMXers. Ryan was super cool and down to earth. He knows how to shoot a rad photo, loved ‘The List’ and made sure as much of it got completed as possible. He rode the whole trip with three broken toes and a dislocated finger.

Alex Hiam. The young gun! Alex kept us amused on the long bus trips with random games which resulted in me getting punched a lot! He lived on a diet of lollies and Red Bull and shredded the shit out of every park we hit. While we were at Five Dock he had somewhat of a fan club of young girls surrounding him and he barely blinked an eyelid at them, he was too busy riding. He even got his street on a few times on the trip. Alex pissed a lot of random people off with his pocket laser light and experienced “The Cross” first hand whilst we stayed in Sydney.

Josh Mete. This dude loved to cause trouble. A “nut slap game” enthusiast, he was not phased about touching you anywhere. He stirred up a lot of shit with the crew and ticked another one off ‘The List’ by making John crack. He does some of the best un-lookbacks in the game and buzzed the shoulder many times on this trip. Josh’s parents own a Subway, so thanks to Joshy we scored a rad free lunch on the way to Melbourne.

Jaie Toohey. Whirlybird, as we all know him, ate McDonalds everyday and I’m pretty sure he would eat anything else before he ate a salad sandwich. Jaie flair-whipped something at every park, abiding by ‘The List’ requirements. A man of little words but a man with an abundance of talent on a bike. Randomly one night, the silent shredder super-glued Josh and Ryan’s hands together.

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Jed Mildon. The big New Zealander loved to go big on everything but copped a blow to the head half way through the trip which resulted in him having to fly home. This gentle giant may have been tame but I’m happy I was on his good side.

Stu Munro. Shit talker extraordinaire, Stu kept myself and the rest of the crew in hysterics most of the trip with quick and constant disses of anyone and everyone. Also with prank calls to a bunch of random people to pass the time, trying to buy their cars or tell them they have been dropped from their sponsors. The head filmer spent more time talking then he did filming.

Clint Millar. Running the ship, Clint drove most of the trip and still killed it! The ramp whisperer has definitely still got it. He nose-picked everything in his path along with ice-picking some solid rails. One night Millar took the van on a 4x4 mission at Cam White’s house, weaving through trees and ditches when all we needed was for him to turn the bus around. Thankfully a small tree was the only casualty!

Scottish John. Came on the trip to get away from it all and help keep the trip moving. Scottish rode shotgun the whole trip and got his hand crushed by a swarm of kids at an instore wanting free stickers.

Liam Fahy Hampton. Only on the trip for a couple of days, he clocked some footage while he was there and managed to have a messy Wizz Fizz fight with Alex in the bus (some of which ended up his nose!). Liam jumped a car and front flipped out of old Mordy half pipe.

Josh Mete is a crazy kid on and off the bike, up ledge to 3 whip at Varsity park in Queensland.

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Zac Miner. A man of many skills on a bike, he wrecked himself early on with a foot injury but still managed to produce! He lost his long locks for ‘The List’ and kissed a prostitute in a case of mistaken identity in Brisbane. At the last instore he randomly threw out his pants during the giveaway.

Ryan Guettler. I had never really met Ryan properly and was quite interested in what he would be like, mainly because he lives quite a different lifestyle to most other BMXers. Ryan was super cool and down to earth. He knows how to shoot a rad photo, loved ‘The List’ and made sure as much of it got completed as possible. He rode the whole trip with three broken toes and a dislocated finger.

Alex Hiam. The young gun! Alex kept us amused on the long bus trips with random games which resulted in me getting punched a lot! He lived on a diet of lollies and Red Bull and shredded the shit out of every park we hit. While we were at Five Dock he had somewhat of a fan club of young girls surrounding him and he barely blinked an eyelid at them, he was too busy riding. He even got his street on a few times on the trip. Alex pissed a lot of random people off with his pocket laser light and experienced “The Cross” first hand whilst we stayed in Sydney.

Josh Mete. This dude loved to cause trouble. A “nut slap game” enthusiast, he was not phased about touching you anywhere. He stirred up a lot of shit with the crew and ticked another one off ‘The List’ by making John crack. He does some of the best un-lookbacks in the game and buzzed the shoulder many times on this trip. Josh’s parents own a Subway, so thanks to Joshy we scored a rad free lunch on the way to Melbourne.

Jaie Toohey. Whirlybird, as we all know him, ate McDonalds everyday and I’m pretty sure he would eat anything else before he ate a salad sandwich. Jaie flair-whipped something at every park, abiding by ‘The List’ requirements. A man of little words but a man with an abundance of talent on a bike. Randomly one night, the silent shredder super-glued Josh and Ryan’s hands together.

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The last 6 years has seen the growth

and growth of our very own national event, the BMX Games. From humble

beginnings in South Australia in 2004,

the event has consistently grown into

what it is today; the must go to event

for all those wishing to showcase their

tricklist to the BMX community at large

and on mass. Come 2009, the big move was finally made out of Sydney

to Melbourne and in more ways than

one, a whole new life was breathed into the event.

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Anthony Napolitan front flipping the massive flat wedge box.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

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Looking more like a futuristic cityscape than the old ratty docks I remember riding through to a job in Williamstown, the background was straight up amazing for an Australian BMX comp. While the park, dirt and flat events were in separate venues, they were all in walking distance from each other and really made the event feel like something special. Definitely no more painfully boring commutes down Parramatta road to the epicenter of boredom at Homebush. There were some sacrifices to make however, namely spine/mini and vert which were dropped off the event schedule through space and money constraints much to some peoples dismay. But park, dirt and flatland were all representing, and they were representing hard.

Riding kicked off on the Saturday morning, with the newly introduced junior class. Basically, expert class last year was full of riders that should have been in pro if the US based Aus riders weren’t here, so junior was an attempt to draw new faces to the event. While I missed most of the mornings action through getting thoroughly distracted by a kick arse flatland jam happening at Imax. I did rock up in time to see one little junior eat it hard to the face in what had to be one of the biggest crashes I’ve seen in the last 12 months...

Jaie Toohey looked at home on everything over the course of the weekend. Even in high winds...

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

Paul Langlands, toughest rider of the weekend?

PHOTO Dan Peters


With the event moving south, FBMX had more than a few huge hurdles to tackle. Firstly, a location to hold the event and secondly, they needed ramps along with some serious dollars and people power to make it all happen. While I won’t go into exact details, this was a massive effort that saw now FBMX head Dinny Spicer and ring-in Mike Daly over in China making it all happen with their bare hands. From buying shipping containers in back alleys and industrial backstreets of China to building the street course with barely a power tool in sight, you can’t get much more hands on and dedicated to the cause. Along with international escapades, the new 2020 studio saw more than its share of endless days leading into nights

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with Dinny and Mike organising everything from wristbands to engineering approvals. I’m pretty amazed this mag survived the mayhem. With a budget completely blown out before organising the event itself even began, a group of solid sponsors slowly came on board. Without their input, this event was pretty much not going to get off the ground. So to Rockstar, Victorian Sport and Recreation, Strictly BMX, Haro Bikes, Footlocker and Backbone, plus all those that put their financial back in, a massive thanks goes out for being a part of this much needed event on Australian soil.

Come January 2009, Melbourne’s revamped Docklands unveiled the FBMX course for the first time in its complete form. With a split level area for the park course itself, grandstand area and tradeshow zone, massive dirt course just down the road and one serious flatland area under lights, the BMX Games really came of age. And that’s even before the riding started... Melbourne’s Docklands have undergone some massive renovations in the last years.

Chris O’Donnell rode the park with 100% street flavour.

PHOTO Nitai


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Jeff Bahris a pretty rad kid. I only really knew him as a kid who could do a mean foot jam, until I started riding with him on a more regular basis.

The amount he has progressed over the last year or so I have been riding with him is ridiculous. Jeff has developed from someone who shredded the park to someone I would consider a very well rounded street rider and a great friend.

For each one of the following photos, it was a case of me proposing the trick and location, and Jeff getting it done. Instead of an interview with the same old vital stats and bullshit about how old he is and what his favourite alcoholic drink is, I thought it would be interesting to get Jeff’s take on each shoot, what went down and what had to happen for it to all come together in the end. Nick Gascoine

Jersey Barrier nose dive 180 We had to make two visits to this shoot because I ended up headless in the best photo from the first visit. So twice I had to put up with the constant cars flying past with douche bags beeping and people staring at me and nicks 18th century camera, just wondering what the hell we were doing. After my long ass legs somehow stopped me from falling on my face a few times, by doing a reverse superman nose dive we got the fuck out of there with the shot in the bag and without getting killed by a car.

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COLONY US ROADTRIP

Clint MillarRyan Guettler

Josh BoatrightSteve Woodward

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Clint getting living on the Aggroman fantasy ditch.

PHOTO Guettler

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Nathan Tomsic with the most bullshit 360 tuck no-hander you have ever seen. You might even see the exactly same timed shot of this in an up-coming issue of xpress seeing as I managed to capture Gorak’s fl ash to the left fi ring the same time as mine.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

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So all the riders who entered the event turned into a living sideshow so that fat kids and their even fatter parents could stand there, gawk and laugh when people fell off. With a reasonable crowd it got under way with the expert class. For the most part, these kids could have been in pro, the level of riding these days is retarded. I really only saw bits of the expert contest in between being hit in the balls by numerous people and knocking lollies out of Marc Arnolds hands. But what I saw was young Alex Hiam killing it. Now I have heard a lot about this kid and even seen some clips, but when you see him ride in person its quite amazing. Alex was spinning big tail whips about 5 foot out then hitting the next wall with 360’s, old school no hander’s and bar spins. Other kids were throwing bar spins to foot jams, retarded clicked look backs about 7 foot out and pretty much every foot jam variation getting out. Sorry to all those people I have mentioned but don’t know their names. In the end all I know is that Alex won, but I missed it because I was off trying to find a show bag amongst the hordes of people.

After walking around for ever looking at the back of peoples heads in stupidly big crowds while trying to find a show bag that didn’t have a fake butt or a Bratt’s doll in it, my friend Zac Miner got a call to say that he had to show up for finals so with no show bag in hand and smelling of carnies, I headed back to the ramp to shoot the finals and see some red hot BMX action.

Alex is just one of those people you have to see in person when they ride. So fair enough I had heard a lot about him and even seen a few clips of him, but was

never hooked. But after seeing him slay the ramp and also to meet him and fi nd out how cool and polite and genuine he was, I can now say I am an Alex Hiam fan.

Word to you Alex, for being rad.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

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There were only nine people in finals so it looked like a short but sweet end to Spinal. After a day of blistering hot weather and smells of greasy food and horseshit, I was ready to shoot and go home. Highlights from the finals was most definitely seeing Zac Miner flowing around and killing the ramp with big superman’s over the spine, flair’s, old school no-hander’s and clicked look backs. He defiantly deserved the fourth placing he got and walked away with 500 dollars and a whole lot of tire burn on his arse. Third placing Nathan Tomsink was one of my favourites to watch with him doing some of the most bull shit no-hander’s and look backs I have ever seen and even sometimes looking like he was going to hit the roof. Second placed Chris ‘Danger’ O’Donnell was doing his usual smooth whip combinations and double whip combinations but got thrown to the ground on a missed old school no-hander and wacked his face on the flat bottom. He came back and finished his second run but later found out that he broke his jaw on that crash in his first run. Get better soon brother!

After solid runs all through qualifying and finals, Andrew Gul took first place with ridiculous flair’s, 360’s, wall rides and I couldn’t believe my own eyes but the suicide no-hander was even thrown over the spine on a number of occasions. He even at one point touched the roof while jumping the spine, which got the fat kiddies screaming for more extreme action in between their sugar hits.

Once it was done, I was happy to see the bright lights of the ferris wheel in the distance and to no longer have the smell of hay and horseshit in my nostrils. A big thank you has to go out to Dinny for putting on the event and making sure everything went well and to the riders who turned out and rode, instead of riding the carnival rides. Nick Gscoine

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BRETT ‘STUMPY’ MASON ON LIFE, BMX AND OTHER THINGS.STORY BY ALI FINLAY PHOTOS BY NITAI WHITEHURST

Have you ever met that lanky hyperactive flatlander from Queensland? Or perhaps you knew him when he lived down south? You’d know if you have, there is no ‘which one?’ answer to a question like that, the only possible one is: ‘YEAH I KNOW STUMPY!’ People always seem to have good things to say about 36 year old Brett ‘Stumpy’ Mason. But he’s more than just good vibes and positive riding, Stumpy can be seen as a complex guy who is the product of his ever changing environment. He has a dark(ish) side and whist you’ll always find him with an upbeat public exterior, if you get to know him and have the chance to engage him on a deeper level, you’ll possibly find this genuinely interesting, diverse and caring guy’s positivity is tempered by a level of cynicism at parts of his world.

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THE MELBOURNE YEARS...Over a crackly speaker phone, Stumpy tells how his story starts in the mid

seventies on Melbourne’s northern fringe. Growing up in Thomastown with his sister, mother and grandmother, Stumpy was aware that he was an ever present reminder of his father and that this placed a level of tension on the relationships with the key women in his life.

‘My gran always said I looked like my dad. My mum always said “you’re just like your father”. It felt like I’d get blamed for stuff because my dad wasn’t there. I really didn’t understand until later on in life and had the opportunity to look back and go “aww gee, that’s what all that’s about.” It wasn’t about me at all, it was about my dad and him leaving and the emotions involved with that and just because I was the male figure and I looked like dad, I got out-letted with it all’.

Whilst conflicting messages from his father and negative comments by his mother and grandmother have left their marks on his memory, Stumpy flows with positive recollections of the love and commitment from the maternal figures in his life.

‘My mum basically dedicated every Sunday for seven years to go to the Nunawading Skate Ranch (the place for BMX back then!) and wait for me to ride for two or three hours. She dedicated a lot of her life to my hobby, which back then I didn’t even realise. I just thought she does this because she’s my mum’.

Stumpy also talks warmly of his grandmother. ‘You ask any bike rider that grew up in the late eighties and early nineties who rode with me, they would have great stories about my grandmother. Me and Lindsay Brown would go out with the boys and she would bring out a bowl with wash cloths in them so we could wash under our arms after a days riding, she would make them biscuits and stuff, she was a really good influence on me’.

His education started at the local primary school and followed with high school just down the train line in Keon Park. After developing an interest in computers and because his high school didn’t have any, Stumpy’s educational journey took him to Merrilands High in Thornberry, then N.M.I.T in Preston and ultimately R.M.I.T in the middle of Melbourne where he gained a tertiary qualification.

However, he has never used his degree for employment and comments somewhat bitterly ‘it’s something I didn’t wanna do, it’s kinda like hey I’m in year 11, I’m in year 12 and I wanna ride bmx, but you know what it was like back in the day, “no, you can’t ride bmx, full stop! There is no way you can ride bmx and make any kind of a living”. So I went and did Uni, which was the next most interesting thing’.

Stumpy was drawn to elements of underground culture from an early age and the influence of bmx, skateboard, graffiti art and hip-hop on his life and way of thinking is evident. ‘All my friends back then were skaters and stuff like that’.

At age nine, his first real encounter with BMX was hopping gutters on the way to

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the local ramp. He recalls ‘I was skating pretty much everyday’ and that ‘because I’d skate the ramp and I was getting pretty good skating, I didn’t really wanna ride it because it was a different feeling.’

It was whilst skating a flat block of concrete at the end of his street that he first noticed two guys riding past on BMX bikes. ‘One of them would roll across the whole road on his back wheel. Like down the gutter, and then across the road and then back up again, on his back wheel and I thought that was awesome!’

It wasn’t long before he was saving for, as he puts it his first real BMX bike. He notes that ‘I got a new frame and pegs and the wheels off my old bike and stuff like that’. His new frame turned out to be an imitation Torker. ‘It was an awesome frame! The welds were terrible but yeah, very nice.’

It is at this point you can see where the merging process between Stumpy’s BMX world and his everyday life began. A ‘trick-to-trick’ lifestyle as he calls it, where each day is focused on learning new things and thinking about the next new trick, link or combo. It’s a process that continues to this day and has been a key factor in many of his life decisions and goals.

A simple chance encounter where a young Brett Mason stood at the end of his street watching Trevor King and Dave Scott show off as they traveled from their homes in Reservoir to the local BMX shop in Epping started Stumpy on his soon to be life long BMX journey.

It was during this time that Stumpy managed to hurt himself in a couple of major ways. At one point he fell from a trampoline at school, injured his back and required intensive therapy. The back injury still gives him trouble to this day, however he notes ‘I just dealt with it and never complained, having a bad back is just a thing, whatever’. Another time he stuck his hand between the chain and sprocket whilst riding and managed to amputate the tip of his finger. It was only luck that lead to a specialist surgeon reattaching it.

Stumpy’s 20 inch journey took him riding at the seminal City Square in Melbourne and Skate Ranch in Nunawading with people like Lindsay Brown, Dennis Caddy, Hodgy, Stokesy, Rado, Nick Watts, Alan Woo, Chris Carver and Grant Cruise. He also organised events and competitions which ended up getting him paid to do so by the V.A.Y.C.

The Skate Ranch was an important part of riding for Stumpy back in the Eighties. ‘From when I started riding and going to the Skate Ranch to when the Skate Ranch closed, it was pretty much the Melbourne scene. Everybody went down on Sunday, it was church and that was the bottom line. The amount of stuff I saw pulled there, attempt-ed there, yeah! Any video you see now a days just will not compare to the memories I have from back in those days and hopefully everyone else who rode then will have similar memories. I remember Tammy Storer doing his first 900 on vert, Alan Woo pulling his first Hitch-Hiker (I’d never seen a Hitch-Hiker before then) and Nick Watts blowing everyone else away with his skill.’

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CHRIS HARTI Interview by Raine Turnbull

Name, Age and hometown?Chris Harti, 16 years old. Canberra.

How did you first get into BMX? I started racing when I was nine or ten then I quit that when I was like 13 and started riding dirt jumps and the skate park and liked it way better! Eventually started trying tricks...

What is your First memory of BMX?When I was like 4 or 5 my dad used to take me to these two dirt doubles that you could just roll over, just near my house on my 16 inch. Good times.

Ok, so you recently went to Vegas to ride and hang out with Cam white, TJ Lavin and the crew. Tell us what that experience was like?Yeah it was the best time of my life! I got to meet heaps of new people and ride the sickest trails at TJ Lavinís house. And I got to see and experience a lot of crazy things like cheap as hell Maccas, the biggest fake tities ever and pokies everywhere! Even in servo’s and the airport! In’n’out burger, best food ever! But I pretty much just rode TJ’s house everyday when it wasn’t windy. I learnt a lot about riding trails and just learning all my tricks over dirt, it was a really good experience for me. I stayed at Cam’s house with Michelle and Dane Searls. Had some shredding times with them! Thanks heaps Cam for letting me stay with ya!

Back home what are some of you favorite spots to ride?

Well my number 1 favorite spot to ride would have to be Cam Whites house because his jumps are massive and so much fun! Also Gunners skate park, but I’m so over that place, I just wanna ride trails haha!

What’s so good about trails? You get to do what you want, you don’t get snaked and this might sound a bit weird but I just think that it feels more natural riding trails than it is riding a skate park. Just the speed, height, berms, rollers are super fun and flyin past trees is the best! Also having roo’s chillin right near you when your riding is pretty cool too.

How did you get from riding Gunners all day to hitting massive jumps like the ones at Cam’sJam?I don’t really know ay? It’s probably from racing or something. But me and my mates have always had a decent set of dirt jumps. That said, the jumps at Cams house are seriously the most chill jumps ever, they may look big and scary but all you got to do is roll in and hold on for the ride! That’s what I do anyway...

Are you more into making things look good while you ride or getting tricks done at all costs? Or does it go both ways? Definitely swing both ways I reckon, pretty much everything I do I try and make it look good, but I also actually do tricks too, not just taybos and flickouts.

What’s the best feeling trick in BMX?Big, floaty, slow 3’s over massive jumps, backies (not fly outs, at the trails!) and massive moto whips too!

Do you have any sponsors? Yeah, by the best bike shop ever, BackBoneBMX and Triple Six distro, they hook me up with complete bikes and recently with a sick frame and some other cool stuff, thanks heaps Rhys from BackBone and all the fellas at Triple Six! Also Lav’s Lab, Tj hooks me up with shirts and stuff, top bloke he is! Tj’s new album comes out soon, be sure to check it out!

How did that (your sponsors) come about?

The BackBone and Triple Six sponsors came about when Triple Six were looking for a young rider to ride WeThePeople complete bikes for them, so Rhys from BackBone put in a good word for me, so thanks heaps Rhys! The Lavs Lab sponno came along when I went to Cams house for an arvo sesh with Slayer, Caesar Flores and Cam (I cant remember who else) earlier this year way before his jam and I guess I was ridding good that arvo and at the end of the session Caesar hooked me up with a couple of shirts and stickers and stuff, then Cam said “your on the team mate.” Stoked! Cheers mate!

What music you into? I’m into heaps of music, I pretty much listen to anything that sounds good. Like Parkway Drive, Deez Nutz, The Sounds, Rise Against, MGMT, Lavs Lab, Aussie hip hop, stuff like that.

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Big Belconnen gap


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Chris Courtenay big no hander in the Ghetto

PHOTO Morrisey

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While it was a miserable summer, the weather finally dried up in Brisbane. That motivation had both myself and Matt from Tempered wanting to hold our next ghetto-esque drain jam. This eventually led to the combining of forces and the Filthy Drains Jam was born.

Tempered bikes had run a similar jam in December last year at another suitably ghetto drain which went down like a treat, but both of us had bigger ideas to make it better. This basically revolved around lots of sketchy ramps that may have needed to be sticky taped together after the first talks. After many days and nights of seemingly endless pallet missions, wood acquisitions (via various dubious methods) and the harsh realisation that making a concrete quarter is much harder than it seems, we had a pretty decent set up.

The day was supposed to kick off around ten in the morn, but when we got there there were over 50 crew hitting it up, so the action got underway early for some, whilst the drinking got underway for others at the same time! The idea was to have a list of ghetto challenges and cross them off as people did them, or at least took them on. Some involved the likes of biggest air and the usual deal, while some involved launching death gaps and absolutely stupid shit, like look-alike contests. So from about 11am shit went nuts, and over the course of the day well over a hundred people turned up with a good amount of them actually riding.

One of the days main lines was the huge ghetto quarter. Chris Courtenay blasted the absolute shit out of it and must have topped out at around the 8 foot mark with stretched no-handers and whips. This kid owned that ramp on the day, so he won that challenge hands down. Chris Edgar was also killing the beast and flaired, whip’d and lip tricked the quarter all day, so big props to him. I think he scored some pedals, cause he was riding hard all day on haggard as all hell pedals. Now you might be thinking that all this trickery seems pretty normal these days, but the run up to the quarter involved carving up a slippery bank then aiming for a rickety, makeshift bridge that had holes in it over the actual water part of the drain. If you made that, you then flat out cranked to the spongy quarter that had more and more holes blown in it as the day went on! It must also be mentioned that this not so easy to ride quarter fell over with suitable coercion at the end of the day (thanks Daffles).

There was a ghetto pallet halfpipe / wallride setup underneath the train bridge which entertained everyone all day. Nick K from T-bar owned that and actually left tyre marks on the underside of the bridge, you could say he couldn’t possibly go any higher. Matt Lawton from Tempered was doing the highest Ruben wall rides off it and little Alex Hiam was throwing whips and riding it all dialled like a pro. Tiny won a shit load of stickers for pedalling his 16” bike above a mark I set for him, so props to the little man for stepping up!

The riding on the banked hip was unbelievable to say the least. Josh Clark from Toowoomba pretty much destroyed the thing with whips, superseats and backies all off the ghetto bridge run in’s and flat banks. That dude owned it! Like I mentioned earlier, you probably think a wedge hip ain’t nothing special, the run in was carved out of bush before heading across sketchy bridges and then once landed, you had to aim for another 2 foot wide bridge or else go in the drink! This made for some funny stuff, especially for anyone running their ride brakeless.

Alex Haim, whip under the bridge

PHOTO Nitai

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Tempered bikes’ Matt Lawton helped run the jam and also ran some nice “Ruben” wallrides

PHOTO Morrisey

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The drain had a couple of natural set ups (sub rails etc) and Macca owned most of them along with the RideOn wall ride. No jam is complete without a long jump and longest 180 contest, especially if it’s off the sketchiest kicker possible. Chris C took the long jump title using his racer skills to the fullest and while most people were getting ejected rolling backwards way too quick, Gareth Headfield took the title with the largest and cleanest 180 of the day. Punisher Go! (Youtube that one...)

For some reason, the big ghetto box jump didn’t get sessioned until it was dark and I’m pretty sure Jerry V did the biggest floating whip ever seen. Josh Clarke threw a no handed backie and just coming short of the title, one of the Mackellar kids did a tuck to barspin in pretty much complete darkness. Mind you there was a ramp on fire at the end of the landing. So if you got all squirelly thanks to not being able to see, then you might have been in trouble.

Aside from all the craziness, there was a huge turn out over the whole day, with travelling man Abbs drunker than most. The mic / speaker phone went crazy all day with people getting cheered, jeered and heckled continuously, but all in good fun! As fate would have it, it wasn’t all fun and games on the day and a few people went down hard. Raph J Williams was absolutely killing the place as the drains are a bit of a local for him. But a huge 180 transfer over an entire ramp to mid air eject left him with a very badly broken leg which lead to an ambulance assisted ride to the hospital, which wasn’t so cool. Gumby from Gladstone took one for the crew after lining up the train bridge drop for like half an hour, but instead he took on the water gap utilising the same sketchy kicker from the long jump. He took a weird line to it and didn’t have quite the pace needed so he landed short, basically onto a concrete uphill landing which broke his ankle instantly. Get well to both those cats and cheers for the efforts on the day.

Chris Edgar, superman on a truly ghetto set up

PHOTO Morrisey

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Scott Greentree sizing up the supersize pipe. To say it was big is the years biggest understatement....

PHOTO Mark Watson

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Fusing together the worlds of snowboard super pipe and dirt jumping that only BMX can bring to the table, a huge dirt half pipe was envisaged to bring out a new generation of all-round 20 inch rippers not content with he status quo of dirt events in their current form. While the initial concept was for a pure dirt vert half pipe, it soon became apparent that the majority of dirt riders would simply spin out at such a creation and all the big time vert riders would find it all too bumpy, let alone a nightmare to build. So again, the team put their heads together to make the dream become a reality. A small crew flew to Perth to build a trial pipe, utilizing 4 shipping containers and a truckload of dirt. The results proved the concept would work, with a select few West Australian riders making full use of the pipes hips, extensions and subs.

Fast forward six years and the dirt pipes evolution was complete thanks to a lot of thinking outside the square. Carved from the fertile soil of the Victorian snow fields, the huge pipe made it’s way straight down into one of the most serene valleys you can imagine. Running 120 meters in length, it’s intimidating 4 meter high walls bristled with wall rides, hips, step downs and street inspired extensions. In a nutshell, the pipe was by far the most ambitious dirt project to ever be undertaken, let alone pulled off so well on a first attempt.

The sheer size of the project brought with it a truckload of challenges to overcome. Pulling together a crew able tackle the task was the first step. It went along the lines of some Hollywood action movie about the end of the world. Find the best excavator driver on earth plus a dedicated group of trail diggers and all should pan out fine. The assembled crew were then heaped with the massive build job. Immediately they had to rethink available trains of thought in terms of digging. This wasn’t three doubles in a row, we’re talking 120 meters of packed and sculpted transitions, lips and landings. All smooth enough to keep speed and manicured to perfection to allow consistent airs without ridiculous amounts of maintenance necessary. What resulted was nothing less than awe inspiring, with highway building technology being brought in and some completely new ways in using them coming about in order to create the dirt master piece unfolding before them. Not that this happened in a few days. Try 3 months plus of excavating, compacting and building up the walls into a rough shape before the final vert and lip shaping began. That in itself was another two weeks of intense work by all involved. Add to this a huge roll in tower, massive curved wall ride and you have yourself one hell of a creation. To stand at the top of the pipe was to witness easily the most impressive dirt creation intended for BMX ever seen on this planet.

ABOVE//Vince Byron was one of the few riders airing out of the fi rst vert section.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

BELOW//The grand canyon.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

RIGHT//There weren't too many times over the weekend that you didn't see Daniel Donges boosting higher than previously thought possible.

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

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Every rider sighting the pipe upon arrival had very similar reactions. Pretty much insert your choice of expletive next to any riders head and you’re pretty much on the money. From the top seeds like Corey Bohan and Sergio Layos all the way through to the Australian pros and newcomers alike, the reaction was the same. The pipe looked as though it had been a permanent resident from the early days of the earth itself. The 40 or so invited riders set to drop in represented a cross section of BMX riding from these shores and beyond. Not just BMX dirt specialists, but ramp and street riders alike. In a mix that was aimed at bringing vastly different riding styles and ways of attacking the massive walls of the DirtPipe.

Come Fridays first practice session, there were a few having second thoughts on even trying to ride the pipe. Although it didn’t take long till Clint ‘The Colonel’ Bensley dropped in with barely a look over the whole pipe and flowed effortlessly all the way to the bottom. All while many were checking and wondering how to tackle individual hits. A run consisted of up to 11 hits, hipping, stepping up, stepping way down, wall riding and carving your way to the bottom. A far cry from the traditional dirt jump set up and definitely raising the bar for every riders skills, stamina and consistency. With Colonel upping the ante, any one about to moan about it all being too gnarly were shaken back to reality and got down to business. Man up or go home being the vibe from then on. Everyone got their heads around the hip to hip concept pretty quickly with only a few riders straight jumping to death or taking out walls early on. While 9 degrees doesn’t sound like much of a slope, put a massive pipe on a hill with that inclination and you have a recipe for speed. Simply bombing down the guts of the pipe had you struggling to stop at the bottom, easily clocking over 60 km/h.

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On the 2nd of February on the far outskirts of Australia’s capital, Cameron White, once again, held his Hillside Dirt Jam on his family’s property near

Wamboin. This year brought an amazing turn out and a huge amount of money was raised, with the proceeds of the jam donated to Stephen Murray

and his family. The following pages tell the story...

Cam White


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Make the hip and this is what you get....

PHOTO Nic GascoineWinners circle

PHOTO GorakBig boost little guy, Chris Harty

PHOTO GorakCam White on home turf

PHOTO GorakCam Pianta and a big cheque

PHOTO Michael HarrisNaked guy

PHOTO GorakBoost into the night...

PHOTO Gorak

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Steven crashed in the Dew tour last year, leaving his body paralysed. “We’re trying to raise as much money as we can, we want to get Stephen walking again, if possible, having a second jam brought much needed funds” Cameron said. The jam started at 5pm, with over 30 riders hitting up Australia’s biggest dirt jumps. Cam was pulling off moves ‘like he owned tha joint!’ with Dave Dillewaard, heading back from the USA and pulling out massive tricks as well. A must see was little Chris “Gunners” hitting up the huge jumps, at only 16! The event brought a diverse range of spectators, from young to old. It was a family event, sitting on the fence-line watching loose dudes, hucking at these smoothly built trails! Kids running around getting freebies by sponsors that were thrown out throughout the jam. Most of the audience, by the end of the night, was crowded around the last monstrous step-up! A 10ft up ramp, with a 15ft high down ramp, some huge tricks where pulled off the jump, backflips, 360 tailwhips, even a loose dude trying to pull off a superflip! A lot of crashes brought the jam to a standstill, until they got back on, and kept the jam alive... After the presentation and prize money was given out, the jam was over at 10pm. But the night was still young with guys still hitting up the trails until 1am… Stay Strong Murray… Anthony Brown

Daniel Donges

PHOTO Nick Gascoine

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Jai Toohey

PHOTO Nic GascoineUnder lights

PHOTO Michael HarrisDamian Connolly superfi ip

PHOTO GorakThe proud organiser, Cam

PHOTO GorakCam Pianta

PHOTO Nic GascoineJosh Stead

PHOTO Michael Harris

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phil townsley - 2020 bmx magazine

Documents

fisheye shell

skate plaza

week trip

fisheye lens

gt program

revolu issue

gt bikes team manager

couple days