Ramps and Amps Contest Report

attorneyco

• July 23 2003
• 3 comments

So here’s the thing about vert riders—they’re crazy.That’s not a dis or anything, but just look at what those nut-jobs do. When they start flying ten feet over coping, even people who don’t ride BMX take notice.

With that in mind, it was no surprise that vert was included at the Ramps and Amps contest on Randalls Island in New York City. The easiest way to describe the event would be to compare it to the Warped Tour. MXPX, Puddle of Mud, and a few other bands played and in between sets there were BMX, skateboarding, and motocross contests. You never know who’s going to be riding at the Warped Tour, but at Ramps and Amps, ten of the best vert dogs on the planet were on hand. And why wouldn’t they be there? With $25,000 going to first place and an excuse to hang out in NYC, everyone was ready for a good weekend. Half of the competitors even rode vert at the CFB at Woodward West on Friday and then flew all night just to get to get to this comp.

Since only ten guys were in the contest there was no qualifying round, which meant the whole contest took about 30 minutes. The worst part of the contest involved Chad Kagy and a whole lot of flat-bottom. Chad went for a double-tailwhip, crashed, and hit his head so hard that his helmet cracked. He was out cold for a while, and when he woke up there were about eight medics swarming around him and loading him onto a back-board. Luckily the only damage was a concussion and a dead helmet.

One surprising part of the comp was watching Ryan Nyquist. Nyquist hadn’t entered a vert contest in a long time, but he looked right at home with high airs, a double-truck 540, and he nearly pulled a suicide-no-handed 540 on his way to a fifth place tie with Dennis McCoy.

Fourth place went to Dave Mirra who did not have his best day. During his second run he pulled a huge 540-whip, and then he did a straight air on the other side, hung up and crashed. Then he got up, did a few more airs, and crashed on an opposite air. To say Dave was pissed would be the understatement of the year.

Third place was all Koji Kraft. Trying to keep track of everything Koji does on vert is next to impossible. He goes super-high and throws strobe-light variations on every wall. His third place finish came with a check for ten grand, and I’d expect Koji to blow every penny of it on toys before the summer is over.

Second place went to Kevin Robinson who has been coming on strong all year long. After going on the Boom Boom Huck Jam last year, Kevin has been flowing better than ever, and he added an unlookdown to his list of flair variations in New York.

Even a blind person could tell who was going to win this contest. Jamie Bestwick was so tired from flying all night that he slept in a tent until it was time to ride, and then it was on. He was doing flairs and opposite flairs so perfectly that it was hard to tell which was which. About the only flair variation he didn’t do was the tailwhip flair, but he really didn’t need it anyway.

When the contest ended, everyone headed back to the W hotel to party like rock stars for one more night in the city. For more information on the event, go to www.rampsandamps.com or www.bikesrule.com.

RESULTS

1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Kevin Robinson
3. Koji Kraft
4. Dave Mirra
5. (tie) Ryan Nyquist
5. (tie) Dennis McCoy
7. Jimmy Walker
8. Chad Kagy
9. Rick Thorne
10. Mike Mancuso