| Matt
McLeod came second at the Urban Games!!!! There were
over 30 riders in the pro class and they were some of the
biggest names in the world!!! Well done to Matt for kicking
ass!!!! He has had a awesome run this year with good positions
at the BMX Masters, Nass, and now The Urban Games.... All
of us at Empire would like to congratulate him on his awesome
achievements!
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Pics
from the Vodacom BMX Cup are now up in the gallery. Go
check them out!
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We
have just heard that Brad Illingworth (FBM) has to have surgery
on his arm. Brad Crashed trying a 360 flip at the
Vodacom BMX Cup and after going to the hospital they ended
up putting his arm in a cast. Over the last 2 weeks his arm
hasn't been feeling any better so he went to a specialist
and they said that the needs to have surgery to screw the
bone back together, otherwise it will never heal properly.
Bard is heading into the hospital on Monday so we wish him
all the best.
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Today
is a very sad day for the SA BMX scene. We have just
heard that Kyalami Skatepark is closing down! The
owners of the land that the ramps are on say that they want
to develop the land, so now Pro Ramps don't have a place for
their park. Kyalami was one of the only parks in SA that supported
BMX 100% and it will be very sad to see it go. Pro Ramps are
looking for a new venue so hopefully it wont be long before
we see them back up again. Brad Illingworth (FBM)
is organizing a farewell Jam that will be taking
place some time in the near future. Check back here for more
info or visit www.theriot.co.za
for details on the jam.
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New
products from Odyssey will be here shortly!!! The
new limited edition colour JC pedal will
be here, and this time they are "post it"
yellow. As with all of Odysseys limited colours these
are a once off production run so get a pair while you can.
We will also have the new Butted Pro Dirt forks in stock.
These are lighter then previous models but still carry the
lifetime guaranty that comes with all Odysseys 41 Thermal
products. GTX gyros, linear cables, and elementary stems will
also be back in stock.
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John
Dye over at Bicycle Union sent us these pics of a spot they
have been building!!! This place is absolutely amazing!!!!
Its really inspirational to think that these guys have built
this entire place by hand, and to see what it has grown into
over the years is truly awesome. Its places like this that
are a reminder of what we can actually achieve if we put in
a little hard work. Get some friends together, buy some cement,
and go build yourself a tranny up to a jersey barrier or something
like that. All it takes is a start, and in time you and your
friends might have an amazing place like this of your own!
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Our
good friend over at Terrible One, Joe Rich, just posted an
awesome pic of Colin Loudon up on the T1 site!!! Make
your way over to www.terribleone.com
and check it out! In other T1 related news, the Paul Buchanan
bars and T1 grips are out now and will be in SA shortly. If
you want to get your hands on these give us a call. T1 also
have a bunch of new stuff on the way so keep your eyes peeled
for more news..... All Im going to say for now is, YEEEEHAAAAA!!!!
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Devin
Toselli sent us some pics from his vacation in Europe. The
pics below were taken while he was in Switzerland, and he
is now staying in the south of France (Only a few minutes
away from Merseille bowl!!!). Other then riding Devin just
said he is "Enjoying life and living it to the fullest".
Sounds good to us!.... Devin also sent us some pics of our
team riders Colin Loudon and Paul Soderlund that he took while
he was back home which we will put up in the gallery in the
next few days.
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Everyone
at Empire would like to congratulate Matt McLeod on winning
NASS in the UK!!! Its awesome to see a SA rider doing
so well on the international circuit! We would also like to
wish Matt all the best for the Urban Games coming up in a
few weeks time.
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Our
Good friends over at Fly Bikes have posted
some pics of our newest Fly Rider Paul Soderlund.
Get on over to www.flybikesbmx.com
and check it out. Dean over at Federal has
also posted some news and pics from the Fox Pro-Am
(cosponsored by Federal) so check out www.federalbikes.com
and have a look.
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Pics
from the Fox Pro-Am (cosponsored by Federal Bikes)
are now up in the gallery. Pics from the Vodacom BMX
Cup will follow shortly.
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The
last 2 weeks have been absolutely crazy!!! We have
had 2 huge competitions in town, almost every Pro rider is
SA came down to Durban at some point during the last 14 days,
and the riding has been absolutely amazing!!!! A big
shout out goes to all The Empire Team riders who dominated
both events, and rode like absolute rippers!!!!!
Check out the results below to see how these guys killed it
at both the Fox Pro-Am and the Vodacom
BMX Cup. We are busy adding the pictures from both
events to the gallery, as well as a bunch of other pics taken
during the last few weeks so check back soon for those. In
the mean time read below to find out what happened at both
events, and make sure you get your self to Durban next July
for both these events.
Buddy
Chellan also built up a Brand new Fly Pantera
while he was in town so check out his profile in the team
section to see his new ride. Its a real beauty!
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The
Vodacom BMX Cup happened this past weekend and the
riding was insane!!!! Its the first time a BMX specific comp
has happened at the beach front park in Durban and the riders
really made the most of the new terrain. The am riders did
really well and there was a good turn out for their class.
After all was done Stuart Loudon walked away with first place
with creative lines and a lot of tricks. Second in the am
class went to Andrew Dickens from Amamzimtoti. Andrew made
good use of the park and had some amazing no footed kans.
Third spot went to Chase Pennels. I have never seen this guy
ride before but he had a ton of good tricks, and was getting
higher out of the quarters then any of the other ams. In my
opinion Chase should have placed a little higher but 3rd place
is still a good result.
Next
up was the pro class and these guys went nuts!!!!! Some of
the stand outs were as follows..... Duane vanskalkwyk did
the most amazing manual I have ever seen!!!! He started by
cranking across the park, jumping up the step up and landing
in a manual. He then manualed all the way around the bowl,
along the long flat past the ledges, up the small wedge and
along the far side of the park, and then hopped into a feeble
grind down the stairs in the far corner of the park..... Absolutely
mind blowing!!!!!! Another rider who went nuts was
Brad Illingworth (FBM). He did the craziest flip
to flat I have ever seen, launching from the 6 foot quarter,
over the wide deck, and landing on the flat behind it!!!!
It was so awesome to see him charging so hard, and the crowd
loved it! Buddy Chellan (Fly Bikes) was dealing
with a badly cut ankle that he got a few days before but was
none the less blasting around the park in his usual big smooth
style. He finished off his run with a huge gap over the entire
pyramid, clearing both grind ledges and the rail!!!! Tyrone
Bradley (Federal) also rode amazingly well, and was
using some really unique lines around the park. He was doing
a crazy rail ride up and along the rail in the centre of the
park, and was also doing whips, fufs, and turndowns all over
the place. Colin Loudon (Odyssey) was charging
all over the park, and was finding big lines all over the
place. He did whips on almost every obstacle in the park,
and his flips and 360's were big and smooth. All in all the
Pro class was riding at an awesome level and everyone who
was watching was blown away by the riding.
Big
trick was held after the pro finals and it was insane. Dusty
Bane fired off his huge 360 transfer from the flat bank into
the 6ft quarter. Colin Loudon (Odyssey) whipped
the same gap and landed silky smooth to the pedals. Greg Illingworth
did a tailwhip right out of the park and rode away clean.
Brad Illingworth (FBM) finished off the day
with a 360 flip attempt from the quarter to flat and ended
up breaking his arm in the process. Tyrone Bradley
(Federal) went super tech for his trick with a
rail ride to gap to feeble grind to 180 out!!!! He
pulled it to feeble, but on the 180 attempt he rolled his
foot and had to sit the rest of the session out...
A
big thanks goes out to Vodacom for their
support with this event, and hopefully we will see the the
Vodacom BMX Cup taking place again in 2006.
The Results are as follows:
Am Finals: 1st Stuart loudon, 2nd Andrew
Dickens, 3rd Chase Pennels
Pro Finals: 1st (tie)
Tyrone Bradley (Odyssey) / Colin Loudon (Odyssey) 3nd: Brad
Illingworth (FBM) 4th: Greg Illingworth 5th:
Buddy Chellan (Fly Bikes)
Big Trick: Colin Loudon
(Odyssey)
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The
Fox Pro-Am has come and gone and it was an awesome event!
The Pro comp was rained out on Sunday so it was postponed
to the following Wednesday and the comp went down really good.
The level of riding was awesome and it was great to see the
riders firing out good stuff all over the park. Tyrone
Bradley (FEDERAL) was riding really well and did
one of the best lines of the comp. He feebled up the ledge
of the driveway, mauled along the top, and the hopped to over
50/50 down the rail on the other side!!!! Crazy line!!!! Another
thing that stood out was Brad Illingworths (FBM) gap
to rail over the entire driveway!!!! He had to crank flat
out just to clear the driveway, and if he had hooked up on
the rail it wouldn't have been pretty.... Brad charged it
down and pulled it perfect. Colin Loudon (ODYSSEY)
was firing out whips all over the course and was
doing regular and downside whips on almost every obstacle.
Buddy Chelllan (FLY BIKES) was riding in
his usual amazing style and proceeded to destroy the course.
He aired higher then anyone out of the quarters with huge
turn downs, one footed seat grab tables, as well as a huge
downside whip over the big channel. Greg Illingworth was also
riding super good, and landed a huge hop whip off the sub
box into a flat bank. Durban local Chris Barnes also made
an appearance and was firing off huge tricks all over the
place. His 360 whips are so smooth and he was double trucking
up the step up gap. At the end of the day everyone had a great
time and the winners walked away with hard cash from FOX
and the ams left with tons of prizes from FOX and
FEDERAL bikes. Check back in the gallery in a few
days when we post all the pics from the comp and give you
a full run down on what happened. The results are as follows.
Amateur Finals: 1st Stuart Loudon 2nd David
Boyter 3rd Cameron Pistorius 4th Mark Fraser 5th Darryn van
Wyk
Pro Finals: 1st Buddy
Chellan (FLY BIKES) 2nd Greg Illingworth 3rd Chris
Barnes 4th Brad Illingworth (FBM) 5th
Colin Loudon (ODYSSEY) 6th Tyrone Bradley (FEDERAL)
Pro Mini Ramp: Greg Illingworth
Big Trick / Full throttle Award:
Brad Illingworth (FBM)
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Fly
Bikes rider Buddy Chellan has just been picked up by Fox clothing
in SA! We would all like to congratulate Buddy on
his new deal with Fox and it wont be long before you see him
rocking some new threads courtesy of Fox. Buddy will be joining
Federal Bikes rider Tyrone Bradley on the Fox team,
as both these guys are now sponsored by Fox SA.
Empire
team riders, Buddy, Brad, Colin, Tyrone, and jimmy
are all in town for the "Fox Pro-Am", and
the "Vodacom BMX Cup" so keep checking
back for pics and news on what goes down in the coming days....
Our good friends Greg Illingworth and Wayne
Reichie are also in town so you can be sure plenty
of riding and good times are in store..... check back for
updates.
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