On the 28th of Decemeber 2009, the biggest competition in NZ FMX history went down in Wanganui. It proved one thing: The future of NZ FMX is in very safe hands...

Luckily for all you crazy fmx fans I was the official MC for the event and I was there to witness the action first hand and tell you all about it!

The whole concept of the FMX Battle was really cool - organiser ex Crusty Demon Mary Perkins basically used the same format as the super cool Red Bull X-Fighters series which is an elimination competition where each rider goes head to head until one winner is left at the end of the night. Two Aussie FMX legends, Kain Saul and Steve Somerfeld, made the trip over the ditch for this prestigous event and it was well worth their time!

The day started out a little sketchy when my good buddy Trent Garton took a large dirt sample in qualifying and was forced to sit out the comp. Luckily nothing was broken and Trent will be back on the bike very soon but it was nasty hit - heal up buddy! Qualifying determined which riders would be facing off against each other, with the top 4 riders going straight through to the next round. Each and every round was nothing short of epic with each rider holding nothing back and doing their bit to prove they deserved a spot on the podium.

The battle for 3rd place was super tight and it came down to a classic trans-tasman battle between Aussie Steve Somerfeld (who was riding with a back injury!) and my boy local hero Josh Thompson. Josh is one of the smoothest riders you will ever see on 2 wheels and has a swagger of fantastic trickery, but in the end Steve Somerfeld took the bronze medal back hom to Australia after throwing down an epic run which inlcuded his signature trick the 'Dairy Queen'.

This left the 2 big dogs - Kain Saul (who recently flipped a Harley Davidson to dirt) and Red Bull full time rider Nick Franklin to battle it out for the Gold Medal. To say the final round was close is a huge understatement. My boy Sauly was not holding back one bit, throwing down the biggest Ruler Indy Flips I've ever witnessed - he was a huge hit with the Wanganui crowd. In the end though it was my pal Sick Nick Franklin who took out the title of Red Bull FMX Battle Champion after putting together one of the smoothest runs of his career. After talking to head judge Levi Sherwood it turns out Franklin raced the course and squeezed one extra jump into his 120 second run which gave him just enough extra points to knock Sauly off is perch.

All in all I was super pumped on how the comp went down. All of the riders were telling me it's the best comp theyve seen in NZ or Australia and it will only be bigger and better next year. Perhaps the highlight for me though was seeing my young buddy Liston Borrie ride the wheels off his KTM. Liston is only 18 years old but his riding surpasses guys who have been on bikes since before he was alive. Liston has earned himself the nickname 'Wonderboy' because he's one of those riders that can just do whatever he wants on a dirt bike! This kid is so tall and lanky that his signature tricks like the 'ruler' look unbelievable. Not only does he have the biggest bag of tricks you can imagine, but he can also whip his bike further sideways than anyone his age ive ever witnessed. Mark my words folks - when this kid gets the flip dialled he will be the man to beat in NZ FMX. It just so happens that I will be bringing you an interview with the young ripper over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

In the mean time - check out this youtube link from my good friend Ash at Aussie Adrenaline whos made a higlight video from the event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRK-KA63jI4

Steve Gregor

Demon Energy Lifestlye Athlete

http://www.runfmx.co.nz/

Comments (2)

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J5 said:

	... new judges nxt year no offense but first and second obviously got mixed up some s**t. kains tricks were way bigger and better than nicks and kain should have won.
	report abuse vote down vote up

January 20, 2010
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January 28, 2010
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