ATBA-UK Series '08 Round 1 SWMBC

After a mammoth 14 hour day on Thursday thanks to the AA and exams and finishing collage for some of the Remolition Crew on Friday morning, life is getting better because we are loading up the van and heading South West for the first round of the ATBAUK national series. After six hours mostly suck in the 'great' bank holiday get away traffic with only some random dancing and some traffic jam shenanigans with a band heading the same way (cheers Device) to break up the boredom we arrived at SWMBC to be greeted by an already large Mountain Boarder village of vans and tents and the smell of BBQ's in the air. So with the weather looking mixed (but what do the weathermen know anyway?), a freshly groomed track by the new owners of the centre and good turn out of riders the scene was set for another weekend mountain board craziness.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, a refreshing change from last years rain which turned up at every event. The morning started with a bit of timed qualification with riders showing they had lost no speed over the winter and the list of who was in and who was out of the Elite class changed with every run. It's worth mentioning that a few of the under 14's were fast enough to be racing in the Elite if they were allowed.

Everything was looking good for an afternoon of tight racing and we weren't disappointed. If it was fast and furious in all the categories then it was closer still in the Elite, as now that only the top 16 could qualify it meant there were no easy races and places were often decided over the last couple of features. There were too many incidents to mention but one thing that is worth a mention is the open final which was decided on the finish line, with Gary 'boner' Bowman overtaking Mike 'The Lick' Paine. So that was the Boardercross racing, up next a bit BBQ-ing, a bit of drinking, some partying and some more drinking.

Sunday arrived with rain, well it had been raining pretty much all night and park was a soggy mess. Luckily the rain had stopped by half eleven and things started to dry out. Once the experts in dirt had re-shaped the landing and applied some plywood to run in Olly 'Bomber' Morrison dropped in and laid out a perfect corked 3 over the Dead Dog jump, declaring the freestyle set up was open for business. Soon everyone was into a pre-comp warm up sesh, showing off new tricks learnt over the winter and dialling in the new lippier take off of the old favourite Dead Dog jump.

So with the sun desperately trying to come out the comp kicked off with the under 14's then ran through all the other categories. So much style, so many technical tricks thrown down over the Dead Dog and in the quarter. Unfortunately the park wasn't dry enough for riders to get all the rails but this didn't stop Paul 'Sloggs' Sloggett board sliding the rainbow rail - fair play considering he had cracked a rib in Saturday's Boarder Cross. Amongst all the all the amazing tricks (too many to mention really) props have to go out to Mike 'The Lick' who had been laying out some massive backflips all weekend and who attempted to put his name to landing the allusive double back flip. Never mind mate, get well soon. After an incredible freestyle comp the top 16 riders went through to the Elite jam. and are good enough to be in Elite freestyle jam. This is proved by Mick Kirkman winning the under 14's with a 540.

So there it was, pretty much all of Round 1 done and dusted. Only the Elite Freestyle Jam to go and we were going to be in for a treat as the sun had finally come out. There were some nice tricks being practiced into the foam pit and then taken to dirt while the scores were being counted and the contenders for the Elite class were finalised. And sure enough the Elite jam went off with all the riders looking smooth and stylish with more tech tricks than you can point a camera at. With 10 minutes to go The Mighty Joe Dixon ratcheted the level up with a 720 over the Dead Dog and then back flip in the quarter. He then drew a line under it 5 minutes later with another 7 and then a 540 in the quarter, taking the win.

That's it round 1 finished and it was all good and a great start to the series. All that is left to say if thanks to ATBAUK for keeping the event running smoothly. It's not an easy job, well done. Thanks also to the St Johns ambulance for looking after everyone and to the owners of the SWBMC for sorting the track and freestyle set up. They seem to have some impressive plans for the future and cheers for the beer.

Next up Round 2 at Haredown MBC 14-15 June. I can't wait, see you there!

First Gallery by Jack Beezer and Smilie:

Second Gallery by Kris Welsh: