Brandon Dosch cleans up at the inaugural Red Bull Stomping Ground in Chicago, taking the overall win in the BMX Dirt contest as well as the best trick honours.
In an exciting day that featured multiple swings through wildly varying weather conditions, Michigan’s Dosch bested a field of the most respected BMX dirt jumpers in the world.
In the days leading up to the actual event, the weather had cycled through several states, including “looks like rain”, “threatening to rain” and “raining”. It’s not every day you get to ride a unique, 18-jump dirt course in the middle of downtown Chicago, however, so the invited competitors did their best to brave the elements in order to get a crack at the course.
The qualifying round finally went down this morning after rain and wind-forced delays, and the skies opened up once again just as the last rider completed his run. The decision was made to put the contest on hold until conditions improved, but luckily it wasn’t long before things dried up. Remarkably, the sun even made an appearance, and the brighter skies brought renewed energy to the proceedings.
Practice was firing right off the bat – experience had shown that the window of sun and calm could be short-lived, so the riders wasted no time taking stylish runs and dropping big moves. The final results would be decided by a two-run format, followed by a jam session for the Chipotle Best Trick award. First place overall brought a whopping US$25,000 with the Best Trick prize being free burritos for a year, so things got serious really quickly.
The podium was occupied by a couple of new-schoolers and one of the most consistent and stylish dirt-jumping veterans of all time. Third went to Mike “Hucker” Clark, who entertained everyone during one of the rain delays by using the tarps on the course as a slip’n’slide. Always up for a good time but just as reliable when it comes to putting on a show, Hucker landed a nosedive 360 transfer and a double tailwhip 360, followed by a truckdriver to x-up, a turndown and a frontflip for his spot on the podium.
Chris Doyle, as usual, put on a 360 how-to, stuffing every variation possible into them. He did turndown, x-up, tailwhip, invert, topside no-footed can-can and even barspin-to-barspin-back versions – all pushed to their max.
It was Dosch’s day, however. From lookback, tailwhip and downside whip 360s to double whips and a 720, Brandon was as solid as a rock. To top it off, he also ruled the Best Trick jam session by being the only rider of the day to pull the massive 31ft (10m) transfer at the bottom of the course – with a tailwhip, naturally.
Other highlights from the jam included Hucker’s double-downside whip 360, Enarson’s double whip to opposite double whip, TJ’s so-close frontflip tailwhip, and Guettler’s wild “360 every set” run, including a nac-nac to can-can 360, all topped by a clean 720.
When you pair the world’s best dirt jumpers with a unique, challenging course, things are destined to get wild, so despite the weather complications, Red Bull Stomping Ground went off. “Red Bull contests are always the best contests there are,” Clark said after the event. “The transfer lines were good; Fuzzy and the guys did a great job building the course.”
“The contest was super awesome,” Dosch added. “My favourite part was that it was more laid-back, not as stressful as some of the big tours. I think everybody had a good time!”
Results
1. Brandon Dosch
2. Chris Doyle
3. Mike “Hucker” Clark
4. Dennis Enarson
5. Ryan Nyquist
6. Corey Bohan
7. Ryan Guettler
8. Drew Bezanson
9. Cam White
10. TJ Ellis
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