Munich BMX Recap
 
By Chris Mitchell
Sunday, June 19, 2005

Olympiapark München - The bike comp was the most anticipated event of the weekend, and with good reason. Steven McCann , hot off a Dew Tour silver medal, and Koji Kraft , with a fresh (Asian X) silver of his own, were going up against each other on the park course, and it was rumored that Simon Tabron was bringing his 900 to the vert ramp.

But there were some surprises.

On vert, Simon nailed enough tricks without the 900 to land him in first place after the first round. "A safety run takes the pressure off," he said. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you throw a flair, a whip and a bunch of 540s in your safety run. Tom Stober pulled out a no-handed flair, but got dogged by his finicky lover, the double whip. Koji stayed on his bike, an almost unprecedented event for him, and slipped into 4th.

John Parker nailed his double whip. "Woodward's helped him focus," said Tabron. "He has motivation and self-belief now." Eduardo Terreros looked more at ease on the LG ramp than ever before. He pulled huge airs, but kept everything clean, including a flair that spanned five panels. Parker finished with a bronze and Terreros with a silver, leaving "Safety Simon" with a no-pressure show off run to throw a 900 and walk away with the gold.

Before the park comp, Markus Wilke was awarded the "understatement of the year" award with this observation: "Beer is popular in Munich." If the park riders were indeed partaking of the Munich beer, they would be well advised to bring some to the next comp because this was one of the sickest park comps of the year. Koji Kraft once again stayed on his bike, exploding at the beginning of his run with a huge back flip that had the crowd roaring. He couldn't quite maintain his momentum, however, and ended in 4th. Tobias Wicke pulled some super-tech front wheel tricks and some solid whips to take the bronze. Steven McCann went bigger than anyone with a huge barspin flip over the box and a truck to barspin back, but got a little squirrelly on a turn down 720 transfer, so had to settle for the silver. Dave Dillewaard had his day in the sun with a run of nonstop tech tricks like a barspin 180 over the spine, a 360 whip over the box and a 540 on the quarter.

Whether it comes down to "safety" or Munich beer, this Munich bike event was unforgettable.