3rd Annual BMX Contest

Words by Sean Albright, Photos by Barak Wiser, Captions by Rob Meronek

They should throw an entire bike out into the crowd for the BMX product tosses. That would be like Dustin Charlton getting hit in the head with a toilet at the Anniversary Party a few years ago

After the Contest, there was the Urethane Stains Opening Reception Party in the back warehouse

Every year, there's a Milk Challenge to see who can drink a gallon of milk the fastest. Pretty much anyone who tries this pukes

Sean says this trick is called a "foot jam." The rocker guy on the right definitely approves. I don't think anyone approves of those camo shorts though

This is Dave Rytell - he won the Sponsored Division

Skatepark of Tampa’s 3rd Annual BMX Contest was as amazing as expected. There was a full realm of riders and characters on site. The Friday Night Practice Session got things going off right from the start with the Beginners finding some lines to do the next day and the younger, hot-shots on scene blowing up the place. Also, let’s not forget that the more-experienced, older guys were out there showing us that they still have some moves.

The Urethane Stains Art Show followed the Practice with eye-popping art hanging all over the walls of the Bowl Warehouse. Complimentary spirits courtesy of Red Bull and PBR, good music, and a ripping Bowl session made the night complete.

On Saturday morning, the Contest started off in the normal pattern with Beginner first, Intermediate next, and then on to Expert. The Expert Class is when the Contest started getting out of control. Eddie Edgerton and John Velez set the tone with a big bag of tricks…just too many to list. These two ripped the Course for sure. Saving the best for last, the Sponsored/Pro Division completely went off - everyone that rode was on the shred. Some of the highlights were David Rytell’s wallride to tail-whip on the bank-to-wall, but he actually rode on the wall above it. He also did a downside whip over the 12’ gap from the 6’ quarter-pipe over to the roll-in. Jeremy Lowe threw down the largest alley-oop turn-down from the steep quarter on one side of the bank-to-wall, all the way to the quarter on the other side of the bank-to-wall. In addition, Jeremy decided to fakie the same gap. Chad Moore did the unthinkable up-rail to whip, with ease, in his run no less. Ricky Bates, Brandon Bellew, Kyle Kack, and Mark Mulville were all on point all day long with their dialed styles.

Last but not least, let’s not forget the always-popular Milk Challenge. Reigning champion and milk chugging bandit Zack Best flew in from Pittsburg, PA just to defend his Milk Challenge title. It was all worth it because Zack won once again, but not after puking along with his challengers.

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Contest and supported BMX for the day.

Sean Albright