September 26th marked the date of the FMX East Challenge/2nd Annual Pinn-It Bash in Dodd City, TX.  When I got there Tuesday it was the first time I had seen the course in person- I immediately wanted to ride.  However, the course was under about 4 inches of mud.  The next 2 days were spent dragging mud off the course and praying it wouldn't rain anymore.  Well, the rain held off and the riders started showing up Friday- some coming from as far away as Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota.  Immediately the riders took to the course.  Everyone was a little tentative at first until Amateur class competitor Nick Gore stepped up and jumped everything in sight.  Not only did that amp me up but it lit a fire under all of the competitors.  Suddenly you could feel the energy as riders started exploring the whole course.  As the sun went down we cranked up the lights and the riders rode late- obviously excited to be riding a new spot with more people hitting ramps than they had ever seen in one place.

    Saturday morning picked up right where Friday night left off with all the riders dialing in the ramps they would be hitting in the contest. Practice lasted most of the day with the contest starting at 6:00 pm.  We started out with the Novice class- these are the new guys just getting into freestyle.  This is one of my favorite classes because they sometimes get excited and try stuff they have never done just to beat their competition.  Our youngest competitor also came from this class- Alton Brown III at age 14. After having some bike issues which then led to a crash that ended his night, I spoke with him and you could see that he was obviously disappointed in himself.  His comment to me was "I will be back even better next time."  With that kind of attitude I have no doubt he will.

    Next Class up was the Quads with 4 riders- with 3 of them being Bomb Squad riders, Andy Nelson from Minnesota felt a little overwhelmed. This was Andy's first contest and maybe event, but with some technical tricks he held his own. So much so it is rumored that the Bomb Squad guys invited him to come down and practice with them.

    Last but not least came the Amateur class.  These guys were using the entire course.  Given 2 minutes the guys put together runs that showed their versatility tricking different size gaps.  All three had good tricks and put on a good show; however one person stood out.  Nick carried his momentum from practice and showed everyone what's up.  I thought- "whoa, not only will he jump whatever but his tricks are on point too."

    After the contest was over Kenny Steinkie and I (Clint Esposito) put on a pro demo, going through our trick lists and even throwing some flips in the dark.  Colton Moore was ready for action in the Pro Demo, but due to poor lighting, he went down hard.  We will have that fixed and ready for next year!  I had an awesome time meeting, riding and hanging out with all the riders.  Thanks for making the event a success guys.

    The results went like this.

Novice Class:            Event Points

    1. Mark Merrix(IL)           637  won prize and gift cert

    2. Russell Hollmann(CA)   592    won prize and gift cert

    3. Cody Lookingbill(TN)    579   won prize and gift cert

    4. Joe Thomas(TX)         484

    5. Daniel Lee(LA)            550

    6. Andrew Dotson(TN)     DNF

    7. Alton Brown(TX)         DNF

Quad Class:

    1. JR Hinds(OH)            658  won $500 plus prizes

    2. Nicholas Hicky(TX)    651     won $200 plus prizes

    3. Andy Nelson(MN)      621       won $100 plus prizes

    4. Dylan Mason(OK)      617

Amateur Class:

    1. Nick Gore(IN)           715      won $500 plus prizes

    2. Robbie King(TN)        675       won $200 plus prizes

    3. Sloan Hulsey(TX)      659        won $100 plus prizes

FMX East would like to thank our sponsors: Stroker IND, Spastic Graphics, Motion Pro, Spider Grips, PMP sprockets, Acerbis, Hyde Concepts, and B Shipman Films