NASS King of Dirt Round 3

Published on June 19, 2008

I wasn’t around for the qualifying rounds on the Saturday, but when I arrived on the Sunday morning all I heard from the dirt jumpers was how bad the jumps were. With the roll-in ramp being the same height as the first set, the riders were struggling to get the speed to get any height to bust out their top moves. A bit of a shame considering the NASS round is watched by so many members of the public and people from outside the sport. Perhaps the organisers will take note and improve things next year.

After having to bitch crank between each jump the riders still managed to wow the crowds with barrell rolls, back flips, 360 barspins, 360 tailwhips and 360 suicides along with the normal array of can-cans, no-handers and tailwhips.  The Curtis dirt jump team were there in force, along with Charge Bike’s Mike Smith, Identiti’s Rory Backshell, Kona’s Ricky Crompton and Giant’s Chris Smith.

Chris Smith had a nasty crash during one of his final runs, slipping a pedal while landing of his 360 suicide, turning it in to a 360 suicide to scorpion face grind down the whole landing. But by that time Chris had already done enough to shut the competition down taking first place and £250 cash, with Rory Backshell (Identiti) taking second and Danny Cass (Curtis) third.

Mike Smith went away with a sore ass after nearly being entered by his seat post after snapping the rails on his seat, and shredding his jeans. The crowd weren’t very impressed with the MC announcing 360’s as ’spins’, so Sam Pilgrim had to step in and take over on the mic.

It seemed strange that Sam wasn’t riding, after he won the previous two rounds; this was apparently due to the fact that the jumps were shite, and he was having more fun doing the Animal/Relentless jump and trials show, with trials legend and Diamondback team manager Martyn Ashton. The show drew massive crowds all weekend, and was definately one of the highlights of the weekend.