The 14th Huckfest was an all out awesome weekend. Since 1999 the main street in Joondalup has been over taken by a bunch of bmx riders all ripping it. The Huckfest is part of the Joondalup Festival so there is always a great turnout of spectators and plenty of various activities going down all weekend. 6pm Friday night, streets are closed, trucks and trailers come in, ramps are set up.
Saturday day was a busy day with riders hitting up the free ride time to the fullest extent. Come competition time the riders were ready and waiting to lay down some riding for the crowds and the judges. Stand out on the Saturday in the Stud class was Dempsey who had the lines and the transfers mixed with tech and style in only the way that Dempsey knows how to lay it down. In the Novice class Scott Schmidt was ripping it and after some deliberating by the judges it was decided to upgrade him to the Stud class for Sunday.
Sunday there was a few sore bodies around from the amount of riding done on Saturday. There was the threat of rain on Sunday and the constant looking on the weather satellite web page became a regular happing. With only a few drops of rain it was clear all day. In the Stud class it was Dempsey who was well in the lead on points. This is something he would retain over the Sundays rounds which placed him in first place leading into the battle finals. The novice class it was Zac Robertson who rode the best over the two days and with the highest points accumulated he was the clear winner of the competition. Brady Thomas was consistent with his riding and good jumping skills for his size put him into second place. After 5 rounds over the weekend there was only 1 point separating 3rd and 4th. Kyle Ralston was rolling well throughout the competition to get a 3rd while 12 year old Tom Ship threw down some great moves for 4th including a top side no foot can can on the large quarter.(done under coping)
Clockwise from top left – Tom Ship is only 12 and rips – Brady Thomas has a very stylish Xup for such a young rider – Zac Robertson got 1st place in the novice with the help of tricks like this superman – Scott Schmidt was a novice at the start of the comp and by the end he was a Stud
Clockwise from top left – Dylan Schmidt before doing an ankle – Taylor Brown smith grinds at Huckfest – Sebbi Scott is a style cat – No helmet no ride strict policy of Huckfest and Brad South is grateful of this.
The Stud class was full of Perth heavy hitters and with Dempsey qualifying in first it was easy to see it was going to be a tough competition in the battle finals. In his second run for the day Dylan Schmidt finished his run with a flair to ankle roll, this took him out for the rest of the competition and a trip to the hospital. With all the runs finished it was time to commence the battle finals.
Round 1 – Taylor Brown V’s Sebbi Scott
These riders have total different styles of riding. Taylor likes to gap and grind while Seb has trails flow and style. Taylor was not as consistent as Sebbi although Taylor had a burlier run but the judges awarded Sebbi the win. Taylor Brown scores 6th place and Sebbi progressed to the next round.
Round 2 – Sebbi Scott V’s Jacob DeAbreu
With Sebbi flowing and Jacob tricking this battle round was going to be an easy one to pick, so one would think. With no handed backflips, flairs at height, double tailwhips and multi barspins Jacob DeAbreu was on fire. Trick after trick after trick, they were fired out but it was a lack of consistency and diversity that may have been Jacobs’s downfall. Sebbi just cranked at the ramps jumped with so much grace and style, well clicked turndowns, proper tabletops, groundchucks, 360’s and 540’s and all consistent. After the judge’s points were tallied the win was awarded to Jacob. Jacob 128 points, Sebbi 127 points. Round 2 could have been anyone’s. Sebbi Scott 5th place, with Jacob transferring into the next round.
Round 3 – Jacob DeAbreu V’s Dom Williams
Dom Williams had been riding like he was filled with jumping beans. After gapping from bank to bank (landings of both jump boxes) during his qualifying rounds everyone knew that he was going to step it up. Jacob was pumped up from the previous round and was raring to go. Jacob threw everything he had into the run, dialed no hander backflips, flairs super smooth, bars spins, tailwhips to barspins, he was on game. Dom was hungry though and wanted to eat every trick he could. After dropping in and cranking as fast as he could he jumped the bank to bank gap and let loose a tailwhip, landing sketchy he was not happy with it and after smashing out a bunch of other tricks and transfers he went for the whip gap again and smashed it smooth. It was again another close battle but in the end it was Dom’s diversity that helped to push his score up. Dom 143 to Jacob 137. Jacob DeAbreu takes out the 4th place and $50 while Dom Williams progresses to the next round against Laurance Bakewell.
Round 4 – Dom Williams V’s Laurance Bakewell
These two riders were almost equally match on the Huckfest ramp set up, both punching high flairs, both using the set up for all its worth. Dom hit the gap again with a tuck no hander, tricking the FN box backwards and hitting everything as fast as he could. Laurance has a bit more power in his riding than Dom and it showed in this round. Double tailwhip 360’s, 540 barspin airs and frontflips all went down from Laurance. It was a tight contest with the job of the judges being strained. The win was awarded to Laurance 154 points to Dom 151 points. Dom Williams 3rd place and $150 cash.
Round 5 – Laurance Bakewell V’s Dempsey
Dempsey was killing it all weekend. He is such a diverse rider and rides in a way not many other can but would like to. He rode the Huckfest set up like no one else. Qualifying in first with just over 30 points above Laurence, many thought that Dempsey would bring it to the finals and take the win. Come final battle it was butterflies that filled Dempsey’s stomach which allowed Laurance to sneak on through with a more consistent run. You could see Dempsey trying hard to get rid of the butterflies but they would not escape him, even after icepicking the sub box on the large quarter and smashing out a 180 over the FN box. Dempsey’s run was more diverse than Laurance’s but Laurance had the consistency. Both riders had difficult runs, Laurance had the hard tricks but Dempsey had the hard lines. Laurance’s run was filled with all the Laurence tricks, double tailwhips, bars spun multiple times, flairs and front flips. In the end it was again a hard judging job and once the scores were in Laurance Bakewell took the win by only 6 points. Laurance 138 to Dempsey 132 points. Dempsey took out the 2nd place and $300 while the win to Laurence had him taking home $500 cash and a brand new United Beacon frame thanks to Stowaway Distribution.
Clockwise from top left – Jacob DeAbreu hucks a no handed backflip – Dom Williams was hitting the highest flairs over the weekend – Dempsey is amazing to watch ride 360 tabletop over the FN box – Laurance Bakewell loves double tailwhips
Riding a fresh ramp course over the weekend, seeing new riders, watching some downright amazing stunts from some of the best riders in Western Australia and having all that in one weekend, Joondalup Huckfest 14 was awesome. Mad props goes out to the City of Joondalup for giving away $1000 in cash and for having Huckfest once again part of the Joondalup Festival. Thank you to Stowaway Distribution for flowing some great product for prizes and to all the riders who had a blast.
Joondalup Huckfest competition – 1st April 2012 – Round 5 F.N.W.A.S.S. – Official results
Bmx Novice – 1st Zac Robertson, 2nd Brady Thomas, 3rd Kyle Ralston, 4th Tom Ship, 5th Mathew Phelps, 6th Travis Wright, 7th Kai Cook, 8th Callan Murphy, 9th Kurt Bancroft, 10th Jonny Hulme, 11th Buster Keogh, 12th Cameron Birch, 13th Brady Mackiey, 14th Ben McDonald
Bmx Studs – 1st Laurance Bakewell, 2nd Dempsey, 3rd Dom Williams, 4th Jacob DeAbreu, 5th Sebbi Scott, 6th Taylor Brown, 7th Scott Schmidt, 8th Brad South, 9th Ross Scaffidi, 10th Dylan Schmidt, 11th Lee Carter
