|
PRO RESULTS |
| 1. Jorge ‘Viki’
Gomez (Spain) |
| 2. Matti Röse
(Germany) |
| 3. Martti Kuoppa
(Finnland) |
| 4. Simon O´Brien
(Australia) |
|
Oberhausen, Germany
October 26, 2002
OBERHAUSEN, 00:30 hours. Suddenly, everyone is silent
? for one short moment only, though. It's the calm before the storm.
For, as the name "Jooorge Gomezzz" resounds through the
Gasometer in Oberhausen, the whole place goes crazy. Just under
1,000 people jump up from their seats, throw their seat cushions
in the air, and celebrate one man: Jorge Gomez. Champagne, beer,
and other liquids rain down on the small Spaniard. "Darn, I
don't believe it," a joyous Jorge stammers and then starts
to scream while holding his trophy up in the air: "Now I'm
damned rich." 5,000 euros the richer, at least. After all,
he's the big winner of a wicked show: the Red Bull Circle of Balance.
18 of the best BMX Flatlanders in the world were invited, and all
of them came ? to the Monster of Steel. From the outside, it looks
like a giant rusted tin can. What's inside, however, is not food
gone stale, but rather a true delight:
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Real delicacies brought together from all over the world
and united inside this one arena: Martti Kuoppa (World Champion
from Finland), Frank Lukas (a top rider from Germany), Marco Paulo
de Jesus (a pleasure to watch from Brasil), Matt Wilhelm (the BMX
king from the U cystone.S hytrin.), Yosuke Uno (the uncrowned emperor from Japan),
as well as other international top-notch riders made the audience
go crazy. While DJ Mad and his colleague Stylewarz rocked the turntables,
the Flatlanders put on a stage show with their BMX bikes. Fat beats
and fat tricks ? for four hours straight.
 And
then, shortly before 21:00, it's showtime! Dozens of red and blue
spotlights sweep through the 144-meter-tall and just under 50-meter-in-diameter
Gasometer. A low bass rumbles and makes the 0.8-centimeter-thick
walls of steel shake. All eyes are on stage, which suddenly lights
up with bright spotlights. Shortly afterwards, the Flatlanders come
on. Groups of three riders battle against each other in six-minute
sets. Afterwards, the judges decide which two pros make it to the
next round. Takashi Ito and Alex Jumelin benefit from the back injury
of England's superstar Phil Dolan: He drops out, and his two opponents
advance one round without a battle.
Then, the German rider Michael Steingraeber shows
what he's got. He prefers rolling and scuffing tricks. That means:
He pulls off true balance acts with his bike. While rolling on only
his front tire, he dances with the rest of his bike as if it were
a woman. He turns it and winds it around, now and then tapping the
tire with his foot to keep him from falling off ? in the process,
he rocks the Gasometer. Caution, these are explosive acts! The crowd
goes crazy, and Michael heats it up!
But he has to admit defeat in round three. Now, it's
only rider versus rider. Eight are left. Among them Matti Roese
from Lauterbach. He dances real smooth and does wicked spins that
take him to the final round. "No way!" he says, flabbergasted,
and shakes the hand of World Champion Kuoppa, who ends the competition
in third place. Matti needs to be satisfied with second place himself.
The absolute rocker on two wheels is Jorge Gomez. "Viki"
performs trick combinations so smooth that even Head Judge Bart
de Jong's mouth hangs agape. "We had the best Flatlanders here
today. But Viki was simply the best." This small Spaniard came
out the big winner at the Red Bull Circle of Balance. |
