Australasian Dirt Bike — September 2017

http://www.adbmag.com.au SEPTEMBER 2017 | 83

home wouldn’t let me live it down!
There’s been a bit of controversy
around using mechanical ramps but
they still take a lot of skill and it’s
tricky to time the jump and land in
the right spot. Basically I just hit
whatever you put in front of me. I’m
not picky or whingy and I don’t
necessarily love mechanical ramps,
but I don’t hate them either. I just like
tomakethemostofeverysituation
andIwanttoprogressthesport,so
whateverittakestodothat,I’lldoit.

JOSHSHEEHAN(AUS)
3rdinFMX,4thinBestTrick,
DoubleFlipHeelclicker
Theweekleadinguptothisyear’s
Gameswasthehardestpracticefor
anyevent.Wegetlotsoftimetoride,
buttheairbag,manitworksyou.
You’relandingwithpaceandit’seasy
to cartwheel the bike and get hurt.
OriginallyIdidn’twanttodoBest
TrickasIhaveacustomtripleclamp,
subframe and muffler that I didn’t
want to bend up, but Travis talked me
into it as they needed some Double
Flip combos.
OnmyfirstattemptIlandeda
straight Double Flip, which was a
warm-up, but I slapped down hard
andbentthesubframeandcrackeda
weld.ThatwasabitannoyingasI

have to use the same subframe for the

next couple of contests.

I went straight back for my second

jump and landed the Heelclicker

Double smoothly. I was happy with

that considering I had a sore groin and

sat out all Best Trick practice sessions

until the final one.

I was a bit pissed that I only

finished fourth in Best Trick. I didn’t

think Pat [Bowden’s] three-combo flip

should’vehadthesameDOD(degree

of difficulty) as me, then apparently

the Indy Front Flip off the mechanical

rampwasalsobetterthanaDouble

Flipcombooffasuper-kicker.Ido

agreethatHarryshould’vewon,butI

didexpecttoplacehigher.

Atthesametime,Iwasstokedto

sneak into third in the FMX comp. I

thought Clint [Moore] would knock

me off the podium but he

undercooked a 360 and went down,

which opened the door for me.

Allinall,Ithinkitwasawesometo

seealltheAussiesrippingitupand

the event was equally as good as last

year.AcoupleoftheBestTrickjumps

weren’tasmassiveas2016,butit’s

The FMX

comp format

Each rider submits their eight-jump trick

lists to the judges before they take to the

course. Each run must include four

right-side-up tricks (including a mandatory

whip), four upside-down, then two options.

For an extra points bonus each rider also has

to hit the 120ft ramp at least once, and a

maximum of twice, encouraging the riders to

throw their biggest tricks over the biggest

gap to maximise their points score.

On top of that, the riders have to run

through their trick list in the order they are

submitted; they don’t score points for any

tricks done out of order.

The white knight, Pat Bowden

All riders must throw a whip in FMX comp

Josh felt he should’ve fi nished higher in Best Trick

Bink can fl ip both ways with style!