Here’s a look at Drew Bezanson’s best run from Red Bull‘s Empire of Dirt contest this past weekend. They’ve got a few more best runs on their site that you can check out right here.
DIG – Empire of Dirt Photogallery #1
Red Bull Empire of Dirt Finals Edit
More BMX Videos
Ride UK dropped this video featuring the highlights of what went down in finals during the Red Bull Empire of Dirt contest yesterday. Looks like it was a damn good time. Can’t wait to see Red Bull’s official edits from this which should be out soon.
Red Bull Empire of Dirt – Qualifying Highlights + Final Results
More BMX Videos
Ride UK dropped this video from qualifiers that went down yesterday for Red Bull‘s Empire of Dirt. Below you can find the official press release with the results from todays Finals. Expect another edit to pop up tomorrow!
“The finals of Red Bull Empire Of Dirt at ‘Ally Pally’ were nothing short of epic. 10.000 visitors got together to see the world’s best riders bomb down the hill and hit up all obstacles. Things heated up quickly with the 16 riders aiming for the 4 spots that were available for another extra run in the super final.
With a bit more time on the course, the riders started to feel more comfortable and that showed in their riding. Paul Langlands from New Zealand pulled an opposite 720 on the last set and Kye Forte (UK) did a 360 over the road which had not been done all weekend. Alistair Whitton’s handplant over the spine was not to be repeated and also Brandon Dosch (USA) pulled a clean opposite 720 on the way down.
The expected rain never showed up and the crowd saw Ryan Nyquist (USA), Ben Wallace (UK), Drew Bezanson (CAN) and Mike “Hucker” Clark (USA) make the super final which gave each one of them an extra run to improve their score. Finishing in fourth was “Hucker” who did have a plan for the last set (double flip) but he never made it there to move up to a spot on the podium. On the podium however in third was Drew Bezanson whose original style, combined with his tricks got him up on the box. He had the best two days of his life riding at the EOD and the smile on his face proved that.
Never count out Ryan Nyquist. Once again he ripped it up with opposite truck drivers on the mini mega, double barspins over the spine and multiple 360 variations on the last three sets. He raised the roof in his last run and got spot number 2 on the podium.
After receiving the “Rider of the weekend” award, as voted by the riders themselves, Ben Wallace also received the number one award from the judges. For them it was clear that Ben was the winner. He’d been showing off his park and dirt skills all weekend and was clearly motivated by the presence of Stephen Murray and the great crowd.
‘I’m so stoked to have won this event on home soil”, said Wallace as he celebrated his win with fellow Super Finalists Ryan Nyquist, Drew Bezanson and Mike Clark. “This has been the best BMX event I’ve been a part of, mainly thanks to the atmosphere and the energy of the crowd. I’m pretty happy!” which echoed the thoughts of all the riders.
Kye Forte and his team spent three weeks and an estimated 23,192 man hours manhandling 720,000 shovelfuls of dirt to create the course for the contest, which aims to find the most well rounded rider from the various disciplines of BMX as they tame huge features, motocross-style jumps and snowboard type hits.
Results:
1. Ben Wallace (UK)
2. Ryan Nyquist (USA)
3. Drew Bezanson (USA)
4. Mike Clark (USA)
Rider of the weekend award: Ben Wallace (UK)
Trick of the weekend award: TJ Ellis (USA)”
Red Bull Empire of Dirt – Qualifying Results
It sounds like things got pretty wild at the Red Bull Empire of Dirt. The weather has been holding out and thousands of people are on site loving it which is rad. Below you can find a little write up of what went down in qualifiers along with the results for the day. Finals tomorrow! Expect a video to surface soon enough from todays riding.
“Red Bull Empire Of Dirt kicked off with qualifiers today at London’s Alexandra’s Palace. The place filled up quickly with BMX fans, 10.000 of them. The course which winds down the hill overlooking London, takes the riders near a minute to complete. Big screens meant that everyone on site could see the riders hit some huge features including the curved wall, the mini mega ramp, the start-off kicker into the donut turn and three sets at the bottom of the hill. It’s tough to get used to such a unique course in just a few days as it’s one of a kind.
The reactions of the riders have been amazing. They’re stoked to be part of the event and with all the fans cheering them on, it pushes them to the next level. 16 riders made it to Sunday’s finals and as always it was tough on the judges to get a score down. Ben Wallace (UK) sure was on fire and blasted everything a few feet higher than the rest. Being a park and dirt rider sure helps on this course as you need both skills to make it through. “Good old” Ryan Nyquist 360-d his way to the bottom in both directions and did a double barspin over the “spine”, an obstacle that others preferred to footplant over as it was a challenging ramp. Qualifying in third was Mike “ Hucker” Clark who hang-5-d through the hill straight into an x-up flip on the first jump.
Fortunately the weather has been cooperating and the crowd enjoyed the show. England is pretty BMX-crazy, it’s a good thing the Empire Of Dirt is here.
Qualifying Results RedBull Empire Of Dirt 2012. Alexandra Palace, London, UK. Top 16 to Sunday’s finals:
1. Ben Wallace
2. Ryan Nyquist
3. Mike Clark
4. Drew Bezanson
5. Brandon Dosch
6. Maxime Charveron
7. Rob Darden
8. Chris Doyle
9. Alistair Whitton
10. Ben Hennon
11. Corey Bohan
12. Matt Priest
13. Kye Forte
14. Sergio Layos
15. TJ Ellis
16. Paul Langlands
17. Corey Nastazio
18. Leo Forte
19. Ryan Guettler
20. Ronnie Napolitan
21. Geoff Slattery
22. Greg Illingworth
23. Bob Manchester
24. Bas Keep
25. Max Wood
26. Kriss Kyle
27. Daniel Tuente
28. Patrick Guimez
29. Robbo
30. Adam Aloise
31. Anthony Napolitan
32. Tom Dillon”
Red Bull Empire of Dirt – Practice
More BMX Videos
Check out this video Ride UK put together from the practice that went down at Red Bull‘s Empire of Dirt yesterday. So stoked to see Ruben Alcantara and everyone riding the course. Especially stoked to see that Stephen Murray was able to make it over for it too! This contest should be nuts and it’s going down today!
Empire of Dirt 2012 – Course Layout
*Click Here to see in full!
I would KILL to be at this…
“This years Empire course is definitely going to be different from 2008. From the get go we start on real steps, cross a real road & down real rails. From this we go into a big catty woods influenced step down leading into a right hand 270 berm.
The first split section slows the riding down a bit, choice of rails on the right & more traditional trail hip jumps through the trees. The mellower gradient at this point should allow for some nice tricks & consistency will be important to get through smoothly.
We then see a similar elevated quarter pipe to 2008, straight into the big curved wall synonymous with Red Bull Empire of dirt. Then the course picks up pace towards the end.
A huge flat bank spine, should really push the riders as on the approach it will look as if you are literally going to land in London!
The last straight again splits, on the left a mega ramp gap to grind. Then on the right a Robbie Madison step up to vertical roll in. This will really test nerves & skill as no one will have ever ridden anything like this. If you get to the finish It all ends with an oversize trick booter.” – Red Bull
Red Bull – Empire of Dirt Returns for 2012
After a hiatus of a few years, Red Bull is working with Kye Forte to bring back the Empire of Dirt contest. For those of you who remember this from 2008, the course was a slope style dirt course with a few wood ramps mixed into it to keep the guys on their toes. The contest was supposed to happen again in 2009, but it got rained out. Stoked to see they are bringing it back for this year.
This means not only will there be this contest, but Dream Line happening this year. Red Bull is killing it!
“ Red Bull Empire of Dirt is back for 2012, the previous event in 2008 was feted by pro riders as the most progressive event the BMX world had seen, so this is sure to be a welcome return.
Kye Forte has been busy designing an amazing, challenging course and is excited for this year’s event which will take BMX to the next level.
” Empire in my opinion not only shows what is possible on a BMX in way of riding & course design to the general public as well as a core BMX fan. The oversized features on the course & mix of terrain MX size jumps & snowboard type hits is obviously dangerous & very entertaining, which will appeal to a wider audience, as well as the BMX scene”
36 riders will compete in the event, which will take place in London. For details visit the Empire of Dirt event page and check back for more updates very soon.”
