Flatmaster 2k9 RESULTS
Author: admin
Flipbykes.com flatmaster 2k9 winners
1. York – Japan
2. Shintaro – Japan
3. Hezlan – Malaysia
It all started three years agio when a couple of die-hard BMX riders decided to set up their own company, Flipbykes, to cater to the needs of BMX riders, for who will know better a biker’s need than bikers themselves ?
And it was not enough for them to ust sell what BMX bikers need, what they did was to hold something that these riders can truly appreciate, thus was born the annual Flatmaster BMX competition in 2007 that provided opportunities to riders from all over the country to get together and show what they can do atop their bikes, and certainly what they do with their bikes in competition is not what a bike was originally designed for, and so the more original a trick or a stunt is, the more impressive it becomes.
Last year at the Mall of Asia, the event organizers, Joel Gonzales and Kris Gironella added an international flavour to the event but only to the extent of inviting 2004 Asian X Games gold medalist York Uno from Japan to do exhibition stunts which wowed the big crowd that attended the event.
This year, the organizers of the Flatmaster 2K9 again went a notch higher with their event, and added an international division for the first time, with 6 professional riders from Japan, Malaysia, and Canada answering the challenge, with Uno at the helm.
The way the organizers did it, there were three categories in this year’s event, sponsored by Mega World, Tribu, Columbia, Business Mirror, Pulp, and DC Shoes, the BMX/MTB Street Open, using ramps and other obstacles on the course, and the national and international divisions in the Flatmaster flatland competition with the top 10 local riders in the qualifying round advancing to the international division to join the 6 seeded foreign riders, reduced to 5 as French-Canadian rider Jean Francois Boulianne suffering a bike crash in practice 2 days before the competition and was reduced to impromptu announcer and cheerleader during the two day event held held at the Venetian Mall Park, Upper McKinley inside Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.
And the professional riders, led by York Uno and Shintaro Misawa lived up to expectations with the Japanese duo making it an all-Japan show in the finals of last Sunday’s international division before an appreciative crowd at hand.
The 34 year old Uno came up with a near-flawless display of riding skills in the finals against his compatriot to emerge champion in the inaugural international division of this meet that started 3 years ago as a pure local tournament, ” This is a difficult venue, it is slippery and bumpy but I love to ride here, Filipinos are hungry for competition and I believe they will do well abroad”, said Uno who was here last year but only did exhibition stunts.
Best local rider in the two day competition was La Union native Coco dela Cruz who made it to the final 4 but lost to Misawa in the semi-finals and to Malaysian Hezlan Ghafar in a battle for third place.
In the national division of the flatland competition, also supported by David’s Salon, Rollapaluza, DC Shoes, Royal Elastics, and EDGE, Mig Reyes, an auto mechanic from Pasig , beat Neil Quiogue and Sharmy Grimaldo to take the crown won last year by Renz Viaje who has moved up to the international division.
The other category contested by the participants who came from different provinces as far as Davao, Bacolod, and La Union, was the BMX/MTB Street Open with cellphone technician Anthony Bitancor from cavite taking first place, followed by Randy Zabal from marikina, and Daboy Pineda.
“We are happy with the results of the event as we were able to attract the likes of Uno who is an Asian Games gold medalist and other international riders in this first time we held an international division, we expect more foreign riders to compete next year, ” said flipbykes.
flatmaster 2k9 poster
Fl1pbykes Flatmaster 2k9 from flipbykes on Vimeo.