By Chris Bierton
Last weekend saw the 4th Freestyle BMX Nationals held at RampFest Indoor Skate Park in Braybrook. Since helping launch the Nationals in 2018, the event has been held twice in QLD, so everyone was looking forward to getting the largest BMX event in Australia back to Melbourne.
Australia is currently the top-ranked nation in Men’s Freestyle – with world #1 Brandon Loupos, world #2 Logan Martin, and a host of local riders all ranked in the world top 50.
In Freestyle BMX, the biggest difference between Qualifying and Finals is how your score is calculated. Each rider gets 2x 1min runs in both to impress the judges – who give a score out of 100 based on difficulty, execution, style, variety, amplitude etc. But in Finals, it’s Best Run Counts – meaning all the really big tricks come out, and riders get 2x chances to nail their perfect run (with crashes dropping your score dramatically – almost certainly out of medal contention).
With this in mind, everyone went up a gear in the Finals, and it was World 1 & 2 who showed everyone their big bag of tricks. Both Logan & Brandon put together amazing runs, with big 1080 spins, multiple flair combinations, and heaps of technical tricks linked back-to-back. Today though, Logan took home the win – making it 3x Aussie Titles in a row for the Queenslander.
RampFest Indoor Skate Park is a world-class indoor skate park in Melbourne’s inner west – offering coaching, holiday programs, multiple session types and a skate, scooter and BMX Pro. rampfest.com.au, facebook.com/rampfest (Photos: LiveBreatheRide.com)
