Hi Jason, so what was the first FMX event you
ever judged?
Now the head judge on the IFMXF in Europe, Jason
was also putting on FMX contests in South Africa
(SA); training most of the up-and-coming riders in
SA; riding events and demos in Europe; all before
opening his own FMX shop and demo team, “Ride
Authority”, in South Africa with two of his riding
buddies. At this stage he was riding more and more
- working hard on his tricks - and soon enough
Jason became one of the first SA riders to learn the
backflip. Then came the crashes. After a number
of serious slams resulting in long recovery periods
and ops including back surgery, the SA FMX guru
reluctantly decided he was now old and wise enough
to hang up his pro FMX boots. In 2008, once his
body was healed up, he sold all his FMX businesses:
clothing companies, shops, demo ramps etc. in SA
and moved to the UK. He now lives here with his
wife and son, commuting all around the world to the
biggest FMX events on the global calendar. On his
weekends off Jason can still be found tearing up
his local MX practice tracks and FMX parks on his
CR250.
I judged a few events back in South Africa when we
were trying to get things rolling there back around
2000/01 and then the first event I judged in Europe
was Night of the Jumps Vienna. At that stage the
Night of the Jumps and Masters of Dirt were all
one big combined thing, so after speaking with the
Masters of Dirt promoters I ended up on a plane to
Vienna. I helped build the course there, judged the
contest and then after the event they invited me
back for the rest of the season as head judge. A
few months later they invited me to judge my first
Red Bull X-Fighters in Madrid where I was also head
judge and I’ve pretty much been doing all this stuff
ever since.
Judging formats have become a bit of a science
over the last few years. Do you feel there is still
room for improvement with the current judging
system?
The judging systems that we have today have
definitely become quite technical and developed.
There are some clear differences between the two
series that I work with – Red Bull X-Fighters and the
FIM World Championships / Night of the Jumps.
They will never be perfect as there is always room
for improvement, and we’re always striving to make
them as fair and as accurate as they can be. Judging
always has to evolve and progress at the same rate
as the riding, you know it can never stagnate: it has
to follow the direction of the riding, the tricks and
most importantly the system has to work for the
riders and the fans. One thing we always make sure
of is that the judging formats in no way hold back
any progression of the sport. There are always extra
points available for new tricks, innovation, and for
crazy s**t that we as judges weren’t expecting to see.
“
It’s hard, we have SO
MUCH RESPECT for the
riders it can be TRICKY to
almost have to criticise
them after doing such a
sick run
”
Tom P
agès a
nd Dan
awaitin
y Torre
g their
s eage
scores
rly
If you feel changes have to be
made to a judging system how do
you go about it and who gets a say?
p. Jorg
Mitter
The Red Bull X-Fighters is particularly
rider-driven, so from one event to the
next we have constant feedback. We
give the guys detailed judging reports
showing what was scored, what we
saw and why we thought these point
allocations were accurate - s o that the
riders can understand how the judges are
looking at the riding and what they are
basing their decisions on. We then get a
lot of feedback from the riders, and based
on this feedback, we will tweak areas and
make changes accordingly – it’s an ongoing process that is constantly evolving
throughout the season. We just have to make
sure we don’t move too fast, which is why
there are checks in place.