FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 2 | Page 26

p back to contents S O ALVARO, WHEN DID you first start building the park here? What was the original set- up like? The park was originally built because I needed a place close to home for training. I didn’t want to waste time and money travelling to train in other locations far from home like I did during the early days of my FMX career. I used to ride my friends’ places like Miki Monti in Ravenna, where I first started jumping ramps, or Massimo Bianconcini’s compound in Bologna, which had a supercross track and later a ramp and a landing for freestyle motocross. I would also travel to Imola, to another rider’s place who jumped ramps and set up a park with us where the first foam pit in Italy was built. Not to forget Musano in Treviso where I also had a landing and a ramp inside a private motocross track where I used to jump and train during the early days. In 2005 I set up the first ramp with a landing, which still operates as the main landing for the Superpark today. Nowadays you get some of the best riders in the world coming here to ride, practice their FMX and learn new tricks. 26 | FreestyleXtreme Who are some of the big names that have ridden here over the years? Almost all of the strongest riders on the European and world scene have come through my park, including both historic and current FMX riders. I’ve had riders like Mike Metzger, Alastair Sayer, Tom Pagès, Eigo Sato, André Villa, Busty Wolter, Libor Podmol, Mat Rebeaud, Rémi Bizouard, Clinton Moore, Martin ‘Muph’ Schenk, Martin Koren, Lucas Weis, Fabian Bauersachs right through to the younger riders like Petr Pilát, Matej Cesak, Kai Haase and Luc Ackermann. What was it like to have Mike Metzger ride here? How did that come about? It was great having Mike Metzger here. To have the founder of this sport riding at the Da Boot Superpark was such an important event. When he came to my park he showed us the true meaning of this sport, how it was invented, and especially that he was the real mastermind behind FMX. During the week that Mike was riding at my park, he made new jumps and lines that had simply never occurred to us before. I had met Metz back in 2005 when we were jumping together at a