time riding BMX and MTB ( when he has spare time after mustering sheep and kids ), the two lines of trails that he ’ s meticulously handcrafted tend to suit the 20-inch brigade .
The lines traditionally roll very quickly , and are littered with hips , step-ups and off-set take-offs . From the moment the riders drop in until they swing out of the big catcher berm at the bottom of the hill and begin the walk back to the top , both sets never fail to make the lads ( and lady , Ellie Chew ) smile .
This year , though , the 77mm deluge of rain in the lead-up to this year ’ s event had organisers and riders scrambling to get the jumps into a somewhat rideable condition ; it was literally all-hands-on-deck from the moment the rain stopped on Friday morning until the gates opened at midday on Saturday . Transitions had to be scraped clean , then fresh , dry dirt added , the upramps and downramps needed attention ( although weren ’ t as badly affected thanks to being covered in tarps during the downpours ), and the sides needed to be slapped and moulded back into shape .
Brett Frew says the superhuman efforts of the army of volunteers was the only thing that ensured the event went as smoothly as it did .
“ Everyone who turned up early was all too happy to get on the end of a shovel and help get the jumps tidied up in time , and without their help , I don ’ t think we would ’ ve been able to hold the Jam ,” he admits . “ It was a real team effort . Everyone was in the same mindset – most had driven or flown a long way to ride , and they wanted to give the Farm Jam the best chance possible of happening .”
The huge clean-up meant the BMX riders didn ’ t have a chance to practice on the jumps until Saturday afternoon , just a couple hours before they were scheduled to drop in in front of thousands of spectators . No pressure or anything .
As good luck – and no small amount of good management – would have it , the sun broke through the clouds just before the pushy contests were due to start , the show went ahead on schedule , and the jumps held up remarkably well . They were still a little soft and ran slower than usual , which meant the usual groundbreaking tricks weren ’ t thrown down
The BMX contest is consistently the highlight of the entire day ... it ’ s always the last event , and ensures the Farm Jam always finishes with a hell of a bang .
on the final big dirt double sender as they were in the past .
Despite the constant efforts of some hard-working volunteers , the transitions between the bottom two jumps also broke down a little during the comp , as hundreds of pairs of highly-pressurised tyres swooped through .
“ Those two transitions were a bit like a motocross track towards the end of the comp ,” laughs Aussie BMX legend and best trick winner Kyle Baldock . “ They developed some ruts as they were still soft from all the rain , but that ’ s part of the fun of a dirt event like Farm Jam , though . You need to ride to the conditions and we still managed to throw down some of our biggest tricks , the riders were psyched and the crowd was right into it as always .”
As was the case in 2016 , the contest boiled down to a head-to-head clash between good friends Baldock and UCI BMX World Champion – and defending Farm Jam champ – Logan Martin . Every time the pair dropped in , thousands of eyes were glued to their every move as they whipped , spun , flipped and contorted their bodies and bikes down the picturesque trails . There was no doubting these two were head-andshoulders above the rest – it was just a matter of who would come out on top . Once the rider votes were tallied after the hour-long riding session had wrapped up , it was that Martin was the clear favourite . Baldock crashed several times trying to send supertechnical bangers , while Martin was at his robotic best , clicking off perfect tricks off every jump on the course .
“ It definitely means something when your fellow riders are enjoying what you ’ re doing and vote you as the best rider of the day . That means a lot , and the vibe of the contest is always pretty special ,” Martin grinned afterward . “ The thing I love about Farm Jam is that it just feels like a session with the boys and to come away with another win there was amazing .”
There were tonnes of highlights from riders across the board throughout the event : crowd favorite and long-time supporter of the Farm Jam , Michael “ Hucker ” Clark seat-bounced almost the entire way down the course with his feet off the pegs on his way to a surprise third place , and Australia ’ s Mike Ross had the crowd gasping with his huge , picture-perfect Seatgrabs and ludicrous Nacs over the final trick booter . During a break in the session to give the transitions some love , Jason Watts boosted the dirt quarterpipe to heights that have probably never been reached off that feature , while USA ’ s Kris Fox summoned his past life as a top-level racer to scrub and whip his BMX down the trails on his way to the Best Style award .
At the end of the day , as the sun began to set and the prolific round of podium “ shoeys ” had been knocked back , everyone to a man had a smile plastered on their face as they caught up and relived the epic action they ’ d seen across the different disciplines . Despite the worst the weather had thrown Southland ’ s way , the 2018 Farm Jam had again been taken to the next level , the heaving crowd had witnessed some of the biggest names in action sports send it hard and everything had gone without a hitch . You couldn ’ t have wished for more .
There was just one more matter to attend to : a huge after-party that ’ d keep everyone ’ s appetite for beer sated until about 2020 … t
Results
FARM JAM 2018
1 Logan Martin ( AUS ) 2 Kyle Baldock ( AUS ) 3 Mike “ Hucker ” Clark ( USA ) 4 Mike Ross ( AUS ) 5 Joe Simpson ( NZL ) Best Trick : Kyle Baldock Best Style : Kris Fox ( USA )
FreestyleXtreme . com | 65