ROBBIE MADDISON
R
obbie - how’s it going man?
So what brings you out here
to Belgium?
Yeah man, I’m doing good. I’m
out here in Belgium this weekend
supporting Jimmy Verburgh and
the FMX4Ever crew. Jimmy has
been a really good friend of mine
since I started travelling the world
some ten years ago. I travelled
out to do the Free4Style demo in
Switzerland last week, and then
came straight here for Jimmy’s
event – Rock the Ramp. The
event is essentially a fundraiser.
All the funds are going to pay off
the fines from the city for Jimmy
having a freestyle compound in
his backyard. It’s also a bit of a
thankyou to the locals for putting
up with them all year. I just hope
the weather holds out and we
get to make it happen today. It’s
always good fun riding with the
FMX4Ever crew, they’re a good
bunch of dudes from all over the
world - I love riding with them!
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H
ow did you first meet Jimmy
Verburgh?
The first time I bumped into
Jimmy was at an FMX event.
It was the first event I ever did
outside Australia and I actually
ended up breaking my wrist in
practice. I went for a Backflip
and the lighting guys turned off
the lights halfway through my
rotation. I jumped off the bike and
as I finished my rotation I could
see the lights come back on the
landing so I tried to grab my bike
back in the air but it was too
late. I had already committed to
the bail and I snapped my wrist
when I landed. Now every time I
come back to Europe, Jimmy is
my point of contact. He supports
me with all my bikes when I’m in
Europe through FMX4Ever and
Motorsport Verburgh. He kind of
flies the flag for me over here and
really helps me out with bikes,
parts and all that type of stuff.
gotta take this opportunity
to say how sick we thought
Air.Craft was man. Do you
have any follow up ideas in the
pipeline?
I
of. The video came out really well,
and we had great viewership with
over two million hits. I think we
started something there, and I’m
really eager to get back into it all.
Thanks man – Air.Craft was a
dream of mine that I’d been
working on for some time. I’ve
always had this vison of doing
things different to everyone else.
I guess I was inspired by the
likes of Ken Block and Danny
MacAskill you know, these
YouTube sensation action sports
videos that everyone is so into
right now. These projects take
Ok I’ll be honest here: we are
actually working on the next
one right now. There have been
some hold-ups along the way
but we’re getting there. When it
comes to figuring out what the
new idea is going to be, it’s not
just about me and what I want
to do, it’s also about what my
partners want to do and what
they want to showcase. I kind of
went through a bunch of different
concepts of what the new Air.
Craft film could be, but now we’ve
struck an agreement! It’s a project
that I have been working on for a
couple of years and it’s something
totally different from anything
else you’ve seen. It still uses the
motorcycle, but in a whole new
way, so I’m excited to be working
on that and to see what we can
do to entertain people around the
world.
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“It’s totally
different from
anything
else – it still
uses the
motorcycle,
but in a whole
new way
”
-Maddo on his latest
video project
inspiration from the athletes, and
then develop it in a really different
way, creating something new
that people want to see. So with
that I wrote down a bunch of
different ideas for stuff I wanted
to showcase. One thing I had
always wanted to do was a drop
from a crane. I always thought
that was a good way of practicing
big drops as you don’t have to
build the scaffolding - you can
just lift yourself up in the crane
and stabilise yourself with the
rigging. As long as your lasers are
in the right place it’s somewhat
manageable and luckily in the
end we were able to incorporate
that into the final edit. Air.Craft is
something that I’m really proud
H
ow did your FMX career
come about, and how far
into it did you decide you
wanted to get into long distance
jumping?
When my career started, I felt like
I was a bit late getting onto the
FMX wagon. I think I was around
twenty-one, and was working as
an electrician at the time. I grew
up racing motocross, and a lot of
the guys I was racing against had
gone on to become some of the
world’s best. Guys like Luke Urek,
Dane Kinnaird, Jono Porter, Jake
Bowen, the Cole brothers - these
guys were all from Australia and
they were making a big splash
on the world scene. I remember
going to watch the Supercross
one night and a bunch of these
guys were there riding the FMX
demo in their old skool baggy LBZ
pants and I kind of saw myself
doing what they were doing.
Not long after I went to a Crusty
Demons of Dirt show when they
toured Australia. I remember u
F &VW7G