Unit, one of the world's fastest growing action sports brands, has just released a six-minute mini-documentary on one of their star athletes, Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham.

Wheelz, 19, has obtained a cult following globally for his antics with the Nitro Circus Live Tour after successfully landing 40ft Backflips, Double Backflips and Front-flips in the past six months... in a wheelchair.

The Las Vegas teenager is one of the most inspirational athletes in the entire action-sports industry; he hasn't let spina bifida dictate his lot in life and has taken his custom-built wheelchair to places they've never been before, including skateparks, BMX parks and of course, the Giganta-Ramp.

Unit sat down with Wheelz during a recent trip to the USA and found out what makes the laid-back, humble teenager tick. Visit www.youtube.com/unitridersaus to check it out.

Following on from the successful Nitro Circus Live New Zealand Tour Wheelz is back in Vegas and preparing for the Nitro Circus Australian Regional Tour, which kicks off on March 9 at Albury's Lavington Sports Ground.

Courtesy: Unit Clothing www.unitriders.com

Producer: Allan Hardy

Music: 'Hello World' by Amely www.myspace.com/amely

• By Allan H

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Unit rider Matt Schubring has been busy moulding and carving a massive area of land in South East Queensland into a heavenly dirt bike park, and things are really starting to take shape.

Schuie and his good mate Steve Sommerfeld have been battling beuacracy and red tape for the past couple of years trying to make their dream a reality, but yesterday the park received the official nod from Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.

Check out the official press release from the Queensland State Government below. Congratulations, lads, we can't wait to see the epic facility you're creating!

The Council of Mayors (SEQ) today unveiled the master plan for the Wyaralong Regional Trail Bike Facility and announced Motorcycling Queensland (MQ) as the selected facility operator.

Due to open in the second half of 2011, the master plan for the facility includes recreational trails, freestyleMX, supercross, natural terrain motocross, pee wee and other motorcycling facilities as well as spectator, parking and camping areas.

Making the announcement at Lilybrook Homestead at Wyaralong today, Council of Mayors (SEQ) Chairman Councillor Campbell Newman said Motorcycling Queensland had been chosen to operate the 745-hectare trail bike site after a six month tender process.

The Wyaralong Regional Trail Bike Facility will be a unique venue that will offer South East Queensland's 230,000 trail bike riders with a first-class legal riding option," Cr Newman said.

"SEQ Councils have been working with the State Government to bring this project to fruition.

"We have recognised off-road trail bike riding as a legitimate recreational pursuit that is becoming increasingly popular in Queensland.

"We now welcome Motorcycling Queensland to the partnership to play their part in making the trail bike facility a reality."

A 1.1 kilometre access road to the trail bike site is due to commence construction in March as well as the first stage of the trail bike park.

The trail bike facility will complement new recreational facilities around Wyaralong Dam funded by the State Government including recreation trails, horse riding, mountain biking and sailing.

Council of Mayors (SEQ) Trail Bike Taskforce Chairman Councillor Steve Jones said the master plan being developed by MQ would provide opportunities for both recreational riders and more serious riding disciplines.

"As the new operator, MQ is dedicated to providing an exceptionally high standard of service to SEQ trail bike riders and committing to future development of the site," Cr Jones said.

"MQ's business partners will include Ray Buchanan's Australian Dirt Biking Adventures and Crusty Demons' Matt Schubring and Steve Sommerfeld's company Invert Management & Moto Solutions.

"This group brings a wealth of experience and creativity to this facility and promises the creation of some great new experiences for future patrons," he said.

MQ General Manager Lindsay Granger said that MQ relished the opportunity to work collaboratively with SEQ Councils and the State Government.

"We want to develop and operate the premier trail bike riding facility in SEQ, which we expect will attract around 20,000 visitors a year," he said.

"We are also committed to managing this facility to the exacting standards required by the State and Local Governments, and look forward to working with the Scenic Rim region to create a new recreation facility that the region can be proud of."

Eight SEQ Councils, including Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Redland and Logan City Councils and Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Somerset Regional Councils are involved in the Wyaralong Regional Trail Bike Facility.

• By Simon M

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Despite the bad weather forecast, Cam White's 5th annual Hillside Dirtjam went off in Canberra, Australia. A big international rider line up made the trip to Australia for the event, including Hucker, Anthony Napolitan, James Foster and Brandon Dosch, they were joined by the regular Aussie crew consisting of former champ Dane Searls, Josh Stead, Cam Pianta and many more. New Zealand's top dirt jumps Jed Mildon and Paul Langland also joined in.

Hucker and Dane had both won the event in the past, but on the night Hucker's crazy riding prevailed, and he ended up scoring the 'King Of The Hill' title. Best Trick came down to Brandon Dosch with a transfer triple whip, Jed Mildon blasting a massive double flip on the big trick jump, and James Foster nailing a perfect whip to double whip back. In the end the votes were tied on James and Jed, so they both shared the winner's cash. Best Style once again went to Aussie Josh Stead who was on a rampage all night.

Some other highlights included Hucker's backflip cliffhanger and crazy corked 720's over the big trick jump, Dane Searls' super extended 360 super seatgrab indy, Brakeless Billy stomping a never before attempted transfer from the big trick jump lip over to the long and low landing and Paul Langland with a bunch of crazy superman variations.

Courtesy: Unit Clothing

Producer: Allan Hardy

Additional Filming: Bret Trigg & Guy Streeter

Music: I Don't Need Your Lovin' by Night Horse www.myspace.com/nighthorsemusic

• By Allan H

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We've just heard from Unit racer Robbie Marshall that he has had huge crash this afternoon and is now in hospital with a broken collarbone and suspected internal injuries.

The Sheriff says he swapped out on a top-gear straight on his recently upgraded motocross track while training for the upcoming 2011 Rockstar Energy MX Nationals, and ploughed into the face of a jump, landing on his side and head.

"This sucks, man," Robbie texted us. "It was a massive crash"

The injuries are sure to rule the Coastal KTM pilot out of the 2011 Unit Farm Jam next weekend, but we're hoping he'll be OK to race the first round of the nationals at Broadford on March 13.

Get well soon, man! All the best for a swift, complete recovery.

• By Simon M

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Yo whats up guys!!

busy busy times for me

The weekend before last I headed up to Mt beauty for the Red Bull dirt pipe, We got up there early friday morning and managed to ride for a couple of hours before it got rained out for the rest of the weekend. The course was feeling really good and heaps of work had been put into it this year with a few changes here and there, We stayed around and partied for a few night with all the crew but I called it Sunday night and left to get ready to head up to gold coast to go on the Strewth tour with everyone!

They ended up running the comp in a scaled down format on the Tuesday and Jed Mildon managed to take the win so I am so stoked for him!

Well anyways after getting flights and all that business I was in Brisbane I caught a train that ran out of power halfway along the tracks then I met up with Makker and chilled at his house for the night.. Thanks mate!
Went into Unit HQ the next day and picked up some new gear and packed all our stuff into the RV and Van so we could get our trip underway..
The weather was looking pretty shitty so we basically just kept driving till we hit sunshine.

The next few days were as you can imagine pretty damn fun, Highlights were drunken interviews for Cam's jam tv show, Bondi beach at 8 30 to wake up, Random pies and just general on the road humour.

We got to Cam's and the craziness started to begin. I think everyone knowing that in the next few days we are going to throw down on some of the biggest jumps in the world makes everyone a little more crazy it's definitely a fun time though! I won't bang on about it because I'm sure everyone will see all the footage when it comes out!!

In other news Unit has just release my Signature Black acid wash jeans, Dubbed the Piano jeans due to a nickname.
I'm super stoked to be given the chance to do a signature product and to work with Unit through the working stages of a product then see the finished item is definitely a cool thing!
anyways go check them out.!!

Cheers till next time

Cam

  

• By Ryan G

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Despite the bad weather forecast, Cam White's 5th annual Hillside Dirtjam went off last night in Canberra, Australia. A big international rider line up made the trip to Australia for the event, including Hucker, Anthony Napolitan, James Foster and Brandon Dosch, they were joined by the regular Aussie crew consisting of former champ Dane Searls, Josh Stead, Cam Pianta and many more. New Zealand's top dirt jumps Jed Mildon and Paul Langland also joined in.

Hucker and Dane had both won the event in the past, but on the night Hucker's crazy riding prevailed, and he ended up scoring the 'King Of The Hill' title. Best Trick came down to Brandon Dosch with a transfer triple whip, Jed Mildon blasting a massive double flip on the big trick jump, and James Foster nailing a perfect whip to double whip back. In the end the votes were tied on James and Jed, so they both shared the winner's cash. Best Style once again went to Aussie Josh Stead who was on a rampage all night.

Some other highlights included Hucker's backflip cliffhanger and crazy corked 720's over the big trick jump, Dane Searls' super extended 360 super seatgrab indy, Brakeless Billy stomping a never before attempted transfer from the big trick jump lip over to the long and low landing and Paul Langland with a bunch of crazy superman variations.

The official highlights video will be dropping this week, and a 30 minute TV feature will also be produced for Fuel TV. Stay tuned to www.unitriders.com for all the action.

• By Allan H

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Jed hips into the pipe on his way to winning the contest. PHOTO: RAINE TURNBULL

Some of the world’s best BMX riders met at Mount Beauty in the Victorian snow-fields this week to unleash their skills in Red Bull Dirt Pipe – the ultimate event on the BMX calendar. The international cast of BMX’s elite, which included Australia’s Corey Bohan and Mike ‘Hucker’ Clarke from the US, were joined by a small number of local riders who were handpicked to compete against their heroes in the competition.

Tucked away in the heart of Victoria, the 120-metre long, 8-metre high half pipe - the world's first dirt half pipe – breaks new boundaries in the sport, bridging the gap between snowboarding super pipe and BMX dirt jumping. After heavy rain postponed the event at the weekend, the riders took to the pipe on Tuesday to compete for ‘best run’, awarded to the rider with the most style, flow, speed and huge tricks on the epic dirt pipe, ‘best train run’, awarded to two riders hitting the pipe simultaneously and ‘best wall ride’ presented by Skullcandy.

Showcasing some of the most fluid riding BMX has ever seen, young Wangaratta rider Chris Henderson impressed with a fearless performance that almost won him a podium place, but it was New Zealand riders Jed Mildon and Paul Langlands who muscled their way down the pipe’s multiple walls, kickers and chutes to take first and second place respectively. Californian Mike ‘Hucker’ Clarke took third place for his innovative runs four metres above the ground.

Winner Mildon said: “Red Bull Dirt Pipe is always awesome. The rain battered the pipe a bit over the weekend so it took some getting used to, but once we got started I knew I was having a great run. I had some huge crashes but hung on and toughed it out – pretty pleased with the result!”


Jed celebrates with his fellow Kiwi podium-placer Paul Langlands. PHOTO: RAINE TURNBULL

• By Simon M

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Unit's Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham has even more to smile about now. PHOTO: SIMON MAKKER

He's landed the Backflip and the Double Backflip, and now Unit's most inspirational athlete, Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham can add the Frontflip to his bag of tricks.

The Las Vegas ripper blew everyone's minds at last night's Nitro Circus Live tour stop in Wellington, New Zealand, when he landed the 40ft Backflip off the Giganta-ramp, then returned to the top of the ramp, dropped in and rotated through a perfectly executed Front-flip over the same distance.

Check out some amateur footage of the two successfully landed tricks by clicking here.

Congratulations, buddy, you're a true champion!

• By Simon M

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There are too many riders out there that know this: to be a privateer you’ve got to love your sport. You have to have passion, heart and the drive to train and race for little to no money.

It means working full time and training in the dark, digging dirt jumps out of the snow because you can’t afford the fuel to get to somewhere a little warmer, even if it’s only 1.5 hours south. It means flogging old bikes to get to a few races, fixing your own flats and sleeping on the floor. It means often learning about racing the hard way...It means a lot of sacrifice that comes with a “normal” life for something that you want to do, be and live like. I missed camping trips, parties and family weddings. I struggled making ends meet. I don’t have rich parents. I remember asking my older brother why I couldn’t just be happy to be a normal person with a normal job? And before I could even finish the question, he said: “Cuz Claire, you’re not normal.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT FROM PINK BIKE RIGHT HERE.

• By Allan H

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If you're based anywhere near south-east Queensland, make sure you lock in either Sunday or Monday afternoons for the opportunity to meet some of our big-named BMX riders.

The lads are about to embark on a monumental four-day Strewth Tour roadtrip from the Gold Coast to Cam White's Hillside Dirt Jam near Canberra from Tuesday, hitting some of the most iconic riding spots and getting up to all sorts of mischief along the way.

The first signing will be at City Beach at Pacific Fair, Broadbeach on Sunday afternoon. Among the riders attending will be Unit's new BMX team manager and Aussie BMX icon Ryan Guettler, Giants Of Dirt killer Dane Searls and street-riding gun Nick "Richo" Richardson, as well as the face of several of Unit's biggest-selling tee designs, the beautiful Kat Cross.

On top of that, Kiwi shredder Jed Mildon and Dew Tour competitor David Girsch will join Guettler, Richo and Searls on Monday afternoon for a store signing, barbecue and ride demo at Helensvale BMX store.

The Helensvale signing kicks off from 4.30pm. See you all there!

• By Simon M

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Before Jaie Toohey headed off to the New Zealand Nitro Circus Tour, we caught up with him at Cam White's dirt jumps for a film shoot. The massive downhill set of jumps is Jaie's favourite place to ride, and from the moment he drops in, you can see how comfortable he is.

Special thanks must go out to Cam White and Tom Dykes for getting the yard up and running for the session, as well as Cam's Mum and Dad for letting us crash their place.

Thanks: Cam White & Tom Dykes

Producer: Allan Hardy

Music: 'All You Need' by Karton www.karton.com.au

• By Allan H

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