Richo recently announced he will no longer be riding for Colony BMX, and is reportedly now on a ride from S&M Bikes. This is massive news and no doubt a loss for Colony, as Richo's signature bikes and parts were some of the highest selling in the Colony range. Everything happens for a reason though, and we are sure Nick will move onto good things.

To bid Nick goodbye, Colony put together this sweet little edit made up of clips gathered over the last year or so. Check it out...

• By Allan H

---

The AMA Outdoors hit Thunder Valley over the weekend, Unit's Broc Tickle scored a good 6th place overall in the Lites, and it really looks like his alternate training schedule has started paying off.

Unit recently caught up with Broc for a photoshoot, featuring Broc riding around the MX track on ....... an ostrich?

You read correctly, and it is a sight to be seen! haha Check out the EXCLUSIVE VIDEO that our buddys at Racer X put together for the momentous occasion.

In other Unit MX results, Kyle Chisholm scored a really good 7th in the hotly contested opens class. (Australian Chad Reed came home 9th)

• By Allan H

---

The Unit MX Team had a good showing over the weekend on home soil and abroad. The Australian MX Nationals hit Albury after a few weeks on hiatus, which gave alot of guys the chance to recover and prepare for the battle. Cody Cooper took out the win in the opens, while PJ Larsen extended his series lead in the Lites taking out yet another first place.

Tye Simmonds rode well but battled with mechanical problems in the first race, which left him chasing points for the rest of the day. Luke Arbon also rode well, but scoring 0 points in the last race dashed his podium hopes. Cody Mackie stepped up his game and landed a great 2nd place in the Lites, which will hopefully help his momentum into the final rounds.

READ THE FULL RACE REPORT NOW AT FULLNOISE.COM.AU

UNIT TEAM RESULTS - Opens

2nd. Billy Mackenzie

5th. Tye Simmonds

13th. Robbie Marshall

Lites

2nd. Cody Mackie

4th. Ford Dale

14th. Luke George

U19

11th. Luke Arbon

• By Allan H

---

 

Rhys has been in Italy training a round of the Italian National Downhill series. Only being back on the bike for a couple of weeks, Rhys already has some great speed back, and will be a major contender come the next World Cup round in Champery on July 24-25. Stay tuned for more on world cup results, and also take the time to check out Rhys' personal BLOG for regular news and updates.

• By Allan H

---

After the most spectacular and flawless ride of his life, Levi Sherwood has dominated the Moscow round of Red Bull X-Fighters. After being handed a tough semi against series leader Andre Villa, and then an even tougher final against 2009 champion Nate Adams, Levi stepped up and left the crowd, judges and commentators in awe. The commentators going as far as announcing Levi the winner against Nate in the final before the results were tallied. (It is fair to say for anyone to be automatically assumed to beat Nate Adams is a big deal and shows Levi's huge effort on the night).

Levi has been slowly progressing back to full strength through out 2010, after taking 5 months off the bike over the off-season to rectify some previous injuries. Moscow was Levi's chance to show the world he was back, and that his 2009 X-Fighters first round win wasn't just a fluke. His run of tricks were made of big range of super technical tricks, all perfectly executed and hyper extended as only Levi knows how.

RED BULL X-FIGHTERS PHOTO GALLERY

RED BULL STORY

Levi is know sitting in 3rd place on the overall X-Fighters ladder, and with the momentum he has created, will be a very solid contender for the top of the podium for the rest of the year. Full results below...

1. Levi Sherwood - NZL
2. Nate Adams - USA
3. Andre Villa - NOR
4. Eigo Sato - JAP
5. Robbie Maddison - AUS
6. Dany Torres - ESP
7. Adam Jones - USA
8. Cam Sinclair - AUS
9. Jim McNeil - USA
10. Mat Rebeaud - CH
11. Alex Kolesnikov - RUS
12. Blake Williams - AUS

• By Allan H

---

Kain Saul was the first and still is the only person to succesfully backflip a Harley Davidson. Kain has since taken the crazy stunt on tour with the Crusty Demons, and has a heap more cool stuff planned on the big hog.

To reward his insanity, Harley have hooked Kain up with his very own top of the line Harley. Congrats Kain, that thing is amazing!

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Levi throws what looks to be a hyper extended ruler flip on his way to becoming 1st place qualifier. We haven't seen ruler flips like that out of Sherwood for over 12 months now, so it is awesome to see him back to top form! Pics courtesy Red Bull

We just found out that Unit athlete Levi Sherwood has qualified first for the Moscow round of X-Fighters that is going down tonight!

Levi has clearly learnt a lesson from the rained out Spain round of X-Fighters, where he ended up 7th, due to final results going from the qualifying scores, where Levi took it easy and only did enough to get through to the finals.

ESPN's Ryan Leyba commented on Levi's performance, "Going in to tomorrow's final Sherwood's looking solid for the win, but as we've seen in the past things can change in an instant."

Congrats buddy, and lets hope you can carry that momentum through to the final! Mat rebeaud also rode well, but as this is only his first round back since a horrific crash earlier in the year, Mat has said he just wants to have fun and work his way back to full strength. We think thats a great effort considering the circumstances facing Mat, including a freshly healed broken arm. Full qualifying results below... And remember you can watch the X-Fighters Moscow final tonight on the Red Bull live webcast, at 3.15am Australia time.

1. Levi Sherwood - NZL
2. Nate Adams - USA
3. Robbie Maddison - AUS
4. Dany Torres - ESP
5. Andre Villa - NOR
6. Eigo Sato - JAP
7. Adam Jones - USA
8. Mat Rebeaud - CH
9. Blake Williams - AUS
10. Jim McNeil - USA
11. Cam Sinclair - AUS
12. Alex Kolesnikov - RUS

• By Allan H

---

Red Bull have put together a cool story with Unit athlete Mat Rebeaud, in the lead up to his return at this weekends Red Bull X-Fighters in Moscow. We can't wait to watch Mat and Levi throw it down, you can watch the Live Webcast at redbull.tv at 3.15am this Sunday Morning. Photo courtesy B. Gardi, and story courtesy the Red Bull X-Fighters Ofiicial Website.

The 2008 Red Bull X-Fighters champion Mat Rebeaud will make a sensational comeback in Moscow on Saturday night just a few months after being ruled out of the World Tour’s opening events following a crash.

The Swiss star suffered a heavy smash in pre-season, breaking his arm and sustaining a punctured lung and was forced to miss the opening round of this year’s World Tour in Mexico City. But Rebeaud has been back in the saddle for some weeks now and will make his Tour comeback tonight.

“I’m feeling pretty all right,” he said in the run-up to Saturday´s event. “Every day is getting better. I’m pretty happy how my arm is doing and it’s pretty cool that I can come back for Moscow. I don’t think I will be 100 per cent but I will do my best and try to ignore any pain I feel and really ride well.”

Rebeaud’s recovery was so rapid that he had contemplated riding out at the second tour stop in Egypt last month but in the end decided that Moscow would make a better location for his return to action.

“I really wanted to come back for the round in Egypt but it was just too soon,” he admitted. “I had a meeting with my doctor in the week before the round at Giza to check if my arm was strong enough to ride there and after a long discussion we took the decision to not take the risk.

“It was pretty hard to say no, but in the end I think it was pretty smart as I would have competed there without any practice and maybe that would not have been the best thing. Now I have had a month to prepare for Moscow, which I think is better. It’s better to go well prepared than to go to an event without practice and get a shitty result.”

Mat has spent the time since his accident recuperating at home in Switzerland and made it back on to the bike mid-way through May.

“I’ve been back in Switzerland for a while,” he said. “It’s been pretty cool. The weather here has been pretty good and I’ve been able to practice a lot. I’ve just been staying with my parents and preparing myself for the Moscow competition. I started to ride in May and jumped a lot in the foam pit because the landing is softer and I really started to get all my tricks back."

“I went back on to dirt at the beginning of June and that gave me two weeks riding on dirt before going to Moscow,” he added. “It’s not the best preparation you can have but I’ll just do the best with what I have.”
And he’s itching to get back to the heat of the competition, having been forced to experience the first two round from his living room in front of the TV.

“It’s pretty hard to watch the events on the TV and not be there, especially with Mexico, when I was here watching on TV and not in the arena,” he said. “It was pretty hard to accept that but that’s the nature of this sport and sometimes you just don’t get to do all the things you want.”

And Rebeaud has been surprised with how the race for the Red Bull X-Fighters has shaped up so far.

“I was very surprised about the judging,” he confessed. “It’s a new system and it’s bound to take some time for everyone to get comfortable with but I’d watch a run and then see the result and it was totally not the result I expected!

“This year I was really expecting that Dany (Torres) would be the man to beat but he has had a problem with his arm like me. But I think Villa is in really good shape and Nate too. But it’s pretty hard to know because I wasn’t there. When you watch on TV you don’t know if it’s windy or how the conditions are. We’ll see…”

For now, though, it’s all about getting back into Red Bull X-Fighters competition in 2010. Rebeaud insists, however, that he’ll ride with just one aim in mind – to enjoy himself. “I’m not thinking about the result,” he said. “I just want to try my best and I’m hugely motivated to come back to the series. I think if I can ride well, that will be a win for me.

“It’s going to be good enough just getting Moscow. I’ve never been there and it’s really exciting to get the chance to ride there. It’s a great place for me to ride again. The place will be just crazy. I hope the crowd will good and help me forget about what happened and help me ride well.”

• By Allan H

---

 

Our good friend Nate Berkheimer put together a cool little video of his time in Chicago for Stomping Ground. Some of you might know Nate as a local from TJ Lavins backyard, and is also good friends with Unit rider Cam White. Check it out...

"My trip to Chicago for the Red Bull Stomping Ground contest was a blast. It rained a bunch, but Fuzz and the crew held it down and made it happen! Here are myself, Cam White, TJ Ellis, Mike "Hucker" Clark, Corey Bohan, Brian Foster, Nasty and friends riding and hanging out in Chi town."

• By Allan H

---

I think it is fair to say, the location for the next round of X-Fighters has to be one the most incredbile yet! I know, the last round saw the riders throw it down right in front of the Pyramids of Egypt, but the 'B grade' course really did ruin that round. However, this Saturday will see the infamous Red Square of Russia transformed into one hell of a crazy FMX stadium, with the worlds best athletes going head to head right in front of the epic 'Kremlin'.

However, we do have some bad news for you, and that is the fact that if you want to watch the event live, and you live in Australia, then you will be met with a nasty 2am wake up call, or if you are keen you can always stay up on the drink... Either way it will be worth it!

We are extra excited this round, as Unit's newest FMX team athlete Mat Rebeud will be making his return after a horrendous crash earlier in the year threw his 2010 season into turmoil. So make sure you park yourself infront of an internet connection this Sunday morning at 2am, and cheer on Unit riders Mat Rebeaud and Levi Sherwood, as well as the rest of the Aussie contingent Bilko, Sincs and Maddo!

There are no details online yet about the live webcast, but traditionally it is available online at www.redbull.tv

• By Allan H

---

How would you like a free trip to Sydney to hang out with Kain Saul and Dane Searls while racing around above the city in an Extreme Helicopter flight? That's what we thought, of course you would like that!!

Well it's really easy for you to enter, so read carefully.... Just head over to the Surfstitch Facebook page and in the comments section, tell us why BMX Bandits is the best movie ever!

CONTEST DETAILS

1. Experience includes roundtrip flight to Sydney Airport, airport transfers, extreme experience (including helicopter flight) with Unit riders Dane Searls and Kain Saul as welll as $400. Experience is 10th July.

2. Winner will be picked at noon (AEST) on July 2nd.

3. No refunds, exchanges, or changes to the itinerary can be made. Unit will contact the winner and make all arrangements.

So what are you waiting for, jump onto it and win your way to Sydney! See SurfStitch.com Promotions Page formore  details.

• By Allan H

---

I had a crash training yesterday at Luke Madill’s Beijing Olympic replica BMX track. Broke a finger and got 3 stitches...Silly crash, came up short on a jump, but these things happen. I still have 6 weeks till BMX World Championships in South Africa so plenty of time to mend, I will be back in the gym and on the bike tomorrow.

• By Allan H

---

Hey all,

Been a busy month. The weather down this way has been super cold so we made do and headed up to Fall's and got some snowboarding done, I haven't seen snow in the last 5 years or so due to travelling so it was good just to get up there and chill with mates.

Word of advice for any riders, don't get tired and decide to jump something on a snowboard as you would on a bike, it tends to be a pretty awkward position to be in whilst flying through the air. The laughter bruises the ego as well haha..

Apart from that i have been riding Rampfest a fair bit again lately and learning a lot of new tricks and relearnt some old ones as well, so i'm pretty pumped for that can't wait to unleash them lol.

Hopefully i will have a few more BMX related things happening in the coming months. PS: go learn nac nacs, so much fun.

Thats all for now,
Cam Pianta

• By Allan H

---

Yo yo, just checking in letting you guys know what I've been up to. My last few weeks has been pretty dam hectic, I finshed off with the Nitro Circus Live Tour in Australia, then I was straight on the plane the next day to the States for Red Bull Stomping Ground in Chicago.

I got there and was expecting the jumps to be big and downhill, but they were just like a normal dirt course. They were still definitely fun to ride though. Unfortunately on my first run and first trick, I crashed and ate shit pretty dam bad. I smacked my head, my knee brace dug right into my leg and I just couldnt move. I had no movement in my left leg, so I got rushed to hospital. They were telling me I broke my femur and had a broken hip, so it was straight into the ER room to get MRI / CAT SCANS / X RAYS.

After all that I only ended up having real bad bone brusing, so I was stoked. Now I'm back in Greenville, North Carolina and had my first ride again the other day. It felt so good and I have just been riding everyday getting ready for the Dew Tour season thats just about to start. I'm feeling so good on the bike so lets hope it stays that way...

• By Allan H

---

Photos: The 250 class saw the results shaken up, and Dean Wilson come out on top. Courtesy RacerX

Budds Creek saw another dominant performance frm series leader Ryan Dungey,  although it wasn't the cleansweep we were getting use to. With a 3-1 effort, Dungey edged out Andrew Short who came in 2nd and Chad Reed in 3rd for the Opens, while Christophe Pourcel dropped some points off his series lead by coming in a surprising 4th after some surprising results in the 250's leaving Dean Wilson first, Justin Barcia 2nd and Tyla Rattray 3rd.

READ THE FULL RACE REPORT NOW OVER AT RACER X ONLINE

Unit Motoconcept riders had a strong showing for the weekend as well, with Ryan Sipes landing a really solid 7th overall, along with Kyle Chisholm in 9th place in the Opens. This is Ryans debut season in the opens class, so to be placed so high is a testament to his ability and enthusiasm, we can't wait to watch his progression throughout the rest of the season.

Unit's newest American recruit Broc Tickle has also continued a solid run of results, finishing the weekend in 6th overall in the Lites. Broc now sits just 1 point behind 4th placed Justin Barcia and only 24 points from 2nd placed Tyla Rattray in the season points race, so every round coming up is going to be exciting. Broc has proven he has the speed to podium, so with some luck we will see him up there.

An honourable mention must also go to Aussie Dan Reardon, who although finishing just outside the top 10, put in an awesome effort and has hopefully shaken the bad luck voodoo that has been sitting over his head ever since his A1 crash. We look forward to net round!

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Chain Reaction Cycles racer Matti Lehikoinen on his way to 4th place qualifier. Courtesy Pinkbike.com

Watch all of the action LIVE tonight at around 9pm from Leogang, where the worlds best Downhill racers are getting ready to battle it out.

Unit's Chris Kovarik has had some bad luck so far this year, getting a flat tyre in one round and crashing out of the other. He has qualified for todays final, so hopefully Chris finds a bit of luck and gets back to winning form!

Watch todays live webcast of the event HERE, and remember most of the remaining rounds will also be available for live viewing at FREECASTER.TV

• By Allan H

---

Where: Taupo BMX / Skate park & Finn MacCuhals Irish Pub
When: Sat 3rd Juy - Rain date Sun 4th July
Why: To help get NZ shredder Jed Mildon to the Dew Tour

After a very succesful start to the 2010 season, Jed has recieved an invite to the Dew Tour, and the next Jedi J@m is going to help raise the funds to get him there.

The day will start at 11am with Beginner, Amateur then onto Open qualifying, all one after another. Then all finals at once at the end of the day.

There is a huge after party, prize giving and an auction at Finn Mac Cuhals Irish Pub, (the best pub in Taupo) to be sure!

We have over $1000 worth of Monster to auction and a heap of Kicker car audio gear. Lion Nathan are sponsoring the after party at Finn’s, and that means super cheap drinks. Almost all will be half price. $5 double shots all night, normally $10 and Steinlager on special. Kick off 6pm till late...

To enter, it's $10 for each division. That gets you entry to the comp, entry into the raffle, free Hells Pizza and free Monster!! Prize money for the open division it will be, 1st - $200, 2nd - $100, 3rd - $50. The prizes for the under 17 and under 13 divisions will be product from BMX.CO.NZ and Unit!!

So rock on down to Taupo for one hell of a good time and help send Jed off to the Dew Tour!
 

• By Allan H

---

 

Bliss N Eso always produce awesome music, and we have had the priveledge of using a couple of their tracks over the past couple of years in some of our videos. And now we are stoked to let you know that they will be releasing a new album in the next month or so, and the very first hit song 'Down By The River' features a very special cameo of our boy Cam White along with TJ, Nate Berkheimer and Ceaser in the offiicial film clip!

Hahahaha Cam is stoked on his appearance, and anyone would think it is the biggest achievement of his life to date. So without further or do, check out the fresh new track and video above...

• By Allan H

---

Recently we got to put on a crazy night time photo shoot for the next range due out July, and things got pretty wild. Freerider MX have a cool little story online now about what went down, and how we ended up with one of the coolest looking cover photos around.

Check the story out over at freeridermx.com.au

• By Allan H

---

Caroline has been a busy busy girl as of late, and to start off with she was gifted with a feature in Women’s Health Magazine, the article will be in the September issue of Womens Health.

She has also done up a really cool story on the ups and downs she faces while juggling two different sports, which you can read now over at her personal website carolinebuchanan.com

• By Allan H

---

I'm currently flying back from Chicago from the Stomping Ground contest. It was a busy week that's for sure. The weather in Chicago was all over the place, sunny one minute, pouring rain the next, and if it wasn't sunny or raining it was windy.

The course lay out was fun, there was about 9 jumps in a row and 2 lines. One started off with a sweet 'S' berm and the other started off with some little jumps to a step down. There were a couple of transfer lines and a hip over a taxi cab mixed in with a long and low. It was a fun course to ride, but not exactly what I'm use to riding. I like big jumps with lots of time in the air, these jumps were all relatively small so it was hard for me to adapt. The scheduale got pushed around quite a bit due to the weather so the qualifying was done on Saturday morning instead of Friday arvo. Instead of getting a couple of runs, the guys qualifying got one run done before it rained so that was the score they ended with.

Unfortunately Jaie Toohey crashed a superman seat grab by missing his hand and took it really hard. As he is fresh of his 6 month re-hab from his knee surgery he was still wearing his knee brace which caused his leg to get stuck at a weird angle and his knee brace dug into his thigh and fractured his femur. Hope he is feeling better soon.

Dane searls and I were doing trains all through practice until we went to do a transfer then a flip on the next jump which was kinda like a right hip. Searlsy wasn't use to the small jumps also and he crashed right behind me by under rotating the backie, we all know how tuff he is but his bike smashed into his shoulder blade while his shoulder was already popped out and that put him out of the contest.

He is going to get x-rays to see if there is a fracture there or not when he gets back to Australia. After raining out the prelims, no one knew what to do or how the contest was going to be run, it was all up in the air until we got word that we have a 2 hour window and were gonna run it. So we all rushed down to the event and started gettin in some practice. The format had changed and no one knew if we were doing one run, then a jam with all 31 riders, or if it was going go be 2 runs, 1 counts, then a jam for 10 riders or what! I was asking everyone but no one seemed to know. All I knew is that there was gonna be a jam and we had to do 2 runs. I pulled my first run exactly how I wanted to. Everything came out dialled and clean so I was heaps stoked on it. Going in for my second run I went for the same run as my first but wanted to step up the last trick on the last jump. Well that run went a bit squirly. But I pulled it off. I was under rotating the flip turndown, clipped my back wheel on the take off on the 720 and hung up on the 360 tailwhip a little bit but still managed to pull it off. I was stoked. I guess they finally decided after our 2 runs that they were going to do a jam with the top ten riders, but the best run we had in qualifying was going to be our final score. So pretty much the jam session didn't mean anything except a show for the crowd and a best trick comp.

I guess i was in 9th place with my first run score in qualifying. I was pretty stoked on that effort considering I have a blown out knee and have limited tricks. So before the jam started, Hucker got 3rd, chris Doyle got 2nd and Brandon dosch won. During the jam I didn't do too much at all. I just flowed the course and did transfer lines. The comp was already over so I didn't feel the need to throw down and risk hurting my knee any more than it is. The rain shut down the jam after about 15 mins.

Overall I had a good time and stoked that I didn't have any hard diggers. That pretty much wraps up the Stomping Ground comp. Next stop, back to Chicago for the Dew Tour! Can't wait to get off this plane and sit on the couch at home and get some chill time in.. Cheers, Cam

• By Allan H

---

Rhys Willemse has been off the bike with a broken arm, which caused him 2 miss the first 2 Downhill World Cups so far this year. But last night we recieved the good news from Rhys that he has been cleared by his doctors to ride, and he plans to make World Cup number 3 his first race back. Find out all the details below, in Rhys' personal update...

Just got the good news that my broken arm is now fixed and I'm looking forward to racing my first world cup in Leogang, Austria next weekend.

I've been out of action now for 6 weeks, with only being able to ride some cross country and a stationary bike for training. It felt so good to get back on my mountain bike on Monday and ride a real downhill track again. On Friday my team mate George and I headed up to Leogang to spend a week training on the world cup track. I'm hoping to know this track inside out by the time the world cup teams turn up in the next 5 days.

The pressure has been put on me for this race, as I've just found out that I need to produce a top ten result if I want to make the Australian team this year. If I don't make the team, this will be the first time in 2 years that I haven't represented Australia at the World Championships. After breaking my femur 6 months ago and now my arm, its going to be a big ask, but I love a challenge, and this could be just what I needed to push all the limits to achieve my goal of riding for Australia again.

To help me try to achieve my goal, Ancillotti racing team have built me a new frame specifically for this world cup in Leogang. Its a longer lighter frame which will help me go faster on a track like Leogang. The track is fast and technical and the longer frame will hold the speed needed to get down the course in the quickest time. The photo above shows  my new frame hot off the production line.

Will keep you all updated on my results at Leogang.

Cheers
Rhys
 

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Jaie Toohey on his way to the hospital, and Hucker smashing out a sweet downside whip 360 on his way to 3rd place. Courtesy Colin Mackay and Justin Kosman / Red Bull

We have been looking forward to this weekend for a while now, but unfortunately things didn't quite go to plan. On the upside over at Red Bull Stomping Ground, Cam White proved that even with a torn ACL he can still be a threat in the BMX dirt jumping scene, but on the down side, Jaie Toohey and Dane Searls both missed Stomping Ground thanks to injuries.

We aren't sure exactly of Dane's injuries, but we did hear rumour of a shoulder problem. Jaie on the other hand went down really hard on a superman seatgrab, and was originally thought to have broken his hip and femur! Thankfully, after many hours in a Chicago hospital, Jaie has reported no breakages, just some very very bruising, so hopefully he isn't our for long.

You can read the full report from Stomping Ground over at the RED BULL website.

From Chicago to High Point, where the worlds best motocross racers battled it out at the latest round of the AMA Outdoors.

Unit Motoconcepts team riders Ryan Sipes and Matt Goerke both had great weekends and ended in the overall top 10 for their field. Goerke with a 6th and Sipes a 9th in the Opens class. Team MCR will go home with alot more confidence this weekend, after last round left alot to be desired. But in such a hotly contested series this year, anything can happen, and we have already seen some of the hot favourites can easily be smashed by the youngsters.

Another stand out was Unit athlete Broc Tickle. Broc is a solid podium contender, and although he may not have got the result he was hoping for this weekend, he still leaves High Point with a solid 6th overall in the Lites. Sitting him in 6th overall in the series.

You can read the full results now over at Racer X Online, who always have alot of great race coverage in the lead up and during every round.

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Jaie Toohey gets to know the trails, before prelims were cancelled for Friday. Photo courtesy Red Bull

The Windy City lived up to it’s name today. Prelims got pushed to 10am tomorrow and what everyone experienced today was a lot of hanging out, a thunderstorm, an insane amount of wind and a ton of self-entertainment. Transworld BMX put this little video together, to give you an idea of the course and location, and we think it looks like an awesome set of jumps, and if the wind stays away the contest should be amazing!

The best part about it all, is that if you aren't lucky enough to be in Chicago, then you can watch it all online tomorrow morning at 9am (Australia time). Make sure your cheering on the Aussies and all the guys doing it for Unit including Dane Searls, Cam White and Jaie Toohey.

Just head to REDBULL.TV for the live webcast. In the meantime, check out news and photos from the event so far at the STOMPING GROUND website.

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Davo rides his local park Redlynch. Courtesy Zane Caldera

Davo has been killing it this last year and has really cemented himself as one of Australia's best all round riders. Killer video parts, good comp results and a good attitude has helped him turn heads, and now he is taking the next step and heading over to the big house of America. He is heading off on Tuesday morning, and here is his last blog from Australian soil....

Hey guys, whats up?

David here, the last month or so has been pretty hectic for me. Recently was the Red Bull Dirt pipe in Victoria and i must say that the dirt pipe is one of the best set ups i have ever ridden and the funnest, cutting in and out of a 14ft dirt pipe jumping hips down a massive hill is why it was such a rad event! i ended up qualifing 4th for the finals but with a couple of stuff ups in the finals i ended up getting 8th.

In just under a week ill be flyin over to America for 3 months which im pretty excited about. Basically i'm going over for the experience and to see what America has on offer. A couple of us got an apartment in Greenville NC where some of the biggest names in BMX live, like Dave Mirra and Ryan Guettler, so it will be a good opurtunity to ride with them. ill be hitting up some of the contests over there so keep an eye out for me!

I will keep you guys posted while im over there, but for now here is a quick lil vid i filmed the other night, cheers.

David Girsch

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Jaie gets on it after the Nitro Tour with Aussie FMX legends Sincs and Bilko

What up guys? Just finshed our last 3 shows of Nitro Circus live at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. The last 3 shows were some of the biggest shows yet, but over all our Saturday nights show was definitely the best by far.

Everyone was so pumped and landed everything. It was going so good, then to make it even better, the second half of the show when Cam Sinclair did his doubble backflip, he turned and said to Traivs, "I know you said you would never do this again, but i'm just going to call you out!" And Traivs was like, "I can't be called out by cam sinclair!" So Travis got on his bike and landed the douuble backflip. Yea Travis and Sincs!

Now that all the shows are over, I headed back to the states. I landed in Chicago late last night, and now just resting up getting ready for Red Bull Stomping Ground this weekend. Then back of to Greenvile North Carolina at start of next week to get ready for the rest of the season. It's gonna be good year, can't wait!

Anyways i'm out guys. Peace.

• By Allan H

---

Left Vegas this morning headed to the stomping ground comp in Chicago. I'm excited for this comp cause I know fuzzy has been working on the jumps for a good while, so i'm definately excited to see what he and the guys have created for us to session.

I landed in Chicago a couple hours ago and it's raining and cold. I don't like cold weather and the rain sucks for BMX so fingers crossed it turns around and is nice and sunny for the comp.

I'm excited to watch Dane searls ride after riding with him in Vegas for the past 2 weeks, he is riding really dialled and is looking good so I got my money on him shredding..

Stay tuned!
 

• By Allan H

---

Nitro Tour has come and gone, and it is fair to say they have started a new era in action sports tour! What Crusty Demons started all those years ago, Nitro took to a new level.

Check out the end of tour highlights video, featuring Pastrana's double flip as well as the rest of the carnage and action.

• By Allan H

---

Claire Buchar and Chris Kovarik were on hand at Fort William over the weekend, to fly the Unit flag at the Downhill World Cup. Claire finished strongly with a 7th overall in the womens, while Chris was hit with some terrible bad luck in the form of a puncture, in his final run on the way to what looked like a podium finish! Chris has all the speed, but so far this year, just hasn't managed to do enough for that elusive podium.

Read the full race report from Claire and Chris' team Chain Reaction Cycles below...

Well on the whole we had a fantastic weekend at Fort William. The race, weather and whole event was amazing. As you can see we took top honours for the weekend winning the best team award. It was great having the while team up on the podium in front of the cheering race fans.

The great UK crowd was there in full effect which made for a sensational atmosphere. Lesley, Mike and the crew put on another fantastic World Cup event and the course builders had done an amazing job on the DH track making a great race.

We had some great results over the weekend with everyone making it through to the Sunday finals and Matti Lehikoinen placing 5th in the semi final was great.

Claire Buchar had another great run equaling her 7th place from Maribor at round 1 and is 7th overall in the Womens standings.

Julien Camellini got back up to speed placing 7th in the mens category which was really a good result for him and the team so early on in the season after 1 year out with injury. Matti Lehikoinen also had a brilliant run and placed 10th for the day which should boost his confidence for the rest of the season. Matt Simmonds had another great ride finishing 20th so 2 top 20s for Matt in the first 2 world cups is great. Ruaridh Cunningham had a good run in the final but not quite able to equal his semi final placing of 19th. He ended the day in 37th but only 3 seconds off his goal of a top 20. On a 4.30 minute plus track this shows Ruaridh is riding really good and hopefully his results will come with a little more time.

The only real disappointment we had for the weekend was Chris Kovarik. He was riding great all weekend placing 9th in the semi final even after a jammed chain from landing on a big rock halfway down the course we were sure he was on for a podium spot at least. But it didn't go Chris way after clocking the 4th fastest 1st split time only 0.3 of a second behind eventual winner Gee Atherton Chris got a front puncture ending his and the teams high hopes. It was a real shame as Chris put in so much effort this weekend wowing the crowd with his exceptional riding skills doing probably the most runs of anyone all weekend.

But 3 riders in the top 10 and 4 in the top 20 was fantastic for the team and this will give us a good confidence boost heading into the 3rd round of the World Cup in 2 weeks time.

Congratulations to the race winners Gee Atherton winning in front of the home crowd and Sabrina Jonnier from France winning the womens race. Also well done to New Zealand's Cam Cole in 2nd place in the mens race and the whole team would like to pass on their best wishes to last years World Cup winner Sam Hill who sustained a bad shoulder injury in Fridays practice - we hope to see him back on the bike soon and racing asap.

Downhill Mens Results
1 Gee ATHERTON 4:35.70
2 Cameron COLE 4:36.18
3 Greg MINNAAR 4:36.91
4 Aaron GWIN 4:37.71
5 Mick HANNAH 4:37.75
6 Sam BLENKINSOP 4:37.81
7 Julien CAMELLINI 4:40.93
 

Downhill Womens Results
1 Sabrina JONNIER 5:11.57
2 Rachel ATHERTON 5:12.68
3 Floriane PUGIN 5:16.44
4 Tracey MOSELEY 5:16.46
5 Emmiline RAGOT 5:20.65
6 Mio SUEMASA 5:24.32
7 Claire BUCHAR 5:26.50
 

• By Allan H

---

It seems like it has taken forever for the big BMX contests to come back around, but at least we will all be rewarded for our patience this weekend, when Red Bull Stomping Ground hits Chicago!

Stomping Ground is the evolution of the legendary dirt jump contest 'Elevation' and if Red Bull stick to their ways, then there is no doubt Stomping Ground will be an industry changing and eye opening event. Even aside from the riding, Stomping Ground promises to be one of the most spectacular events of the year, being built in an abandoned construction site in the middle of Chicago city.

Unit will have a bunch of family competing, including reighning Red Bull Elevation champion Cam White, Hillside Dirtjam winner Dane Searls and Red Bull Dirt Pipe winner Jaie Toohey. All of these guys have big jump experience and all have what it takes to win.

With a $50,000 prize purse, including a $25,000 paycheck for first place, an onslaught of riders who have proven they can win big contests will appear in Chicago to try and lay claim to the prize.

The judging team for the event will include beloved rider Mike Aitken, who suffered a severe injury while riding in 2008 that left him in a coma. After a miraculous recovery, Aitken will be joining his friends on the dirt course, this time helping decide who is going to walk away with the big check. Helping announce the contest will be BMX Vert legend and X Games gold medalist Jamie Bestwick.

What was previously an abandoned factory lot will be morphed into a one-of-a-kind BMX field of dreams. On Friday June 11th a qualifier round will be free and open to the public (limited to 25 spectators), as 25 riders vie for 5 open spots in Saturday’s Final. Tickets are already on sale at www.RedBullStompingGround.com for the Finals on Saturday June 12th.

• By Allan H

---

Photo: Unit's Brock Tickle had a great day at Freestone, going 8-2 and grabbing 4th overall in the Lites.

Every weekend is full of action right now, as we are go through the northern hemisphere summer. This weekend saw Unit athletes Chris Kovarik and Claire Buchar roll into Fort William, and although the finals haven't yet been held, (will occur Sunday night Australia time) both riders qualified well. Chris had a very dissapointing performance at round 1, so his 9th place qualifying position will five him a bit more confidence heading into the finals.  Claire is super consistent, and can always be seen battling amongst the top pack of riders, and her 7th place qualifying time sets her up nicely for a strong result from Fort William. Keep an eye on the blog for the latest results in coming days, or head over to pinkbike.com or rotorburn.com for results as they happen.

You can even watch the race live at 10pm Sunday night Australia time over at Freecaster.tv

We also saw the latest round of the AMA MX Outdoor series hit Freestone today, and the return of Ryan Dungey to winning form. He had a bad 1st round at Hangtown, and many were questioning his MX outdoors ability.

Brock Tickle's first of many races as part of the UNIT family comes with success as he finished 4th overall in the Lites, at the hot as the devils horns Texas national round.

For a full race report, jump over to Racer X right now.

Other Unit athletes had mixed results, along with the rest of the field as results were shaken about since the first round. Kyle Chisholm of Unit / Team MotoConcepts managed a solid 9th overall in the Opens class, while Ryan Sipes will be a little down on his 19th overall, after a very strong showing at his first ever Opens round at season opener in Hangtown.

On another note, Dan Reardon seems to be struggling to find his competitive form. This is his 2nd result from 2 rounds that leaves alot for the Aussie gun to be desired. We have a feeling he may still be struggling to get back to full strength after his horrendous crash at A1, the first round of the last supercross series.

Stay tuned for more results as they happen, coming up we Red Bull Stomping Ground in Chicago next weekend, where Unit athletes Cam White, Jaie Toohey and Dane Searls will all be competing.

• By Allan H

---

Next time your sitting at home, browsing the interwebs of cyberspace, take the time to check out kiwi shredder Kelly McGarry's personal website. The thing is jam packed with great stories, updates and photos from his Europe trip.

Kelly is a hell of  a nice guy, and you will see in one of our upcoming videos, an amazing rider as well. Whether it be downhill, slopestyle, dirt jumps or big mountain, Kelly will smash it.

Check out Kelly's website now at kellymcgazza.blogspot.com

• By Allan H

---

We just noticed this crazy picture over on Caroline's Facebook, along with the following info...

"Had Surgery on Tuesday... Still recovering now. Toncills removed and deviated septum fixed in my nose. Going to have a whole new engine when i'm recovered. Look out Worlds!!"

Get well soon Caroline, all the best from the Unit team...

• By Allan H

---

After 6 months off the bike thanks to a knee reconstruction, Jaie Toohey is finally back.

We caught up with him in Canberra earlier this year, at Cam White's massive backyard trails, then headed north to Jaie's hometown of Sydney to ride Five Dock and Slam.

Jaie recently won Red Bull Dirt Pipe in Australia, and scored a free ticket to Stomping Ground in Chicago, so keep an eye out for him there. Since filming this clip, he also got called up to ride on the massive Nitro Circus tour around Australia.

Courtesy: Unit Clothing

Producer: Allan Hardy

Music: 'We Bleed' by Karton www.myspace.com/kartonmusic

• By Allan H

---

By now we are sure you know all about the Nitro Circus tour that is taking over Australia. Well the tour is coming up to it's final stop in Melbourne this weekend, where the crew will be smashing out 3 more shows. Unit is proud to be supporting Robbie Marshall, Jaie Toohey, Wheels and Jim De Champ throughout the tour, so be sure to watch out for those guys throwing down this weekend!

If you can't wait another day to see the show live, here is a cool clip that features all the highlights from one of the recent Adelaide shows. 'Wheels' tells us that ever since he has been wearing Unit, he has been landing his wheelchair backflips on the megaramp, so this must have been one of the jumps he forgot to wear his shirt haha. Good luck this weekend to all the riders!

• By Allan H

---

Travis Baker is one of the up and coming guns on the MotoConcepts race team, and proudly supported by us here at Unit. This is his rookie season, and he has already been turning alot of heads in the industry. Racer X have a great interview with him online after his good performance at the US Open, where he raced from a bad start to a strong 6th place. Find out more about travis and check out the Racer X interview right now, HERE.

• By Allan H

---

We were gonna wait a little before we told you all the great news, but Freerider beat us to the punch and released the news earlier this week. So without further a do, we are very proud to announce that soon the talented Simon Makker will be joining the Unit team as our new Communication / Athlete Manager. Smakker has been at the helm of the world's most popular FMX magazine 'Freerider MX' for the last 18 issues, in which time he has helped to riase the magazine to new heights, and we can't wait to see what enthusiasm and new ideas Simon can bring to the table here at Unit.

While on the topic, we should probably apologise to all those FRMX magazine addicts out there, who will be most upset at Makker being stolen from their beloved mag. Sorry guys haha. Check out the full story from FRMX online contributor Goba over at freeridermx.com.au. You will also be able to check out some of the amazing photos that Smakker has taken over his years at FRMX.

• By Allan H

---

'Sup all, just dropping in to give you a bit of an update on my injury. It's been a month tomorrow since i've had surgery to repair my cracked kneecap and so far the doc says that its looking good. He put a piece of wire in there like a figure 8, to put it all back together. I started physio last week and all is good. I have a new kneebrace on that allows me to bend it 30 degrees, and i go back every 10 days to get it changed so it bends another 30 degrees, then so forth till its bending all the way. I still have another 9 weeks 'til im able to start getting on the bike and rolling round a little. I've been passing the time chilling with my new dog blaze, he is a staffy cross ridgeback and is quite a hit with the ladies haha, apart from that just a whole lot of wishing I could ride with the lads!

Shred on....Cooper

• By Allan H

---

Cam Pianta is an awesome guy and one of Australia's best dirt jumpers.

Unit caught up with him for a weekend roadtrip around Victoria, where we had a bunch of great spots lined up. Unfortunately it poured with rain the first day, and left alot of the spots unridable on the next. Somehow we still managed to score a few good spots, with a stack of hours behind the wheel.

Video: Unit Clothing www.unitriders.com

Producer: Allan Hardy

Music: 'That's what friends are for' by Coptic Soldier www.copticsoldier.com

• By Allan H

---