Red Bull Rampage 2012 - Riga Recap

Oct 9, 2012

by Margus Riga

Nothing like an epic Utah sunrise to start the finals right.

Get to the choppa!

Even God made an appearance to check out what's up.

Don't worry, Satan was kicking around too.

Vanderham with Rocky team manager Peter Vallance. Shit is about to get serious.

Semenuk fueling up for the fight.

Brett Rheeder warming up the gap...

...and the QP.

Gully, coming in hot turkey for thanksgiving back home in BC.

Soderstrom, bringing the Euro steez.

Sorge, had BIG plans for the finals.

With the warm up finished, it was time for the rider meeting.

Gully, showing the photogs where he's going to be sending it.

Videographers and their furry mics.

Cam McCaul and Strait, part of the American contingency.

Semenuk, lining it up.

Scott Markewitz...two cameras. One for each eye. What!?

Semenuk hitting his canyon drop. One week, seven dudes, a shitload of sandbags, a ton of sweat...all coming down to this moment.

Antoine Bizet, one of three dudes to ride this chute line from the top. He started falling just below the wall, and ended up tomahawking for a good bit. Had he fallen farther, he wouldn't be holding up his hands in the air to let us know he's ok.

Vanderham, stepping it up.

Vallance, not even able to look at Thomas's run coming down.

Wil White, solid on both runs.

Andreu Lacondeguy, fearless off the the Oakley sender.

Soderstrom, tweeking it to the moon.

Cam McCaul has some big balls sending the canyon gap after seeing Cam Zink's crash off of it the evening before.

I counted twenty-one frames with my camera shooting this sequence of Kyle Strait's massive no hander...two more than Cam's canyon gap.

James Doerfling crashed off the hit just before this, taking him out of contention for the podium. You done good bro.

The Claw's three attempt off his last hit. So close.

Logan Bingelli, the only man riding this year's event with a 650b bike. The times, they are a changin'.

Vanderham had two solid runs, but it just wasn't enough to podium. Eighth place this time around.

Lacondeguy going huge off the wooden step up.

Wil White, making easy work of the wooden gap to quarter.

Pierre Edouard Ferry had the coolest accent of all the riders. Too bad it wasn't enough to place on the podium.

The man of the hour...Kurt Sorge.

Bringing it on home for the boys.

Another Rampage down in the history books.

Time to party!

See you next year!

Posted In:
Stories Red Bull Red Bull Rampage

Author Info:

Margus Riga

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Member since Aug 4, 2009

101 articles

@margusriga

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91 Comments

1236

Operator1997 (Oct 9, 2012 at 0:50)

Great pics! But again only one FUC*IN picture of Antoine Bizet, come on guys, man pulled of 4 backflips in one run ( FOOOUR ) and then we get only one picture of him while he's falling!

Rideuse67 (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:15)

You're right !

sissi-chcocho (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:59)

as always..

Aibek (Oct 9, 2012 at 2:51)

For me BIZET is first place!.(gutted for hopkins!)
he took a different line than everyone else! + 4 backflips (one of them really early!).

I fear that future rampages will be just another slope event!,where teams come month ahead and pave dirt jumps into the mountains!.

j-grabes FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 4:18)

what happened to vanderhams cherry red RM flatline??

DARKSTAR63 (Oct 9, 2012 at 5:12)

I think there should be a set amount of build time, like only a couple of days. And that there should be a limit on how many can help you.

octalex1 (Oct 9, 2012 at 5:25) (Below Threshold)

Linch the judges!!!

chyu (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:06)

Semenuk should say something,not just pissing off. everyone crashes.

superdanu (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:53)

same goes for White. the kid had 2 solid runs, and balls of steel...and gets one shot and a shitty placement. f****g politics

nervous-hamster (Oct 9, 2012 at 7:51)

Margus is just one guy!

One of the best, but only one guy! He cant be everywahere

jezzah (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:19)

At the end of the day, lots of people rode well. Some peoples lines were more creative.. Sorge was a clear winner of Bizet as he had larger drops in his run and rode it faster too. Doing a thousand backflips shouldn't win Rampage on its own. Norbs got robbed though. But runs like Cam Mccauls, even though he hit massive things - they weren't massively created compared to others.

GreybeardRules FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:23)

The riders know they are at the mercy of the judges when they sign up. It's part of the terrain. Cam McCaul said it best a few years back at Crankworx... something along the lines of: "I showed up and threw down my best trick so I am going home happy." This was after he threw down a front flip superman and was given low points.

DARKSTAR63 (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:29)

Cam McCaul is a very humble type of guy who just plain loves riding bikes. He knows how lucky he is to get paid to do it, and to be among the best to have ever done it. I tip my hat to him.

lalodh (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:53)

Remember guys.........its a red bull event and even though they throw away big things and lots of money......still manipulate things

Bikeman403 (Oct 9, 2012 at 14:57)

@chyu, if you are so stupid to dont understand why semenuk was like that you obviously have a very limited brain capacity, after he crashed he had jeopardized his chances of winning the fmb tour because if martin soderstrom had gotten 6th or better he would have won, also the amount of pressure on semenuk to lay down an absolutely brillant run was massive, and really should he have been happy that he crashed out, no of course not nobody likes trying your best and not getting amazing results.

IanHylands (Oct 9, 2012 at 20:11)

Operator1997 I know you may love Bizet, but you need to understand how this works. This is one photographers photos, from the finals day. Bizet did one full run, and one that he barely started. The course is huge, and you can't shoot everyone. Margus shot Bizet on his first run when he crashed, and may or may not have a shot of him from his second run, depends where he was standing. And if it's an epic shot chances are it's in the process of being sold to one of his sponsors and won't be shown here anyway. I'm personally happy that I got a shot of him at all, there are a few riders that I missed almost completely, and don't have a single quality shot of, that's just the way it goes at an event like this...

sissi-chcocho (Oct 10, 2012 at 0:59)

Yes, of course we understand that but that's funny that the one who finished 2nd has been covered by 2 pictures in all the articles published here.. I understand also that there is much luck for a photographer to sell a picture of semenuk than a picture of the surprising frenchy.. surprising but with a lot of good results on the internationnal scene, and it was still with no coverage.. Perhaps you have to explain how the pictures are choosen to appear in you articles because i think that we can do a matrix style sequence of all riders with all the photographers who were at the rampage.

IanHylands (Oct 10, 2012 at 9:21)

There was no decision to not cover him, there honestly just aren't any photos. The majority of great photos come from practice, from riders working with the photographers, and photographers working with the riders. I myself have only maybe one or two photos of Bizet, I just didn't see him in any of the places that I was shooting. The ones that do the most practice runs in the areas where the photographers are will get the most shots, and the ones that say to the photographer, "Hey I'm going to do this in a few minutes, do you want to come shoot it?"

@superdanu politics has nothing to do with it. And as far as the photos go see my comments above.

jezzah (Oct 10, 2012 at 14:49)

French people - he's not well known on that side of the world so no, photographers wouldn't be jumping at the chance to run to the other side of the mountain to snap a photo of him over say, Semenuk or strait. Also, he did one good run which got him 2nd.. the first run didn't show much potential in the nicest way (as he crashed early on). Which also explains why they wouldn't have expected so much from the 2nd run.

Make more sense?

abzillah (Oct 10, 2012 at 19:16)

Wil White got robbed, he should have won the whole thing! He was the first person to do a superman to. Judges must have been high!

jezzah (Oct 11, 2012 at 4:39)

abzillah - are you kidding? His run was good yes.. but win? haha

superdanu (Oct 17, 2012 at 20:32)

hylands, i was referring to the politics in the judging, and not within the little photography club

bigburd (Oct 9, 2012 at 0:32)

I hope the site is cleaned up after this event !

scott-townes FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 7:00)

it's private land, it'll get cleaned up.

prenderville (Oct 9, 2012 at 9:04)

Wanna go there to build my own

dwdw (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:08) (Below Threshold)

They can clean it up, but the damage to the fragile desert environment will take ages to heal.

stokedcheech420 (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:58)

hahahaha butthurt

bigburd (Oct 9, 2012 at 13:59)

The damage here is like a pin prick on a grizzlys back , next to nothing. But no excuse to litter.

finnrambo (Oct 9, 2012 at 17:10)

i doubt the canyon gap ramp or the oakley sender will ever be disassembled...

mtbrider02 (Oct 9, 2012 at 18:43)

who cares though? Now they are icons in the mountain biking world. Bad Ass im my opinion

finnrambo (Oct 9, 2012 at 19:39)

this is true, who cares if theyre cleaned up theyre in the middle of nowhere

IanHylands (Oct 9, 2012 at 20:07)

All of the wooden features will be torn down and burned, probably done already, same as in 2010. All the garbage will be cleaned up, all that will remain will be tracks, memories, and a bunch of rocks and sandbags. No idea what will happen to those...

bigburd (Oct 10, 2012 at 2:08)

finrambo that is even more the reason to clean it up.

nwmlarge (Oct 9, 2012 at 0:27)

he has a gun wtf

Jester1826 (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:53)

Haha I thaught this too!! but maybe coz were British it's abit more of a wtf moment lol

Rambo1501 (Oct 9, 2012 at 4:27)

Why the hell does he have a gun, he looks like a 10 year old sticking his head out the window, and a random gun in his hand.

z05m (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:41)

Its a water pistol.

lambertphoto (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:27)

It's Utah

stokedcheech420 (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:50)

yeah the mormons will take him out

Gruta FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:51)

Someone told him a couple of riders got robbed during the afternoon, so ... come the night, better safe than sorry !

tuskaloosa (Oct 9, 2012 at 9:07)

Amen Jester1826

bullit76 (Oct 9, 2012 at 9:14) (Below Threshold)

Everyone has a gun .. it's the US. Try living here and you would have one too.

zorba73 (Oct 9, 2012 at 9:30)

^'Everyone has a gun'?

Everyone does NOT have a gun. What kind of statement is that to make. You make it sound like the whole of U.S is under attack from gangs/terrorists/aliens? Stop watching R rated movies dude.

sortafast (Oct 9, 2012 at 12:36)

no joke, some of us have more than one. Just sayin

deeeight (Oct 9, 2012 at 13:14)

Its an air pistol. You can see the twist tab at the bottom of the grip frame where a 12 gram co2 powerlet goes.

ilikebikes1 (Oct 9, 2012 at 15:04)

couldnt have said it better myself. how many people from all over the world does it take to figure out its an air gun? 10 and one canadian to tell them its an air gun!

The-Medic (Oct 9, 2012 at 19:19)

@built76: that is just ASSNINE... No, not all of us own guys (I do, but they're for bckcountry bear/drunk hic safety for the most part). Nothing about "living in the US" requires a gun in fact if we had less of them in morons hands we'd have a WHOLE LOT LESS random crime. Way to feed the streotype machine about Americans dumbass.

Jester1826 (Oct 9, 2012 at 20:07)

^^last line sums him up!!

Uncled (Oct 9, 2012 at 9:01)

next time, lose the judges and everyone on pink bike vote for the top ten, makes more sense than what they came up with this year... let the world wide M.T.B. community decide, apart from the tool protour of course!

Trailcrazy2772 (Oct 9, 2012 at 7:46)

Seriously is everyone a Kona hater?! Antoine Bizet deserves more pictures! He KILLED it with four backflips and a very tech line!

trickland (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:25) (Below Threshold)

He did do VERY well...but you can start claiming four back flips! Come on, the last one was piddly...wouldn't quite call it progression!

rojoveloce (Oct 9, 2012 at 13:26)

For lax gun laws in AZ you don't need a Concealed Weapons Permit if your over 18 you just cant take your firearm in any government institution

finnrambo (Oct 9, 2012 at 17:11)

lol bud your post got stuck to a far off thread @rlogansx

deeeight (Oct 10, 2012 at 8:48)

Arizona has an open carry law still also. You can wear your side arm on an exposed hip/leg holster into a bank if you want. No special permit needed.

Sure does cut down on random muggings and bank holdups... But the anti gun lobby will never admit its true.

rojoveloce (Oct 10, 2012 at 12:02)

You can't take it into a bank but yes you can hip it just like a cowboy haha. Oh and you can mix alcohol into the picture as well and now you have the wild west again haha.

hoolydooly (Oct 9, 2012 at 0:45)

Just casually hanging out the window with a gun. Yeah no worries...

gravityhelps (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:02)

thats utah for you, mormans with multiple wives and lax gun laws....and sick freeriding spots

Downhill-Disaster FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:15)

Pretty sure its just a bb gun anyway. If you look at the bottom of the grip there is a thumbscrew for the Co2 cartridge. The real thing wouldn't have that.

Downhill-Disaster FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:16)

I could be wrong though!

cikudh (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:25)

kids on the loose!

Jester1826 (Oct 9, 2012 at 1:55)

Multiple wives f*ck that I get my ear bent enough just off the one!!

Caiokv FL (Oct 9, 2012 at 3:40)

Welcome to Amurika!

NorCalikonaryder (Oct 9, 2012 at 8:20) (Below Threshold)

No
That gun is real the magazine probably carries an extra round in it(kind of like an extended magazine) so it would protrude like that....he shouldn't have his finger sitting on the trigger like that though...hahaha

Helm72 (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:48)

isn't that kid with with the gun Messere.

seraph (Oct 9, 2012 at 12:02)

It's clearly an airsoft gun.

Draggon (Oct 9, 2012 at 14:07)

To add to Jester1826.....Multiple wives, now why the hell would I do that to myself ?!?!

dirty907 (Oct 9, 2012 at 14:30)

@Helm72 I agree, that looks like Messere. Definitely not a real gun. Looks very similar to a Beretta m92 though.

socalshredder (Oct 8, 2012 at 22:00)

some of these shots are just a crazy as the riding

Willie1 (Oct 9, 2012 at 16:30)

What I find interesting, even compared to the last event a couple years ago, is all the hating that goes on in regards to carbon frames, inverted forks, air suspension, and 650b wheels, that the number of equipment failures is way down compared to years past. We are really seeing equipment refinement, and riding skill that shows the evolution of the sport. Overbuilt isn't necessarily stronger. Heavier isn't stronger, and wheel size isn't limited by strength. That 650b inverted fork KHS tracked beautifully, and jumped fine. All the Treks and GTs held together. The CCDBAirs and RS Vivid air shocks (and air forks) held up. I think the debate is over. We don't need old aluminum coil sprung bikes with small wheels to hit the big stuff, so It'll stand up to anything I dish out.

kyleveinot (Oct 10, 2012 at 13:40)

short term yes probably

Mayancrew (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:00)

I don't understand that bottom part: "see you next year!" ? isn't rampage every 2 years or they made an acception?

KillaKHS (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:19)

Im sure he is referring to " next year" of the rampage. Its obvious that it is not going to be the next calendar year.

Trailcrazy2772 (Oct 9, 2012 at 7:43)

They announced at Rampage that they would be doing it again NEXT year! I'm stoked!

ttekcebc (Oct 9, 2012 at 14:46)

haha measuring Strait's no-hander by how many camera frames it lasted. good stuff.

Protour (Oct 9, 2012 at 7:51)

More kill pics! I'm buying a Red Bull today. No, on second thought..I'm buying a whole case of Red Bull!

scriz (Oct 9, 2012 at 11:32)

I think I'm gonna try Rockstar

seanstdenis (Oct 9, 2012 at 15:16)

anybody know why Alex Pro didn't ride, was he injured? Hurt his back rolling cars?

seanlegan (Oct 9, 2012 at 17:24)

I drink red bull.....why can't I ride like that?

lstanners (Oct 9, 2012 at 19:33)

Same here.

rainan (Oct 8, 2012 at 23:16)

Great report of a great event! Cheers to everyone who loves to ride.

RatHunter83 (Oct 9, 2012 at 6:13)

great shots margus!

jmc361 (Oct 9, 2012 at 10:02)

Leave it to Margus to make the Utah desert look cold and gloomy. Ha!

Nice shots, man.

lionsphinx (Oct 8, 2012 at 21:35)

Epic pics!

UncleCliffy (Oct 9, 2012 at 0:46)

Thanks so much for the fine work.

NAPALMJEFF (Oct 9, 2012 at 12:41)

I WONDER IF RED BULL CAN DO IT FOR ME

kuba666 (Oct 9, 2012 at 11:04)

Will be much POD's

caiocrz (Oct 9, 2012 at 13:13)

Let the audience judge!

pigman65 (Oct 9, 2012 at 13:53)

Awesome pictures

Joeysolo (Oct 10, 2012 at 10:33)

bizet should have won..

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