NASS DMR Dirt Wars - FMB Bronze Series Round 3

The NASS Festival (National Adventure Sports Show) has been going on since the late 90’s and Dirt Wars UK has had the pleasure of running the mountain bike dirt jumps there for the last four years.
Two of those years we have had to go off qualifying results or cancel due to the shocking British weather, but not this year as this had to be the hottest NASS on record.
Here's what went down:

Friday:

Most riders arrived at the festival on the friday and got padded up right away ready for practice. The course consists of a huge right-hand hip followed by a pretty big left-hand hip onto a step-up with a quarter pipe then a drop to the last straight jump. Due to the size of the first hip, you could see there was a bit of concern on the faces of most of our Open/Amateur riders as most had not ridden hips that big before, it also didn't help that the landings were like concrete and would take your skin off like 20 grit sandpaper if you crash. First up on the roll in was Mongoose pro-rider, Tom Isted who had already been riding the jumps earlier that day on his 20” wheel BMX as he was also competing in the World Championship Dirt and Park Comps held at NASS as well.
Watching Tom flow through the course soon got the Open/Amateur riders pumped and in no time, they were up on the roll-in hitting the course and getting used to the jumps. The afternoon practice went off well (even though a few riders lost a few layers of skin and the medic ran out of plasters) until the wind picked up and the course was closed off for the night for safety reasons.
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14927919/

The NASS festival has now evolved over the years and is no longer just about extreme sports as most of the people who attend are there for the music line up at night time and this year, Friday night saw the UK artist Giggs start the night off, followed by Old Skool Hip Hop Legends Methodman and Redman who had the whole festival site bouncing. As well as the main stage, there was also various warehouses on the site with DJ’s, Mc’s and others UK artists from the grime world playing into the early hours of the morning.

Saturday:

The sunshine was out, the winds were nowhere to be felt and the course was all watered, ready to run but unfortunately due to the size of the course and the fact it was like concrete, we lost a lot of riders and the numbers were cut down. The Pro line up was still looking good but the Open/Amateur numbers had dropped a fair bit so we decided to run the Open/Amateur qualifiers as a jam session so there was not much pressure put on the less experienced riders.
This went down well with the riders and they all took to the course flowing through with x-up’s, no-handers, one-foot tables and the occasional 360, back-flip and front-flip chucked in by the likes of Jack Cardy, Zac Rainbow, Callum Sherwood, Andy Alexander and Kerry Pert.
With the Open/Amateur Jam out the way, we moved on to the Pro comp which went ahead as normal with the top 8 qualifiers going through to the Sunday Final. After the Pro had 30 mins to warm up, they were ready to drop in for their qually' runs, hungry for the £1000 first place prize.
Tom Reynolds was tailwhipping the first hip in no time at all which got Alex Cahill smashing out the decades over the first jump and tailwhipping the second. Ray Samson who has recently become a father and has been away from the scene for a while nailed the tailwhips on the first but then nailed himself, over shooting one and then crashing doing a 360 a couple of runs later. Tom Cardy and Cam Crozier liked the look of the last jump and started dropping huge front-flips over it which got the crowds making noise and appreciating what these guys do 15 feet up in the air.
With all 3 runs for each rider done and dusted, the 8 riders through to the final were as follows:
1st - Tom Cardy
2nd - Alex Cahill
3rd - Cameron Crozier
4th - Daryl Brown
5th - Tom Isted
6th - Freddy Pullman
7th - Tom Reynolds
8th - Ray Samson
With the riding done for the day, the riders freshened up and hit the main stage for the Saturday night line up of Sigma and Pendulum.

Sunday:

Yet again, the sunshine was blazing down on the gurning festival go'ers as all the riders arrived at the jumps ready for the finals to see who would walk away with this years NASS crown.
We unfortunately got news earlier on in the morning that Ray Samson had hurt his back and would not be able to ride in the finals due to the two crashes he had in qualifiers this meant that ninth place qualifier. Ben Nolan got the call to replace Ray in the final. (Lucky for Ben but unlucky for Ray, Heal fast bro).
With all the riders warmed up from practice and the immense sunshine, it was time to get the finals started with the Open/Amateur riders up first.
The level of riding had stepped up massively in the finals and it was obvious that some pretty big bangers were going to be thrown down.
Jamie Innes was first to drop in after having no practice, he sent the first so sketchy then tried to pull out a tailwhip on the second crashing hard and removing most of the skin from his elbow and lower arm ending his days riding. Zac Rainbow attempted a few frontflips over the last jump only to smack his nutts hard a few times and had to retreat to pulling a backflip instead whilst Tristan Bushnell from the #ShottCrew was sending his huge tailwhips over the first and like Zac flipping the last.
Josh Venamore perfected his no-footed cans on the first and flipping the last and Vitalious Zarikov was pulling the t-bogs and tuck no-handers like a boss.
Kerry Pert was working in Greece a few days before the comp but quit and made his way back to England to hit up the NASS trails after not riding for a few months. He soon got it dialed back in and sent some stylish one-footed tables and big flips on the last.
The Dark Horse, Patrick Robinson surprised everyone with a 450 over the second hip and then a pretty big flair attempt on the quarter pipe, especially as he's from a downhill background and not dirt jump. #ShottCrew member, Ben White was looking good until crashing out on a 360 on the last jump. Andy Alexander also from the #ShottCrew showed his fellow teammate Ben what it was all about, smashing out a perfect 360 with style on the jump Ben had just crashed on.
Jack Cardy and Callum Sherwood from Radical Bike Park stole the show tricking everything on course (apart from the step down which even the pros didn't trick). With Jack barspinning up the stepup and Callum throwing suicides up it, it was clear the main battle was between these two guys.
With all 3 runs out the way, the overall results and runs from the Open/Amateur Comp were as follows:

1st - Jack Cardy : 450 table, Suicide, Barspin stepup, Barspin air on quarter, Flip table on last
2nd - Callum Sherwood : Tabletop, One foot down table, Suicide stepup, One foot table on quarter, Backflip on last
3rd - Kerry Pert : One foot table, Tuck no hander, Straight air step up, Rolled quarter, Backflip on last
4th - Josh Venamore : One foot table, Tuck no hander, Straight air step up, rolled quarter, Backflip on last
5th - Patrick Robinson : Tyre grab to T-bog, 270, Straight air step up, One foot table on quarter, Backflip case on last
6th - Andy Alexander : Tyre grab, Tuck no hander, Straight air step up, Rolled Quater, 360 on last
7th - Tristan Bushnell : Tailwhip, Straight air on second, Straight air step up, Rolled quarter, Backflip on last
8th - Vitalious Zarikov : t-bog, One footed x-up, Straight air step up, Rolled quarter, Tuck no hander on last
9th - Zac Rainbow : Tabletop, Backflip, Straight air step up, Rolled quarter, Backflip on last
10th - Ben White : Straight air on first, Tuck no hander, Straight air step up, Aired quarter, 360 crash on last
11th - Jamie Innes : Straight air on first, Tailwhip crash on second

Next up was Pro practice and the guys started to send it straight away, pulling out bangers left, right and centre.
With practice out the way, it was time to turn the riding level up to maximum and show the crowd what these guys were really capable of. Ben Nolan was first to drop hitting x-ups, barspins up the stepup and t-bogs but that was soon shut down by Tom Reynolds with his Steezy McSteeze 450 X-ups and downwhips on the first.
Freddy Pullman decided to own the step up throwing Tailwhips up it the Allyoop Barspins on the quarter whilst fellow EX rider Tom Isted was pulling the most ridiculously high flairs on the quarter and perfect Superflips on the last.
Pioneer rider Cam Crozier was out to prove he has what it takes to mix it with the sponsored riders popping Downwhips on the first and huge Frontflips on the last proving he really does have the skills to get a sponsorship deal and stay in Pro Class.
Daryl Brown didnt seem to be on point as usual only getting one of his 3 runs dialled but still hitting stratospheric tuck no handers on the quaterpipe and Tuck flips on the last but it turned out not to be his day.
Tom Cardy was fresh off the win from round 2 and wasent going to let anyone take the win off him for round 3 either executing a flawless 450 whip on the first then a perfect tailwhip on the quarter although Alex Cahill was snapping at his heals throwing out decades on the first and tripple trucks on the last, It was a shame Alex never got the run he wanted as he pulled a double tailwhip on the second jump in his last run but went off course and was unable to continue his run.
Once all the runs were out the way the judges tallied up the scores it was time to announce the winners.
Positions and runs were as follows.

1st - Tom Cardy : 450 Tailwhip, 270 Tuck No Hander, Oppo Barspin step up, Tailwhip on quarter, Backflip on last
2nd - Alex Cahill : Decade, Downwhip, Barspin step up, Allyoop Barspin on quarter, Tripple Truck Driver on last
3rd - Cameron Crozier : Downwhip, Double Truck Driver, Barspin step up, Manual on quarter, Frontflip on last
4th - Tom Isted : 270 Barspin, Flip Tuck No Hander, Straight air step up, Flair on quarter, Super Backflip on last
5th - Daryl Brown : 270 Tuck No Hander, 450 Barspin, Barspin step up, Tuck No Hander on quarter, Backflip Tuck No Hander on last
6th - Freddy Pullman : 450 Double Truck, 270 Tuck No Hander, Tailwhip step up, Alleyoop Barspin on quarter, Backflip on last
7th - Tom Reynolds : Downwhip, 450 X-up, Straight air stepup, Tabletop on quarter, Backflip Tuck No Hander on last
8th - Ben Nolan : Tabletop, X-up, Barspin step up, Table on quarter, Backflip Tuck No Hander on last
We want to thank everyone at NASS and Vision Nine (Especially Richie Inskip) who made this amazing festival happen as we really feel privileged to be a part of it.
Thank you to all the riders, spectators, Dirtwars crew and trail builders for such an amazing weekend and a massive thank you to Tom Isted (Mongoose rider) and Toby (Kye Forte Trail Crew) for keeping the jumps on-point and watered all weekend.
See you for Round 4 at P.O.R.C