Murray Loubser Crowned 2022 Park Lines BMX Tournament Champion

The 2022 Park Lines BMX Tournament presented by LW Mag and Dragon Energy in association with Dickies, Garmin, GoPro, Mongoose Bikes and Willards produced an incredible day of BMX Freestyle action with Cape Town’s, Murray Loubser taking top honours in the Pro division.

Murray Loubser

This year’s event saw the unlocking of the infamous Stoneridge Skatepark providing the perfect platform for riders to showcase their skills through the qualifying rounds and into the finals. The park, still in pristine condition, offered a variety of line and obstacle choices catering for the various styles of BMX riders competing.

Stoneridge Skatepark Unlocked

With over 50 riders competing through the Amateur and Pro divisions, judges had their hands full as they took use-of-park, consistency, execution and tricks into account when making their selection of riders advancing into the Finals, and podium positions.Pro riders competed for their share of the R35 000.00 prize money, Garmin Instinct 2 smartwatches, along with other prizes from the official event partners. In the Amateur Division, a new Mongoose BMX was up for grabs. The tournament concluded with the Best Trick competition with the winner taking home a GoPro Hero10.

Amateur Finals

In the Amateur division a strong contingency of riders competed making for a close fought final. Mark Pienaar showed huge progression in his riding using flowy lines throughout the park with a host of Turndowns and Lookbacks thrown in over the various hits. That mixed with a 360 and stylish bowl riding saw Pienaar take the top step of the podium.
Mark Pienaar

Duan Stapelberg combined good flow with a floaty 360 and extended Suicide No-Handers to secure 2nd place.
Duan Stapelberg

In his first ever BMX contest, newcomer Dylan Lamb brought a fast paced and smooth riding style combined with steezy 360’s, Inverts in the bowl and Tuck No-Handers to slot into 3rd place.
Dylan Lamb

Special mention goes out to Jenna Byrnes, who was also competing in her first BMX contest and Park Lines’ only female entry. Jenna made history by being the first South African female rider to land a backflip, and placed 5th in the Am division.
Jenna Byrnes

Pro Finals

This year’s Pro division saw a stacked field of top riders from all over the country, including two international riders who made their trip to South Africa to compete – Jak Tones (UK) and Greg Illingworth (UK/SA).

Matt Duffy, riding with an injury from practice, managed to put down a solid run to secure 5th place. Returning to South Africa for Park Lines, Greg Illingworth took to the course with the crowd pleasing style, speed and big transfers he is known for to take home 4th place.
Matt Duffy
Greg Illingworth

UK’s Jak Tones brought a host of big tricks to his runs – a 540 Flair, Flair Tailwhip, Truckdrivers, Barspin to Tuck-No Hander, and a Pendulum to name a few, which secured him 3rd place overall.
Jak Tones

Last year’s winner and defending champ, Vincent Leygonie was on form and on the hunt for the top spot. Leygonie made great use of the park by linking together big transfer lines with amplitude and consistency that no other rider was able to do, throwing in a 720, 540 Barspin, Superseat Indy and Tailwhips for good measure. When it came down to the judges’ score cards, it just wasn’t enough to beat fellow compatriot, Murray Loubser.
Vincent Leygonie

Murray Loubser, returning to competition from injury, produced a flawless run capitalising on his technical skills to impress the judges. From the start of the buzzer, Murray linked trick after trick throughout his 45 second run, which included a Backflip over the hip, Tailwhips, G-Turn, 1 Hander Cannonball and a Barspin to Manual to Opposite Barspin out. A final score of 91 (out of 100) saw Loubser claim victory and crowned the 2022 Park Lines BMX Tournament Champion.
Murray Loubser

Best Trick

The day concluded with the Best Trick contest with standout performances from Nathi Steeze and his technical line. Greg Illingworth’s insane Transfer Gap Tailwhip, and Murray Loubser’s Wall Ride to Wall Ride.
Nathi Steeze – Turndown
Greg Illingworth – Gap Tailwhip

It was a heated decision between Dylan van Belkum’s 270 Backflip and Jak Tones’ Fakie to Frontflip for the win. The prize was awarded to Jak Tones.
Jak Tones – Fakie Frontflip

Park Lines organiser, Ryan van der Spuy said, “This year’s Park Lines BMX Tournament was incredible and it was a treat to host this event at the Stoneridge Skatepark. To see this come together as one of the biggest local BMX contests in recent times is a proud moment for us, as well as being able to showcase the capability and talent of our riders. Thank you to our event partners for sharing this vision and for making Park Lines the reality it is. We can’t wait for the next one!”

Park Lines BMX Tournament Finals Results

Amateur
1st Mark Pienaar 71.34
2nd Duan Stapelberg 70.67
3rd Dylan Lamb 69.33
4th Mathys Putter 68.00
5th Jenna Byrnes 55.00
6th Joshua Hoffmann 53.33

Pro
1st Murray Loubser 91.00
2nd Vincent Leygonie 89.00
3rd Jak Tones 85.67
4th Greg Illingworth 82.67
5th Matt Duffy 82.33
6th Nathi Steeze 77.64
7th Doran Mathewson 76.34
8th Francois Bodenstien 74.00
9th Damion Fourie 71.67
10th Dylan van Belkum 68.00
11th Werner Matthee 61.67
12th Rob Davies 30.67