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If you weren’t at Ultimate X this year then, we hate to say it, but you missed out. SA’s premium Action Sports festival saw a host of local and international athletes in Freestyle Motocross, Skateboarding and BMX throwing it all on the line in one of the craziest UX events to date.
Freestyle Motocross
FMX kicked off both the qualifying and finals sessions on Saturday, 27 February at GrandWest Casino in Cape Town. Event goers were treated to Dallan Goldman, Nick De Wit, Alastair Sayer and USA’s Jimmy Hill flying high and close to the rafters, showcasing their skills. FMX is always a crowd favourite and it was nothing less at UX 2016. Fans were on their feet cheering as the riders whipped, flipped and busted out an arsenal of tricks over the 21-meter gap.
The FMX Best Trick contest went down during the finals session, and saw Alastair Sayer take the win with a crazy stretched out combo.
Skateboarding
The first event of the day was the team Rider Cup event. A.K.A.M consisting of Alan Marola, Khule Ngubane, Allan Adams and Moses Adams took the win and the R10k prize.
The UX Skate Final was packed full of SA’s top skaters all slaying the new, and well received, course layout. Going into the semi finals we saw something that the local skate scene had been waiting to see for a while now, a battle between the Adams brothers. Moses Adams had been on fire all day long basically landing every trick he attempted. Allan Adams had a good run during the semi and put down some impressive lines but it just wasn’t enough to beat his brother for the transfer.
Dlamini Dlamini advanced through his semi to meet Moses Adams in the final, and what a final it was. Dlamini managed to unsettle, what seemed to be the unstoppable, Adams to take victory. Allan Adams finished off the podium in 3rd place.
Dlamini Dlamini also scored himself the Skate Best Trick award for his Switch Five-0.
BMX
Well what can we say, except that this was the craziest BMX competition we’ve ever seen. A contingent of international riders graces South African soil and put on a performance we’ll never forget.
Greg Illingworth, nursing an injured wrist, was the only South African rider to make it into the 12-rider final and scored the Local Hero Award. The international contingent consisted of Pat Casey, Kevin Peraza, Daniel Dhers, Alex Coleborn, Brock Horneman, Tom Isted, Paul Ryan, Declan Brooks, Alessandro Barbero, Panos Manaras and Kenneth Tencio.
It was a hotly contested final with some of the biggest tricks on the planet being thrown down during the runs. Brock Horneman was the clear favourite for the win after qualifying 1st in the prelims with huge combo tricks on every obstacle and massive Flair combos over the quarter channel, but mistakes during his run saw him finish in 4th overall.
Defending champion, Kevin Peraza put down solid runs throughout the day, effortlessly throwing tricks like Flair Whips, Superman Double Grabs and technical Nose Manuals which landed him in 3rd.
Kenneth Tencio impressed in every run he took combining technicality into big tricks like a Wall Ride to Flair, a Backflip over the fun box, going the opposite direction, and claimed himself 2nd place.
After qualifying in 2nd through the prelims, Pat Casey stepped up his game and tore up the entire course. Casey’s technical and burley tricks included a huge 360 Whip to Fakie on the quarter, a 180 Double Whip over the fun box and a stack of other mid blowing tricks which saw him clinch the 1st place spot.
The BMX Best Trick was next level mayhem! Pat Casey landed a 360 Double Whip to Fakie on the quarter. Brock Horneman landed a massive Flair to Triple Barspin over the quarter channel. Kenneth Tencio lay down the world’s first Wall Ride to Flair Whip to claim the award.
Fans were on their feet and cheering for more throughout Ultimate X 2016. Thanks you to everyone involved in making this awesome Action Sports event possible, especially the sponsors.
Photos by Eisa Bakos, Wayne Reiche, Grant Mclachlan and LW Mag.
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