Crankworx Innsbruck and Vans BMX Pro Cup Stuttgart

Greg Watts at Crankworx

What a week for bikes! Mongoose had athletes at four different events all over the world! Justin Posey was racing in Rockford, Illinois for the USA BMX Midwest Nationals and took 3rd place! Nikita Ducarroz was outside Vienna, Austria, for Thunderdays BMX UCI C1 Event and took 4th. While I couldn’t be at those events (can we get a clone of me?), I was able to hit two other events in Europe that were close to each other.

Posey at Midwest Nationals

The first event I went to was Crankworx in Innsbruck, Austria. Well, technically it was in a small town called Mutters. Greg Watts was there to compete and also to film an episode of Watts Happening, which will air on Outside TV.  Greg wasn’t expecting much from the weekend after hurting his ankle prior to the event; “Coming into Crankworx Innsbruck, I had recently torn some ligaments in my ankle. It was swollen and weak, so I probably shouldn’t have ridden,” said Greg, “I just wanted to score some points in the Speed & Style standings since I was currently in 3rd.”

Even with a bum ankle Greg still competed in three events, Pump track, Dual Slalom and the event he shines in, Speed & Style. While he didn’t make it out of the qualifying rounds for the first two events Greg did get to the finals for Speed & Style and made it to the final round of 8 throwing down moves like a barspin to sui no-hander flip. “I ended up getting 7th, which was within my goal considering my injury. I salvaged the weekend, made some points and I’m still in 4th coming into the final stop in Whistler. Hoping to be healthier in Whistler since the title is still attainable.” Greg is a true professional!

Greg Watts Innsbruck

Right after Greg finished his run I jumped in the car and did the four-hour drive to Stuttgart, Germany for the Vans BMX Pro Cup. The drive thought the Alps in Austria was amazing! Highly recommended if you ever get the chance.

Competing in Stuttgart were Mongoose pros Pat Casey, Greg Illingworth and Kevin Peraza. The Van’s BMX Pro Cup’s main focus is all about having fun, and fun was had! Greg had to do the regional qualifiers and made it to the main event but a fall at the end of his run left his ankle tweaked so he decided not to ride and play it safe. He did pull a big turndown transfer in his run though! Guess it’s a bad ankle week for the Greg’s! Pat was in the main qualifiers, but a few falls just barely kept him out of the finals. Kevin rode amazing in qualifying and went into the finals positioned in fourth. He had some really unique lines in the bowl like his triple pocket airs, handplant on the vert extension and more! During the finals, however, he got a flat tire and that threw him off a little but still ended up in a respectable 7th.  A big shout-out to Darryl Nau for giving shout-outs to Mongoose during our riders runs!

Greg Illingworth in Europe

After the finals finished, a fan favorite, the Hard Trick contest started right up. This is a 30-minute jam format that lets riders drop in whenever they want to try their hardest tricks. “Within the madness and excitement, I couldn’t figure out exactly what to try without falling too much,” Kevin laughs, “The flair to fake came into mind the last 5 minutes. I have been doing them over little 3-foot street spines for a while now, but never on a big boy double coping 6ft spine!”   Kevin dropped in and pulled a perfect backflip 180 over the spine first try! Kevin adds, “the energy of the crowd and watching all the boys put in work during the jam got me pumped to give it a try. Definitely hyped to do something different and walk away not only healthy, but with the best trick of the session.” The crowd at the Vans event was insane and it’s always nice to see this many people getting stoked on a BMX event.

Both events were amazing and it’s really great to see different sides to bicycles, from the mountain bikes in Innsbruck to the BMX bikes in Stuttgart! I just love all things bikes so you can say this was a great week in my book. Till next time….!