Mongoose Team in Japan for FISE

By Leigh Ramsdell, Mongoose Team Manager

The first FISE event of 2019 in beautiful Hiroshima, Japan was one to remember! Our team riders Pat Casey, Ben Wallace, Nikita Ducarroz, and Kevin Peraza  all did a great job representing Mongoose in their own individual ways.

There was a full day of practice before the event started and the riders were getting the feel for the course. In qualifying, Pat Casey stared his run with a bang with big tricks like a perfect Cash-roll and triple tailwhip 360, but he fell on a tailwhip 180 over the spine, so he did not advance to semi-finals. You have to have two perfect runs in qualifying because they average both runs. In semi-finals and finals it’s best run counts, so riders can put it on the line more.

Ben Wallace made it to semi-finals with a unique use of the course going higher than everyone else and super clicked tricks like 360 lookbacks and double-downside whips, but just missed going to finals.

Making it to the finals, Nikita Ducarroz had a great first run going with a nice one-footed X-up to can-can, barspin the step-up, and one-handed tabletops, but missed a barspin near the end of her run. Her second run was solid highlighted by a clean 540 but lacked the difficulty of the first run. This was her first big contest back after being injured over the winter, so making it into finals was impressive!

Fan favorite, Kevin Peraza qualified first into the semi-finals and then get third in semi’s. Everyone loved his originality both with tricks and use of the course. Kevin started his runs with a big tailwhip transfer drop-in and kept it going strong from there with classic moves like a Superman seatgrab, 360 can-can tiregrabs, and tons of stylish, tech moves that left your head shaking. Kevin makes bike riding look good and fun no matter what kind of pressure is put on him!

This was a great first FISE event and with Kevin in 4th and Nikita getting 7th that was just icing on the cake! Next stop for the Mongoose team is Source Park in Hastings, United Kingdom for the first ever