2012 Red Bull Circle of Balance Rider List announced!!

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www.redbull.jp

Red Bull Japan posted the rider list for the Circle of Balance 2012! What a list, and even a surprise in there with the inclusion of Kerry Gatt! Great to see riders like Simon O’ Brien and Bert Ribul in the list! This is going to be one heavy contest!

Rider List:

Yohei Uchino
Moto Sasaki
Hiroya Morisaki
Matthias Dandois
Alex Jumelin
Viki Gomez
Terry Adams
Simon O’Brien
Adam Kun
Dominik Nekolny
Kerry Gatt
Waldemar Fatkin
Dez Maarsen
George Manos
Jean William Prevost
Bert Ribul

Judges:

Kotaro Tanaka
Chad DeGroot
Travis Collier
Michael Steingraeber
Martti Kuoppa

Interview with Viki on the COB contest:

http://www.redbull.jp/cs/Satellite/ja_JP/Video/Vicki-Gomez-Interview-021243210995189

36 thoughts on “2012 Red Bull Circle of Balance Rider List announced!!”

  1. bert ribbul in the list!!! so looking forward to this! and not to mention the judges!!! might be the flatland battle of the year!!! :D:D

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  9. the rider list is half major contest contenders and the other half are video riders. those people are in no way a replacements for Mike S, Martti, Matti Rose, Yanmar or Frank Lukas.

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  10. its Different and thats a good thing ,bit of variety in there Kerry Gatt hell yeah 🙂 judges ain’t bad either ,nice.

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  19. Those guys ride great, they are original¡, so why they shouldn’t be there? is a great chance to see new faces at the contest scene and that’s great for our sport, the people need to see new guys killing it¡¡

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  22. You’re absolutely right that Manos is not a pro rider, his level is higher and his pursuit of originality puts him in a much greater light. He’s made waves on the flatland scene via his video parts and, along with Chad, is carrying the pegless fire.

    Bert’s new blood. He’s hungry. He’s got the potential to be great. His style is flashy and he’s dialled. He’s exciting to watch and his video parts always have some original flair.

    One of the points of the contest is clearly to provide the Japanese audience with a great international flatland spectacle. They can see all the local heroes often at the KOG etc. Hence, the inclusion of just three Japanese riders in the mix.

    Simon O’Brien, glad he’s going to be there. Really good that he’s been included, because of the original Circle of Balance mix, I think that he, Martti and Rigby were the best of best. Simmo is the only one still rolling hardcore too.

    Dates???

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    • The date of the Circle of Balance is September 8th paul.

      I don’t really understand the comment, that Bert and George aren’t pro riders. I think you covered it well paul. All I would add is the list covers established pros, legends, and a new generation of exciting pros such as Bert and George. Give the new generation a chance, rather than bash them. No wonder we struggle to get new riders into flat. As always with a list of only 16 riders, you will miss a lot of riders out! That sadly is just the way it is.

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  28. I was just having this conversation with Jesse Puente the other day how the way the industry is organized (both from a contest perspective and from the people who create/control media) that we often celebrate the same people too often, giving them the lime light where there are hundreds (if not thousands) of amazingly talented riders who are underground and dont have the chance.

    I think the move to include Bert, Gatt and Manos, and specifically to keep the asian contenders fairly balanced was *the right ethical and moral* decision from a overall scene standpoint.

    A perfect example is Matthias, who has the absolute worst attitude I’ve seen when it comes to winning/losing during competitions, yet he was glorified as a super-flatland-hero for years. He’s crazy talented sure, but lets focus on the other riders and create a culture for inspiration and motivation to become great.

    With no money we have to create the culture in unique different ways. Inspiration is hard.

    I absolutely love love love the invited list.

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  29. The rider I am most excited to see ride in this is Jean William Prevost. I saw him ride at Jomopro, and I must say, he is a beast! His back wheel combo’s are very exciting to watch. He was killing it in practice at Jomo, but messed up a couple of times during his actual run. If he puts it all together here, he could easily be on the podium. He has such an amazing style!!!!

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  31. Dub rules due a win ,Sean agree with you on Matthias not one for having a go at people ( haha) but Matthias is what us Brits call ” cocky ” bit sure of himself takes to fun out of it ,great to see Simon O’Brien in there top 3 finish mmmm maybe .And yes that invite list is dope gonna be a great comp for sure 🙂

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  32. Hard to limit an event to 16 riders and not snub a few guys. I really feel like Dane and Wilhelm should be in the mix. But I have to say including a legend like Gatt and bringing in some new blood and styles like Bert and George is hard to argue…… Why cant the list be 24 riders???? Would love to see Denes Kotona, Pete Brandt, Peter Olsen, Percy Marshall, Trevor Meyer and Chad Johnston included too…

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  33. I think saying that you want young blood when some of the new riders are old video riders that used to ride is a insult, i agree Jean wiliams, Walamar Fatkin is sick and Uchie Are young bloods and Viki is a definate
    But were are all the young bloods Gatt and Chad when have i seen him at a contest does he even know whats going on? I thought he rides street
    And look at Pete Brandt is the organizers crazy!
    He is a beast the old video riders will never compare he is ready to show all young and old whats up!
    Thats FF.
    Peace ride hard dont fake your hard!
    Jesse

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  34. Pete and jesse should be in the mix for sure, without them non of the rockstar Pro´s would be doing Pedal Time mashines or plasticmans, because they made those tricks up 20 years ago and are still doing it.

    Flatland should be real!

    and what about

    Pedro melo
    aleksi ritsila
    Hotoke

    i see at least seven riders that are wrong on that Redbull list, anyways i´m not hating, it just makes me sad because the sport is still it´s about making
    money and business.
    The truth always comes to the surface at the end.
    respect the realness

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