Repo: Rob Alton.
This was the second time the contest was held in Sátoraljaújhely, the home of many top Hungarian riders in the early 2000’s. Gábor Pásztor, Rob Alton, and the Sport Zone SE team all worked together to make it happen. It was great to see more riders coming just to meet friends and ride. The venue is so big that it allows for all-day riding for anyone. At Sport Zone or any contest where we have a smaller floor, it’s simply not possible to do this; only the contest riders can ride.
Junior B
We saw some nice progress from the competitors, even if they were fewer than usual. The standout moment was “Zazi” pulling his first frame whip in his contest run, giving him the top spot!
Junior
This year, this category is very open, so it can be any of the kids on the podium. Andor Kiss Bose took first place with McCircle and front-wheel squeakers. All the others are so close and all rode well doing Boomerangs, No Handed Cyclones, bar spin infinity rolls, and Decades.
Amateur Men
Patrik Kriston, at just 14 years old, dominated on the day; this was a perfect practice for FISE Montpellier later this month. Pedal Time Machines and difficult front-wheel and back-wheel combos.
Péter Kádár was chasing for the podium but just missed it; also, a young junior rider moving up. Attila Bordács took second with some familiar front- and back-wheel rolling tricks. Solid old-school tricks gave Tamás Koncsecskó the third place.
OPEN
We have this category for any riders who want to compete, but don’t want to be licensed riders. Standout performance was from Tamás Ficsor. He has recently started riding again and had the best run we have seen so far. Very consistent pulling almost all of his rolling tricks on both back and front wheels. One of our senior riders, Péter Kardos, took second place with some stable rolling and scuffing tricks. Tamás Varga got third with too many many mistakes, but had fun!
Elite Women
As usual, it was a battle between Anna Mondics and Veronika Kádár. Anna qualified first this time with only 2 mistakes and a great variety of techniques. Veronika pulled some great spinning tricks, but it was not enough. In the final, Anna stepped up and had 1 mistake with a new trick, the Cliffhanger. The rest was smooth and controlled: Brakeless Decade combos, Catapult, Gyrator to Rolling Backyard, Hitchhiker Juggler, and Karl Kruzer to Steamroller, leaving no question for the judges.
Elite Men
We had 4 Elite riders, two from Czechia and two Hungarians. Martin Drazil always makes that effort to come to our contests, and it’s great to have him and the Czechia team there. The floor took some getting used to for everyone; very fast, a little slippery if you’re used to car park floors! Still, everyone had their good moments, some more than others. Ákos Bordás pulled some nice combos but maybe not the way he planned it! Adam Pekar had some nice back wheel combos with super fast spinning tricks. Martin Kaposvári pulled some very nice brakeless jump switches on the front wheel and a few flowing back wheel lines too. Martin Drazil had an amazing qualification run pulling some really hard x-foot hitchhiker lines as well as his well-known steamroller jumps and switches; his final run was not as strong but more than enough for first place.
Final Words
It was a great day, lots of riding, goulash for everyone, and a hip-hop concert from NKS in the evening. This venue has big potential, and the surrounding area is beautiful. I’m sure this event will grow too, so we hope to see everyone next year!
