WESTCOUNTRY’S BEN WALLACE TRIUMPHS AT RED BULL EMPIRE OF DIRT
Bournemouth’s Ben Wallace was crowned Britain’s first BMX champion of the summer, beating 15 of the world’s best riders to win the second Red Bull Empire of Dirt event at Alexandra Palace, London.
‘I’m so stoked to have won this event on home soil”, said Wallace as he celebrated his win with fellow Super Finalists Ryan Nyquist, Drew Bezanson and Mike Clark. “This has been the best BMX event I’ve been a part of, mainly thanks to the atmosphere and the energy of the crowd. I’m pretty happy!”
Red Bull Empire of Dirt, which was first held in 2008 in Newton Abbot in Devon, was developed by Kye Forte and Red Bull to push the boundaries of BMX and challenge riders’ skills as never before. This weekend’s event at London’s Alexandra Palace attracted the biggest names in the sport and crowds of 20,000, who watched the 32 top riders take on the specially designed course in conditions that remained mercifully rain-free.
For Red Bull pro and event creator Kye Forte, today’s exciting Super Final was the culmination of a project that has been months in the planning and has seen the grounds of Ally Pally transformed into the world’s most progressive BMX course.
“I’ve really never seen anything like this before” said competitor Alistair Whitton, who flew into the event straight from filming for the new James Bond film in Turkey. “It’s by far the most exciting event I’ve been to. Hats off to Kye and Red Bull for making it happen”.
Kye Forte and his team spent three weeks and an estimated 23,192 man hours manhandling 720,000 shovelfuls of dirt to create the course for the contest, which aims to find the most well rounded rider from the various disciplines of BMX as they tame huge features, motocross-style jumps and snowboard type hits.
Photos: Laura Palmer
