Event Coverage

Ben Wallace wins penultimate round of the Braun cruZer Tour Spine at IFMA Bike Challenge in Cologne

Cologne / Düsseldorf, September 21st 2005. The penultimate round of the Braun cruZer Tour Spine took place at the IFMA Bike Challenge at the IFMA bike trade show in Köln on the 17th and 18th of September with about 30,000 spectators.

As well as the Pro tour round, an Amateur event was held to give the local young talent a chance to shineŠ.

Onto the Pros. Series leader Mark Webb pulled out every trick in his book, nailing 540 disasters, tailwhip to manuals and icepicks, both on the sub, flairs and much more to qualify in first.


Cameron Hardy on the Spine

In the 8 man finals on Sunday the IFMA Bike Challenge crowd were treated to a tech fest, an air fest, and a slam fest, mostly within the space of every rider¹s run. Pete Marselle 540 tyre tapped the sub to ice pick run, then blitzed the rest of his run attempting 900s.. Mark König¹s pulled some tech frontwheel moves, then pulled something in himself.. Cameron Hardy was as smooth as the creamy milk on his cornflakes for sixth, whilst Barry Kohne appeared at the last minute to pull vert-ramp size whip airs and close flip to manual attempts.

The top four were tight, and someone had to be disappointed to miss out on the top three. This fell to Alex Etzold, who was inched out into third by Craig Stevens. Alex pulled some huge airs, smooth grind to over tricks on the spine, and a gnarly disaster on the sub, whilst Craig introduced the ramp to opposite spine 360s, burly sub-box 5050 grinds, a few harsh 360 whip slams over the spine and more.


Mark Webb doing a flair over the spine

Top two was also a close call. Mark Webb didn¹t want to lose, but his whip to manual on the sub didn¹t want to be pulled. After trying this a few times he moved onto truckdriver the spine, back to back flair, and also nailed every whip to tyre tap variation possible. However, Ben Wallace was not to be beaten as he rolled in and packed both his 90 second runs with solid tech tricks, massive airs and a killer downside whip at height to 540 to flair combo.

Mark Webb is still leading the Braun cruZer Tour Spine Ranking.
The final round of the Braun cruZer Tour Spine is in London, as part of the Weekend at Dave¹s² event, September 24th and 25th. The overall "Braun cruZer Tour Spine Champion" will receive a brand new Suzuki Jimny 4x4. The rider who throws down the "Braun cruZer Tour Best
Trick" will receive a sponsorship deal with Lazer helmets.


Mark Webb, Ben Wallace and Craig Stevens

The final round of the Braun cruZer Tour Flatland will be held at the Braun Flatground in Amsterdam, from September 23rd to 25th.
The overall Champion of the Braun cruZer Tour Flatland wins a brand new Suzuki bandit motorbike.