The Night Harvest Dirt Jump Extravaganza

PAT CASEY TAKES WIN AT THE NIGHT HARVEST 2019

Arguably the sickest Dirt jump event on the planet, this year’s edition of The Night Harvest delivered no shortage of the fruits.

Some of our most notorious BMX generals were in town and the trails were perfectly primed in front of the picturesque backdrop of the Hout Bay mountains. The scenery around Cape Town is no joke and the level of riding this year definitely wasn’t either. You do the math, 1 prime set of jumps, coupled with chargers like the Pat Casey, Brock Horneman, Mike Varga, Leandro Moreira and more, the ever supportive Cape Town crowd were in for a treat.

Jam Session Rules

As the sun started to set, the bikes made their way up the roll in tower. Making for an ideal golden hour practice session, The Night Harvest runs a little different to most contests, with a jam session format, making it way more ideal for the riders to work on those dream runs. Which makes the usually competitive vibe much more conducive for bringing out the best riding possible.

Leandro Moreira – 3rd Place BMX 

The Brazilian, no stranger to this kind of terrain. Went at least 3ft higher than anyone on the jumps. Bringing his signature bag of tricks which included cranked turndown flips, flip double whips, triple whips and the hugest dumped 3’s in the game. Always a crowd favourite at The Night Harvest, clearly Leandro was favoured with the judges too.

Mike Varga – 2nd Place BMX  

Mike Varga was on fire, fresh off a long airport transit. The Canadian proceeded to annihilate the course with all the tech wizardry and burly combos you’d need an action replay to process. Varga wasn’t just happy with dominating the line, he then proceeded to icepick bar the wall ride at the bottom of the course which was a first for the event!

Pat Casey – 1st Place BMX 

Pat Casey – “The Night Harvest is always one of my favourite events of the year, it’s been awesome riding with all the boys and I was hyped to take to win again, also a huge surprise was being handed an invite to this year’s Battle of Hastings as a captain this year.” The SoCal native completely destroyed the jumps every time he dropped in for the well-deserved W.

Monster Army Shredders

There was a strong contingency of Monster Army shredders in town, including Brock Horneman, Bryce Tryon and Alec Danelutti brought their A-game and gave the Monster Energy top dogs a run for their money. Brock ended the event in a close 4th place, sending all the hammers in his artillery, flip triple bars and a plethora of mind-blowing runs, the Aussie is sure to be on the podium more regularly in the near future.

Night Harvest MTB

In the MTB division, there was a solid line up of locals with a few international rippers including Swedish wunderkind Lukas Skiold and big air extraordinaire Matt Macduff up against Cape Town’s very own Justin Novella, local DH Free-racer Theo Erlangson and up and comer Cornel Swanepoel, all completely sending it for a chance to land on the podium.

In 3rd place came Czech dirt jump veteran Tomas Zedja who had the line waxed from top to bottom with a mix of classic tricks. In 2nd place, Matt Macduff came in hot from a week in Barcelona and treated the crowd to a selection of heaters which included folded 360 tables, massive flip whip’s and even gave a solid go at some flat 720’s during the Best Trick jam. Macduff – “Honestly, I’m so stoked to be able to ride on the level I was on before my big crash on the loop 2 years back. Everyone killed it. I wasn’t even expecting to be on the podium, I just went out and had fun with the crew, I’m super grateful to be back on this level.”  

In the 1st place spot, experience points paid off here with Lukas Skiold and his mathematical precision on everything he does, taking the clear win in the class. “So stoked to be out in SA again after 2 years after coming out and winning Best Trick, so I was so hyped to come back and push even harder. The jumps were amazing. I tried my hardest to land a cash-roll bar in the Best Trick, I’m going to go back to the drawing board on that and give it another go in a contest real soon.”

Check out the Video!

All Images: Grant Mclachlan

Monster Energy Night Harvest Tonight in Hout Bay – Mtb and Bmx

This event is fast turning into Africa’s most prestigious dirt jump event with a host of international Bmx and Mtb riders coming to the sleepy village of Hout Bay to compete at the Potato Trails. They wont have it all their way though as a strong local contingent, spearheaded by Mo Peters and Greg Illingworth, fight to defend SA honors. The event gets underway at 7pm, but get there early for the best seats. Catch myself and US MC, Catfish on the mic.

Dungeons – Big Wave World Tour ready for 2014

The Big Wave World Tour is ready for action at Dungeons and almost got the call for this week and the 2 massive swells on the way. The call being made that the winds are a bit strong and most of the “World” now headed for Donkey Bay. The only question really being raised after the announcement of the surfers eligible to surf for the event, where is Frank Solomon? The Hout Bay local and charger (Already ranked on the Big Wave World Tour), along with other local guy, Jeremey Johnson, have not cracked the list amongst much nay saying in the local community. Frank reckons he still has a good shout though as he is on the waiting list and should one of the foreigners not make it in time he will be in. (Much like myself on the webcast team.) So here is to hoping flights are booked and some guys from over the ocean don’t make it in time so we can get more locals in the mix. In the meantime check out this awesome footage from the big swell in August 2013 from Corne Snyders…

DUNGEONS 05 AUGUST 2013 from Dianoua on Vimeo.

BWWT SOLIDIFIES COMPETITORS FOR 2014/2015 SEASON
Saturday, May 24, 2014 – The roster for the 2014/2015 ASP Big Wave World Tour (BWWT) season has been solidified, featuring the best big wave surfers on the planet as they complete across six international venues for the undisputed big wave surfing crown.
“The ASP Commissioner’s Office worked long and hard to determine a BWWT roster that reflects the most current standouts in the sport of big wave surfing and also rewarding the performances of past champions of the BWWT,” Peter Mel, ASP Deputy Commissioner, said.
With the season split into two parts to take advantage of the Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere swell systems, the ASP BWWT Top 12 surfers will be joined by six international wildcard per event as well as six local wildcards to comprise the 24-man field. The 2014/2015 ASP BWWT Top 12 have been determined based off the previous season’s rankings.
Note: Gabriel Villaran, of Peru, has received the ASP BWWT Injury Wildcard and will be seeded into the ASP BWWT wildcard selections for all events.
This year’s Top 12 includes a ton of talent, including recent Billabong XXL Award Best Ride winner Greg Long (USA) and Overall Men’s Performance winner Grant “Twiggy” Baker (ZAF).
2014/2015 ASP BWWT Top 12:
1 Grant Baker (ZAF)
2 Ken Collins (USA)
3 Nic Lamb (USA)
4 Shawn Dollar (USA)
5 Kohl Christensen (HAW)
6 Alex Gray (USA)
7 Greg Long (USA)
8 Ryan Augenstein (USA)
9 Anthony Tashnick (USA)
10 Ramon Navarro (PER)
11 Jamie Mitchell (AUS)
12 Tyler Fox (USA)
Southern Hemisphere Wildcards and Local Wildcards
The Southern Hemisphere events consist of Dungeons in South Africa, Punta Lobos in Chile and Pico Alto in Peru with a window running between April 15 and August 31, 2014.
DUNGEONS, South Africa:
ASP WILDCARDS:
1 Kelly Slater (USA)
2 Shane Dorian (HAW)
3 Mark Healey (HAW)
4 Ian Walsh (HAW)
5 Gabriel Villaran (PER)
6 Matthew Bromley (ZAF)
LOCAL WILDCARDS:
1 Mike Schlebach
2 James Taylor
3 Simon Lowe
4 Josh Redman
5 Chris Bertish
6 Andrew Marr