Big call you may say, but if you have watched top Bmx competition for the last few years, you will agree with me. Known as much for his huge, tweaked out tricks, as for that infectious smile always plastered on his dial. For the podcast we took a look at why he has such a happy outlook on life and why Bmx makes him so happy. A big reason he is on the Monster Energy, Mongoose and Vans A teams.
Lockdown Mind Games
Going from riding Bmx every day, which he still does, albeit in the parking garage, whether park or street – the lockdown has seriously impacted on Kevin‘s life. While surfers can still go ride the waves in California, all skate and bmx parks are closed. Good time to be Pat Casey with the most epic backyard setup, but KP in lockdown at his apartment.
Kevin Peraza loves South Africa
Well he does, he was about to board a plane to SA for Ultimate X, then the lockdown was initiated and he still has the tickets. His first few trips were to Cape Town and the last 2 have been to Sun City. (KP makes a very good Game Drive guide btw) Check out the seal diving trip we chat about below. He reckons as soon as travel allowed, he is coming back to SA!
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.”
The 2016 Night Harvest went mental! The huge crowd were entertained by some of SA’s and the planet’s best riders and the level was through the roof. Watch the video and be sad if you were not there for the live experience.
With Ultimate X 2016 just over a month away and the athlete list announced already, I thought it would be a great idea to feature one of the International athletes coming out each Wednesday. As the host of the event I want to introduce you to some of the insane riders heading our way. The BMX field is looking off the charts with greats like Kevin Kalkoff, Pat Casey and Daniel Dhers on the list, not to mention our own Greg Illingworth, but today we feature last year’s standout rider, Kevin Peraza, from Mexico. This guy brings a whole new bag of tricks to the table and in his latest video you get to see just a pinch of his bag of tricks.
While most riders make the move to Southern California, Kevin is happiest at home in Tucson surrounded by family and friends. For the last year he has ridden his local spots, visualising new lines and tricks on the familiar ramps. When it came time to put it on camera Kevin was unstoppable. Whether it was coming up with a way to create green fire, building a massive wall ride or pulling never been done tricks, when Kevin sets his mind to something he always gets what he wants.
Every year in mid summer a plethora of Bmx stars from around the World head for Cape Town due to the many big riding events happening close to each other. This year our local hero, Greg Illingworth, brought his fellow Mongoose team mates along for a trip and they quite literally slayed the local Cape Spots. I got to take them down to the secret bowl and watch Greg slay that which was pretty incredible live. So sit back, relax and watch some Bmx carnage as riders Kevin Peraza, Paul Ryan, Greg Illingworth and Stu Loundon slay the Cape…
With Ultimate X and Night Harvest just around the corner, we have a lot of Bmx ahead, so i thought it would be good to start building the love for the bike.
These guys are no stranger to riding Vans and we would officially like to welcome Tyler Fernengel, TJ Ellis and Kevin Peraza to the Vans BMX Pro team. There are heaps of road trips planned throughout the year so these guys are going to hit the ground running in waffle soles. Music: “The River” by People’s Temple
