Kevin Katinas wins SDG Dirt Comp event three in Heerenveen

Posted: Aug 2, 2008

Kevin Katinas wins the SDG Dirt Comp event during the opening of Bikepark Heerenveen. It was one of the best days for Dutch dirt jumping yet.

The circle was completed in the big village of Heerenveen, the scene that started with Kevin Katinas jumping of stuff with a XC bike, has grown into a DJ scene with a small hard core, but that has a huge bunch of kids that also want to ride somehow. And with the opening of Bikepark Heerenveen recently, after years of hard work , and with Katinas winning the third SDG Dirt Comp event at his home trails, it was another step in making this scene more productive and alive for years to come.

Like in other places, it began with building small jumps, jumping of things and riding the streets, just anywhere. Slowly the jumps got bigger and bigger, a few riders joined the club, pushing each other to a higher platform every time and closely watching the international scene. Slowly there was just one big table jump left where the first 360’s were landed.

But when wooden constructions began to rise, the city council thought it had to end.... We thought it had just begun.

So the meetings with the council were starting for a new and bigger location, we told what we wanted and they told us what we had to do to make it work for both parties.

After two years of working together with youth counseling and the making a master plan, we got the green light for building Bikepark Heerenveen. And with Kevin riding his first event, winning it and becoming The Fujitsu Computer King of Slopestyle 2007, just before building the park, it was sure a fantastic and exciting time.

The park was build on a piece of sandy grassland. It’s a swamp during autumn, winter and spring, and a dessert in summertime. Although the conditions were difficult we built one of the most beautiful DJ parks of the Netherlands in a time span of one year and we got a bit control of all the water with tubes and little canals all over the park.


So, with a park that was finished at a certain point, and with Kevin recovered from a quadruple heel brake in February '08 and now riding for Kona Grass Roots, we were ready for the grand opening, as a first step to make this a home for many riders, young and old, mellow riding and bone death riding.

Opening Bikepark Heerenveen

Sunday 10:00 am, riders started to wake up from whatever they had been doing the night before and were signing in for the event. Most of the riders were already here on Saturday because they had to ride from the other sides of the country to come here. Saturday after noon everyone was riding the park, killing time before the opening would begin.


The stands also began to unpack their stuff. SDG bikesports, organizer of the SDG Dirt Comp had a stand with bikegear. Martijn from Martijn’s Race and mtb shop was send by Kona with a few demo bikes for the kids to use and try out.

At 11:30 am the game was on as everyone got more nervous. The local minister of sport was there to perform the opening, the bands were getting ready to play and there was a huge amount of visitors arriving to check this, for them unknown sport, out.


So it was 12:00, opening time, and after that a demo to warm up the crowd. After the opening speech from the local minister of sport, Mr. Lykele Buwalda. Some of best riders around demonstrated their stuff on all lines at the park, which was great fun to watch, especially the duo backflip from Gosse Idzinga and Kevin Katinas, that wasn’t totally synchronized, but it really stoked the crowd.



SDG Dirt Comp. Event three

Then the real deal started, qualifying and after that, finals and a best trick contest. Starting with qualifying for the SDG Dirt Comp. Finals. Let’s be honest, most people already knew who was favorite, to say at least, Kevin Katinas had been training and training like a mad dog and he’s riding at his home trails. But for second place, it was all guessing, and like always, you can be a fav., but if you crash one time too many, you're screwed. So everyone went riding and riding, jumping, tricking, crashing, you know the drill. At the end 4 guys managed to qualify. Because their riding was pretty much the same in the finals, I won’t give it away yet, let’s talk about the bands playing.

We had 4 amazing bands playing in the warming ups, local bands, but the riders were totally digging the music. Page avenue, the last stand, Private contact and Non-Sense. You know, rock, metal and some funky stuff! It got everyone wound up for the finals.


The amateur MTB finals. Many local kids entered the contest. It was really cool to see them riding although they don’t do big tricks yet, but more important at this stage, they were fully enjoying the day. Because the scene in the Netherlands is still small, these kids are an important part as well for the opening of Bikepark Heerenveen and for the SDG Dirt. Comp but mostly for Dutch dirt jumping. These little rippers, we hope, will continue to grow into riders for future Pro MTB riders.


A bit older kid won the Amateur MTB contest, Jean Pierre did very well, he preformed basic tricks like a tire grab and a tuck no-hander. Kevin Vermaning and Tim Portijk joined him on the podium after doing one-handers, one-footers and x-up’s.

MTB Pro finals. Kevin, Dave, Jeremy, Stuart and qualified for finals. Dave was third in the first two events, so everyone was watching him big time, too bad he wasn’t able to make a deference, he didn’t had his best weekend, he did well anyway by doing x-up’s, nfcc’s and sweet tuck no-handers, but it wasn’t enough.



Stuart Gibson was riding the SDG Dirt Comp for the first time, and he was the only rider on a bmx. Nobody really knew what to expect of him, but he gave it a really good shot: x-up’s, tuck no-hander’s, a double tail whip.


Two riders left, Jeremy Struik, winner of the first event, but didn’t got in de finals in the second event. And Kevin Katinas, He wasn’t able to get any points in the first and second event as he was coming back from a quadruple heel bone fracture, but he has been training really hard for his comeback. Jeremy came out strong by transferring from the biggest line to the smaller big line, doing big 360’s, table tops and tuck no-handers. So he pulled a strong run, but Kevin did what everyone expected. He did sick runs with flips, 360 x-up’s and superman seat grab Indian air’s. He took the victory and by that, making the last SDG Dirt Comp event incredible exiting to watch. Jeremy got second and is now leading in points, Kevin Katinas and Dave v.d. Hoeven are now both in second place. These three riders still have really good change of wining the SDG Dirt Comp.



Best trick contest

It’s crazy and fantastic at the same time to see a guy on a bmx do a 720, so that’s why Stuart got the best trick. Jeremy Struik was doing a kick ass 360 table top, Kevin Katinas a superman seat grab to Indian air look back and Gosse Idzinga a backflip x-up.


Results

Amateur MTB:
1: Jean-Pierre van den Akker
2: Kevin Vermaning
3: Tim Portijk

Pro MTB:
1: Kevin Katinas KONA GRASS ROOTS
2: Jeremy Struik
3: Stuart Gibson

Best trick contest:
1: Stuart Gibson

Finals

The Final event at the A4 Trails was postponed because of heavy rain showers, the finals have been set to an new day, the 28th of September. The format for the finals is different from the first three events, no three runs, but jam style, de best rider during the whole day, will be victorious. That will be a long and tough day on everyone!

Information at www.sdgbikesports.nl

-katinasd.pinkbike.com