History of BMX (1992 - 1993)
YEAR 1992.
January '92, the ABA USA celebrates its 15th. anniversary.
This year marks the 15 Year Anniversary of ABA BMX Racing (USA). 1977 - 1992. Within the past 15 years, BMX has seen many changes in the USA, many riders came and left, but also many BMX legends were made and still are involved in the BMX sport. You can find all about the LEGENDS of BMX on the ABA Hall of Fame (website), check it out!
January '92, GT Bicycles USA through Richard Long, contacted Gerrit Does and asked him to become their 1992/96 GT EURO BMX Team, teammanager.
The following riders were contacted by GD and contracted them ending 1991, early 1992. The 1992 GT EURO Team had the following riders on their roster
1. Corine Dorland - Holland, Girls 18+ class
2. Eric Minozzi - France, Superclass
3. Dennis Casamatta - France, Superclass
4. Frank Brix - Germany, Expert 18 & Over
5. Yannick Rosset - Switzerland, Expert 17
6. Daniel Herz - Austria, Expert 18 & Over
7. Glen Nielsen - Denmark, Expert 15
January 4-5th. Last International BMX Indoor event Leeuwarden - Holland, I.BMX.F. sanctioned.
Two BMX clubs, FC Unitas-Assen, FCC de Crosswolven did organize this international indoor event in the “Frieslandhallen” in Leeuwarden - Holland. In total around 450 entries. The race took place on concrete and wooden ramps. Due to lack of interest this happened to be the last Leeuwarden Indoor after many years of good racing.
Just some interesting results and names:
Winner in Expert 9 : Rob v.d. Wildenberg (NL)
Winner in Expert 11: Simon Christensen (DK)
Winner in Expert 14: Dan Jensen (DK)
Winner in Expert 15: Dennis Wissink (NL)
Winner in Girls 8 / 9: Danielle Visser (NL)
Winner in Girls 17 +: Corine Dorland (NL)
Results Superclass 20”:
1. Wilco Groenendaal
2. Bas de Bever
3. Jorg de Louw
4. Rob Bulten
5. Oliver Fuhrmann (D)
6. Martijn Kloppenburg
7. Clemens Geurts
8. Martin Steensma
Results Superclass 24”:
1. Bas de Bever
2. Jorg de Louw
3. Arjan v.d. Groenendaal
January 25-26th. international BMX event, the I.BMX.F. Indoor de Dijon - France.
Around 1200 entries from 6 countries were present and competing on the demanding 350 meters long track. Some famous names from back then: Manfred Stromberg, Oliver Fuhrmann and Wolle Meyer from Germany. Jean-Marc Durviaux and Philippe Dustin from Belgium. Gregory Herbercq, Laurent Ludovic from France.
Superclass results 20 inch:
1. Bas de Bever (NL),
2. Christhope Leveque (F),
3. Rob Bulten (NL),
4. Wilco Groenendaal (NL),
5. Niki Gaudillere (F),
6. David Alavoine (F),
7. Nico Does (NL),
8. Yannick Delporte (F).
February 29 - March 1st., the 7th. International Indoor de Tours - France, sanctioned by the I.BMX.F.
Track designed by Xavier Redois, who recently became a father, was very spectacular and even risky. Just a little bit too much. Again around 1000 entries which is very good.
Superclass results in 20 inch:
1. Wilco Groenendaal (NL),
2. Bas de Bever (NL),
3. Fabrice Vettoretti (F),
4. Arjan vd Groenendaal (NL),
5. Dale Holmes (GB),
6. Jamie Staff (GB),
7. Claude Vuillemot (F),
8. Yannick Delporte (F).
Superclass 24 inch results:
1. Bas de Bever (NL),
2. Xavier Redois (F),
3. Rodrique Neri (CH).
As usual, the outside BMX crowd came in on Sunday by the hundreds. Not many events did have this kind of crowd attendance.
Before the event started, the GT EURO team teammanager Gerrit Does, presented French top Superclass rider Eric Minozzi his GT equipment. Eric Minozzi was one of the 2 French riders taken part in the GT EURO BMX Team. Dennis Casamatta was Eric's team mate.
April 25-26th. Second round of the I.BMX.F. European Championship Superclass in Echichens, Switzerland.
After a 2 month stop, the second round for the Superclass Championship took place at the Echichens BMX track. The track was good, the accommodation at good level and the weather was great. Couldn’t be better. In total around 350 entries.
In 20” Superclass the final results were:
1st. Wilco Groenendaal (NL),
2nd. Christophe Leveque (F) and
3rd. Bas de Bever (NL).
In 24” Superclass the final results were:
1st. Bas de Bever (NL),
2nd. Christophe Leveque (F) and
3rd. Rodric Neri (CH).
May 1992, first issue of a new magazine called "TRACKS Magazine" (France) was a fact.
In France a new specialized magazine in BMX was issued for the first time.
Director of publication: Corinne Doire
Head of r edaction: Pierre Paret
Redaction: Jean-Philippe Béquet
Vincent Ranchoux
Photos: Jean-Pierre Montiel
In this new magazin, among other, this article on Gerrit Does.
In the same May issue of TRACKS Magazine an article on a new BMX brand in Europe, called WEBCO Bicycles. Webco stand for West European Bicycle COmpany and was owned and run by former Superclass rider Nico Does. For oldschool BMX racers, WEBCO is a familiar name. In the early days of BMX in the USA, a company selling motorcycle products, started to built and sell BMX bikes. This company in the USA was called WEBCO Inc. and run by Darwin Senzer. From around 1975 through 1985 these bikes were also sold in Holland by USA Products B.V. of Pierre Karsmakers before their production was stopped.
Since 1990 Nico Does was working on this new project, building a BMX bike by a rider for the riders. Did spent half a year developing a frame and fork set in Florida - USA, together with former Pro BMX star and friend, Greg Esser, with the final result seen here.
May 2 -3rd. Third round of the I.BMX.F. European Championship Superclass in Peterborough - England.
A kind of easy track, but a well organized event made this weekend, again with help of very good weather, a success. It was noticeable that the French Superclass riders weren’t present, due to an important National in their own country ! (very bad planning/scheduling of events, that will not help promote the EC - Superclass series a lot). In total around 260 entries, which is kind of low for an international event like this.
*** foto Peterborough
Results 20”: 1st. Wilco Groenendaal (NL), 2nd. Dale Holmes (GB), 3nd. Rob Bulten (NL).
Results 24”: 1st. Bas de Bever (NL), 2nd. Rob Bulten (NL) and 3rd. Arjan v.d. Groenendaal (NL). Jamie Staff (GB) did crash hard and wasn’t able to race the next day.
Rider positions European Championship Superclass after 3 rounds:
Superclass 20”: points
1. Wilco Groenendaal (NL) - 66
2. Bas de Bever (NL) - 46
3. Dale Holmes (GB) - 43
4. Fabrice Fettoretti (F) - 24
5. Arjan v.d.Groenendaal (NL) - 24
6. Jean-Marc Durviaux (B) - 23
7. Markus Rutz (CH) 19
8. Christophe Leveque (F) - 18
9. Claude Vuillemot (F) - 18
10. Rob Bulten (NL) - 15
Superclass 24": points
1. Bas de Bever (NL) - 66
2. Rodric Neri (CH) - 40
3. Arjan v.d. Groenendaal (NL) - 35
4. Markus Rutz (CH) - 31
5. Rob Bulten (NL) - 23
6. Claude Vuillemot (F) - 20
7. Vincent Claessens (CH) - 19
8. Christophe Leveque (F) - 18
9. Xavier Redois (F) - 18
10. Fabrice Vettoretti (F) - 17
May 30-31st. Fourth round of the I.BMXF. European Championship Superclass in Soro, Denmark.
Only around 270 entries for this well organized European Championship event. Travel distances (and therefore high costs) seem to be the main problem for Euro Superclass riders. From Holland alone there were 69 entries for this event. Again it was very noticeable that specially the French and English riders weren't present as expected. This problem should be addressed properly within the European competition committee. In 24 inch Superclass EC present: only 12 riders !!! 7 Dutch, 4 German and 1 Swiss rider. In 20 inch Superclass EC present: only 16 riders !!! 9 Dutch, 4 German, 2 Belgium and 1 Swiss rider.
Results in 20" Superclass:
1st. Wilco Groenendaal (NL)
2nd. Bas de Beve (NL)
3rd. Rob Bulten (NL)
Results in 24" Superclass:
1st. Bas de Bever (NL)
2nd. Rob Bulten (NL)
3rd. Rodric Neri (CH)
With the 5th. round coming up to be held at Slagharen- Holland, we hope and are sure to see a different number of entries in both Superclasses. Last but not least, the guys that made the audience "crazy" were announcers/speakers Michel Lemal (B) and a young French guy called "Amadeus".
June 12 - 14th. I.BMX.F. event called, Supercross of BMX “TAKSI - European Challenge Cup VIIII” - Ponypark Slagharen, Holland.
I.BMX.F and FIAC license holders were allowed to register for this event. 17 countries represented by 1182 riders/entries. Entries from Austria -17, Belgium - 29, Denmark - 50, England - 82, France - 240, Germany - 134, Hungary - 1, Italy - 10, Latvia - 7, Mexico - 3, Norway - 31, Spain - 11, Sweden - 38, Switzerland - 59, Czechoslovakia - 31, USA - 7 and Holland did have 432 entries. The invited riders from the USA were: Gary Ellis, Pete Loncarevich, Todd Lyons, Eric Abbedessa and David Milham. The entry-fee per class was 18,50 Dutch guilders at the time. Superclass riders had to pay H.fl. 24,= per class to compete in the European Championship EC. All riders were issued a free number plate.
Top speed measured during the actual racing at 48 km per hour in Pro-class. Number of spectators over 2 days 10.500. National TV station TROS broadcasted the event on June 24th. a 50 minute program.
In the evening a King of Dirt was organized in the so-called “Dome” close to the BMX track. Over 2000 spectators went wild watching the 24 participants of which 12 free-style specialists and 12 BMX racers. Riders were from the USA, Sweden, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium and Holland. Jury members were Pete Loncarevich (USA), Tom Lynch (GB), Bas de Bever and Bart de Jong (NL). First round, each rider made three jumps. The best 10 qualified for the final round of jumps.
The result of this “King of Dirt E.C.C. 1992” was as follows:
1. TODD LYONS (USA)
2. CLIVE GOSLING (GB)
3. DIETER HERMANSTADTER (D)
Winning jump: TL doing a 720, four meters high in the air and landing perfect on a WEBCO bike!
To give honor to our E.C.C. officials, here the names of those active in 1992: Willem Buitenhek, Anneke Segers, Remi, Mart de Bruijn, Hans de Vries, Cor Eggens, Willie Eggens, Betsie Sneller, Dini Ophof, Jan Ophof, Maria Jubbega, Arend Kikkert, Bennie Rocks, Gerda Rocks, Wiep Mols, Gerard Mols, Sietze v.d. Meulen, Henk Slager, Jan Willemsen, Theo Claessens, Piet Kopmels, Driek Keulen, Gerdi Smit-Vos, Henk Smit, Albert van Geyn, Peter Hoogland, Lisette Schuiling, Jos de Louweren, Tiny de Louweren, Frank van Nunen, Frans van Nunen, Ineke van Nunen, Jannie van Nuil, Tinus van Nuil, Bram Jager, Anneke Kuiper, Jan Kuiper, Age Jan Posthuma, Lies Posthuma, Eddy Posthuma, Anneke Smit, Henri Smit, Reno Verhappen, Albert Jacobs, Hanna Jacobs, Paul Vakkers and Mieke Does-Karsmakers. Event director, Gerrit Does.
Officials were well taken care off during the years they were helping out at Slagharen: Free cottages (30) and free camping places were appointed to the E.C.C. officials. Catering consisted of free drinks during the day and a free lunch. All officials receives a small amount of money to pay for travel expenses and such (50 officials / around Hfl. 3500,=). Every time on the Saturday evening, all officials came together in the main restaurant to have a diner and spent some time together.
During the three day event the starting gate went down 800 times without any problems. This gate has been designed by engineers of the Honda Japan factory during the 1984 Worlds in Japan. We at Slagharen, copied (done by Hans Croes) this gate in 1986 and is still functional at the moment (2002) at the Valkenswaard Holland BMX track of FCC Lion d’Or.
*** foto Starthek Slagharen 3x (Japan - Slagharen - Valkenswaard).
Official announcers were Mr. Hans de Vries (Holland) and Mr. Michel Lemal (B). During this E.C.C. a free-style flatland competition was organized by Paul and Bart de Jong called “Flatland Jamcircle”.
Results Free-Style Flatland comp,
A.
1. Thomas Fritscher - Germany
2. Albert Retey - Germany
3. Klaus Dyba - Germany.
B.
1. Simon Stojkofalk - Slovenia
2. Dirk Rosenthal - Germany
3. Peter Geys - Belgium
Results “Taksi ECC VIIII” 1992:
Superclass European Championship 20”,
A-final
1. Christophe Leveque - France
2. Wilco Groenendaal - Holland
3. Bas de Bever - Holland
4. Jamie Staff - England
5. Eric Minozzi - France
6. Niki Gaudillere - France
7. Dale Holmes - England
8. Nico Does - Holland
B-final
1. Rob Bulten - Holland
2. Dennis Casamatta - France
3. Rodric Neri - Switzerland
4. Anthony Revell - England
5. Dave Milham - USA
6. Laurent Tieche - Switzerland
7. Oliver Fuhrmann - Germany
8. Wolfgang Meijer - Germany
Superclass European Championship 24”
1. Christophe Leveque - France
2. Dale Holmes - England
3. Rob Bulten - Holland
4. Jamie Staff - England
5. Athony Revell - England
6. Frederic Scalvinoni - France
7. Thierry Minozzi - France
8. Jorg de Louw - Holland
Invitation PRO/AM class 20”
1. Wilco Groenendaal - Holland
2. Christophe Leveque - France
3. Jamie Staff - England
4. Martin Steensma - Holland
5. Bas de Bever - Holland
6. Rodric Neri - Switzerland
7. Eric Minozzi - France
8. Dale Holmes - England
Superclass Trophy 20”
1. Jamie Staff - England
2. Dennmis Casamatta - France
3. Frederic Scalvinoni - France
4. Christiaan Schaller - Germany
5. Yannick Delporte - France
6. Gregory Herbeg - France
7. Dale Holmes - England
David Pillet, d.n.s. - France
Girls 17+
1. Corine Dorland - Holland
2. Marsha Blankers - Holland
3. Astrid Jacobs - Holland
4. Arrietta Minnema - Holland
5. Tina Madsen - Denmark
6. Kerstin Munski - Germany
7. Sandra Makkes - Holland
8. Christelle Le Seout - France
Experts 18+
1. Roy van Leur - Holland
2. Frederic Hetmanczyk - France
3. Herve Cantier - France
4. Imko Mike Gerrits - Holland
5. Thos Arne Dybdahl - Norway
6. Geth Shooter - England
7. Michael Bont - Switzerland
8. Marcel Polkamp - Holland
In total 28 teams did register for the factory team competition.
Result Factory Team Competition.
1. Sunn Chipie - 349 pts. France
2. Titan UK - 321 pts. England
3. Bruggen Jumpers - 315 pts.
4. Webco team 1 - 312 pts. Holland
5. Sunn Chipie - 312 pts. France
6. Fitness P. Stiphout - 308 pts. Holland
7. Strijp Rozen - 301 pts. Holland
8. Webco team II - 294 pts. Holland
Among others Steve Bardens a English photographer was present.
Check Out the footage of the European Challenge 1992 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHoCeZWXJds&mode=related&search
Pictures on the E.C.C. 1992:
June 27-28th. Sixth round I.BMX.F. European Championship Superclass in Weiterstadt - Germany.
The Weiterstadt BMX track had a very good reputation, due to a very well organized European Championship organized in earlier year. However, the track hasn’t been upgraded and had a so-so condition. The failing starting gate on Saturday was a minus point too. Due to injuries Wilco Groenendaal and Dale Holmes didn’t race.
Results in 20” Superclass:
1st. Bas de Bever (NL)
2nd. Jamie Staff (GB)
3rd. Nico Does (NL)
Racing a couple of events in this Open European Championship was Todd Lyons (USA) riding for WEBCO. He finished in 5th position.
Results in 24” Superclass:
While leading, Bas de Bever (NL) was t-boned by Dennis Casamatta (F). They both lost speed and Jamie Staff took the advantage and won.
1st. Jamie Staff (GB)
2nd. Bas de Bever (NL)
3rd. Rodric Neric (CH)
July 4-5th. Grand Prix BMX of Belgium, including the Seventh round I.BMX.F. European Championship Superclass at Habay La Neuve - Belgium.
Around 350 entries. It was decided at this meeting that Bas de Bever (NL) was the 1992 European Champion Superclass 24 “ and Wilco Groenendaal (NL) the 1992 European Champion Superclass 20”.
Results in 20 inch Superclass:
1st. Wilco Groenendaal (NL)
5th. Nico Does (NL)
7th. Jorg de Louw (NL) and
8th. Bas de Bever (NL)
Results in 24 inch Superclass:
1st. Bas de Bever (NL)
2nd. Rob Bulten (NL)
3rd. Jamie Staff (GB)
July 18-19th. The I.BMX.F. European Championships in Padova - Italy, all clases.
Day results Superclass 20 inch,
A Final: B Final:
1. Jamie Staff GBR 1. Frederic Scalvinoni FRA
2. Bas de Bever NED 2. Todd Lyons USA
3. Laurent Tieche CHE 3. Fabrice Vettoretti FRA
4. Eric Minozzi FRA 4. Martin Steensma NED
5. Christophe Leveque FRA 5. Tom Lynch GBR
6. Darren O'Neil GBR 6. Niki Gaudillere FRA
7. Wilco Groenendaal NED 7. Neal Wood GBR
8. Jorg de Louw NED 8. Wolfgang Meijer GER
Overall and final results European Championship Superclass 20" and 24”
Superclass 20”: points
1. Wilco Groenendaal (NL) - 128
2. Bas de Bever (NL) - 106
3. Jamie Staff (GB) - 80
4. Rob Bulten (NL) - 59
5. Dale Holmes (GB) - 53
6. Christophe Leveque (F) - 52
7. Nico Does (NL) - 50
8. Arjan v.d. Groenendaal (NL) - 45
9. Jorg de Louw (NL - 43
10. Fabrice Vettoretti (F) - 36
11. Rodric Neri (CH) - 34
12. Fred Scalvinoni (F) - 34
13. Jean Marc Durviaux (B) - 34
14. Claude Vuillemot (F) - 32
15. Johnny v.d. Haterd (NL) - 30
16. Denis Casamatta (F) - 28
Superclass 24" points
1. Bas de Bever (NL) - 132
2. Rodric Neri (CH) - 83
3. Jamie Staff (GB) - 81
4. Rob Bulten (NL) - 79
5. Arjan v/d Groenendaal (NL) - 61
6. Jorg de Louw (NL) - 53
7. Niki Gaudillere (F) - 52
8. Claude Vuillemot (F) - 50
9. Christophe Leveque F) - 49
10. Fred Scalvinoni (F) - 42
11. Johnny v.d. Haterd (NL) - 31
12. Markus Rutz (CH) - 31
13. Denis Casamatta (F) - 30
14. Dale Holmes (GB) - 29
15. Neal Wood (GB) - 29
16. Thierry Minozzi (F) - 28
Cruiser 13 y: Cruiser 14-15 y.:
1. Carmine Falco FRA 1. Jean C. Tricard FRA
2. Michielk Wientjes NED 2. Mark van Leur NED
3. Andreas Bueler SUI 3. Kai Lehmann GER
4. Patrick Kesic SUI 4. Florent Poussin FRA
5. Martin Winter GER 5. Dan Jensen DEN
6. Ken Meland NOR 6. Nick Gill GBR
7. Michael Petrix SUI 7. Sven Nijs BEL
8. Ivan Cambra ITA 8. Mark Boch SUI
Cruiser 16-17 y.: Cruiser 18-24 y.:
1. Yannick Rosset SUI 1. Frank Brix GER
2. Norbert Gröger GER 2. Yannick Thivolle FRA
3. Masrc Lecossois FRA 3. Sebastien Fer FRA
4. Tim Simon GER 4. Eric Vlaardingerbroek NED
5. Dylan Clayton GBR 5. Joghen Beurer GER
6. Vincent Allie FRA 6. Fred Le Gall FRA
7. Gert Hanegraaf NED 7. Steffen Lehman GER
8. Pieter Does NED 8. Oliver Prosper FRA
Cruiser 25-39 y: Cruiser 40 + y:
1. Govert Schonewille NED 1. Gerard Soucazt GER
2. Andreas Endelin GER 2. Pete Dumott GBR
3. Eric Menard FRA 3. Sigmund Lutsi NOR
4. Errol McLean GBR 4. Bernard Delescluse FRA
5. John Cosijnse NED 5. Jan Willemsen NED
6. Jaume Coll ESP 6. Dieter Brunn GER
7. Hans Sweverink NED 7. Dolf Thijssen NED
8. Mauro Zampieri ITA 8. Reinhardt Bock SUI
Experts 6: Girls 7:
1. Andrej Jankovic CZ 1. Michaela Skrabakova CZ
2. Maris Majors LAT 2. Claudia Meystre SUI
3. Jukub Lelek CZ 3. Lenka Virglova CZ
4. Reinis Salins LAT 4. Ludivine Lebailly FRA
5. Gert-Jan Kok NED 5. Anned Lisbyde DEN
6. Shaun Fry GBR 6. Manuela Blaettler SUI
7. Zavier Jouis FRA 7. Michelle Kirk GBR
8. Vojtech Horvath CZ 8. Emelyne Dlairon FRA
Experts 7: Girls 8:
1. Marco Campana ITA 1. Celine Gros FRA
2. Julien Rousseau FRA 2. Claudia Maudoux FRA
3. Edgars Reinfelds LAT 3. Linda v.d. Wildenberg NED
4. Siegfrid Niebler GER 4. Jana Horakova CZ
5. Edears Brutans LAT 5. Astrid Kalkschmid Östr
6. Ondrej Mraz CZ 6. Sara Wildhaber SUI
7. Dominik Horner Östr. 7. Julie Vacher FRA
8. Pascal Wirth SUI 8. Merlin Nijmeijer NED
Experts 8: Girls 9:
1. Anton Kocur CZ 1. Bernadette Horner ÖSTR
2. Clëment Doby FRA 2. Jessica Guihot FRA
3. Andrea Cataldo SUI 3. Danielle Visser NED
4. Christophe Kournis FRA 4. Nadege Parracho FRA
5. Tomas Luksan CZ 5. Susan Kuijer NED
6. Tom Nordin SWE 6. Michelle Kierzek GER
7. Christophe Morin FRA 7. Conny Kierzek GER
8. Arjan Gijsberts NED 8. Marijke Kok NED
Expert 9: Girls 10:
1. Vladislav Khas CZ 1.Sandra v.d. Heide NED
2. Quentin Delecluse FRA 2. Sabrina Jonnier FRA
3. Rob v.d. Wildenberg NED 3. SimoneDur ÖSTR
4. Josselin Feron FRA 4. Stacy Iddon GBR
5. Alts B ..... CZ 5. Roswitha Unterberger ÖSTR
6. Medhi Remili FRA 6. Sophie Macario FRA
7. Ben Overson GBR 7. Angelique van Gemert NED
8. Johann Doudet FRA 8. Sabine Berenda ÖSTR
Experts 10: Girls 11:
1. Guiseppe Brusamento ITA 1. Anne Rougie FRA
2. Gareth Bates GBR 2. Ellen Bollansee BEL
3. Franck Parolin FRA 3. Dagmar Polakova CZ
4. Miroslav Korinek CZ 4. Annelies Alferinka NED
5. Philipp Britschgi SUI 5. Rianne Busschers NED
6. Christophe Tevlot FRA 6. Angela Robinson GBR
7. Gary Oliver GBR 7. Natasha Petrusson BEL
8. David Panka CZ 8. Mélanie Boudoux FRA
Experts 11:
1. Simon Christensen DEN
2. Michael Deldyke FRA
3. Roman Kugler CZ
4. Gert-Jan Gijsberts NED
5. Julien Drouin FRA
6. Genoit Duployer FRA
7. Stephen Murray GBR
8. Enrico Bonsembiante ITA
Experts 12: Girls 12:
1. Tomas Vetchuda CZ 1. Tatjana Schocher SUI
2. Roger Wirth SUI 2. Anwecke Borchert GER
3. David Kopper ÖSTR 3. Femmy Akkerman NED
4. Marco Vath GER 4. Audrey Pichol FRA
5. Robin Hardt GER 5. Pamela Schafer GER
6. Marcus Schlappas GER 6. Vikki Overson GBR
7. Bas Weijers NED 7. Cloe Cognard FRA
8. Lorenzo Amaducci ITA 8. S. Vantomme FRA
Experts 13: Girls 13:
1. Carmine Falco FRA 1. Ghedy van den Aker NED
2. Michiel Wientjes NED 2. Sandy Weck GER
3. Patrick Kesk SUI 3. Marlies Knill SUI
4. Ken Meland NOR 4. Sabrina Jestin FRA
5. Elis Verucchi ITA 5. Natalie Rohm GER
6. Petr Cipra CZ 6. Susanne Belter SWE
7. Stephane Lebrun FRA 7. Melinda Harnois FRA
Experts 14: Girls 14:
1. Angelo Furlan ITA 1. Anne Caro Chausson FRA
2. Nicolas Grevet FRA 2. Astrid Delescluse FRA
3. Philippe Thivolle FRA 3. Edilin Recchia ITA
4. Jeanne Anthony FRA 4. Sabine Schoenmakers NED
5. Gerwin Peters NED 5. Tanja Puseman ÖSTR
6. Bjorne Baltersen DEN 6. Katja Andersen DEN
7. Florent Poussin FRA 7. Sylvia v.d. Stay NED
8. Radim Kvackk CZ 8. Meta van Spellen NED
Experts 15: Girls 15:
1. Koen van Valkenhoef NED 1. Aline Rode FRA
2. Gundars Osis LAT 2. Sabine Caballe FRA
3. Jean Schafer GER 3.Jolanda Asensio ESP
4. Antoine Morton FRA 4. Kerry Edgworth GBR
5. Glenn Nielsen DEN 5. Wendy van Spierenb. NED
6. Sven Nijs BEL 6. Ludivine Portmann FRA
7. Nick Gill GBR 7. Saskia Brink NED
8. Mark van Leur NED 8. Melanie Pantet FRA
Experts 16: Girls 16:
1. Glenn Myklebust NOR 1. Manuela Hauselmann SUI
2. Edgar van Zoelen NED 2. Karien Gubbels NED
3. Mario Presi ITA 3. Natascha Massop NED
4. Stephane Martazier FRA 4. Brigitte Busschers NED
5. Gerald Dupault FRA 5. Cecile Frayssinet FRA
6. Robery Stastny CZ 6. Karine Vantomme FRA
7. Robert Sprokholt NED 7. Adele Croxon GBR
8. Thomas Allier FRA 8. Claire Lecossois FRA
Experts 17: Girls 17:
1. Dylan Clayton GBR 1. Arieta Minnema NED
2. Vincent Allie FRA 2. Christelle Janssens FRA
3. Norbert Gröger GER 3. Sandra Makkes NED
4. Michael Clerté FRA 4. Nicola Sitch GBR
5. Tim Simon GER only 4 riders raced.
6. Marc Lecossois FRA
7. Laurent Lemal BEL
8. Sebastien Grobholz GER
Experts 18: Girls 18:
1. Jochen Beurer GER 1. Corine Dorland NED
2. Imko Mike Gerrits NED 2. Christelle Le Saout FRA
3. Thor Arne Dybdahl NOR 3. Tina Madsen DEN
4. Stefan Huisman NED 4. Kerstin Munski GER
5. Frank Brix GER 5. Simone Mintrop GER
6. Steffan Lehmann GER 6. Marsha Blanker NED
7. Wolfgang Penzler GER 7. Anne Praud FRA
8. Jens Bondesson SWE 8. Andrea Haltham GBR
European Championship Factory Teams:
1. GT Europe team
2. Sunn-Chipie 1
3. Webco- Europe
4. Titan UK
5. Sunn-Chipie 2
National Teams Trophy:
1. France 1
2. Norway
3. England
4. France 2
5. Switzerland 2
GT TEAM EUROPE, EUROPEAN CHAMPION MANUFACTURER TEAMS 1992.
Picture taken above during our trip home and Todd Lyons (USA) was travelling with us. Fltr., Pieter Does, Todd Lyons and Nico Does.
August 7-9th. The 2nd. I.BMX.F. - FIAC World Championship in Salvador Da Bahia - Brasil, at the “Estadio do Pituacu”, a soccer stadium with all necessary facilities present.
August 6th the I.BMX.F. Congress took place I.BMX.F. board members at the time were:
Mr. Louis Vrijdag (Holland), President
Mr. Franz Hattan (Switzerland), Treasurer
Mr. Paul Spurr (England), European Representative
Mr. Ruy Barbosa (Chile), South-American Representative
Mr. Bob Tedesco (USA), North American Representative
Mr. Abe Schneider (Australia), Oceanic-Pacific Representative
Mrs. Yvonne Shoup (USA), Industry Representative
Integration of I.BMX.F. into UCI as per January 1st. 1993 was discussed. Mr. Louis Vrijdag reported on a meeting held on April 10th. 1992 in Paris- France with Mr. Francois Alaphilippe. A three year transitional period was agreed upon: 1993 - 1996. Note: it was only in 1997 that the 1st. UCI World Championship took place at Brighton - England. The integration of I.BMX.F. into UCI was finaly realized early 1997.
Within UCI (article 5.1 of the UCI constitution) only one federation per country can be affiliated to UCI. I.BMX.F. at the time, consisted of a mix of organizations: part of the organizations were pure I.BMX.F. affiliated; others were already UCI affiliated, however their BMX sections were I.BMX.F. affiliated and some were affiliated to other organizations such as the FIM (motorcycles world governing body).
The principal of one organization per country being affiliated to UCI is applicable without problems to 12 countries out of the 27 participating in the 1991 World Championships:
1. Spain
2. France in which BMX is controlled by a federation affiliated to
3. Italy UCI/FIAC
4. Peru
5. Germany
6. Austria
7. Colombia in which BMX is controlled by a federation affiliated to
8. Ecuador both I.BMX.F. and UCI/FIAC
9. Norway
10. Holland
11. Venezuela
In the other countries, on the other hand, the application of the principle will be more difficult, because of the presence of a different federation affiliated to I.BMX.F. This is applicable to 15 countries:
1. Argentina
2. Australia
3. Belgium
4. Chile where the I.BMX.F. affiliated federation does not have a
5. Denmark specific relationship with the ten speed federation affiliated
6. Scotland to UCI/FIAC.
7. Hungary
8. Latvia
9. Mexico
10. Brazil
11. Canada where the I.BMX.F. affiliated federation is recognized by the
12. England ten speed federation affiliated to UCI/FIAC as the
13. USA representative for UCI Bicycle Moto Cross competitions.
14. Switzerland where the management of BMX activities is divided
15. Czechoslovakia between 2 competitive federations, 1 affiliated to UCI/ FIAC, the other affiliated to I.BMX.F.
Proposals were discussed to develop courses for trainers and international officials. As you can read in the history of the ’80 s this wasn’t a new item. Up till this date (1992) no coordinated action has been realized. The “Four year plan to host a World Championship and WC criteria” was discussed. It has been proved that these guidelines are no guarantee what so ever for a quality organization in all fields. Such an organization mainly depends on the leadership and know-how as well as local support, financing of the event. Warning system for gate jumping. The Swedish delegate, Stefan Ekwall, proposed to have a warning system for backing up and gate jump.
World Championship competition details.
At these World Championships, 27 countries from all over the world were represented by their riders of which 11 European countries. The Brasilian delegation was ofcourse the largest with 372 entries and then followed Argentian with 230 entries. During the event around 3000 spectators were watching the racing. In general the overall organisation of the event was of an average level.
Results Superclass 20 inch: Results Superclass 24 inch:
1. Wilco Groenendaal NED Champion 1. Bas de Bever NED Champion
2. Christophe Leveque FRA 2. Eric Minozzi FRA
3. Daniel Rojas CHI 3. Claude Vuillemot FRA
4. Rob Bulten NED 4. Daniel Rojas CHI
5. Eric Minozzi FRA 5. Harry Schmid GER
6. Bas de Bever NED 6. Reginaldo Marciano BRA
7. Claide Vuillemot FRA 7. Rob Bulten NED
8. Markus Rutz SUI 8. Christophe Leveque FRA
Results 18 & Over Girls: Results 18 & Over Boys:
1. Christelle Le Saout FRA Champion 1. Justin Green USA Champion
2. Corine Dorland NED 2. Dylan Clayton GBR
3. Kerstin Munski GER 3. Frank Brix GER
4. Tina Madsen DEN 4. Danny Nelson USA
5. Constanza de la Veg VEN 5. Harold Haslinger AUT
6. Patricia Staphorst NED 6. Larry Miersch USA
7. Poola Backbarth BRA 7. Thor Arne Dybdahl NOR
8. Valerie Simon ARU 8. Roy van Leur NED
Here the results in allother classes (courtesy of Paull McLaughlin - Australia):
Continue:
Factory Team Trophy results WC Brasil:
1. Team GT 1 World Champion.
2.
3.
National Team Trophy results WC Brasil:
1.
2.
3.
Waalre, August 2006: going back in time 14 years!
Chuck Robinson remembered, September 29, 1933 – August 16, 1992.
The following is the BMX life story of Chuck Robinson, a man who was an innovator, a designer, a leader and above all a friend. Chuck's love for BMX bicycles started in 1971 at Palms BMX Park, one of the very first BMX parks in the U.S., where he would take his godson to race. Back then BMX bikes were heavy clunkers, Chuck's innovative ideas caught the eye of a Torrance, California bicycle manufacturer named All American BMX. He was hired as marketing manager by them.
In 1972, one year later, he was hired away by WEBCO, a Venice - California, bicycle manufacturing company. At WEBCO, Chuck recruited riders to help develop their BMX bikes. Stu Thomsen and Jeff Bottema were among the many. Later Chuck moved on to D.G. Performance, another BMX manufacturer, where his design ideas brought D.G. to the top of the BMX industry.
Not happy to make bikes for other people, Chuck started Robinson Racing in 1979. Again a group of riders were given the change to rise above average. Perry Kramer, Scott Clark, Bobby Woods, Gary Ellis, Travis Chipres, Danny Nelson and the list goes on and on, each rider inspired by Chuck's enthusiasm. In Holland – Europe, Chuck had a rider on his Robinson Racing Team too, the famous Jan Hekman.
In 1987 Chuck left Robinson Racing and started a consulting company to assist BMX associations worldwide. He received many awards for his consulting efforts. Chuck was a Member of the I.BMX.F. Board of Directors from January 1986 to August 1990 as the BMX Industry Representative. In the BMX industry for twenty years, Chuck made friends wherever he went. He will be missed by all that knew him.
Personal note by Gerrit Does:
I knew Chuck personally very well since about 1983. In the early '90 we did meet several times when I visited George Esser at the NBL office in Pompano Beach and during which time Chuck was living in Pompano – Fl. too. He was the man, that gave me the idea to start the “University of BMX training camps” in the early ‘90. The both of us did have some plans for the future in the field of coaching and training for BMX, however as you all understand now, it never became a reality, sorry to say. It has been an honor knowing you too Chuck!
Early '90s I started the University of BMX on my own. Later on I also started this website named "www.universityofbmx.com" writing down the history of BMX as I know it (1974 up aand till this day).
Note from the President of the I.BMX.F. (International BMX Federation).
The Annual I.BMX.F. Congress 1992, World Championship Brasil, approval I.BMX.F. integrating into UCI, in memory of Chuck Robinson.
Mixed feelings are coming up, when looking at the most important event of the year the World Championship. The event in Salvador, Brasil was very well attended by our Member Associations: No less then 27 countries had their riders represented, which made the event the best attended World Championship ever. On the other hand, due to bad weather conditions and some organization problems, the event lacked the splendor that should be part of the World Championship. At the Annual I.BMX.F Congress in Salvador, Member Nations were very well represented. Numerous matters were discussed that you can read about in this Newsletter. Most important decision was that congress gave it's approval to the integration of the I.BMX.F. into the International Cycling Union, the world governing body for cycling.
Just back home from Brasil, message came that Chuck Robinson had passed away at the age of only 58. Chuck, well-known within the BMX community all over the world, was a Member of the I.BMX.F Board of Directors from January 1986 until August 1990 and involved in BMX for a good twenty years. May he rest in peace. End of quote.
September 13th. the National Championship of Italy took place.
The Champions were:
Experts 7: Mauro Paiusco - Team BMX Verona
Experts 8: Marco Campane - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Experts 9: Mauro Vidori - SC Valdobbiadena
Experts 10: Piero Piovesan - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Experts 11: Giuseppe Brusamento - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Experts 12: Enrico Bonsembiante - SC Valdobbiadene
Experts 13: Lorenzo Amaducci - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Experts 14: Ivan Camera - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Experts 15: Angelo Furlan - Union Creazzo
Experts 16/17: Andrea Ponte - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Girls 7/9 : Alessandra Recchia - SC Valdobbiadene
Girls 10/11: Elena Castagna - Team BMX Verona
Girls 14/16: Edilin Recchia - Union Creazzo
Cruiser, C1 : Lorenzo Amaducci - Team BMX Panthers Boys
Cruiser, C2 : Angelo Furlan - Union Creazzo
Cruiser, C3 : Andrea Dal Ponte - Team BMX Panthers Boys
September 19 - 20th. The I.BMX.F. European Club Championships in Habay La Neuve - Belgium.
This was the 2nd event for a European Championship title Club teams, organized.
Results:
1. De Ysselcrossers - Doetinchem, Holland 332 pts.
2. The Wheely’s - Baarn, Holland 330
3. England
4. FCV D’n Urste - Schijndel, Holland
5. Denmark - Soro, Denmark
6. Latvia
7. FCV Wycross - Wijchen, Holand
8. Denmark
October 31st., this year the temporary BMX Commission made up a report by order of the UCI Executive Committee.
Here some interesting parts taken from this report. In it’s meeting of March 4th, 1992 the Executive Committee of UCI has appointed a number of commissions to work on different areas. One of the appointed commissions was the (temporary) “UCI BMX Commission”, consisting of the undersigned and charged with: writing a report with detailed recommendations on:
- the current situation of BMX;
- the real objectives for developing BMX;
- the strategy for achieving these objectives;
- the financial implications.
A dead line was fixed to finish this report on October 31st. 1992.
A brief look into the history of BMX.
Early 1970’s the first official BMX organization was formed in California-USA. In 1976 BMX was introduced in Europe (Holland). In 1978 the first European BMX organization S.F.N. (Stichting Fietscross Nederland with Mieke Does-Karsmakers, Louis Vrijdag en Gerrit Does as board members) was formed. In 1981 the I.BMX.F. (International BMX Federation) was founded, the international governing body for BMX. The first I.BMX.F. World Championship took place in 1982 in Dayton - Ohio, USA. In 1985 also the FIAC-UCI started to organize BMX events. The first ever FIAC-UCI BMX World Championship took place in 1986. It was in 1985 that I.BMX.F. and FIAC-UCI came together for then the first time to consider the possibility of organizing all BMX activities under the umbrella of one international body. No agreement was achieved. Since the end of 1990 though, things were accelerating on this point. The first results of a working together relationship were shown by the agreement to start with a joint World Championship in 1991 in Norway. This is were we stand today. For details on all episodes check back in the History of BMX.
November 26-29th. The 15th ABA Grand Nationals - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA took place.
Celebration of 15 years of ABA BMX racing, 1977 - 1992. Mr. Clayton John, President of the American Bicycle Association states in the special program the following:
“This is a sport designed by kids for kids, where you the competitor are able to compete at your own skill level. As we like to say in our sport, no one rides the bench in BMX. No other sport in the world allows a youngster, with no experience, the opportunity to compete based solely on his or her own age and skill level. A sport where kids are king from three to thirty, from novice to AA Pro, where fun is the criteria and competition is the thrill”. At the time, the ABA knew 47 different age groups.
Gerrit Does was invited by GT - USA to come over and compete at the Grands with his GT Europe Team members Corine Dorland, Robert Sprokholt (Holland), Frank Brix (Germany), Vladislav Khas (Czech Republic), Yannick Rosset (Switzerland) and Eric Minozzi (France). Also present were Gerrit’s son Nico Does, Bas de Bever (Holland) and Dale Holmes (England). Nico got hurt in the quarter-final of the Grands in A-Pro class and broke his collarbone. This race would become Nico’s "Waterloo" since he decided to stop racing after his bad spill at this event: no more hospitals for me was his comment! After the racing, the members of the complete GT factory teams (USA and Europe) as well as the Powerlite, Auburn and other GT owned teams were invited by Richard Long for a dinner party.
Ofcourse all Europeans were present during the Thanksgiving diner and Hall of Fame induction party. This was a special experience and would result in an idea by Gerrit Does to start a European Hall of Fame in due time to honor and remember riders and others that have mend a lot for BMX in Europe. For more pictures and story go to: CONSULTING - Training Camps - ABA Grands Oklahoma.
December 24th - 1992 through January 10th. 1993, GD organized the 3rd. UNIVERSITY of BMX training camp in Orlando and Daytona beach - Florida.
We also went to the NBL Christmas Classic indoor event in Columbus, Ohio - USA. The group consisted of 24 members among other Robert Indry (r.i.p.) from England. For more details check out under University of BMX, Consulting, more specific University of BMX Training Camps. Riders from Holland, Germany, Sweden, England, Austria and Switzerland were part of this trip.
1992, mr. Bob Wright - Pa Ecko (r.i.p.), talking to GD during the NBL Xmas Classic. Bob was the owner of Ecko Helmets.
December, development so far in BMX.
Results Belgium National Championship 1992 (B.BMX.F.) Just to mention a few of the names in BMX from back then, still active in our sport today (the year 2002):
- Girls 10-11: Ellen Bollansee - Champion. Still active racing (2001) and running a BMX shop. - Cruiser 14-15: Peter Bollansee - Champion. Still active as racer at an international level. - Cruiser 16-17 as well as Expert 16+ class: Sven Nijs - Champion. Sven now a days is a professional “cyclo-cross” riders. Won several World titles in this discipline as well as the Super Prestige and the World Cup of the UCI. - Cruiser 25-39: Frank Smets - Champion. Still active in BMX as organizer of BMX events and chairman of the Joel Smets BMX track in Dessel (2009). - Expert 8: Bjorn Wynants - Champion. Active as Elite class rider.
*** foto Sven Nijs
The number of license holders in Holland was at its lowest since 1982/83: 1020. The decline of numbers in Holland can be called representative for what was happening in other European countries within BMX. Still 90 events were organized in Holland of which 79 at district level, 19 events at National and 2 events at International level. The KNWU counted 55 BMX clubs: in 1986 the number of clubs affiliated to the KNWU (Royal Dutch Cycling Federation) was over 190. Just to give you an idea. In 1991 mountain bike licenses were issued for the first time ever within the K.N.W.U. The number went up from 317 in 1991 till 448 in 1992.
The History of BMX, loking back in 1992. On May 18th 1992 a letter was sent to all European BMX Nations, by the I.BMX.F. Director for European Affairs, Mr. Paul Spurr. This letter gives you all the actual impression of development in that period. Check for yourself if time did change the meaning of this letter. The European Committee did meet a couple of times per year to coordinate BMX racing and other affairs and business. The concerned European Committee Meeting took place during the weekend of racing in Slagharen – Holland on the weekend of June 12th, 1992.
Paul Spurr wrote:
EUROPEAN COMMITTE MEETING, SLAGHAREN 1992.
As our next European Committee meeting approaches I am concerned that we are losing our unity as a European body. There is what I would term a selfish edge creeping into BMX within Europe. I have become aware that National events are being run on international dates, extra “International” events are advertised, there is a general lack of communication and commitment. I believe that this approach is the road to doom for European BMX and the European Committee. We must get back to a situation of solidarity and unity. We must support each other and the agreed International Calendar. We must believe in what we are doing and that the sport of BMX is worthy of our support – and it is! The European Committee is a great driving force within the I.BMX.F. and the World of BMX. We cannot allow it to be devalued by betraying our fundamental principals of unity.
For some years our sport has been in decline and out of the public eye. We still face an uncertain future, but the hard work put in by the Directors of I.BMX.F. to bring unity to the whole world of BMX, could do much to create some exiting times ahead. We have a part to play in making that future. We are the creators of our own destiny, the future of BMX is our responsibility, we must not, we can not fail. Therefore, when attending the next European Committee meeting do so with an open heart and an open mind. Remember we are there together for the benefit of all those that race and enjoy BMX. Those Nations that are organizing European and World Championships need our support and help, not criticism and derision. The less fortunate Nations, or those with developing organizations need help and advice from the more established countries. I am sure we all want a thriving sport throughout Europe, but it is no good just wishing, we must take action, to make things better for everybody
So please come to the next meeting prepared to help BMX in Europe and not just take from it.
See you all in Slagharen.
Paul Spurr
I.BMX.F Director of European Affairs.
End of quote.
Remark GD: "Don't ask what I.BMX.F. can do for you, but what you can do for the I.BMX.F"
YEAR 1993.
General developments.
As you can read in my reports on the following years, I got less and less involved in the politics of things and therefore I have less contacts and less interesting things to tell the upcoming couple of years. Since 1995 the New Concept and later on the BMX World Cup Series took care of some action up and till 1997. I will tell you all about it. Besides that I will tell more about some international events in Europe. Additional stories will be added in time to come.
It was in this year that in Belgium the sport of BMX was taken over by the K.B.W.B., the official UCI affiliated cycling organization. People involved in BMX at the time, started out as chairman of a BMX Committee within the K.B.W.B. Their first chairman was Mr. Theo Schoovaerts. Mr. Schoovaerts stayed chairman up and till 1995. BMX during that time had its lowest activities since the start of BMX in 1979 here in Belgium.
Early this year Gerard Meyer from Heilbronn-Bockingen in Germany, started to publish a small BMX magazine called “ BMX race magazine”. Just some names of top riders in the oldest age classes that appeared in this German magazine: Frank Brix, Wolle Meyer, Jochen Ruckgaber, Tarek Rasouli, Tim Simon, Kai Lehman, Steffen Lehman, Andreas Hopping, Aquinaldo Ramalho, Markus Lang, Manfred Stromberg, Jochen Beurer, Evert Greis, Kerstin Munski, Timo Pritzel, Mathias Kahmke, Oliver Kienzle, Christian Schalle, Igor Obu, Marko Manthey and Lars Bonse.
Early this year GPR - Holland (the number plate guy, Christiaan v.d. Groenendaal) formed a new team for the 1993 international BMX racing season. This was the 4th. year Christian v.d. Groendaal of GPR would sponsor a team. The following team members were selected: Jorg de Louw, Arjan v.d. Groenendaal, Edgar van Zoelen, Roy van Leur and Marcel Polkamp, all Dutch BMX racers.
Latvia. I did receive the new rulebook from the Latvian BMX Federation. BMX was developing well in this part of the world, thanks to Mr. Silins and Mr. Vrublevskis.
March 6/7th., the 9th. International Indoor de Tours - France. This was the ninth time this event had been organized.
The track was less radical then the years before. Again many spectators from outside BMX came to watch this event. The special event, the "TROPHEE DES AS" had the following riders in the final: Delporte (FRA), Allier (FRA), De Bever (NED), Sibeth (FRA), Casamatta (FRA), Leveque (FRA), Clayton (GBR) and Vettoretti (FRA). The top three finishers were:
TROPHEE DES AS result:
1. Bas de Bever - NED
2. Christophe Leveque - FRA
3. Dylan Clayton - GBR
4. Yannick Delporte - FRA
April of this year a brief report by Gerrit Does on the survey of ending 1992 concerning the W.B.L. - World Bicycle League has been sent to contacts,
organizations and others, world wide. In short the reasons for the initiative to conduct a survey were:
- BMX exists for about 20 years now and about 14 years at a world wide level within the I.BMX.F.
- In principal the sport has been executed in the same way, with almost the same rules, the same basic bike design and so on, for all those years.
- The development of the sport has been hectic up and till the mid ’80s. At international level, the I.BMX.F. coordinated the sport of BMX world wide since 1981.
- For about 6 years now FIAC/UCI and I.BMX.F. have been on speaking terms and negotiating a merge. This fact did withhold the development of BMX world wide. Too much time was spent on negotiations, politics came in. Business-wise, negotiations taking this long to realize a merge, would kill a business!
- Because of the above, almost no attention for the further technical development of our sport. The sport of BMX, as it is executed right now, is too complicated, holts to many classes because of which outside BMX people don’t understand the sport anymore and stay away.
- BMX at top level must become a spectator sport. As in other “full grown” sports, at top international level there should be separation between “sport for youth/recreation sport” and “competitive professional sport”. This will make BMX more transparent for outside BMX people and probably more interesting for the media, more specific TV.
- In professional BMX the only handicap the sport has, are the 20 inch bikes They are considered “children bikes” by many people.
- Within the Professional section of BMX, the total organization should be run like a business. Since early 1993 many positive reaction European and world-wide came in. Within Europe many reactions suggesting changes. Specially riders needed a change for the better of the sport, to get new motivation to go on.
- Lack of respect by the media, sports organizations and others, looking at BMX as a game for kids, the sport is not taken too serious!
BMX organizations lack any initiative to improve the overall development of the sport and don't work enough on the marketing side of it. Even now, since UCI is involved, one expected a boom in promoting, marketing BMX, professional organized events, TV exposure and because of all of this a booming number of license holders.
The new concept of a “World Bicycle League”.
This new organization should be run as a business and organize events in the following disciplines:
a. bicycle moto-cross
b. bicycle trail (bmx/atb)
c. bicycle freestyle
Marketing the above specialism would be essential to generate international sponsors and interest of tv. Finally the result of the survey was, that the will and the manpower was there, however the amount of money that was needed to realize the W.B.L. could not be generated. We went on doing, what we were doing for many years. Later on this year, in September another evaluation on this subject.
May 1 - 2nd. International BMX event in Orleans - France., round 1 European Championships.
This event took place in the small town of Le Chapelle Saint Mesmin, close to Orleans.
Practice on Friday and early Saturday. Racing started at 13.00 hours on Saturday. The weather was nice and racing very good. In Superclass 24” on Saturday Leveque did win, with Minozzi 2nd. and de Bever 3rd., Holmes 4th., Bulten 5th. and de Louw 6th. It rained during the night and on Sunday the racing started 9.15 hours. During the day Rob Bulten crashed hard on the triple-jump. In Superclass 20” Leveque (F) 1st., Bas de Bever (NL) 2 nd., with Dale Holmes (GBR) 3rd.
*** foto Overzichtsfoto baan.
Transition years I.MBX.F-UCI 1993 -1996.
May this year the UCI announced a transition period of three years concerning the integration of the I.BMX.F. into the U.C.I. For the time being the UCI replaced the I.BMX.F. board for a UCI BMX Commission composed of the following persons:
- Louis Vrijdag Holland, President
- Ruy Barbosa Chile, Vice-President and representative for South- America and Africa.
- Franz Hattan Switzerland, Treasurer
- Bob Wright USA, Member and representative for the BMX industry
- Bob Tedesco USA, Member and representative for North America
- Abe Schneider Australia, Member and representative for Australia and New-Zealand
- Paul Spurr England, Member and representative for Europe
- H. Windstad Norway, UCI representative
- G. Abas UCI representative
It was announced that 4 new BMX organizations had joined the world organization. They were: Mordovia, Lituania, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Developments in eastern Europe are very good. At this moment now 35 countries with BMX organizations were affiliated. Starting September 1993 the UCI office in Lausanne - Switzerland will have a full-time BMX coordinator working for this sport-section. Appointed official was Mr. Jeroen Vrijdag, younger brother of Louis Vrijdag (President of the BMX Com.)
May 29/30th. The 2nd. round European Superclass took place in Peterborough - England.
The total number of entries for the event was around 400, which is kind of low. The track itself was not really of Superclass quality.
pictures
June 3rd. I received a copy of the Latvian BMX rulebook with inscription.
Janis Silins and Aldons Vrublevskis of the Latvian BMX Federation handed me a BMX rulebook with an inscription, thanking me for helping/coaching them getting BMX organized in Latvia. Ofcourse I was very proud receiving their respect, thanks dear Latvian friends, it was my pleasure!
June 5/6th. The Webco-GT European Challenge Cup X - Ponypark Slagharen, Holland.
The end of an area at Slagharen.
This was the third round of the European Championship Superclass. This would be the last time an Intenational BMX event was organized at the Ponypark in Slagharen - Holland. The most prestigeous event in Europe at the time, came to an end.
Number of entries 886. This would be the 10th and LAST European Challenge Cup ever. The Ponypark Management decided to stop organizing BMX events because of the problems that occurred with the allocation of the 1993 Worlds in Holland. This would prove to be a great loss for International European BMX racing. On the Saturday evening a special happening took place at the so-called “Dome” where normally Western-shows are taking place. Now this theater was filled with probably around 1500 spectators to watch the King of Dirt Competition 1993.
The KoD announcer, Michel Lemal was brought in by a western Jail-wagon and dressed in a white/black striped jail outfit. The show could begin and it became a fantastic show. Nineteen (19) riders took part from 5 different countries. The crowd went wild, when Todd Lyons did a “back-flip / no hander” and landed perfectly. He won the King of Dirt competition ofcourse and with Dutchman and co-organizer of this KoD, Bart de Jong.
*** foto Stephen Murray present ON the infield as young spectator and fan of TL.
Now (2001-02) Stephen is THE man to beat in the USA. Stephen improved Todd Lyons “back-flip in the year 2002, by making a “double-back-flip” Where is the end of all of this?
Seen here Todd Lyons back flip/no hander with Michel Lemal in a black and white jail outfit laying on the floor.
As always, the E.C.C. organization was run exactly according to the issued time-schedule and included very spectacular racing during the whole weekend. This all was broadcasted by TROS TV later on that week and the 35 minute program did have a very good reception with the Dutch viewers. In advance a lot of publicity for this event in several radio/tv programs and in regional newspapers which resulted in a 10.250 spectator count during the 2 day weekend.
Results:
Senior 18 class:
1. Roy van Leur - Holland
2. Dylan Clayton - England
3. Marc Lecossois - France
4. Marcel Polkamp - Holland
5. Harald Haslinger - Austria
6. Thor Arne Dybdahl - Norway
7. Michael Clerte - France
8. Pieter Does - Holland
Superclass 20”:
1. Wilco Groenendaal - Holland
2. Jamie staff - England
3. Dale Holmes - England
4. Todd Lyons - USA
5. Bas de Bever - Holland
6. Rob Bulten - Holland
7. Eric Abbadessa - USA
8. Rodric Neri - Switzerland
Superclass 24”:
1. Christopeh Leveque - France
2. Jamie Staff - England
3. Bas de Bever - Holland
4. Jorg de Louw - Holland
5. Liver Fuhrman - Germany
6. Dale Holmes - England
7. Eric Minozzi - France
8. Neal Wood - England
Junior Men 16:
1. Dennis Wissink - Holland
2. Sven Nijs - Belgium
3. Gundar Osi - Latvia
Junior Ladies 16:
1. Aline Rode - France
2. Mariella Bogers - Holland
3. Saskia Brink - Holland
Ladies 18+:
1. Wendy Dekker - Holland
2. Bianca Tenniglo - Holland
3. Kerstin Munski - Germany
Junior Men 17:
1. Edgar van Zoelen - Holland
2. Robert Sprokholt - Holland
3. Urs Kropf - Switzerland Junior
Ladies 17:
1. Manuela Hauselman - Switzerland
2. Brigitte Busschers - Holland
3. Sheila Thijssen - Holland
Some more famous names of riders that took part in this event in the younger age classes:
Bjorn Wijnants (boys 9 - Belgium), Rob v.d. Wildenberg (boys 10 - Holland), Vlasdislav Khas (boys 10 - Czechoslovakia), Michel Prokop (boys 11 - Czechoslovakia), Kelvin Batey (boys 11 - England), Milan Krebs (boys 11 - Czechoslovakia), Stefan Murray (boys 12 - England), Sven Nijs (boys 12 - Belgium), Sam Stobart (boys 13 - England), Scott Beamont (boys 14 - England), Florent Poussin (boys 15 - France), Gerwin Peters (boys 15 - Holland), Nicolas Grevet (boys 15 - France), Kai Lehmann (junior 16 - Germany), Evert Greis (junior 17 - Germany).
June 20/21th., the 4th. round of the European Championship Superclass took place in Saint-Aubin - Switzerland.
The track was very good, spectacular and a perfect surrounding. The weather was great with 30 degrees and therefore the atmosphere perfect. In Superclass 24” Chris Leveque won with Bas de Bever 2nd. It was different during the night: storm and the camping site was in trouble. The main event started at around 15.00 hours. In 20” Superclass, Jamie Staff, Eric Minozzi and Wilco Groenendaal did not qualify.
Results Superclass 20”:
Chris Leveque 1st ;
Dale Holmes 2nd and
Rob Bulten 3rd.
July of this year a group of BMX’ers visited China. During 3 weeks Woody Itson, Day Smith, Chris Young, Pat Miller, Todd Seligman, Rob Nollie, John Parker, Stephan Prantl and Bart de Jong gave shows. The group was promoted as “Olympic Skateboard and BMX Team”. Among others there was a show in a basketball hall were over 2000 spectators did see the Olympic team demonstrate their skills. Shanghai was the last city the group visited. The promotional tour has been a great success.
July 17/18th., the I.BMX.F. European Championship and Challenge - Marsta, Sweden. Including final round 5 EC Superclass.
Saturday racing started at 9.45 hours. 40 moto’s. Official opening at 12.40 hours. A Swedish singer preformed as well as a folk-dance group following the country Parade. At 13.30 hours the quarter-finals were run and the semi-finals at 14.30 hours. The main events started at 15.30 hours and were finished about 45 minutes later. Later on that day the cruiser classes were run. Moto’s (30 of them) started at 17.00 hours. Racing on that day finished at around 20.30 hours. During the whole weekend the weather was fine. Sunday at around 9.30 hours the 68 moto’s were run in the 12 and over classes including Superclass. At 13.30 hours the eight’s finals commenced followed by the quarter- and semi-finals. A spectacular moment was when Todd Lyons in one of the qualifiers made a 360 on a table top and managed to keep his 3rd. position doing that. Everybody went wild. At 16.30 hours the main events were on.
*** foto's div. EK Zweden.
Before the Presentation of Awards on the track, a King of Dirt was organized. Winner of this K.o.D. was ofcourse Todd “ the Wildman” Lyons, 2nd. position was for Dave Climber and 3rd. place was for Neil Wood. At 18.00 hours the Presentation of Awards began.
Overall results European Championship Superclass 20”:
1. Christophe Leveque - France, Champion.
2. Jamie Staff - England
3. Bas de Bever - Holland
4. Rob Bulten - Holland
5. Dale Holmes - England
6. Wilco Groenendaal - Holland
7. Jorg de Louw - Holland
8. Tony Szynaka - USA
9. Rodric Neri - Switzerland
10. Fred Le Gall - France
Overall results European Championship Superclass 24”:
1. Christophe Leveque - France, Champion.
2. Bas de Bever - Holland
3. Dale Holmes - England
4. Jamie Staff - England
5. Rob Bulten - Holland
6. Jorg de Louw - Holland
7. Eric Minozzi - France
8. Neal Wood - England
9. Claude Vuillemot - France
10. Laurent Tieche - Switzerland
European Champion,
Ladies 18+: Corine Dorland - Holland
Juniors 17: Robert Sprokholt - Holland
Junior ladies 17: Karien Gubbels - Holland
Juniors 16: Mark van Leur - Holland
Results European Championship Corporate sponsored teams:
1. Sunn-Chipie France TM: Jean-Luc Ferrari 359 points
2. GT Euro Team Holland TM: Gerrit Does 320 points
3. WEBCO T.O.C. Holland TM: Peter v.d. Wildeberg 303 points
Results European Championship National Teams:
1. Team France TM: Michel LaLande 353 points
2. Team Holland II TM: Peter Polkamp 338 points
3. Team Slovak Republic TM: Mikulas Rapcan 317 points
July 22nd., the Pre-Worlds Schijndel (non Worlds track).
Around 380 entries during this one day event, mostly foreign riders. This race took place on the original BMX track of the FCV d’n Urste - Schijndel. The special Worlds track being built about 500 meters from this track, wasn’t open for the riders until practice time for the Worlds itself later on that week.
July 24th., Pre-Worlds Valkenswaard.
Closer to the date of the Worlds, one could see that more European riders had entered Holland. In Valkenswaard there were around 580 entries for this international event. Specially the riders from South-America were doing very well during the competition.
July 26th., Pre-Worlds Baarlo.
No report so far. Will follow in due time.
July 30-31st/August 1st., the 3rd. I.BMX.F - F.I.A.C. 1993 World Championships - Schijndel - Holland.
35 countries were represented during this World Championship, with in total 2128 Pre-entries:
Country Entries Country Entries
Argentina 33 Japan 11
Aruba 45 Latvia 12
Austria 58 Mexico 16
Australia 13 Netherlands 411
Belgium 37 New Zealand 3
Bolivia 3 Norway 24
Brasil 34 Portugal 1
Canada 9 South Africa 19
Chile 20 Scotland 9
Colombia 45 Slovakia 12
Curacao 13 Slovania 4
Denmark 73 Spain 14
Ecuador 8 Sweden 36
England 242 Switzerland 121
France 279 Czech Rep. 103
Germany 183 U.S.A. 121
Hungary 21 Venezuela 55
Italy 40 In total: 2.128
In general one can not speak of a fantastic Worlds here in Schijdel - Holland. The French still talk about “Scandale” instead of Schijndel. Instead of using an existing well developed and tested BMX track, the KNWU and the BMX club Schijndel decided to built a temporary track, only to be used for this Worlds. Mainly heavy rain was cause of a lot of problems. Soft grounds all around so, the camping site was a big problem as were the spectator areas due to the heavy rainfall / lots of water. The track just could holt it, but wasn’t of Worlds quality for sure. The official opening as well as the presentation of awards (till late in the evening) were of a low quality and not up to standard World class level.
During his opening speech, Mr. Hein Verbruggen promised BMX an Olympic future, a promise very hard to keep (so will the future learn us), but good tactics to get skeptics within the national BMX organizations on board with the UCI in time to come. Besides Mr. Verbruggen, the other speakers were Mr Matthieu Tanken sr., Chairman of the KNWU - BMX committee, Mr. Zevenbergen as President of the KNWU organization, Louis Vrijdag - President of the UCI-BMX Committee and last but not least the Mayor of the town of Schijndel.
Because of the bad weather, only 2 moto’s were run on Friday and moto number 3 was run on Saturday. Many complains, but what can one do when it rains like crazy. Still the grandstands were filled with people and everybody involved tried to make the best of it. The whole event was filmed for TROS TV on Sunday and broadcasted some time later, which was good for BMX promotion in general to outside BMX people.
Results Superclass 20”:
1. Gary Ellis - USA Champion.
2. Dale Holmes - England
3. Charles Townsend - USA
4. Eric Minozzi - France
5. Frank Brix - Germany
6. Christophe Leveque - France
7. Yannick Delporte - France
8. Wilco Groenendaal - Holland
Results Superclass 24 ":
1. Christophe Leveque - France Champion.
2. Rob Bulten - Holland
3. Jorg de Louw - Holland
4. Arjan Groenendaal - Holland
5. Martin Steensma - Holland
6. Christian Schaller - Germany
7. Olivier Prosper - France
8. Dale Holmes - England
World Champions in the following classes were:
Girls 18 & over: Corine Dorland - Holland (her 9th World title).
Girls 17: Michelle Cairns - USA
Girls 16: Tanya Burrows - Australia
Boys 18 & over: Dylan Clayton - England
Boys 17: Dennis Wissink - Holland
Boys 16: Robert de Wilde - Holland
Cruiser 13 & under: Emeric Beyeler - France
Cruiser 14-15: Carmine Falco - France
Cruiser 16-17: Jean Christophe Tricard - France
Cruiser 18-24: Dylan Clayton - GB
Cruiser 25-29: Christophe Boul - France
Medal count:
Country Gold Silver Bronze
France 11 5 6
Holland 7 9 7
U.S.A. 7 9 6
England 3 2 2
Argentina 2 2 1
Czech Rep. 2 1 2
Sweden 1 2 2
Colombia 1 1 1
Australia 1 - 1
Chile 1 - -
Brasil 1 - -
Venezuela - 2 2
Slovenia - 1 -
Latvia - 1 -
Scotland - 1 -
Norway - 1 -
Germany - - 3
Japan - - 1
Denmark - - 1
Sweden - - 1
Austria - - 1
In 37 Classes: 37 37 37
Results National Team World Championship:
1. Team USA 353 points
2. Team Holland 332
3. Team Argentina 321
4. Team Australia 309
5. Team England 300
6. Team Switzerland 222
Results Corperate Team World Championship:
1. Team Robinson USA 353 points
2. GT Bicycles, Team 2 USA 341
3. Team Manzana Postobon, Colombia 323
4. Team WEBCO NED 305
5. Team Wulfsport GBR 289
6. Team Procycles-Viper USA 282
7. Team Strijp Rozen NED 256
8. Team Cyclecraft GBR 252
Some rememorable names of European competitors:
World Champion 15 Girls, Anne-Caroline Chausson (F) at present (year 2001) the absolute top rider in world mountain bike downhill competition. Laurence Map (GB) competing in 8 year old boys class, still racing in 2001. Vlasdislav Khas (CZ) competing in 10 year old boys class (retired), Bjorn Wijnants (B) 9 year old boys, now racing in Elite class in 2002. Rob v.d. Wildeberg (H) racing 11 year old boys, now (2001) an Elite class competator. Mickael Deldycke (F) racing 12 year old boys and now (2001) a respectable downhill and dual slalom MTB/FTT racer. Janis Vanags (LV) competing in Boys 14 class, now (2001) active as Elite class rider. Carmine Falco (F) Boys 15 class, competing in Elite class for several years now (2001). Florent Boutte also a Boys 15 class rider then, became European Champion when competing in Elite class later on.
Vladislav Khas, r.i.p. (Euro GT Team) and his family at the Worlds in Schijndel - Holland.
During these Worlds, a representative of the ABA - USA and good friend of mine, was present at this event, Mr. Clayton John. Intentions were to lobby for an affiliation of the ABA for a membership of the I.BMX.F. Pitty to say that a serious communication wasn't possible. At the time the NBL - USA was the affiliate for the USA within I.BMX.F and they were against ABA talking to or even joining I.BMX.F. since only one National federation per country was allowed to join I.BMX.F.
Personaly I did find it very unrespectful that no I.BMX.F. board member wated to talk to Mr. Clayton. They totaly ignored him! Picture below does show you all Mr. and Mrs. Clayton arriving at the Worlds site, were I met with them and welcomed them in Holland.
Here some pictures to give you an impresion of what happened around this event and some publicity papers.
Here an article in SOLO BICI, la revista del Mountain Bike, on the 1993 I.BMX.F. Worls in Schijndel - NED.
September 4-5th. the I.BMX.F. European Club Championship - Soro, Denmark.
The number of teams registered was 28. This was kind of disappointing. The track looked o.k. despite bad weather on the Friday (practice day). On Saturday the sun came through. Practice on this day till around 13.00 hours. Racing started at 14.00 hours and only 29 moto’s, meaning that around 16.45 hours the racing was done, all 3 moto’s were run. On Sunday the sun was shining again and practice stared at 9.00 hours. The official parade took place at around 11.00 hours and all 28 teams participated. After several speeches, the main events started at 12.15 hours and the presentation of awards took place at 13.00 hours which took till 14.45 hours. The top 8 teams were presented trophies and it’s team members received medals.
The results:
European Champion Club teams:
1. FCC IJsselcrossers, Doetinchem - Holland EC Club teams.
2. Soro - Denmark
3. FCC The Wheely’s, Baarn - Holland
4. Czech Republic - CZ
5. Denmark - DEN
6. FCC d’un Urste 1, Schijndel - Holland
7. Slovakia - SLO
8. Germany - GER
September 7th. More reaction have been received and another more detailed evaluation on the September 4th. 1992 Survey by Gerrit Does on the development of BMX,
has been sent to the National BMX organizations world wide and to other persons and groups. Finally in 1994 the UCI would ask Gerrit Does to implement his NEW CONCEPT ideas in the UCI BMX WORLD CUP Series.
September 19th. What has been promised by the UCI president that would happen with BMX, happened in the mountain bike discipline of the cycle sport.
It was officially announced that Mountain Biking and more specific the Cross-Country discipline had been accepted by the I.O.C. (International Olympic Committee) as an Olympic Sport. An Olympic title can be won for the first time during the Olympics of 1996 in Canada (by the way, Dutchman Bart Brentjens did win the title).
October 10th. International Vredestein Mastercross - Doetinchem, Holland.
Report in due time. *** div. foto's
November 21st. Mrs. Maria Lerma from Spain did send me a letter of concern.
Maria Lerma, a young woman, active as a coach/manager for Spanish riders and more specific members of the Club Activo de BMX in Madrid - Spain, had very good ideas about what should be done to improve BMX at a national and international level. She worked hard to get the ideas through to people in the national organization. She found however a lot of political stuff on her way and finally said farewell to the sport of BMX, which is a shame. Why do they let people with the heart at the right spot and with good ideas just go like that. I don’t understand that.
Remark GD: Maria, for whatever it means to you, you have done good work during your active period. It was not for nothing, you helped a lot of BMX’ers enjoying their sport. Without among other, YOU, there would not have been BMX today in Spain. Let me thank you for that! Thanks.
November 22-30th., the UNIVERSITY of BMX trip to the greatest race on earth, the ABA GRAND NATIONAL in Oklahoma City - Oklahoma, USA presented by Odyssey & ATI.
Including the USA, 18 countries were represented at this race: Holland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, England, Peru, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Columbia, Mexico, Australia, Chile, New-Zealand and ofcourse the USA. Present from Europe among others were Carmin Falco, Dylan Clayton, Dale Holmes. Rob Bulten, Bas de Bever, Wolle Meijer, Daniel Herz, Thor Arne Dybdahl, Ken Meland, Yannick Rosset, Fuente, Mario Penn, Urs Kropf and Pieter Does.
Our group stayed at the Meridian Plaza Hotel and as a group we took part in the Thanksgiving diner and Hall of Fame celebration on Thursday, November 25th, which was very nice to be present at. The complete University of BMX team (15 persons) attended the diner party and Hall of Fame celebration. Inducted in the Hall of Fame were: David “Tinker” Juarez, Charlie Litsky (r.i.p.)
Pieter Does did win the Race of Champions in Expert 19 class. Dylan Clayton finished 3rd. Gerrit Does, Pieter’s father did not witness his win because he was ill in bed in the hotel due to the flue.
Some info on the organization side of the ABA’s Grands of 1993. To built the track, it took the ABA 251 dump truck loads of dirt. A dumpster was turned upside down and buried underneath the starting hill for height and to save on dirt. It took 32 hours to built the track (nine hours of it to haul in the dirt alone) and only eight hours to tear down and remove the dirt. The Grands was covered by massive number of magazines from all over the World: BMX Plus (USA), American BMXer (USA), RIDE UK (England), DIG (Ireland), TRACKS (France), MEGA ‘ ZINE (USA). It took in total 6 announcers to keep the crowd entertained during the four day event.
For more details ánd pictures go to "Consulting"and then "Training Camps" and click on "ABA Grands 1993 trip ...".
December 18th. I received a nice letter from another top European BMX rider from Spain, Mr. Josue Barreto Ramos.
He did sent his reaction on the fact that I organized the European Challenge Cup at Ponypark Slagharen - Holland for the last time. Josue Barreto Ramos did write:
“ Gerrit, I want to thank you very much for everything .... everything you do, your life. I admire you very much in the way you think about the sport and the riders. We all appreciate you, your experience, your dedication, your patience, your dream ...........The world is moving because of the dreamers like yourself that work hard, to make that dream come true. You are working harder for our dreams then we ourselves, the riders, do! Gerrit, I did read somewhere that there are 3 kind of people:
1. the ones who make things happen.
2. the ones who see things happening and
3. the ones who don’t even know what is happening.
For sure you belong under the number 1 people. Keep on going that way Gerrit. You have written “the book of BMX” you left your “foot prints” in the World`
Remark GD:
After this Josue goes on about the “survey on the World Bicycle League” that I had send around of which I will not boar you all by telling the details. Josue, Thanks for kind words then. They helped me a lot going on. All the best to you for the future, in your life, sports and so on. Cheers GD
December 20th., I was Invited by Hein Verbruggen, UCI president, for a meeting. I (G.D.) did meet with him in Helmond, Holland just before Christmas.
Hein Verbruggen and myself were members in the ’80s of the KNWU Board of Directors (Royal Dutch Cycling Federation). At the time I was the Chairman of the KNWU - BMX Committee and therefore a member of the Board of Directors. During this meeting Mr. Verbruggen explained the reorganization within the UCI, which took place the past two years and looked very promising and professional. It did not look like the “old UCI-FIAC-FICP” structure anymore. During the meeting Mr. Verbruggen asked GD if he was interested in working with the UCI on a new project, the World Cup Series of BMX. GD reacted in a positive way and I was asked to contact Louis Vrijdag, the president of the BMX Committee, to work on the final details. GD was able to implement most of his ideas called The New Concept into the UCI World Cup Series. In 1994 plans were made and in 1995 the first “test” World Cup events took place. Gerrit Does was appointed "UCI Project Manager World Cup Series of BMX" early 1995. Read on.
Addition information.
The reason for the UCI, their professional department the FICP and their Amature department the FIAC, to reorganize was caused among others by the fact, thaton an Olympic level, also professional athletes were allowed to compete at the Olympic games. Sinc the start of the Olympics, only "Amature" sportsmen and women were allowed to take part.
Because of this change in policy by the I.O.C., there was no need anymore to have a seperate professional ánd amature department within the UCI.
Ending this year the KNWU (Royal Dutch Cycling Federation) counted around 50 BMX clubs affiliated from all over the country. In 1988 around 200 BMX clubs were part of the KNWU. License holders? Around 800 at this time, oeps!(in 1988 around 6.000 official license holders + around 4000 clubcard holders).