The 2018 Night Harvest Dirt Comp went down this weekend and Eric Palmer was on hand to capture the action from Hout Bay.
The Night Harvest is South Africa’s home-grown MTB and BMX dirt comp and the 2018 edition kicked off in style again this weekend.
Hout Bay was lit up again for some of the world’s best BMX and MTB riders, bringing a line up only rivaled by the X-Games.
Spirits were high as the sun dropped and the lights came on. The guys were itching to get started and treat the crowd to many tricks that have never been done on African soil.
The scenic views at Potato Trails never gets old and the stands were packed with people eager to see these top class riders throw down!
A nice warm up session for both MTB and BMX to get the blood flowing and it didn’t take long before the big tricks started coming out! The MoD duo, Alex and Tobi are used to pleasing crowds and were on form throwing cash rolls and front flip variations back to back! Pat Casey was destroying every jump with the smoothest style possible, sending huge 360 tables and 360 whips over the tough first jump, extended cannonballs on the step up and the most dipped 360 toboggans anyone has ever seen.
Gary Young and Ben Wallace were flowing effortlessly, showing their experience and adding some seriously clicked lookbacks and turndowns. Leandro Olivera definitely has a boost button on his bars and was going twice as high as everyone else and throwing the hugest tricks, a textbook flip turndown on the first jump and flip double whips on the last, a real treat to watch him fly to the moon!
X-Games gold medalist, Kyle Baldock got the crowd pumped and showed them what tech combos are all about! 360 whip to down whip and a 720 whip were just a few of many hammers thrown down that secured him the top spot in BMX!
The MTB boys were on fire too! Damion Devlin was flowing through with his smooth signature style, getting whips more sideways and tucked than anyone! Local wild man Cornel Swanepoel was showing the crowd what he’s been working on lately and was getting the most dipped 360s and stretching out huge superman seat grabs mid line.
Tomas was putting amazing runs together and kept the crowd guessing what he was going to haul out of his big bag of tricks next. Sam Reynolds has been making his home on 100 ft jumps at the Fest Series, got the jump bike out again to show everyone he can still throw down just as hard as ever. Flip no handers on the first, extended no foot cans mid line and clean flip variations earned him first place in MTB.
Moving on to the Best Trick, riders lined up at the top of the roll in tower with the crowd swarming below, for 20 minutes of sending it. Alex Nikulin rose to the occasion and nailed a perfect Twister on the second jump. Earning the Best Trick title in BMX. In MTB, it was none other than Adolf Silva who threw down a double grab barspin to take it home.
MTB Results
1st – Sam Reynolds
2nd – Tomas Zedja
3rd – Damion Devlin
Best Trick – Adolf Silva
BMX Results
1st – Kyle Baldock
2nd – Gary Young
3rd – Pat Casey
Best Trick – Alex Nikulin
