February 2019 in Stellenbosch, South Africa will see the return of a revamped Darkfest line with Nico Vink and Clemens Caudela in the diggers already.
Darkfest is set to be the opening round of the FEST series for 2019 and work has already begun on adding new elements to the existing line.
Words and photos by Eric Palmer.
As always, Eric Palmer is on hand to document the work going on behind the scenes.
DarkFEST is returning to Stellenbosch in February 2019 and we get the year started off with a bang! Sam has visited the site to plan some new additions to the already amazing course and in true Fest style it’s going to melt your mind.
Sam, Nico and Clemens will start the resurrection in January and spend 3 weeks freshening and tweaking the jumps, making them bigger and better. They are adding some new features to the end of the line, which will end with a big trick jump for the guys to throw down on.
“We always want to make it bigger and better and it was already pretty damn big and pretty damn good last year, so it’s going to be a real challenge to make something better than that. We are totally up for it and I know I’ve got the two guys for the job!” – Sam
Sam is a fan of a more natural build, especially in a place as beautiful as the Banhoek Valley, so all of the lips and landings will be sculpted from dirt. Using wooden or metal take offs in this beautiful location would be sacrilege, so they are sticking to their pure dirt course once again.
“We’re inviting some of the worlds best riders again, many returning faces from last year and maybe a couple other legends as well” – Sam
Sorge, Aggy and Andreu will be getting invites, so we are hoping that they will be able to join us with the rest of the boys that were here last year.
