../events/2hip
King Of Vert, Meet The Street, Burning Bike, ...

Sources : www.2hip.com, Bicross magazine, Ride BMX US, www.ridebmx.com, Freestylin, www.bmxtrix.com, Go, www.vintagebmx.com, The Ride of my Life, ...
If you want to add any info, please contact buissonrouge@23mag.com.
Ron Wilkerson, Ride BMX US february 1996 : No one had done halfpipe contests. We were tired of riding sketchy little quarterpipes. The first one I set up was with Freestylin' at the T.O.L. Then I made a whole schedule. It was pretty risky at first, because I didn't know how a halfpipe contest would go. Then the AFA disappeared, and it was only the 2-Hip. Then everyone was riding street, so we organised the first street contest in San Diego. That was the first street contest ever.

Mat Hoffman, The Ride of my Life, 2002 : The KOV was a rider-conceived and rider-run vent series put together by Haro team pro Ron Wilkerson and his all-volunteer crew. Ron's comps went down on halfpipes and were the first contests of their kind. (He later pioneered the sport's first street contest series, called Meet the Street). Often the KOV ramps would be assembled on-site the night before the contest, with harrowing tales of trailer trouble and a thirty-hour drive just to get there. Sometimes the halfpipes were incredibly solid and fast; other times the ramps flat out sucked. (One comp was held on a floating barge, which bobbed and caused the ramp to absorb your entire pump.) But one thing that was a given at any KOV was a great vibe -the atmosphere was loose, fun, and the whole thing operated from a rider's perspective. Ron would casually ask everyone on deck, "Hey, um ... should we start yet?' before the event officially began. A mix tape of the latest hip-hop, hardcore, or vintage new wave would be jacked into the tape deck, and Ron's right-hand man, Kevin Martin, would hop on the mic and start barking at the crowd to get loud. The contests felt more like a demo or a backyard session, but with the top guys and the most innovative riding. The pros who followed Ron Wilkerson on his KOV series -Mike Dominguez, Josh White, Brian Blyther, Dennis McCoy, and handful of others- were the effortless rulers of their domain. The contests operated in a jam format, so riders had as much time as needed to finish their runs in the finals. Most people could go for about two minutes, tops, but at a KOV in Colorado Springs, Bob Kohl (inventor of the superman air) took a lung-busting, eight-minute run. 		2hip tee
Bicross magazine juillet 1987 : Le King of Vert a démarré doucement fin 86 pour atteindre sa vitesse de croisière en 87. Rodée par Ron Wilkerson et ses meilleurs copains chez lui où il s'est fait construire pour la circonstance un superbe half-pipe, le K.O.V. a atterri en fin d'année dans le Michigan, à La Sueur, dans un hangar ou l'ambiance fut, d'après les participants, torride ! Le pnncipe même du K.O.V. est totalement différent du championnat AFA. Le K.O.V. se dispute uniquement sur des half pipes. Pas d'épreuve au sol, naturellement. Il accueille deux catégories : open expert et open pro. S'il se présente suffisamment de 16 ans et moins il est alors créé une troisième catégorie. Le King of Vert c'est tout simplement la transposition sur les half-pipes des anciens skatepark-contests. Chaque pilote a droit à deux essais d'une minute chacun pour décrocher sa qualification. Ensuite, huit participants, qui constituent un groupe évoluent dans un ordre donné. Ils ont vingt minutes pour présenter leur show. Le half-pipe est une spécialité physiquement très fatigante, donc les temps d'évolution sont très courts, ce qui permet à chaque pilote d'être chauffé et d'apparaître quatre fois chacun dans ces vingt minutes imparties. Super comme système. Il a l'énorme avantage de diminuer la marge d'erreur des quatre juges qui ont quatre occasions de voir évoluer chaque pilote. Le King of Vert rassemble beaucoup moins de participants que le championnat AFA. Lors d'un contest AFA il est fréquent de rencontrer 60 à 90 participants. Par contre, le K.O.V. met aux prises guère plus d'une quinzaine d'experts et de six à huit pros. Le half-pipe n'est pas à la portée de tout le monde. Le King of Vert a l'énorme avantage d'être conçu comme un véritable show, spectaculaire et sans temps morts. Il attire de nombreux spectateurs. Une caractéristique que l'on ne retrouve pas à `AFA. A l'AFA beaucoup de concurrents, mais un côté répétitif rapidement lassant qui n'attire que peu de spectateurs.
Le nom 2-hip est un jeu de mot américain qui se traduit par « aller haut » (to hip) ou «trop haut» (too hip).
1985
Ron Wilkerson, BMX Plus! may 1992 : I was competing in the AFA contests and hated that there weren't any halfpipes. spoke with Bob Morales at that time about a halfpipe contest. offered to hold a contest for the AFA, but they weren't hip on it so I did the contest on my own. The first 2-Hip was a half pipe contest at my house on December 7, 1985.
1986
The sport exploded in 1986 and while the AFA was still going strong, the 2-Hip series began holding vert halfpipe events.
2-Hip King Of Vert, LaSueur Minnesota, november 14, 1986.
www.2hip.com, january 2009: The very first 2-Hip King Of Vert pro contest, held on a semi-portable half in verrrry cold barn. (Most Memorable Moments: rafter footplants, first snow of the season outside the barn, the Energy INSIDE the barn=ELECTRIC)
Report, pic, videos, results.
2-Hip KOV round 2, december 13, 1986, The Enchanted Ramp, Encinitas, California.
www.2hip.com, january 2009: The second King Of Vert jam...held on ronw.'s infamous ‘Enchanted Ramp’. (Most Memorable Moments: Who's this 'Hoffman' guy?, Dominguez' 900 attempt)
Report, results.
1987
2-Hip KOV round 1, april 18, 1987, Houston, Texas.
www.2hip.com, january 2009: BIG BLUE RAMP (MMM: the very BIGGG blue ramp- bigger than most of the riders had ever ridden! Who’s this ‘Hoffman’ guy?)
Report, pic (1), results.
2-Hip KOV round 2, may 30, 1987, Flint, Michigan.
www.2hip.com, january 2009: PLAYLAND JAM (MMM: THRONGS of spectators + Dominguez' 900 attempt, the hype and Energy was out of control)
Report, results, pics.
2-Hip KOV Pepsi jam round 3, august 8, Colorado Springs, CO.
www.2hip.com, january 2009: PEPSI JAM (MMM: The crowd in the bleachers were too far away from the ramp!!!)
Report, pic (1), results.
2-Hip KOV round 4, october 23-24, 1987, Washington D.C.
Report, pics (2), results.
2-Hip KOV, october, Rockville, Maryland.
2-Hip KOV finals, december 5, 1987, Enchanted Ramp, Wilkerson's house in Encinitas, California.
Craig Grasso rides naked at the King of Vert finals. He dropped in and did a full run at a 2Hip KOV completely naked... see Dorkin' 10 for thankfully grainy, unclear footage. His motive : money for car repairs (circa $200). Grasso gets dropped like a hot potato by all his sponsors.
Maurice Meyer, www.vintagebmx.com : For some reason, my memory still plays Matt Hoffman's dad chasing Grasso around the yard in fast motion like a Benny Hill skit.
Mat Hoffman, The Ride of my Life, 2002 : Craig Grasso took the casual atmosphere of the KOV to new heights. He introduced a different kind of riding -the naked kind. Desperate for cash to get his broken-down car running again, Grasso dropped in at the KOV finals and did a run wearing nothing but shoes, a helmet, and a wild grin. It was pretty funny; however, my dad and mom had flown out with my aunt, uncle, and cousins to watch me compete. My father was furious that Grasso had tarnished the sport and scarred the innocent children (myself included) for life by subjecting the crowd to blazing no-footed airs and scrotum-dangling can-cans. Grasso's performance got him $250 in deviant spectator donations to revive his ailing Honda Civic. His sponsor dropped him like a hot potato the following day. Craig never rode another KOV again but went on to help pioneer street riding.
Brian Blyther, www.vintagebmx.com : ... Oh my Grasso riding with only shoes on. I know that I put money in the pot when you need a radiator you could do anything.
1988
2-Hip KOV round 1, march 6, 1988, Vista, California.
Reportage, results, pics, video.
Initialement prévu sur le half dans le backyard de Mike Dominguez et annulé suite à l'arrivée de la police, ce King of Vert a finallement lieu à Vista près de Carlsbad en Californie
2-Hip KOV, 13 mars 1988, Paris Bercy, France.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Reportage, pics, results.
2-Hip MTS, april 30, 1988, Santee, California.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Report, results, pics, video.
Ron Wilkerson of 2-Hip Promotions decided it was time to hold a streetstyle contest, so he set forth to organize one with a theme of "fun and enjoyment" instead of "rules, rules, rules."
2-Hip KOV round 2, may 28, 1988, Flint Michigan.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Report, results, pic, videos.
2-Hip KOV round 3, Austin, Texas.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Report, results, pic, video.
It was a hot and humid day on Austin's Colorado River. Promoter Ron Wilkerson added an unusual twist to the contest by renting a barge for the contest and built the halfpipe on the barge. It was a novel location, but it did present some problems. the barge rocked every time the riders pumped for an air and every time they landed. Brian Blyther and Matt Hoffman were still able to push themselves up close the ten-foot level.
2hip KOV round 4, Albany, New York.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Report, results, video.
2-Hip KOV round 5, october 15, 1988, American University, Washington, DC.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Report, results, pic, video.
2-Hip KOV Finals, january 1989, Irvine, California.
www.2hip.com, january 2009:
Matt Hoffman : My first pro contest was in January of 1989 in Irvine, Calif. at the 2hip finals. And I competed amateur then pro the same day. I won two snowboards.
Report, video.
1989
Bicross and Skate Magazine mars 1990 : Ron Wilkerson, appelé par les airs, improvise les premiers King of Vert sur half pipe. Le but est de créer une alternative au contest AFA, l'Americain Freestyle Association. Les King of Vert s'organisent en comité restreint, il n'est pas rare que le lieu et la date du contest changent quelques jours avant. Le règlement à base de jam est très souple, les iuges s'installent où ils veulent, une ambiance cool. Les pros apprécient. Ils se surpassent. Les magazines et les sponsors suivent et investissent.
Brian Blyther, BXM n°75 février 1989 : Le KOV, c'est très fun et amical comme ambiance. Les contest AFA, se sont les sponsors qui tiennent à ce qu'on y aille(...). Je ne déteste pas ça, je dis simplement que je préfère les KOV.
www.bmxtrix.com : The AFA had eliminated ramp riding in the competitions and Ron Wilkerson was holding the 2-Hip King of Vert (KOV) contests to give vert riders a place to compete. Ron also held some of the first STREET contests.
Meet The Street round 1, La Jolla, California.
Report, results.
Meet The Street, Brooklyn Banks, September 2nd, 1989.
Meet The Street finals, Salem, Oregon.
Report, results.
2-Hip Meet The Street final standings :
GREAT : 1.Dave Voelker 2.Craig Campbell 3.Eddie Roman 4.Craig Grasso 5.Danny Schow 6.Ron Wilkerson 7.Joe Johnson 8.Rich Barlett
GOOD : 1.Jess Dyrenforth 2.Mark Eaton 3.Jay Miron 4.Gary Pollack 5(tie).Ruben Castillo 5(tie).Joe Gruttola 7.Oscar Gonzales 8(tie).Mike Kerneich 8(tie).Spike Jonze 10.Kevin Jones
KOV round 1, Toronto, Canada, march 25-26, 1989.
Report, video.
KOV Woodward
Joe Johnson went for a triple tailwhip.
Craig Campbell pulled the first nosepick ever. 		joe johnson gt 1990 catalog
Joe Johnson on the cover of the 1990 GT catalog.

PROS : 1.Joe Johnson 2.Craig Campbell 3.Matt Hoffman
KOV round 4, Long Island, NY, 4 septembre 1989
Dyno picked up the 15 year old Dave Mirra after seeing him ride at the New York King of Vert contest (september 1989).
KOV finals, Newport, january 1990.
Report, reportage, pics (3), results.
1989 2-Hip KOV final standings :
 PRO CLASS : 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Joe Johnson 3.Brian Blyther 4.Dennis McCoy 5.Ron Wilkerson 6.Dino DeLuca 7.Bob Kohl 8.Dave Voelker 9.Chris Potts 10.Joel Alamo 11.Mike Dominguez
EXPERT CLASS : 1.Garry Pollack 2.John Byers 3.Steve Swope 4.Jay Miron 5.Dave Mirra 6.Jess Dyrenforth 7.Kevin Gutierrez 8.Chris Potts 9.Eben Krachau 10.Brian Dahl 11.Rick Thorne 12.Oscar Gonzales
1990
Go april 1990 : Vision and Swatch both decline to sponsor 2-Hip events for 1990, and Wilkerson has begun working with other sponsors.
Bicross and Skate magazine june 1990 : Le calendrier 90 n'est toujours pas établi et il se pourrait qu'il n'y ai pas de KOV cette année. Une fois de plus la faute vient des sponsors (Vision et Swatch) qui n'ont pas renouvelé leurs contrats avec Ron et Kevin.
2-Hip KOV, july 14-15, 1990, Indianapolis IN.

Medias : GO november 1990, Invert february 1991.
 KING OF VERT PROS : 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Dennis McCoy 3.Jay Miron 4.Ron Wilkerson 5.Bob Kohl 6.Chris Potts

KING OF VERT AMS : 1.John Peacy 2.Jamie Shelley 3.Rick Thorne 4.Steve Swope 5.John Doyle 6.John Pequet 7.Eric Carl 8.Butch Wade

KING OF UNDER-VERT PROS : 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Jay Miron 3.Ron Wilkerson 4.Bob Kohl 5.Rick Moliterno 6.Dennis McCoy 7.Danny Schow 8.Chris Potts

KING OF UNDER-VERT AMS : 1.Mark Murphy 2.Mark Kirunchyk 3.Bill Nitschke 4.James Shepherd 5.Eben Krakau 6.Pat Miller 7.Chris Moeller 8.Erick Matais
2-Hip Meet The Street and KOV, New York NY, august 4-5.
Report, pic (1), results.
2-Hip Meet The Street, Palm Springs, California, october 20, 1990.
Report, results.
Meet The Street and KOV in Austin Texas.

Media : BMX Plus! january 1991.
2-Hip KOV finals, Glendale, Arizona.
Results, report.

Matt Hoffman almost pulled a flip fakie on a borrowed bike. He won the comp and the 1990 year end title.
1990 KOV year end results
PROS : 1.Matt Hoffman
1991
Go april 1991 : It looks like a 2-hip King of Vert series in the USA is a go for 1991. Haro is sponsoring three dual events, as in street and halfpipe.
2-Hip/Haro Bike Festival, april 19-21, California.
King Of Dirt contest at the Mission Trails in San Diego, Vert at Ron's ramp in Lemon Grove and Meet The Street round 1 in La Jolla.
Report, results.
2-Hip ramp jam, may 25-26, Vancouver, Canada.
Trend / 2-Hip King of Radness, Austin, Texas.
Medias : BMX Plus! january 1991.
2-Hip/Haro Bike Safari (Meet The Street, Flatland and amateur KOV), august 24-25 at the Bronx Zoo in New York City.
Report, results, photo, video.
1992
1993
31 octobre 1993, San Francisco Medias : Ride BMX UK #9
1994
30-31 juillet 94 .Turf skatepark .Milwaukee, WI : annulé
1-2 octobre .Hudson Valley skatepark -Newburg, NY
2-HIP jam
date : october 30-31 1994
Place Sacramento, CA
medias : BMX Plus! feb94
1997
KOV
date : august 16-17 1997
Place Toms river, NJ
medias :
1998
Round 1 (Flatland Man, Meet The Street, KOV)
medias : BMX Plus! sept98
date : 25 mai 1998
place : Escondido, CA
Round 2, 15 août 1998, New Jersey
Round 3 finals, 4 au 6 septembre 1998, Louisville, KY.
1998 BURNING BIKE festival
Report, results, pics.
1999
Round 1 Escondido skatepark, CA

 Medias : BMX Plus! october 1999

PRO STREET 1.Josh Heino 2.Mike Parenti 3.Cory Edelman 4.Colin McCay 5.Cameron Birdwell 6.Troy McMurray
PRO VERT 1.Jason Davies 2.Josh Heino 3.Tim Burges 4.Troy McMurray 5.Sean McKinney
PRO FLAT 1.Marcus Jesus 2.Ross Smith 3.Day Smith 4.Erick Stefano 5.Ruben Castillo 6.Stephen Cerra 7.Leo Dumlao
Round 2, august 7-8 1999, New York
Burning Bike Festival
$2,000 each event (dirt, street, flat)
170 entries

DIRT : There were two sets of doubles, which utilized the track's starting hill for speed. Todd Walkowiak spun 360's in both directions, and ended up with the win.
STREETJoe Prisel did a crazy superman seat-grab transfers. Josh Heino's runs were filled with countless big tricks, including a downside footplant on a wall that was on top of a six foot quarter. Drake Miller flowed through the park like a local, with all kinds of wall-rides and transfers. Mike Ardelean jumped an unexpected gap into a double peg grind on the spine of the mini, in addition to all kinds of pedal flip tricks. Shaun Dorton made lines where there were no lines, and ended up with a well-deserved victory.
FLAT : Chenga is owned by Pro flatlanders Scott Powell and Dave Schaeffer, so it's no surprise that they set aside a flatland area in their park to help get them through the Ohio weather. The floor takes a little getting used to, but once you adjust you can spin your brains out. Being used to the floor paid off, as Scott got second in Pro flat. Ohio local Brian Ryback really impressed me with some incredibly original tricks, but he couldn't put it together during the contest. Chicago's Matt Wilhelm turned Pro for this contest and spun fast enough to make the crowd dizzy. Both Matt and Paul Palmer were doing a crazy pedaling upside down megaspin, but Matt was able to pull it together and ended up in second place. First place went to York Uno from Japan. York rides brakeless and does a lot of juggler type tricks, along with a few front wheel switches. He stayed off the back wheel almost entirely, but still managed to pull out the win.		 Date : 25-26 sept 1999
Place : Derby Downs Akron, OH (dirt)
Chenga, N.Ridgeville, OH (street, flat)
Medias : ridebmx.com

Really Great Dirt 1. Todd Walkowiak $800 2. Aaron Bostrom $500 3. Ryan Jordan $250 4. Paul Kitner $125 5. Jerry Bagley $100
Great Dirt 1. Mark Flippowitz 2. Kevin Coffee 3. Beeler Van Orman

Really Great Street 1. Shaun Dorton $800 2. Mike Ardelean $500 3. Josh Heino $250 4. Joe Prisel $125 5. Jason Suchan $100
Great Street 1. Keven Salmon 2. Jake Finley 3. Brandon Stafford
Good Street 1. Shanton Wilson 2. B.J. Gruitza 3. Dacian Gingrich

Really Great Flat 1. York Uno $800 2. Scott Powell $500 3. Matt Wilhelm $250 4. Brian Tunney $125 5. Batoumeni Armin $100
Great Flat 1. Jeff DesRoche 2. Terry Adams 3. Michael MacPhaden
Good Flat 1. Dane Beardsley 2. Chris Abraham 3. Scott McIntyre
2000
Meet The Street, San Francisco, october 7th, 2000.
Results, report.
2001
Meet The Street, Golden gate park, San Francisco, October 20th 2001.
Results, report.
2002
Meet The Street
A Chevy Chevette was offered up to the masses with launchers on both sides with a rail to one side. There was a street spine, a grind box a weird corner piece from the X-Games street course. The new feature this year was the curved wall-ride. 		Place : San Francisco, USA
Date : 26-27 October 2002
Medias : www.fatbmx.com

Really Great 1.Marcus Wilke 2.Kurtis Elwell 3.George Dossantos 4.Cameron Birdwell 5.Sean Emery 6.Ben Boyko 7.Ryan Occonnell (Puker) 8.Ryan Armstrong 9.Juan Carlos 10.Donald Pivec

Great 1. Ben Macpherson 2. Chad Bautista 3. Andre Murrillo 4. Joey Pierce 5. Tyler Guevara 6. Samar Carillo 7. Steve Anzel 8. Jay Sloan 9. Sean Stack 10. Ben Kellgren

Good 1. Ryan Rancator 2. Wes Rhoe 3. Jordan Wong 4.Tyson Fitzpatrick 5. Mark Kennedy 6. Mathew Weldon 7. Chris Savoy 8. Nick Rose 9. Jacob Counsel 10. Nick Chapman
2003
Meet The Street
Report, results.
2005
2-HIp MEET THE REAL STREET

The  '2-HIp MEET THE REAL STREET' jam... also postponed 'til early spring
DATE: APRIL 2
BASIC DETAILS:
6-7 teams
4-10 riders per team (chosen in advance by the MTS COMMITTEE- teams need to send a rider list, and/or video, and/or fotos to 2-HIp to be chosen)
3 hour time period, 15 minutes at each spot
5-6 spots
A judge will be at each spot looking for:  best team, runner up, best slam
After 3 hours there will be an AWARDS PARTY with ramps and bands at a S.F.
warehouse
There will be video editing going on during the party, with footy from each of the spots for the awards ceremony
AND FINALLY, there will be prizes and CASH MONEY for each spot! (ie. best team: $400-$1000-possibly more per spot; runner up: keg; another runner up: a tap for the keg)
2008
THIS OCTOBER 11-12, 2008, CELEBRATING THE 25TH YEAR OF 2HIP, COMES THE 2HIP MEET THE STREET 25 YEAR JAM. TREASURE ISLAND, SAN FRANCISCO BAY 2HIP MEET THE STREET --- 2 GROUPS, 'GREAT' AND 'REALLY GREAT'--- 'GOOD' CLASS= PRIZES+NOTARIETY. 'REALLY GREAT' CLASS= $5000 PURSE+NOTARIETY. CAR, BRICKWALL WALLRIDE, SHOPPING CARTS, LEDGES, KITCHEN SINKS, MISC.