Hanging out with the Daboot freestyle crew in Italy is where I’ve been of late. Alvaro Dal Farra, one of Italy’s top freestyle motocross riders, picked me up from Venice airport and I quickly warmed to the very relaxed, laid back feeling of being in a country that hasn’t sold out to the supermarket giants, and where people are proud of their traditions and still love to do things the way their Muma’s and Papa’s taught them, weaving their ways just like the many generations before them. Where your daily shopping for food is more like meeting up with friends, who own and run the stores – specialty shops just for bread, or cheese, or meats, or wines, etc … The experience of walking the colourful streets lined with a variety of these shops , such as in Alvaro’s hometown of Belluno, is so refreshing compared to pushing a trolley down long sterile isles bombarded with cheap goods from who knows where, like in most countries nowadays. Being a lover of good food I felt right at home in the country that’s shaped like Da-boot instantly!


Alvaro showing his style at his park close to Belluno with the famous Dolomites Mountains in the background.

During my week with Alvaro we packed in the action non-stop. First day we visited Jeremy Appleton at Alpinestars in Asolo, one hour from Belluno, and he kindly gave us a guided tour around the impressive set-up including a look at the product testing lab, which was very interesting and showed the lengths Alpinestars www.alpinestars.com go to in producing the best boots around, thanks Jeremy. We then visited Alvaro’s FMX park and scored an epic sunset shoot with a few of his team mates including Massimo Bianconcini and Vanni Oddera. It wasn’t easy for the guys as the winter chill setting in on the surrounding Dolomites Mountains made every bone and muscle in their bodies stiff and not in the slight bit interested coming in contact with the hard dirt. I was stoked with their riding though, and for those that buy Freerider MX www.freeridermx.com you’ll get to see the cream shots in an upcoming issue.

Jeremy and Alvaro checking out some new designs.

We struck gold on our first day of shooting. Here Massimo leads Alvaro over a transfer hit.

We squeezed in another shoot the following day even though the weather was changing for the worse. Alvaro wanted to try out his new ramp to dirt that had just been finished off the previous night. He’d been waiting for it a while and it completed a line that started with his funbox, then over his first ramp to dirt following straight into the new hit. He’s always looking at new ways to progress his riding.

Later that night we drove to a really nice town called Bassano to catch up with one of Alvaro and Massimo’s sponsors, Oakley’s Giovanni Balestra, and once they’d got their business out of the way it was all on at a very traditional Italian restaurant. The tasty food and red wine continued late into the evening. Giovanni also looks after Aussie GP stars Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen. It was great to get some insight from someone who spends so much time with those guys. He loves the way they’re so down-to-earth, unlike many in that scene I’d imagine.

Red wine in Italy flows like water from a tap, and Alvaro Is not shy with the red liquid.

The week flowed on with Alvaro receiving an award for his achievements in the sport at a local Belluno function. We also dropped by his Muma’s for a good Italian feed. My Italian was starting to improve and solo walks in to town to buy food were quite successful. I had at least five words up my sleeve, but to be honest I did rely on my finger pointing skills on several occasions.

A typical Italian shop front full of fresh produce pouring out on to the sidewalks.

One of the highlights of my trip was in Genova come the weekend. We stopped along the way to pick up Alvaro’s mechanic, and all-round top bloke, Lorenzo, who insisted we visit a wine bar in Ferrara close to his hometown before making the 5 hour journey. That was fine by me as I wasn’t driving, and tasting more of the local delights was an experience I never knocked back. Lorenzo has worked for many of the top Euro motocross teams and he filled me in on all sorts of wicked stories from his many years spent roaming from race to race with the world’s best riders.

An overview shot of Genova SX. A very slick run event.

The Genova SX was all-time. The Daboot crew www.daboot.it, and French rider Thomas Page, put on one incredible display of riding, while newly crowned Italian MX2 world champion Antonio Cairoli kept the Americans well in check by storming home to take the win in the final. It was American Scott Murray who stole the show though by executing his first public Double Backflip, and becoming only the second man in history to do so behind the legendary Travis Pastrana. Boy was he stoked, as were the promoters and large Italian crowd. Nice one Scott!! The after party put on by event and Daboot sponsor Fiat later that night was huge, and Alvaro and the Daboot crew partied hard in true Italian style. There was no way I could keep up so I bailed home around 4am to get my beauty sleep. Getting too old for this game!!

Scott handled the pressure like a champion leading up to his DB Flip. Here he chills with his girl and old man in-between signing 100’s of posters.

Scott checks out the set-up he would soon master. I have the full sequence of his Db Flip, but you’ll have to wait until Freerider MX hits the shelves for that.

Alvaro tweaks a big Double Nac Indy for the large crowd.

My last stop before returning back to the UK was stopping off at the oldest member of Daboot crew, Mikki Monti. At 42 years of age he’s quite the man. Mikki Flips and has a swag of the old school and new tricks up his sleeve. The session at his park turned out a bit grey and wet as the bad weather hadn’t really lifted in the last five days, which made me very thankful for my first day of goodness at Alvaro’s park, and also thankful the Genova SX was held indoors. My last Italian meal and night spent at Lorenzo’s was the perfect way to close my trip to Da-boot, and I want to thank all my new friends for making me feel right at home, and treating me in the special way they did. I’ll be back for sure, but next time it will be with my snowboard!

Still going strong at 42 years-of-age is the oldest member of Daboot Mikki Monti.

Thomas Page is always exciting to watch, and the kid still gets a big kick out of non-Flip tricks such as this huge Ruler Indy Lookback deal.

From left: Vanni and his dog, Alvaro and Massimo play up for the camera.

Loranzo the man makes some changes to Alvaro’s number one machine.

Photographers swamp Antonio Cairoli as he gets presented to the crowd.