The ultimate FMX roadtrip through Europe comes to and end. After driving 3100 kilometres starting from Berlin in Germany and visiting six freestyle parks along the way through countries Switzerland and France, we finally reached our final destination of Andre Villa’s park in Spain after two weeks on the road, and we weren’t disappointed. Nine pro riders including Villa, Busty Wolter, Alvaro Dal Farra, Dany Torres, Manu Troux, Morgan Carlson, Rano Holm and the Page’ brothers Charlie and Thomas were all there to experience what was clearly an incredible, freshly prepped, freestyle park that begged to be ridden.

Caption: Villa Flips over one of the many hits in his incredible freestyle park in Spain.

Park History

Back in June of 2006 Andre Villa wrecked his knee while hitting up a Wall Ride at the Dew Tour round in Louisville, USA. That accident put him off the bike for eight months, and a lot of things changed during that time. While Villa went through the long process of a knee reconstruction and recovery he watched the sport of freestyle motocross accelerate in its progression like never before. Flip combos were going through the roof, and Pastrana pulled off the unthinkable Double Flip. Villa, a very innovative rider himself, just had to suck it all in and then find a way to keep himself motivated and positive for his return to FMX, the sport he made his profession back in 2003.

Never one to sit still Villa decided he’d spend his time off the bike building the sickest freestyle motocross park he could create, and he did with the support of his main sponsor Suzuki.

Inspired from his trip to American Jesse Olsen’s park in 2006 Villa put all his energy and 60,000 Euros (100,000Aus) into building a course that he could ride all day long and not get tired of it. “Riding Jesse’s park was one of the coolest days I’ve ever had on a bike. The variety of hits and obstacles at his park are endless, and towards the end of the day my arms were so sore from riding I couldn’t hold on to my bars anymore. Jesse is very innovative, creative and riding over there with him really woke something up inside me, and I brought back many ideas to put into my own park”, he spoke of his experience riding there.

Creating the park in his mind was the easy part. Building the park was not so easy, as Villa explained when dealing with locals in Spain nothing happens when they say it will. “If they say they’ll be there Monday it usually means Wednesday. When I first started to build the park in 2004 I rang a local company saying I need a big machine to move dirt and they sent out this small tractor digger, and I was like, ahh, no, this is impossible man!”

Villa ended up hiring a bigger machine that he drove himself to build the first three big dirt landers in his park. Then when he totally revamped his park in 06/07 he ended up buying his own large dozer so he could get the job done when and how he liked. He had a steep learning curve on how to drive the beast, and how to best shape all the hits on the course, but once completed you’d think he’d been driving the suckers his whole life as the end result looks incredible. “My idea was to build a course that would help lift my level to be able to ride at events like X Games and the Dew tour. Plus I get tired of hitting ramps all the time so I like to have a variety of options in the park so you don’t get bored easily and can still ride when it’s windy”.

Why Spain

Villa grew up in a small village called Vaga in the mountains of Norway. During winter he would spend all his time hanging with mates free-skiing, then come summer he’d ride motocross. His father and Uncle were both Norwegian motocross champions so moto runs deep in his veins.

He eventually reached a stage where he had to decide which sport he’d make his full-time profession, and freestyle motocross, which you could say is a blend of both his favourite sports at the time– free-skiing with its big airs and aerial maneuvers, motocross its adrenalin rush and dirt jumps – called him the strongest.

Living in a country where half the year you can’t ride because of ice and snow forced Villa to leave his family, friends and everything he’d known up until that point in his life to pursue his career as a professional FMX rider. He needed to find a place where he could ride all day everyday, and after a little research Spain was the obvious choice, not only because it has the finest weather in Europe annually, but also because freestyle motocross is more popular there than any other European country, and you can ride a contest or demo nearly every weekend if you want to.

In 2003 Villa packed his van and headed off on the long journey south and made it as far as Germany where he blew his engine. A new engine cost him 8000 Euro, pretty much all the money he had, so still determined to continue he got a loan off his bank, bought a new engine and drove on to Spain where he ended up staying in a small home infested with cockroaches for the first eight months. “Living with that Spanish family was really hard for me as I couldn’t speak Spanish and they no English, which became very confusing on several occasions,” he recalled of the time.

His living conditions sucked, but Villa’s dream of being able to ride all day every day came true and he quickly secured himself demos and competitions with the help of a few local riders, which enabled him to save money and sharpen his competitive skills against the likes of Spain’s “God of FMX” Edgar Torronteras. “Competing against Edgar is tough as he’s always the crowd favourite and you have to ride twice as good to beat him.” Maybe this helped Villa improve as when he went and rode his first IFMXF FMX event away from Spain he had to enter as a rookie because nobody had heard of him. “I wasn’t entered for the main show, but the promoters decided to take the first few riders from our beginner’s class through to the main heats, which worked out well for me as I worked my way through to second place overall in the finals. It turned out to be a big break through for me into the Euro scene.”

Natural Progression

Years spent free-skiing in the mountains taught Villa the art of style, rotation, and maneuvers’ such as Barrel Rolls and Flips. To him these tricks were as common as the average skier getting two foot of air off a mogul.

The days leading up to his first major freestyle event, being X-Fighters in Madrid 2005, Villa was practicing into his foam pit during a photoshoot with top European photographer Chris Stock, and he asked Chris, what should I try next? “How about an Underflip or inverted rotation”, said Chris.

Villa sat there and thought about it for a moment, and then rode off for his run in to the ramp. Chris had his camera ready to fire, and recalls of what he witnessed, “Andre came towards the ramp set at 45’ totally to one side and then carved big-time on the ramp and executed a perfect Barrel Roll into the pit. It was incredible to see, especially since it was his first time trying the trick. He then stuck the trick perfect again and feeling so comfortable with it he said, ‘Dude, I can stick this over the 75’, and he did, busting it out perfect on his first attempt. I was amazed by what I saw. I’ve never seen another rider think a trick through in his head like that and then go straight out and do it as naturally as he did. Andre’s potential is huge!”

Villa was too tired to try the trick to dirt that afternoon, and he didn’t get the chance until his first practice session at X Fighters in Madrid a few days later. Many of you would have seen the video footage floating around on the net showing his first attempt, massive, which he came so close to pulling. And not one to ride on the safe side in competition Villa tried to bust out the Barrel Roll again but unfortunately messed it up worse than in practice, and his shot of beating the likes of Nate Adams, Twitch Stenburg and Mat Rebeaud for the crown crumbled.

There’s no doubt that if Villa had more time to perfect the trick in his park to dirt beforehand the result at X Fighters would have been different.

To someone as naturally talented as Villa the trick seemed so achievable even though he’d only just learned it at the time. Another rider might have been more weary or cautious; waiting until he was certain he could pull it in competition before stomping it.

Rushing in too fast, or throwing his ace cards on the table too soon so to speak, is a side to Villa’s personality he’s now trying to change for the future. There’s no doubt he can mix it with the worlds best FMX riders, but he has realised during his recovery stint in 06/07 he has to change his approach if he wants to minimise the risks of being out injured. “I’ve always had this ride to win attitude in my head no matter who I was competing against, but I’ve learned I need to relax a bit more, take it a little easier, and work my way up more gradually instead of throwing it all on the line. Since being off the bike this last period I’ve even changed my diet to eating healthier food, and as kooky as it sounds, have also been working with a personal trainer to ensure my body is as strong as it can be before I rode again.”

Back To The Park

Just looking at Andre Villa’s FMX park sent a few tingles up my spine. Then when the wind finally died off around 7pm, the first night we had the chance to get a session underway, it was all on!

With the park freshly watered Dany Torres was the first out and set the standard of riding so high straight off the mark it was definitely worth driving the 3000 kilometres just to see him ride.

The kid is electric to watch. His style unique, and his timing as he explored one hit after the next flawless. Once he built his momentum there was no turning back. Some of the biggest Turndown Whips I’ve ever seen, and his stylish Laid Back One Handed Whips with his left hand back around his rear guard incredible. Villa had mentioned the first time he saw Dany ride he knew he was going to be sick, but you never realise just how good a rider is until you see them busting out right in front of you.

Busty was out next, followed by Alvaro and Manu, and the three old school riders, with all the experience in the world, eased their way around the many hits and obstacles the park offers before they went to town on the six huge dirt landers with big safety decks, eight ramps, a dirt double double section, the first 75-foot, the second 90-foot, a number of different sized fun boxes, smaller dirt transfers, berms, rhythm sections, and a kicker that jumps you straight over the foam pit to loop the course into one smooth flow that Villa calls, “The Hot Lap”.

The Page brothers were a little scared and nervous of the big dirt hits at first, Charlie also because Andre Villa is one of his all-time heroes, but after an hour on the course both kids showed their potential by throwing down some of their bigger tricks and Flip combos.

Morgan Carlson and Rano Holm, two of Andres riding buddies and former Scandinavian, but now Spanish residents, also hit the track to make the most exciting freestyle sessions of the Euro roadrtrip.

Andre, not long back on the bike took it pretty easy, taking time out every 20-minutes all so to rest his knee and take in the action happening around him on his freshly built freestyle course. “This is what it’s all about”, he said with a grin. “I love it when everyone rides together. My wish is for more riders to move to this area of Spain so it becomes more like the California of Europe. There’s two airports close by so it’s easy to fly to events, and its just way more fun with so many riders.”

Later that night everyone met up at a restaurant in town. A huge table of around 30 people including Ronnie Faisst and Jeremy Lusk, who were hanging out between shows for the week, chowed down as conversations and laughter roared from all sides of the table. All that was missing was a few Aussie riders to make it like a freestyle-des-nations gathering, but then things might have got real messy.

It was so cool to be around so many different riders from so many countries, young up and comers with some of the true old school heroes of the sport.

The following day the wind was blowing strong so the crew spent some time relaxing by soaking up the rays on the beach. Faisst stood out like dogs balls with his pale skin covered in tats, as did most of the freestyle riders come to think about it, surrounded by tourists that number towards two million in the region over summer, which is a huge jump from the 250,000 locals that enjoy a more peaceful winter.

Come the end of the day we were all keen to get back to Villa’s park, which was to be the final session of the roadtrip for Busty and I before we hit the long road back to Germany. It was almost like a photo shoot-off as magazine dudes Chris Stock had made the trek from Germany for Moto X, Jean-Francois Muguet from France for Freetsyle Motocross, Ricky Monti from Italy for Rider FMX, and myself for Freerider, and we all shot the hell out of the action until the sky turned bright orange, and I scored my final photo of Alvaro Dal Farra in the dark lit up by Chris’s huge remote strobe flash, which was freaky considering I was shooting at around 500^th-of-a-second as was he, so what’s the odds on us pressing the button at the very same time? Buggered if I know, but I do know it only happened once in the whole session. Good timing aye Chris!

Future For Andre Villa?

Villa has sure come a long way from the days of living in a cockroach infested house with a Spanish family he couldn’t communicate with. He now owns his own large Spanish style home that he shares with his Swedish girlfriend Micha, has the greatest FMX park in Europe to keep him busy most days, and has a very healthy outlook on what he needs to achieve both personally and physically to lift himself back up among the worlds best FMX riders in 2008. On his days off he either hits the surf, plays a round of poker to chill out, and also puts energy into his passion of taking photographs, and he’s pretty damn good at it too, so please Villa stay focused on your moto riding as the last thing I need is you putting me out of a job! Thanks for having us at your insane park mate.

Andre Villa

Age: 25.

Lives: Torrevieja, Spain.

Rides: Suzuki RM250.

Site: www.andrevilla.com

Recent Highlights

(Note: IFMXF event runs over two nights. Villa was out injured from June 06 until pretty much June 07. For latest results check his website.)

2006

1^st and 2^nd, World Championship FMX, Milano, Italy.

3^rd and 4^th, World Championship FMX, Innsbruck, Austria.

1^st and 2^nd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Berlin, Germany.

1^st, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Mannheim, Germany.

3^rd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Vienna, Austria.

5^th, Red Bull X-Fighters, Mexico.

2005

1^st and 2^nd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Milan, Italy.

2^nd, Nokia N Gage, Valencia, Spain.

2^nd and 3^rd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Vienna, Austria.

2^nd and 2^nd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Bremen, Germany.

7^th, Red Bull X-Fighters, Madrid, Spain.

1^st, Open Burn Tour, Madrid, Spain.

2^nd, IFMXF Night Of The Jumps, Hamburg, Germany.

The New Wizard Of Spain – Dany Torres

For a pint sized freestyler weighing in at 65 kilos, 19-year-old Spaniard Dany Torres sure packs a punch on a freestyle course. His riding skills are very high, no doubt from his years spent racing pro motocross and supercross in the Spanish championships.

Dany’s first opportunity to ride freestyle came at the age of 15, but his transition to a full-time professional FMX rider took two years while he continued to race, finishing fourth in his final crack at a supercross championship in 2004.

From this point on he has been fast making a name for himself as the new king of freestyle in Spain, taking over the reigns from Edgar Torronteras, who has carried the crown for well over a decade, and is still going strong.

Dany is huge in Spain, but of late only just starting to make a big name for himself outside of his native land thanks to the Red Bull X-Fighters series, where he has been showing his natural talent to the rest of the world since his first event in 2004. His big breakthrough came in the 2007 event in Mexico where he beat Nate Adams, Robbie Maddison and Mat Rebeaud to claim his first major victory on the world stage.

After that win Dany said he felt strange afterwards for while as the reality set in he beat riders of that caliber. The following round in Ireland saw him finish third behind Rebeaud and Travis Pastrana, which placed him 40 points in front overall heading to his home round in Madrid, which would have been decided by the time this article goes to print.

Dany says that the European riders are on a high level now compared to the likes of America and other leading countries, and he plans to spend some time riding with these riders to help him push his own level even higher. Dany likes to watch and learn from other pro riders, taking a slice of their style he likes and blending it with his own, which might be the reason why he is one of the most exciting riders to watch in the world of FMX.

Dany Torres

Age: 19.

Lives: Seville, Spain.

Rides: KTM250.

Site: www.danytorres.com

Recent Highlights

2007

3^rd, Red Bull X-Fighters, Ireland.

1^st, Red Bull X-Fighters, Mexico.

2^nd, FMX National, Nimes, France.

2006

1^st, Mad Riders, Granada, Spain.
4^th, Red Bull X-Fighters, Madrid, Spain.
4^th, Red Bull X-Fighters, Mexico City.

A HUGE Thanks: Goes out to the legend himself, Busty Wolter, for dragging my butt around Europe for two weeks in what was easily the greatest FMX roadtrip I’ve ever experienced. To each and every rider, their girlfriends and families, I thank you for your generous hospitality and welcoming our crew into your homes, very cool indeed! Also a big thanks to M80’s Adam Barker and Ryan Leyba for the endless goodtimes and gut wrenching laughs along the way, and also to M80’s Robert Castorina for conspiring with Busty in the first place to make the Euro FMX roadtrip a reality. Love your work guys! Goba.