Five Minutes With Jake Smith

The 2016 edition of the New Zealand Farm Jam took place in the hills of Otapiri Gorge in February. The 2600-acre property plays home to some of the best freestyle motocross and BMX courses in the world. Amongst the abundance of FMX, BMX and MTB riders that flocked to the eighth running of the event was NSW shredder, Jake Smith, along with Ryan Brown from Victoria. Jake and Ryan have been slaying the Australian FMX scene for a while now, and definitely turned things up a notch for the competition. I grabbed Jake for few words after the event.

Ben: How did you feel about being invited to ride at the 2016 Farm Jam?
Jake: Yeah man, I heard a few competitors had to drop out just before the event, so I threw my hand up. The organisers seemed stoked and sent me an official invite, and told me that they would sort out a bike for me to ride, so I couldn’t have been happier.

You travelled to the event with Ryan Brown. Do you guys normally ride together?
Like most Aussie FMX riders, we live a fair distance from each other, but try and catch up for a ride whenever we can. I have to say a huge thanks to Ryan who basically organised the whole trip – from plane tickets to accommodation and everything in between.

What did you guys get up to during the week before the event?
Well, we flew into Queenstown and headed straight out to the course where I was introduced to the Frew family; such an awesome family, I should add. We pretty much just hung out and helped those guys for a few days, building jumps and shaping up old ones. Once we had our bikes picked up and put together, Dan Frew was more than happy for us to shred the course whenever we could, depending on the weather.

How was the course? Was it gnarlier than you expected?
The course is kind of intimidating to look at, but once you’re out there flowing around, you don’t want to stop. Every jump is different but so much fun and they flow together perfectly, so you can’t ask for much more.

Who else rode the event and who did you compete against?
I got to meet and ride with a few of the New Zealand rippers such as Stephan Smith who was kind enough to have us stay at his house for a couple of days. Also, Callum Shaw and Levi Sherwood, who absolutely kill it on dirt bikes. From Australia, there was Ryan Brown throwing down and setting the bar for us, along with Jake Bowen who killed it at both the FMX and freeride competition, and our supercross buddy Lewis Woods was throwing down huge whips for us to watch all day. Basically, it was just a real good bunch of dudes to hang out and ride with.

How did you go in the competition?
I managed to pull first place in the freeride competition and second place Overall, so I was stoked!

Any standout moments for you? I heard you threw down some big Backflips.
Yeah man, I’d been eyeing off a third-gear jump from the moment we got up to the freeride course. I jumped it three or four times and then Flipped it. Another highlight was Ryan Brown’s Flair on the dirt quarter. He’s only just learned how to Flair off a steel ramp, so it was gnarly of him to sack up and go for it.

What was the trickiest jump on the course?
The return step-up was kind of like a small version of Josh Sheehan’s Triple Flip jump (laughs). It was a sick jump, but it could get pretty gnarly in the wind. There was also a log jump, like something you would see on a mountain bike course, and a few off-axis dirt lines.

Was it hard to perform your Flip tricks on the natural terrain jumps?
Once I’d had a couple of hours jumping and Flipping the jumps, I probably had more fun throwing tricks off those jumps than a ramp, to be honest.

Did you get to check out the BMX/MTB jumps? They looked pretty cool.
As soon as you look at the BMX/MTB lines, you can see that Brett Frew and the boys have spent countless hours bringing them to life, because every single jump looks like it should be in an art museum (laughs). They’re all perfect and look like so much fun.

Who do you think rode well in the event?
Ryan Brown obviously rode really solid taking out the Overall win, but some of the New Zealand “underdogs” like Reegan Hunter and Stephen Smith put some pretty solid runs together. Also Jake Bowen had one of the sickest styles there and killed it on the day.

What was the most memorable highlight of the event?
There were heaps, man, but one that comes to mind was Caleb Delacey sending it huge off the quarter pipe and hip jump. I think every time he jumped either of them, he clicked up a gear (laughs).

What did riding this event mean to you?
Farm Jam was actually my first-ever moto-related podium, so I’m pretty stoked about that, and it’s something I’ll probably never forget.

Anything else you want to add?
I just want to thank all my friends, family and sponsors for all their ongoing support; I can’t thank you guys enough. I’d also like to thank the Frew family for not only having me over, but for all their countless hours of hard work that goes into holding an event like Farm Jam. It was unreal and I can’t wait until 2018!