FMX INSIDER No.43: FREESTYLE KINGS

Transmoto’s weekly web-exclusive column, the FMX Insider, penned by Ben Heidrich.

Australian Freestyle Motocross stunt show, ‘Freestyle Kings’, are going into their second year of business and going strong. Based in NSW, they now have a solid recruitment of full-time riders and cover most of the east coast. I caught up with owner, Josh Hannah, to chat about his first year in business and what’s new with Freestyle Kings.

BH: How much has Freestyle Kings grown over the last year? What’s new?
JH: Freestyle Kings is growing at a pretty fast rate at the moment, we’re definitely not complaining. We tour our truck mostly up and down the east coast of Australia, and on top of that we also perform full-time with ‘The Great Euro Circus’, which is great for the team too. The boys are on a roster where they rotate between the circus and the FMX truck shows.

Have you recruited any new riders?
We currently have four full-time team members who ride for Freestyle Kings, which is pretty cool, and we hope to expand the team again soon. We have myself, Josh Hannah and Brodie Markham, who has been on the team since day dot. Pat Bowden is also a regular and then we have our newly signed rider, Jake Smith, who became apart of the team in January this year. We also have Chris “Tango” Camilleri who sub contracts for the team occasionally, too.

Tell me about the circus gigs and how that come about.
It was a super-quick progress, but we definitely worked hard to pull this one off. Freestyle Kings had a meeting with the circus following a site inspection, and we thought it was possible to get FMX inside the big-top. Next minute, we are building a down-ramp and started rehearsing inside the tent. The hard part is making sure your judgment is on point, plus jumping a globe every night and not being able to see the lander. It’s tough, but the boys are always very calculated and nail it; night in and night out.

The Ekka was a great success last year, so what plans have you made for this year?
The Ekka was great for the team last year. It was our first Royal Show and we are stoked to be heading back there next week. Again we are moving the ramps into two different positions under two minutes. The entire crowd will get an up close and personal show rather than a traditional show in the middle of the stadium where it’s hard to see or tell what riders are doing sometimes. The theme this year is transformers, and our extreme show got an extra 10 minutes added onto it. The boys are excited for this one.

You and Jackson Strong pulled off a ramp to portable 110ft Flip. Tell us about that and how you made it work.
Can’t take credit for this one. Jacko put in a huge effort to pull this one off. He came to us and said he wanted to build an extension to do a world record portable Flip, and that’s exactly what he did. We helped build an extension and bolted it onto our truck. The photos and videos don’t do it justice. Many people don’t know he nailed it in practice first so we got to see it a couple of times. We were stoked to be a part of it and in such a huge stadium with a massive audience made for a great night.

What has been your favourite Freestyle Kings show to date?
I’d have to say The Ekka. Two weeks of just riding your bikes with your mates in front of huge crowds each night is awesome. The choreography and atmosphere of the show itself is next-level. We are actually heading to The Ekka again next week. Good times.

Do you have any big plans for the future?
We definitely have some big plans. We can’t exactly elaborate what those plans are, so your going to have to sit back and wait.