This week I wanted to open up the email box and answer some questions I had received from you- the fans.  There were quite a few to go through, but I picked one for Coast to Coast that I thought was great.  If you have a question about FMX, the riders or anything else related, feel free to send it in to me via fmxannouncerman@live.com and I will answer it myself or you may even have one of our rider’s email you back with your answer!

The first email I picked comes from Hunter T. out of Peoria, IL.  He wrote, “How does the judging work?  If a rider does not do a Backflip can he still win?  Just what are these judges looking for?”  Whoa Hunter!  Three questions?  Just kidding, those are good ones and I get asked this a lot so here goes.  FMX is a competition and the riders are scored on a 0-100 point scale.  During the run the judges look for four basic things: Execution, creativity, difficulty, and completion.  Showmanship is a factor too, as is crowd reaction whether or not anyone likes it.  Judges are human and usually big fans too, so they can be swayed by an energetic rider or loud crowd and sometimes it can make the difference if rider’s runs are scoring pretty close.  Let me break down each of the four categories for you since I often ask the crowd to judge whip or best trick contests and I want you to do it well.

            Execution:  This element is pretty straight forward but it’s not simple.  A rider who scores well here does tricks across both sides of the bike while doing Nac-Nac’s or Switchblades, the back of the bike (grab tricks) and through the bars with tricks like Shaolin Bar Hops and Heel Clickers.  An exceptional rider does all points well which is very hard to learn.  If you watch closely you will see some riders have favorite areas to work.  Also closely watched during this phase is extension of the arms, legs and whatever else the rider throws out.  Hang time, or holding the trick for a long time gets cheers from the fans and points from the judges.  The landing is important too, go too long and it can deduct points.  Too short and it can look sloppy and dangerous. 

            Creativity:  This is a little harder to figure.  Judges just like fans have their favorite tricks to see, and it is easy to award points to the rider that does something that the others in the comp are not doing, or to pull off a trick that we don’t see often like the Sideshow.  Riders are like artists expressing themselves using the sky as their canvass.  Some riders can create a Van Gogh and I have seen more than one do stick figures! 

            Difficulty:  Like execution, this category is pretty cut and dry.  A Holy-Man is tougher, scarier and more dangerous than a Superman (or even a flip some think) and a rider that can load a run with lots of difficult tricks can score well even if execution is a little off.  To me, just jumping a ramp straight up with no trick (a Rick Roll) is hard enough, but as a judge you must look past that and see the difficulty from a riders mind. 

            Completion: Sure you think, this is easy. A rider that does not complete the trick crashes right?  Not necessarily, they can do a trick like a one handed flip and if they only remove the hand a few inches from the bar they will score lower than the rider whose entire arm is stretched out above their head.  Most judges also like to see a rider attack or race the course.  A rider that can move quickly and smoothly through the turns not only looks better overall, but can also get in an extra trick before the clock runs out.  This part of judging is very subjective and is why many events use multiple judges to average out the opinions of the individuals. 

Sounds pretty basic, but you have to remember, a judge is trying to catch all of these points during the run so the scores can be tabulated and awarded quickly.  The average jump takes only 3.5 seconds with a few seconds in between to process all the information. The judges don’t get the option of viewing an instant replay so they must stay focused and sharp to catch everything. Add in riders that are doing multiple combinations (two or three tricks on one jump) and it can get real tough real quick.  This is where the crowd can be a big influence with their noise and sway the judges to give a rider a better score.  I have judged a few events too and prefer my job on the microphone much better.

Thanks for the question Hunter and if you end up at one of our shows, come see me and I’ll try to score you a FMX t-shirt!  Don’t forget to keep checking the schedule for an event near you as rumor is some more shows are being added and you do not want to miss it!