Nelson's Kurt Sorge wins 2012 Red Bull Rampage
By Bruce Fuhr
Red Bull put on a show at Baldface Lodge earlier this year as Travis Rice invited the elite boarders from throughout the world to test Kootenay’s Selkirk Mountains at the Red Bull Supernatural.
The extreme sport sponsor may want to dial up another event for the Kootenays, only make the event for freeriders.
This after Nelson’s own Kurt Sorge was crowned King of freeride mountain biking at the 2012 Red Bull Rampage.
The Giant Factory Off-Road Team rider soared down the steep cliffs of Virgin, Utah to capture the top prize Monday.
“It all came together,” the 24-year-old Nelsonite said during an interview on the Red Bull website.
“The run . . . it was gnarly, but I was just glad I got it together for myself and for first place.”
Sorge, quick to praise his pit crew for helping with the title, made it easy for the judges making quick work of an already impressive first run with a better second ride to destroy any doubt who was the best rider on the day and winner of the 2012 title.
Sorge looked confident on the upper section — adding a no-handed drop high on the course — before shooting through the Oakley Icon Sender making a superman jump and back flip step-down.
“It was actually really fun . . . one of the fun-est rides I’ve ever ridden in my life,” said Sorge, runner up at the 2008 Rampage. “I was just stoked to get it in the bag and just link it all up.”
Sorge, who calls Nelson home, has been riding bikes since Grade 3. He started riding competitively at 13 in dirt jump and slopestyle contests.
Sorge graduated to Giant at 18, emerging on the international freeride scene in 2008 when he finished second at the 2008 Red Bull Rampage.
Since then he has been featured in magazine and video shoots and starred in the 2010 film “Follow Me.”
In 2011 Sorge won the Châtel Mountain Style contest in Portes du Soleil, France, and he kicked off his 2010 season with a win in April at the John Henry Days Dirt Jump competition in Vancouver, Canada.
The title came pretty much as a surprise to Sorge, who has been a busy rider for the past six months.
“I’ve been riding all spring filming for the movie then riding all these freestyle contests during the summer,” he explained. “I got a little hurt then get on my bike feeling comfy and having fun and coming here pretty much scared s—less.”
France’s Antoine Bizet was second behind Sorge with Logan Binggeli of St. George, Utah third.
The 2012 Red Bull Rampage, with its highest start gate in the 10-year history, attracted more than 2,000 fans.
First held in 2001, the Red Bull Rampage is considered the most challenging freeride contest in the world as it shows off riders and their bikes in a creative, free-flowing format that allows each to choose their own lines and tricks over a 1500-foot vertical drop against the red-rock desert landscape.
The full Red Bull Rampage is available on-demand web cast now while recap show as part of Red Bull Signature Series on NBC is set for December 8 starting at 11 a.m. PST.
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