Nokia Air and Style 2006 hailed as 'best ever'

The first weekend in December this year saw the Kaos team witness the return of the Air and Style competition. This is one of the most established European comps around and attracts the worlds top riders; even the Flying Tomato flew in for his only European date this season.

Among the riders were Hampus Mosesson, Nicolas Muller, Mathieu Crepel, and local hero David Benedek who all represent the Nokia team.

Before they demonstrated their skills in front the of a sell-out 30,000 strong crowd, the team spent half an hour chatting and signing autographs before the dizzzying flashbulbs of the industry's press.

When the time came, our riders did not fail to impress. All succeeded in progressing through the first rounds with the exception of Nicolas, whose first round draw was against fellow team mate and Munich resident David Benedek. The epic battle that ensued saw David stomp his huge double-corked 1260 (a feat never before achieved in competition) to outclass Nicolas whose attempt at a one-footed misty 720 nearly came off, but was talked about for the rest of the evening.

Hampus and Mathieu progressed after toppling Torstein Horgmo and Christophe Schmidt respectively, demonstrating some real flair and old fashioned guts to get through to the semis, where they were beaten by Risto Matilla and eventual winner Travis Rice. Elsewhere David's 1260 proppelled him through to the super final, where a imperfect landing saw him grab 4th place. The standard of this final was illustrated by the omission of Shaun White who didn't manage to even qualify for it, despite landing all his tricks.

Additionally, the rookie comp saw some great demonstration of young talent, with 16-yearold Mikkel Bang of Norway taking top podium place. Furthermore the FMX comp was won by American teenager Wiley Fullmer.

All in all, a great day for the boys from Nokia and Air and Style, with this years event hailed as the 'best ever'. However, there wasn't much time for Nicolas and Mathieu to dwell on their performances as they were soon to head out to Japan to compete in the X-Trail event.