Craig Campbell (BMX rider)

Last updated

Craig Campbell
Personal information
Full nameCraig Campbell
NicknameCamps
Born (1969-07-16) 16 July 1969 (age 55)
Essex, England
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineBMX
RoleRider
Rider typeFreestyle
Professional teams
1983?-Haro
?Skyway
?Pro-Lite
?Bully
?-1990GT

Craig Campbell (born 16 July 1969, Essex) is a retired British freestyle BMX rider and disc jockey.

Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the freestyle era in the 1980s, he was one of the first European riders to compete on American soil. Since retiring at an early age of twenty one in 1991, he established himself as a disc jockey.

Biography

Born near Southend, Essex; Campbell first came to attention in 1983 when Bob Haro, needing a British rider to represent his company, noticed Campbell's performance at a competition taking place at Harrow Skate Park thus sponsoring him in the process, making him the first non-American rider to receive a full sponsorship by Haro, resulting in Campbell's sudden popularity. [1]

Throughout his career, he have won a number of titles, amongst those are the UK King Of the Skatepark in 1984 and the UKBFA British Pro Freestyle Champion in 1985. [1] He also was one of the first European riders to compete in the United States [2] and was the first to experiment with the Rocket Air on a BMX bike in 1986 after seeing Christian Hosoi performing it on a skateboard, although Ron Wilkerson was stated by some source to being the pioneer, though he popularised the move. [3] [4] He is also credited for revolutionising the 540 wallride, again on a BMX bike [5] during a 2hip event in 1988. [6]

In 1985, his association with Pro-Lite led him to get his own signature frame, [7] built by Freewheeler, it became the best selling freestyle bike of the year, outselling its following two rivals.

In 1987, Campbell, now without a sponsor, was spending a year working in a sound mixing studio, producing soundtracks for TV commercials. Realising that his friend, Jess Dyrenforth, was in the United States getting paid to ride on shows, [1] that prompted Campbell and his friends Nick Phillip and Lee Reynolds to move there to further their BMX career in the following year. [8]

In 1991, as his contract with GT came to an end, he returned to the United Kingdom. As he was finding difficulty in making a living from freestyle BMX as well as a growing interest in music meant he retired in 1991 at the age of twenty one, where he established a career as a disc jockey.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mat Hoffman</span> American BMX rider (born 1972)

Mat Hoffman is a professional American BMX rider who was considered one of the best vert ramp riders in the history of the sport. He was nicknamed "The Condor" and ran the BMX Freestyle brand Hoffman BMX Bikes based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was a sponsored rider for Skyway and then Haro Bikes before starting his own brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Mirra</span> American BMX rider (1974–2016)

David Michael Mirra was an American BMX rider who also competed in rallycross racing. He set the record for most medals in BMX Freestyle at the X Games and earned at least one BMX medal at the event in all but one year from the competition's inception in 1995 until 2009. He also competed for several years with the Subaru Rally Team USA as a rallycross driver. Mirra rode for and was fully sponsored by Haro Bikes from the mid-1990s until he started his own bike company. He was a member of the team which won the 2014 Race Across America four-person male category. Mirra died by suicide on February 4, 2016. He was inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame on June 11, 2016.

Bob Haro is an American former professional freestyle BMX rider turned artist and business executive. He is the founder of Haro Bikes and was one of the most important early innovators of BMX freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freestyle BMX</span> Cycle sport

Freestyle BMX is bicycle motocross stunt riding on BMX bikes. It is an extreme sport descended from BMX racing that consists of five disciplines: street, park, vert, trails, and flatland. In June 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that freestyle park was to be added as an Olympic event to the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Ryan Nyquist is an American professional BMX rider with 16 X Games medals, 39 X Games competition starts and 60 Dew Tour finals appearances. Nyquist is considered one of the greatest and diversely skilled BMX riders ever. Nyquist has won numerous gold medals in the X Games Dirt Jumping & Bike Park events. Recently Nyquist has had an interest in freeride mountain biking and has been training in mountain biking as well as BMX. He currently rides for Haro Bikes, Vans Shoes, Rockstar Energy Drink, and The Jiffy Market of Los Gatos.

Haro Bikes Corporation is an American BMX and Mountain bicycle manufacturer which was founded in 1978 by Bob Haro. The Haro bikes were considered Freestyle BMX bikes.

Gregory Alan Hill is a former professional bicycle motocross (BMX) racer from America whose prime competitive years were from 1977 to 1989. After the 1988 season in the top competitive "AA" pro circuit, he retired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Wade (BMX rider)</span> American bicycle motocross rider

Morgan Wade is an American professional BMX rider from Tyler, Texas. He is best known for competing in the X Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GT Bicycles</span> Company

GT Bicycles is an American company that designs and manufactures BMX, mountain, and road bicycles. GT is a division of the Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings, which also markets Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse, DYNO, and RoadMaster bicycle brands; all manufactured in Asia.

Peter Pete Loncarevich is a former bicycle motocross (BMX) racer. Loncarevich was an "old school" professional BMX racer whose prime competitive years were from 1980 to 1994. He is of Croatian origin.

Luther William Grigs is an American "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1985 to 1996.

Michael Allen King is an "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1984 to 1998 and is also a former Mountain Bike (MTB) racer who prime competitive years in that discipline were 1993 to 2004.

China Krys Darrington is the first sponsored female Freestyle BMX rider. In 1986, she rode for GT Bicycles in Huntington Beach, California. She started riding in 1983 after finding a BMX Plus! magazine in the locker of another junior high school student at Old Trail School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torker</span> American bicycle and unicycle brand

Torker was a brand of bicycles and unicycles owned by Seattle Bike Supply, headquartered in Kent, Washington.

Dennis McCoy is an American freestyle BMX rider. He was a member of the American Freestyle Association along with Mat Hoffman and Dave Mirra and also featured in the 2001 video game Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX as well as the 2002 video game Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt. Is considered to be a pioneer in freestyle BMX, his credentials include being featured in several Road Fools episodes and managing major action sport competitions and events while still maintaining legendary skill on a BMX bike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Morales</span>

Robert L. Morales is a former freestyle BMX rider turned promoter, designer, inventor and business executive. He is the founder of DYNO Bicycles, the American Freestyle Association (AFA), Auburn Cycles, KORE Bicycle Components, Morales Bicycle Co., Carlsbad Motocross Racing (CMXR) and ASV Inventions. He is currently president and CEO of ASV Inventions, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Fiola</span>

Edward Lynn "Eddie" Fiola is an American former professional freestyle BMX rider, and a film stuntman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. L. Osborn</span>

Robert Lewis Osborn is a BMX rider. His father Bob Osborn started BMX Action magazine. He, along with Mike Buff and Bob Haro are considered the forefathers of BMX freestyle, a style of BMX bike riding that involves flatland and ramp tricks.

Edwin De La Rosa is a Panamanian-American BMX rider and photographer. He was born in Panama and moved to Brooklyn at the age of three. He has been riding BMX since the age of 13. He has been referred to as one of the most influential BMX riders of a generation, such as by ESPN who stated that he is "credited with making street riding look smooth."

References

  1. 1 2 3 "CRAIG CAMPBELL @ 23MAG BMX". 23mag.com. 16 July 1969. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  2. ↑ "FAT BMX Magazine - Craig Campbell interview - Profiler - News". Fatbmx.com. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "* BMX AERIAL TRICKS @ 23MAG BMX". 23mag.com. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  4. ↑ How to Do a BMX Rocket Air, eHow
  5. ↑ "Legends week: Jon Taylor". Rideukbmx.com. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  6. ↑ "2Hip History Check It". 2hip.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  7. ↑ "Bikes / Pro-Lite / 1985 Pro-Lite Freestyle". Bmxmuseum.com. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "JESS DYRENFORTH @ 23MAG BMX". 23mag.com. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.