FARM JAM 2018
Five minutes with:
Andrew
Jackson
FMX Gold winner
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Where else but New Zealand
could you find a dairy farmer who
could out-ride the likes of Tyler
Bereman and Josh Sheehan on a dirt
bike? Meet 24-year-old Southland
local Andrew Jackson, who took
Farm Jam 2018 by storm.
Andrew, congrats on winning the
Farm Jam this year. How much of
a surprise was it to be named the
best freestyle rider after two days
of competition?
To be honest, it was a really big
surprise! I went into the Farm Jam
with no real expectations of getting
any placings, and when I heard who
was coming over this year, I was just
stoked to ride with them, let alone
stand on the top step.
I was really pumped when it was
announced that Tyler was coming
over; I’ve followed him on social
media for a long time and to ride with
the likes of him and Josh, it was just
awesome.
On the freeride day, I was pretty glad
to get that over with as I was looking
at flipping one of the dirt hits and
I was nervous going into it. I was
happy to make it out alive, really!
Dude, that flip took everyone by
surprise. Did you tell anyone you
were going to do it?
I only told one mate I was thinking
about it. I didn’t want to hype it up
and have that sort of pressure on
me. I went for it and yeah, it was just
a guessing game. I’d never flipped
any dirt hits before, so it was all new
to me, and after the disappointing
quarter-pipe session I needed
something to get me back up there.
Wait… you’d never flipped
dirt-to-dirt before? That’s pretty
crazy, seeing as you flipped the
long-and-low double on Farm Jam
event day too.
Yeah I wasn’t planning on flipping
that, but I got caught up in the
moment and went for it! It was a
hard jump to flip as it was so mellow,
and you had to aim at overshooting
the jump in order to bring the bike
around. bunch of dirt hits as well. There’s an
80ft step-up into a 80ft dirt double,
then you come around and there’s
another 85ft dirt double.
And you were doing those crazy
Underflips off the dirt hit as well? Seeing as you’re a local, do you
ride at the Frews’ place much?
Yep. I don’t think I hit the freestyle
ramp once at Farm Jam – I was
just having too much fun off the dirt
jumps and you know how it is with
ramps: they get a bit boring after a
while. I probably rode there three times
in the lead-up to Farm Jam, so
that could be seen as an unfair
advantage, and I’d probably
agree. I’m lucky to only live 40
minutes away from one of the best
compounds in the country, and the
Frew brothers are always happy to
let me ride. Those guys do such
an amazing job of prepping both
the moto and pushbike jumps, and
putting on an incredible event down
here.
Hahaha! From when we last saw
you ride it looks like you’ve been
putting in a hell of a lot of work.
Was Farm Jam something you’d
deliberately focused on?
For sure. I’d ridden there twice
before and each time I was pretty
gutted with my results. This year
I wanted to change that: I wanted
to ride consistently and just walk
away without any injuries. In 2016
I only lasted half the event before
crashing and snapping my bars and
wrecking my bike. So yeah, I had
sort of focused on 2018, but at the
same time I knew the big-named
riders would come so I didn’t think
I’d get any placings. I just wanted to
ride smoothly and to be happy that
I’d given it everything at the end of
the day.
What sort of a confidence boost
does this win give you moving
forward?
I haven’t really had any real goals for
my riding. I’ve just been doing it for
fun on weekends, but this has given
me more motivation to push for more
shows and possible competitions
overseas maybe. I was never under
the impression I could go overseas
except for the odd show, but to get
the Farm Jam win has given me a bit
of extra belief in myself that that sort
of thing could be possible. It’s given
me more motivation, for sure.
What’s the rest of the year looking
like for you?
I work part-time on a dairy farm,
but from November to April I do
shows for Freestyle NZ every second
weekend. Between the two that
keeps me pretty busy.
For 2018 I’d like to push for the
China gig with Freestyle Kings in
September. That would be a great
thing to tick off the bucket-list. I
definitely also want to work on some
more flip tricks this year as that’s
where I know I’m lacking with my
riding.
Awesome. Thanks for the chat,
man, and congrats again on the
win.
Thanks heaps! t
Tell us a bit about your home
set-up.
It’s a bit like the Farm Jam course
I guess, but it’s more spaced out.
We have an 11-acre paddock and
it’s one big freestyle course and a
motocross track. The whole paddock
is pretty much destroyed (laughs).
We’ve got four ramps going different
ways so me, Stu Ewing and another
local, Jefferson Highsted can ride
to whatever the wind and sun
conditions are doing, and have a
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