While on the New Zealand leg of Travis Pastrana's 2011 Nitro Circus Tour, Australian pros Andy Buckworth and Jaie Toohey completed two BMX firsts over the Gigant-A-Ramp on Saturday, Feb. 12 in Hamilton, New Zealand. According to Nitro Circus, Buckworth landed the world's first no-handed double frontflip, and Toohey landed the world's first triple tailwhip backflip.
"Apparently this is the first time this has been done on a BMX bike," Buckworth said via Facebook. "The double front flip has been done before on a BMX bike, but not without hands. Anyways, it was cool," he added.
Buckworth, 21, who became the second person in BMX to land a double frontflip (behind Anthony Napolitan) was rumored to be working on the no-handed double frontflip as far back as summer 2010. A member of the Mirraco Bikes team, Buckworth was encouraged by teammate Dave Mirra to pursue the trick, and Mirra even predicted that Buckworth would accomplish the trick in July of last year.
For Toohey, 19, who pulls double tailwhip backflips with ease (sometimes catching the double whip while still upside down during the flip), the triple whip flip seemed like the next logical step on a bigger ramp.
For their efforts, both Toohey and Buckworth received Saturday's Most Valuable Circus member awards, and were applauded by the Nitro Circus tour.
"Congrats to Jaie Toohey for his world first triple tailwhip back flip and Andy Buckworth for his no-handed double front flip. The Hamilton crowd of 25,000 witnessed history on Saturday night," said Nitro Circus via Twitter on Sunday.
The Gigant-A-Ramp gaps measure in at 32-feet and 50-feet, but both of them can be adjusted to be 8-feet longer if needed.
According to reports, Anthony Napolitan may have been experimenting with the no-handed double frontflip in the past year, but it's unknown if he has landed any attempts. Napolitan was unavailable for comment at press time.
Edit: This is the great thing about the Internet. It turns out that Anthony Napolitan got the first triple whip backflip done almost three years ago, on the resi at Woodward. Thanks to Diego Fernandes de Assis for pointing that out in the comments. And check the clip here.
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