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Napolitan buoyed by new sponsor
By JOHN BASSETTI
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.
Something coveted just fell into Anthony Napolitan’s lap.
That would be a sponsor, Red Bull.
But, in the action sports business, the reward is anything but unearned.
Napolitan, an Austintown native, has covered the globe doing flips and twists in BMX dirt events with little protection other than a helmet and pads.
His latest adventures included two trips to China and one to Germany where he won the Team Mobile Extreme Playgrounds in Duisburg.
He also won best-trick contest in Duisburg.
In Shanghai, Napolitan placed fifth in the mini-mega ramp event at the Asian X-Games. In Beijing, he was on hand for the grand opening of a camp, a facility patterned after Camp Woodward in State College.
The 2004 Fitch graduate was recently invited to another X-Games in LA later this summer.
He is also pre-qualified for the Chicago Red Bull Stomping Ground on June 12, when, according to AST.com, riders will compete for five spots in the finals and a chance at a $50,000 prize purse, including $25,000 for first place.
The event will take place at an abandoned factory lot that was transformed.
The mini-mega is a scaled-down version of the bigger mini-mega ramp at the X-Games.
The 24-year-old also performed a never-done-before trick in Shanghai: back flip, turn down-to-tailwhip, which Napolitan described as “a combination of tricks that makes for a messy ball.”
Just this past weekend, Napolitan had a photo shoot for the cover of ESPN The Magazine.
“There’s a lot of stuff planned,” he said. “When the X-Games come around, we’ll be doing more crazy stuff, like trying to get involved with late-night TV shows.”
Before Red Bull, Napolitan’s main sponsor was Amp Energy Drink.
“It’s a pretty big deal in the action sports world. A lot of people’s dreams are to be sponsored by them [Red Bull].”
During 2009, Napolitan finished 14th in the Dew Tour standings in BMX Dirt and won the Worlds in Cologne.
The Worlds carry a lot of weight because its sanctioning body is the International BMX Freestyle Federation, a group that got BMX racing into the Olympics.
“If the IBMXFF ever gets BMX Dirt into the Olympics, my results put me in a good position. Cologne is a good stepping-stone for whenever BMX goes fully into the Olympics.”
In addition to four Dew Tour stops this summer, Napolitan’s schedule will include competition in contests in several countries.
On June 19-20, Napolitan will be at the Mid-Ohio race course in Lexington, near Mansfield to satisfy a Red Bull commitment.
“It’s not bike-related. It’s a car rally.”