Bravo News

tornado's spotted in oaktown! August 20

This just in from the Tornado Riders......

Hey all you falcons, fairies, friendly bunnies, & fans of freedom, too...

TONIGHT's our wild SNETH PARTY @ the Uptown in Oaktown - so come get down!!! Be prepared to smile, boogie, have fun, Fun, FUN and be showered in the friendliest of vibes.

Hope to see you there (with your posse by your side) - YEEEOOOWWW!!!

Doors @ 9pm / $10 / 21+

Love - Tornado Rider 

bravo inks F5 ski team August 18

Ski Crossers in formation....

F5 SKI CROSS READY AND PREPARED TO DOMINATE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Truckee, Ca. August 10th, 2010- F5 Ski Cross Racers, Keith Prawalsky and Trevor Ricioli, are heading down under on August 15th, 2010 for the Australian Nationals (Aug 21st & 22nd) to start the beginning of what will be a very exciting and competitive race season. F5 Ski Cross team training program this summer has been a huge success under the the supervision of Sierra Regional Spine Institute, (US Ski Team Physicians, Reno. NV) and (On Edge Sports Agency, Truckee, CA.) with high expectations for this years international and Domestic competition leading up to X-Games and the 2011 Freestyle World Ski Championships. On Edge Sports recently announced the F5 Ski Cross Team has inked a deal with Bravo Condoms as a primary sponsor of the teams assault on the winter sports competition scene. 

"Bravo Condoms is the type of sponsor/company every athlete wishes to obtain, they truly give the athlete a real sense of commitment and support. Bravo has an unwavering sense of pride & passion in the companies message about 'safe-sex responsibility and family planning. F5 Ski Cross and On Edge Sports are very proud to be joining the Bravo family and look forward to bringing more Podiums to add to the already radical line up of athletes that make up the Bravo Unit!", - Justin Morgan (On Edge Sports-Owner). 

F5 Ski Cross heads home immediately after Australian Nationals to compete in the 2010 South America Championships held in Argentina in September, continued with a commitment to compete on this years "Hole Shot Tour" (dta), X-Games, select World Cup Events, and the 2011 World Freestyle Ski Championships (Deer Valley, Utah)... Trevor Ricioli will also be defending his 3x USASA national champion Title in 2011. The commitment to achieve excellence and progression through proper training is unparalleled and second to none in the F5 camp, we look forward to the upcoming season and the accomplishments to come!... stay tuned!! 

-Bravo Condoms ....'don't leave home without it'.

Benedict+Bravo=World Champs!! August 12

Bravo pro rider Brad 'Loak Dog' Benedict has for the first time in his career been selected to represent the United States along with 6 other Americans in Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, September 1-5 to compete in the World Championships for men's downhill. The year for Brad has been stellar as he has put in a string of finishes together that mark the best of his career and also some of the best results among the American riders competing in 2010. 

His off season training this year was a huge perk, he lead organized bike tours for Specialized bicycles in both road cycling and mountain bike. During this time of working for Specialized he shed excess weight, built his cardio and put on lean muscle. Brad feels it is a major factor to his success this year; "it was awesome... I was getting paid to exercise, do what I love most (riding bikes) and get into the best shape of my life! The boys at Specialized have truly helped me achieve goals that I have always wanted to dial in.... its been an amazing year and I really can't thank them enough for their support"! 

It wasn't all roses for Benedict this year, he was told by UCI officials that his selection for the world cup team was going to come down to impressive results in a handful of the races he was to compete in. His 5th place finish at National Champs was a major boost to his chances but his luck in the 4th World Cup round at Champéry, Switzerland was less than helpful. During his qualifying run it began to piss rain and turned the coarse into a very steep/sketchy decent. While ripping down the mountain Benedict came around a blind corner and plowed into the rider on his qualifying run in front of him! Brad went over the bars and off coarse having to gather up his action and continue on his muddy decent without googles due to the incident. After qualifying Brad asked for a re-run due to the mishap but UCI officials decided that it was 'the nature of the sport and he should have found a different line to pass the slower rider'! Sounds good guys.... maybe one of you could show us how that works sometime huh?.... cool.

With the pressure on Benedict traveled to Val di Sole, Italy for the 5th round of the World Cup. He knew this was going to be his final chance to bust out a bitchin' result for making the World Champs team. Italy proved to be a tough coarse and the conditions were dry and dusty. Brad recalls that he was in survival mode trying to put solid sections together while fighting massive arm pump during his qualifying run. He more than survived the tough conditions.... he busted a 24th place qualifying position out of 229 competitors! Brad would end up 3rd fastest American and snag his best finish of his career in doing so! 

This brings us to date and of yesterday Brad was officially announced a US competitor for the World Championships. We could not be more stoked on our boy.... he is a true Bravo rider and a great ambassador for us in the sport of downhill. All the best gettin' it on bud.... Keep it Loak!! hahhahaaaaaa

-Bravo boyz  ....'for the sexually athletic'.

Mazzotta 'Aces' Moto GP... July 28

Press release by Ace Racing, LLC.

July 25, 2010

Ace Racing earned a hard-fought 15^th place finish in the AMA American Superbike final Sunday at Laguna Seca with Bravo Condoms pro rider Hawk Mazzotta making his debut for the team a successful one.  After only one quick shakedown day on the Ace Racing Yamaha R-1 prior to Friday, Hawk used the Monterey Challenge, which was a semi-pro charity event on Friday morning, to further get acquainted with the bike and crew, carding a second place finish in the process.  With a promising start to the weekend, the team was looking forward to some more results from Mazzotta as well as Stevie Bonsey in his second race on the Ace Racing Yamaha R-6 in Daytona Sportbike.

Mazzotta and the Ace Racing crew quickly found that some drastic changes were going to need to be made to the bike after the opening AMA Superbike practice session, because the pace that was good for second place in a charity race wasn’t going to cut it out with the AMA boys.  After completely changing the bike around overnight, Mazzotta was able to qualify 18^th, which wasn’t quite what he or the team were hoping for, but they made progress with the bike and had some ideas to try in morning warm-up so things were looking up for the race.

After the Sunday morning warm-up was cancelled due to poor visibility because of the dense fog at the circuit, the team was forced to make a gamble on the settings for the race and hope it worked out.  Mazzotta launched the Ace Racing Yamaha off the line well and was inside the top twenty at the start.  After working his way past a few competitors during the opening laps, he found himself with a gap to try to make up to the next group of riders.  The rest of the race was spent trying to close this gap to no avail, as well as maintain his gap over the riders chasing him.  Mazzotta was able to keep his pursuers at bay for the remainder of the race and hold on to his 15^th place finish.  Considering this was the team’s first ever AMA Superbike start and first race for Mazzotta for Ace Racing, team owner Ace Robey was definitely satisfied with the results.

In AMA Daytona Sportbike, Bonsey spent Friday’s practice trying to reacquaint himself with the Ace Racing Yamaha R-6 as well as roadracing in general after spending the last few months racing AMA Flat Track.  He was able to get up to speed more Saturday in qualifying but still wasn’t happy with his 22^nd starting spot on the grid.  On Sunday during the race, after launching his customary rocket start Bonsey was up into the top twenty immediately and working his way forward.  He was already lapping faster than he had qualified and after a few laps had worked his way up to 15^th when his bike went into a false neutral while downshifting, causing him to run off the track.  He was able to get back on, losing a few spots in the process, and then began to catch and start to pass the riders back that had gotten around him when his transmission problems surfaced again, with the same off-track excursion as a result.  Bonsey decided to play it safe and bring the bike back into the pits rather than risk injuring himself or another rider.

Although Bonsey’s mechanical problems weren’t what the team was hoping for, Mazzotta’s top fifteen in Superbike was definitely something to be proud of in what was the team’s first ever AMA Superbike start.

Ace Racing would like to thank our sponsors Bazzaz Performance, Catalyst Racing Composites, CRG, Concept Five, Dunlop, Lee's Cycle, Leo Vince, Mach One Motorsports, Motion Pro, Yamaha, Yoyodyne.

Ace Racing would also like to give a special thanks to Bravo Condoms for providing such excellent hospitality for crew and guests throughout the race weekend.  Bravo!

-Ace Racing    www.aceracingllc.com

Benedict nails podium finish.. July 22

Bravo pro rider Brad Benedict took a radical 5th place podium finish at the US National Championships 

held in Granby, Colorado this past weekend. We caught a quick update from the Specialized boys but didn't get the 

chance to catch the full details from Benedict before he jumped a plane to his next race overseas. 

Congrats buddy.... Lookin' forward to sharing a cold one with ya and getting the 411!! Rock n' roll....

-Bravo riders for life!

brad benedict qualifies 1st in Tahoe!! June 25

Bravo pro rider  and 2008 US National Champion, Brad 'Loak Dog' Benedict, just called headquarters with the radical news that he qualified 1st place for the Pro GRT Downhill event held at Northstar Resort in Tahoe, California! The fastest racers from all over the world have descended upon the beautiful Truckee area to do battle on some of the US's baddest mountain bike trails. We will keep you posted as the weekend unfolds!.... Rock n' roll Loak Dog... we are proud of yaz!!

-Bravo Condoms ....'beers n gears'!!

*For more info on the series and the event go to:  www.progrt.com

Master Zarosh.... June 24

A couple of weekends ago our CEO had the opportunity of meeting up with Bravo pro rider Zarosh Eggleston and share sometime with this amazing athlete/person. In the words of the boss man himself....

"I was so stoked to have met up with Zarosh. Bravo had events all around Nor-Cal for the past month n' half and I  was lucky enough to finally get some quality time with one of our raddest skaters. We met up at the Cachagua Store.... A country store hidden in the mountains 25 miles from the Carmel Coast. Owned by our buddies Brendan & Michael Jones, a pit-stop for unreal food and  guaranteed rad times! 

After dippin' the fings in some tasty snacks a mini group of us headed up to Eggleston compound where Zarosh has been erecting an outdoor skate-able project for over the past three years. Its literally carved into and out of the natural terrain of a hilltop.... nothing I have ever seen before! I use to do construction every summer and I know a thing or two about building and digging holes but Zarosh and his crew have really poured endless blood, sweat and tears into this radical zone. He has dubbed it 'Cachagua Land' and it truly embodies an amazing spiritual feel and vibe by taking shape with its environment perfectly. After explaining the future visions of the zone he was kind enough to throw down a mini shred sesh to the delight of our crew and the Bravo cameras. To be honest I was poopin' my shorts watching him skate this death bowl with no helmet or pads at 2:00am! But I guess that is what makes skaters one of the gnarliest group of athletes... they love clicking their heads on very hard/stationary objects and then trying it again if the attempt was failed. I respect those kind of balls.... and dedication."

"The next day I bombed into downtown Monterey to meet up with Zarosh at Platypus Skateboards. He is the owner of his own skateboard brand and also offers screen printing for other brands. I've never met anyone else with the patients that Zarosh embodies... he took me through the printing process and it blew my mind in regards to the amount of time and precision that it took to print one custom deck! He does all of his own art work by hand along with Aaron Clark owner of 'Bro Prints' out of Santa Cruz, California. He even stoked us out by making Bravo its first ever custom deck for the archives."

"To say the least my eyes have been pleasantly opened by the true passion of a skater. Zarosh and his crew keep it real through old school methods of creation and skating. I'll never forget him saying.... "It doesn't exist, unless you create it". Hats off to you buddy... your a true inspirations to the entire Bravo Unit." -Z

-Bravo Condoms ....'wow to the now!

www.platipusskateboards.com

www.broprints.com

Nacarubi will be groovy!! June 23

Party people!!  (in the words of the party organizers)

This weekend my good friends are throwing a two-night party and music festival (Nacarubi) June 25th & 26th 2010, in the remote mountainTOPS of Big Sur! There will only be 300 tickets available by donation in advance. This is an amazing opportunity for all of us to party together and it is a benefit for Big Sur schools. 

Nacarubi is the name of an old homestead ranch on the remote south coast of Big Sur. After having heard stories of the legendary parties that went on up at Nacarubi back in the 70’s and 80’s, we, along with many others are excited to rebuild the amazing original redwood slab stage, and bring on the good times once more. 

We feel that sharing music and good times with friends is crucial. We want to use this festival as a way to have fun and blow off some steam while also taking steps to help the local schools. We are in support of the spirit that made Big Sur wild and wonderful in the 1st place and look forward to the opportunity to tell some great stories to our kids, rather than retelling legends of the ‘good old days’ forever.

Grab your friends, a tent and come experience one of the most beautiful places Planet Earth has to offer!! We are over looking the ocean, have our own lake and will be camping in two big meadows!! Oh, and there will be amazing live music throughout the weekend!!!

So rock n' roll under the stars with some seriously radical people and tell'm Bravo sent yaz.... yeeowZa!!

-Bravo Condoms

For more info hit www.Nacarubi.com