Flyin’ high at the Clark County Fair

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BMX professionals Erick Soto, Andrew Topa, Michael Mogollon and Rich Lopez travel around the country performing stunts on half-pipes and ramps with their skateboards and bikes. For the rest of the fair they’re putting on high-air stunt shows near the green gate entrance at the west end of the Clark County Fair. The crew drove from San Diego, California to perform at the fair. 

Owner and operator of BMX Pros Erick Soto bought the company back in 2016 after working for them for 15 years. He moved here from Mexico in 1995 and has met everyone he knows through BMX. 

“It basically saved my life,” he said. 

As for the show, Andrew Topa and Michael Mogollon make use of their bikes while Rich Lopez skates the half-pipe. 

“The people are the judges,” Soto said. “The louder they get, the bigger tricks they do.”

Big tricks they were, with Topa performing some big-air jumps and flips on a ramp next to the half pipe — the crowd grew louder with every jump. 



As for the equipment, Topa and Mogollon are using brakeless bikes, making their ability to stop reliant on “burning dirt” and skill. 

“All of us have over 10 years of experience,” Topa said. “I’ve been personally riding for 13 years.” 

Topa is from Scottsdale, Arizona and grew up in the Bay Area of California. He got into riding BMX bikes after riding dirt bikes became “too expensive.” His favorite part of the whole sport of BMX is the adrenaline rush he gets after performing. 

“There’s nothing better than landing something you’ve been working really hard at for a long time,” Topa said, later mentioning that the hardest part of the sport is sustaining injuries. 

Lopez, the event’s sole skateboarder, was the second person to land a 900 on a skateboard following Tony Hawk’s in 1999. He’s been skating for about 30 years and said pulling off the 900 was probably the hardest thing he’s done during his skateboarding career.