VERTICALLY CHALLENGED

Nottingham's Jamie Bestwick has found fame and fortune in America as one of the top BMX riders in the world but as James Robson discovers, his profile is not quite so high in his home town...There is little to make Jamie Bestwick stand out as he waits in one of Nottingham's numerous coffee shops.Barely meriting a second glance, customers continue to sip their drinks blissfully unaware of him.

It would hardly be the case across the other side of the Atlantic, where the 35-year-old's posters adorn the walls of thousands of fans, prepared to travel from coast to coast to watch him perform.Meanwhile he has been immortalised as an action figure and video game character.Still the customers sip their drinks.

Perhaps he'd cause more of a stir on these shores if he'd taken up the numerous requests to feature in the music videos of rock bands such as Linkin Park."All that freakin' out suits some people, but it's not for me," says Bestwick, who has been one of the top BMX riders in the world since quitting his job in aeronautical engineering in 1999 to try his luck in America.

The move certainly paid off with the Nottingham-raised rider winning major events such as the X Games and Dew Tour for action or extreme sports in that time.

Bestwick is a Vert rider, which entails performing stunts on a huge ramp and it has seen him earn major sponsorships and become a household name in the States.

He may be largely anonymous in his home country, but Google his name and there are as many as 59,000 results.Bestwick had already achieved a level of success before heading over to States, winning the World Championship while still juggling competitions with his day job.

But he finally made the decision to take it up full time in 1999, packing up his job and moving to Pennsylvania where Camp Woodward, a training facility for BMX riders, is situated.

"It was really hard," he said. "I'd not only made the decision of leaving a good job, but I had to sell the house, leave friends and family and only two weeks after I got married."I sat with my wife and we said we'd give it a year. If it didn't pan out we'd come back.

"For the first five years we were literally out in the middle of the sticks. I don't know what was going through my mind when I bought the house."It was a very quiet town, like one of these places that you see in the films where kids get lost, run into the middle of the town and end up getting murdered.

"But it was a very nice town, very quaint. Pennsylvania has got a lot of history. It's very old Colonial America. It's a beautiful place to go, the summers were fantastic and in the winter there was four feet of snow - it was like England used to be years ago. It's definitely nice, just a different way of life.

"I wouldn't necessarily have done that for a job, it was purely because I love the bike. I wanted to be the best in my sport.

"Europe has a fantastic level of riding, but at the time everyone looked at the American guys as the level to get to. They were the ones people made the fuss over."I just wanted to change that, have a guy from England, representing Europe, go out there and do incredibly well. It was a weird decision and I'd only do it for the passion of riding.

"Bestwick is ready to return now and settle down in Hucknall, but it isn't for the want of success, rather because he wants to use his profile to raise the popularity of action sports in England.Now one of the most recognisable faces in BMX, he hopes to change the public perception of sports like skateboarding and snowboarding.

Though appreciating the sexy image of extreme sports, that very name is one of his major bugbears, preferring the term action sports.

"We were labelled with the extreme tag," he said. "You see guys with tattoos and think we are just a bunch of punk kids. Certain labels get attached, but we are trying to change people's minds.

"In the past few years we've seen it taken more seriously. You can see that with snowboarding being the biggest event at the winter games."Action sports are making a move into the mainstream and it's capturing minds. There will be BMX racing at the next games and in 2012 there will be freestyle.

"With it becoming an Olympic event it's only going to get better and better.

"Bestwick wants to improve facilities in England so future riders won't be forced to make a living in the States as he was.

"There are more skate parks in England than anywhere I know," he said. "There are an unbelievable amount of places for kids to do it, but it's not highlighted enough.

"We're seeing a big shift in the popularity of the games. In the States skateboarding is one of the most popular sports along with baseball, basketball and American football.

"That should happen in England. Not everyone wants to be footballers, cricketers or rugby players."Schools have the space to provide facilities for kids who don't want to be David Beckham or Tim Henman."