“Another year in the books and to celebrate, we decided to put some of our favorite clips from the year into one special edit. This one goes out to Rickey Bates. Happy Birthday buddy, we miss you! Thanks for the love and we hope you enjoy it!“- Shadow

Still so hard to put into words how sad Rickey being taken from us is. Here’s some footage they had sitting around from before his passing, and of course it’s crazy.

“Here is some footage from the last time Trey, Rickey, and I were able to get together and film. Good times and good vibes. Miss you buddy. Banned in peace.“- Ryan Chadwick/Shadow

“In a little while, the Bates family & Casselberry crew will be saying goodbye to Rickey one last time, but before we do that, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone in BMX who has sent their love to us down here in Florida. The last week has been incredibly trying to say the least, but the response from fans & friends has allowed those who knew Rickey to keep their heads up, knowing that his contribution to BMX will never be forgotten. While WE know what Rickey accomplished through BMX, some of his family members couldn’t quite grasp his influence in the sport, until these last few days, and last nights wake proved to be a somber, yet happy experience. The Bates family has a pretty cool announcement in store, and the Banned family has announced that they’ll be finishing Banned 5 in the near future, so Rickey’s legacy will continue on. Look for a special edition Regulator frame sometime in early 2012, as well. All of us at Sputnic thank you for your support. Go ride your bike; I’m sure that’s what Rickey & Gary are doing, wherever they are.Additionally, to all Banned supporters up North, here is some information on Gary Dimartine’s memorial:
“A viewing will be held on Wednesday, September 28th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Wimberg Funeral Home 211 E. Great Creek Road, Galloway 609-641-0001. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, September 29th at Church of Assumption in Galloway at 10:00 AM, interment will immediately follow at Germania Cemetery in Galloway. For condolences or directions, please visit wimbergfuneralhome.com.”- Sputnic

Via Sparkys:

“Friends, Riders & Family –

This past Tuesday, the Casselberry community was rocked by the news that our own Rickey Bates passed away from injuries obtained in an automobile accident outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

To celebrate the life & good times of Rickey, we invite you to join the Sparky’s family for a viewing at the Baldwin Fairchild Funeral Home, located at 994 East Altamonte Dr. in Altamonte Springs, Florida on Monday September 25th from 2pm – 4pm and 6:30pm – 9pm. We welcome those in attendance to share your thoughts & memories of Rickey.

Services will held 11am on Tuesday September 26th at St. Augustine Church, located at 375 North Sunset Drive in Casselberry. The procession will stop by 71 North for a moment of reflection and then proceed to the cemetery.”

Today I received a very sad phone call to tell me that Rickey Bates and Gary Dimartine, both of the Banned crew passed away last night in a car accident. I don’t have any real details but there has been an outpouring of support on Twitter much of which is being listed under the #banned tag (if you’ve got Twitter, please chime in with some memories of Rickey and use #banned so it’s easily searchable). I never met Gary but I’ve known Rickey for a long time so this is pretty hard to take and I’m going to take a few days to write some words about the kind of person Rickey was. Rest in peace.

Here’s an edit of Rickey Bates’ clips that won’t be making the cut for the next Banned DVD.

So here’s an exclusive I’m pretty stoked to be able to present to you guys. Sparkys Distribution got a bunch of riders from all their primary brands (Shadow, Subrosa and Sputnic) to take a trip down to the Texas Toast jam and on the way they got a ton of incredible riding done. Hoang Tran, Kyle Hart, Seth Kimbrough, Rickey Bates, Greg Smee, Tom Smith and Ben Hucke were all in attendance. Too many awesome tricks to name, just watch and enjoy!

At the end of the video there’s a link to a very special contest where you can win a lot of sick prizes so make sure you stick around to the end.

Rickey Bates and Billy Richardson drove out to a city a few hours away from their home to ride some new territory, while everyone else was shooting off fireworks.

Tom Molyneux’s “Lung Butter” series is back for another installment. Black Lung is about ten minutes of flipcam action from Florida and New Jersey. It features a good amount of known dudes, like Mark Mulville, Rickey Bates, Mark Potoczny, Colt Fake and Dave McDermott… and also has plenty of non-riding rowdiness in between.