Clean sweep for Ackermann

On Saturday, the two Bavarian rounds of competition at NIGHT of the JUMPs came to an end. Once again, 10 FMX athletes fought for championship points in the Olympiahalle for the overall FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. After terrible crash from Libor Podmol on the first night of competition, Hannes Ackermann was called up at the last minute to join the starting field. The older brother of last night’s winner, Luc Ackermann, Hannes celebrated with an incredible return to competition as the first rider in qualification and pulling enough big tricks such as the Front Flip, to place him in the final for the first time in 2 years.

The weekend didn’t get much better for X Games champion Rob Adelberg, who Dead-Sailored the first jump of his run, made some mistakes and missed out on the Top 6 final. Filip Podmol on the other hand was looking to seal his entry into the Final with a full run of impressive tricks, after seeing his brother crash heavily the night before. Filip was clearly exhausted after spending much of the previous 24 hours with his brother in hospital, and as he went for the Surfer to Indy to Indy Backflip, he came up short and was bucked off the bike. Filip was uninjured, but he missed his place in the finals, but still able to compete in the Best Whip competition. Filip pushed through the Whip rounds to go up against Pat Bowden in the final. But Bowden showed no mercy and stomped his trademark Turndowns for the win.
Back in the Qualifying round, the American Adam Jones, Javier Villegas from Chile, Aussie Pat Bowden and the two who are battling at the top of the World Championship, Maikel Melero and Luc Ackermann shone brighter than the rest. Melero mixed up his run from the previous day to try pick up some extra points. But it was to no avail, as Luc Ackermann took the lead in Qualifying with a Flair, 360, Surfer Tsunami and Double Flip. 

In the finale, Hannes Ackermann was unable to capitalise on his brilliant qualifying run, with a mistake riddled run and finish in 6th position. However, to return to the Top 6 Final will surely give Hannes the motivation boost to return to NIGHT of the JUMPs in the future and show the rest of the field what he has up his sleeve.

The Chilean rider, Javier Villegas put together a clean run, but missed his Double Up jump with a Dead Sailor flip at the end. Although he did bring out a new variation of the Surfer Take-Off into a 9 O’clock.
The duel between the style kings at NIGHT of the JUMPs was brewing again on Day 2 between Pat Bowden and Adam Jones. The Australian upped his game in his final run of the day and landed the Rock Solid Backflip. But like Day 1 in Munich, it wasn’t enough as the American showed the rest of the field how to land a perfectly clean run without mistakes, while still pulling huge backflip combos like the Dead Body Backflip, which was enough to take 3rd place on the podium for the second night in a row.

For the fourth time this year, the final battle at NIGHT of the JUMPs was Maikel Melero vs. Luc Ackermann.  And for the fourth time, Maikel had to start in front of Ackermann. Maikel landed the Nac Flair, the California Roll, Ruler Flip and No-hand Front Flip in his run before finishing with the Flair Superman. Melero amassed a total of 370 points, 26 points more than the day before. However with 10,000 German spectators inside the Olympiahalle, Luc Ackermann was motivated to throw his biggest run yet, with the Front Flip, Flair, 360, Hart Indy Flip and Double Backflip in his run, and then finishing with the Double Backflip Nac-Nac. The Olympiahalle was on fire and the judges rewarded his energy with 392 points for Luc to take his fourth victory in four rounds of World Championship competitions in 2019.
The 21 year old German, is sitting at the top of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship with maximum championship points of 80. Eight points behind him is Maikel Melero. Pat Bowden has advanced to third overall.

The NIGHT of the JUMPs riders have one month to get ready and learn some new tricks if they have a chance of beating Luc Ackermann. On May 25th, the next World Championship points will be up for grabs inside the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. Munich FMX fans should mark the calendar on April 25, 2020 for the return of the World Championships inside the Olympiahalle. Tickets are on sale now.

If you want to watch the whole FMX festival from NIGHT of the JUMPs Munich, you can tune in to www.nightofthejumps.tv and a compilation of the two days will be available from the middle of next week.

FACTS 
NIGHT of the JUMPs/FIM Freestyle MX World Championship
Munich, 27th February 2019 – Round 4
Results NIGHT of the JUMPs – Final
1. Luc AckermannGERDMSBHusqvarna392 Points
2. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEKTM370 Points
3. Adam JonesUSAAMAYamaha345 Points
4. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha335 Points
5. Javier VillegasCHLFMC Suzuki281 Points
6. Hannes AckermannGERDMSBKTM208 Points

Results Qualification
1. Luc AckermannGERDMSBHusqvarna339 Points
2. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEKTM323 Points
3. Adam JonesUSAAMAYamaha309 Points
4. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha307 Points
5. Javier VillegasCHLFMC Suzuki300 Points
6. Hannes AckermannGERDMSBKTM254 Points
7. Leonardo FiniITAPZMKTM249 Points
8. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha239 Points
9. Filip PodmolCZEACCRYamaha220 Points
10. Fred KyrillosBRACBMHonda220 Points

Results Best Whip Contest
1. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha
2. Filip PodmolCZEACCRYamaha

FIM Freestyle MX World Championship 2019
Ranking (after 4th contest)
1. Luc AckermannGERDMSBHusqvarna80 Points
2. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEKTM72 Points
3. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha56 Points
4. Libor PodmolCZEACCRHusqvarna42 Points
5. Javier VillegasCHLFMC Suzuki41 Points
6. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha40 Points
7. Leonardo FiniITAPZMKTM36 Points
8. Adam JonesUSAAMAYamaha32 Points
9. Filip PodmolCZEACCRYamaha28 Points
10. Kai HaaseGERDMSBSuzuki17 Points
11. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM13 Points
12. Fred KyrillosBRACBMHonda12 Points
13. Brice IzzoFRAFFMHusqvarna11 Points
14. Hannes AckermannGERDMSBKTM10 Points