The Finale of the NIGHT of the JUMPs World Championships went down in front of a sold out Armeec Arena in Sofia and delivered the most exciting final ever witnessed. Before the final round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championships the two adversaries David Rinaldo (FRA) and Maikel Melero (ESP) were separated by a mere two points. The result would come down to the last seconds of this year’s World Cup.
For the two rivals, they were once again safe to qualify into the final. This was especially important for Rinaldo who had the even more difficult task of overcoming his continuing shoulder injury. Despite the battered shoulder he would sit in second place after qualifying. Maikel Melero’s nerves held out, as he performed the California Roll, Flair and Double Grab flip which put him at the head of Qualification. Rob Adelberg, Brice Izzo, Remi Bizouard and Petr Pilat also fought off the challengers to make the final six.
Opening the Final round, Rob Adelberg needed to push for a podium position after his sixth place qualification. Adelberg accented his perfect run by landing his first ever California Roll to No Hand Landing combination without a bar check. Rob’s run was enough to make it to the podium, but he also benefited from the crashes from fellow competitors Brice Izzo who crashed on his Flair in the Double Up and then Remi Bizouard who also landed hard from a Volt body varial.
Then the big moment arrived to the 10,000 spectators in the Armeec Arena with the final showdown between the first and second placed qualifiers, Maikel Melero and David Rinaldo. The Frenchman had to show his cards and rode first. Opening his account with a spectacular Volt and then straight into a California Roll, it appeared that Rinaldo was about to put together an impressive run. Until David suffered from nerves and didn’t extend through his Cordova Flip and then subsequently didn’t execute the Clicker-SuperFlip Combo with the usual precision the fans expected. David fought back and showed an extra trick to help his score and then the Double Hart Attack Flip in the Double-Up. His mistakes cost him the lead and he found himself behind Adelberg on the hot seat. It was enough to keep the pressure on Melero to perform a perfect run if he was to still win the World Championship.
The little Spaniard however didn’t disappoint the Bulgarian crowd as he held his nerves and to retain his World Championship title. After landing his own version of the Cali-Roll, Double Grab Backflip and the Flair with Nac-Nac combo in perfect fashion, Melero would his onto his lead until the very end.
With the victory he landed two points ahead of Rinaldo in the overall results and defended his World Championship success and become only the second rider to win two consecutive World Titles in the FIM World Championship history.
The second World Championship title up for grabs in Sofia was the Maxxis Highest Air series and it was the most exciting final in NIGHT of the JUMPs history. Before the final jump of the season, Jose Miralles and Bianconcini were tied at the top. Both riders pushed each other under optimal conditions reaching 10.50 metres. However due to rider safety and the hard landings a mutual decision was made to shorten the run-up to make the highest air obstacle more difficult and recommence from 8 metres. Again the bar was raised until “El Loco” managed the almost impossible with the shortened run-up making 9.5 metres on his first attempt. While “Bianco” managed only after his second attempt and needed a second attempt to make it. Thus, it was Jose Miralles who was not only the winner on the day, but also won the overall victory in the MAXXIS Highest Air 2015 title. The four-time overall winner from Italy was beaten for the first time.
The riders and crew from NIGHT of the JUMPs now go into a well-deserved Christmas Holiday. The new NIGHT of the JUMPs season starts again on 23rd/24th of January 2015 with the two European Championship competitions in Linz / Austria. The FIM Freestyle MX World Championships will commence the week later at NIGHT of the JUMPs in Basel / Switzerland on 29th/30th January, 2016.
FACTS
NIGHT of the JUMPs/FIM Freestyle MX World Championship
Sofia, 12th December 2015 – Round 12
Results NIGHT of the JUMPs – Final
1. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEKTM423 Points
2. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha390 Points
3. David RinaldoFRAFFMYamaha388 Points
4. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM369 Points
5. Remi BizouardFRAFFMKawasaki334 Points
6. Brice IzzoFRAFFMYamaha312 Points
Results Qualification
1. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEKTM363 Points
2. David RinaldoFRAFFMYamaha352 Points
3. Remi BizouardFRAFFMKawasaki351 Points
4. Brice IzzoFRAFFMYamaha348 Points
5. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM338 Points
6. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha338 Points
7. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM322 Points
8. Hannes AckermannGERDMSBKTM287 Points
9. James CarterUSAAMAHonda244 Points
10. Fred KyrillosBRACBMYamaha186 Points
Lifeproof Race & Style Contest
1. Brice IzzoFRAFFMYamaha
2. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM
Maxxis Highest-Air
1. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM10,50 Meter
2. Massimo BianconciniITAPZMKTM10,50 Meter
3. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha 7,50 Meter
FIM Freestyle MX World Championship
Ranking (after 12th contest)
1. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEYamaha200 Points
2. David RinaldoFRAFFMYamaha 198 Points
3. Rob AdelbergAUSAMAYamaha172 Points
4. Libor PodmolCZEACCRYamaha138 Points
5. Remi BizouardFRAFFMKawasaki118 Points
6. Hannes AckermannGERDMSBKTM 97 Points
7. Brice IzzoFRAFFMYamaha 97 Points
8. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM 95 Points
9. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM 72 Points
10. James CarterUSAAMAHonda 64 Points
11. Luc AckermannGERDMSBHusqvarna 47 Points
12. Dany TorresESPRFMEYamaha 37 Points
13. Filip PodmolCZEACCRYamaha 23 Points
14. Taka HigashinoJAPYamaha 16 Points
15. Davide RossiITAPZM KTM 14 Points
16. Kai HaaseGERDMSBSuzuki 12 Points
Text and photo Night of the Jumps