For the first time in the history of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship, the opening round took place in Basel, Switzerland with the best riders in the world battling for the first championship points on offer.
With 11 riders from six nations, the Swiss round was always going to one of the toughest battles inside the tight St. Jakobshalle with the reigning World Champion Maikel Melero (ESP), three time World Champion, Remi Bizouard and 2013 champion David Rinaldo, who was runner up last year to Melero.
In the opening qualification round, the battle lines were drawn when Melero and Rinaldo showed almost all of their best tricks, thus occupying the top two spots for the final round. Petr Pilat continued his impressive performance from the European Championship opener in Linz the week before to qualify in a solid 3rd place. Rob Adelberg and Remi Bizouard also showed solid performances to solidify their spots in the final round, even without a body varial. Somewhat surprisingly, Jose Miralles rounded out the Top 6 qualifiers for the finals. This was due to Marc Pinyol, Luc Ackermann and Brice Izzo showing nerves with dead sailors and crashes in the double-up.
The LifeProof Best Whip contest was a duel between Spain and Australia. The two newcomers, Marc Pinyol and Pat Bowden turned their bikes inside out but it was the one whip from the Australian that almost looked like it wouldn’t come back that secured his first LifeProof World Championship Best Whip of the season.
In the Maxxis Highest Air, Massimo Bianconcini made a comeback after becoming runner-up in the 2015 series by taking out the win with 9.50 metres over the 2015 champion, Jose Miralles.
In the final, the crowd were finally treated to the long-awaited “Volt” body varial. Remi put together a solid run and finished with the Volt. But then as soon as he did, David Rinaldo followed with the same trick but then stepped it up with the Double Grab flip and California Roll which dismissed his French compatriot from the Hot-Seat. Although Rinaldo is still struggling with his shoulder injury, you would not have guessed it from his performance today.
For Rinaldo, the only thing stopping him from becoming the opening round winner was the reigning World Champion. Melero knew he had to deliver on all of his tricks if he was to beat his closest challenger from 2015. Maikel started with the California Roll, then the Double Grab Flip, Ruler Flip over the Super-Kicker and finished it all off with the Nac-Nac Flair on the quarter pipe as the exclamation point to one of the finest runs we’ve seen from the little Spaniard. It was clear that he would be the winner for the night. Rob Adelberg buried his ambitions of a podium finish in the safety mattresses against the wall as he managed to negotiate his way out of a crash from the Cliffhanger to No-Hand lander.
The 2016 season started just as the 2015 season ended, with Maikel Melero leading in the opening round. But with one more round to go in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel tomorrow night, the fireworks will continue and we can expect an even tougher battle from the rest of the field.
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FACTS
NIGHT of the JUMPs/FIM Freestyle MX World Championship
Basel, January, 29th 2016 – Round 1
Results NIGHT of the JUMPs – Final
1. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEYamaha418 Points
2. David RinaldoFRAFFMYamaha396 Points
3. Remi BizouardFRAFFMKawasaki370 Points
4. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha367 Points
5. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM361 Points
6. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM334 Points
Results Qualification
1. Maikel MeleroESPRFMEYamaha347 Points
2. David RinaldoFRAFFMYamaha342 Points
3. Petr PilatCZEACCRKTM332 Points
4. Remi BizouardFRAFFMKawasaki328 Points
5. Rob AdelbergAUSMAYamaha328 Points
6. Jose MirallesESPRFMEKTM271 Points
7. Marc PinyolESPRFMEYamaha266 Points
8. Luc AckermannGERDMSBHusqvarna252 Points
9. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha332 Points
10. Brice IzzoFRAFFMYamaha241 Points
11. Thomas WirnsbergerAUTOSKSuzuki182 Points
Results Lifeproof Best Whip Contest
1. Pat BowdenAUSMAYamaha
2. Marc PinyolESPRFMEYamaha