Freestyle Motocross World Championship in Basel attracts impressive field of riders, including former title holders and runners-up, plus an X-Fighters winner
Swiss fans of extreme sports have long had the weekend of 21st/22nd June 2013 circled in red on their calendars. That’s when NIGHT of the JUMPs is scheduled to make its seventh visit to the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel. And the line-up for the two rounds of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship could not be more distinguished.
Libor Podmol (CZE) who won the Motocross World Championship in 2010 is joined by two former runners-up in the same competition – Brice Izzo (FRA) and Jose Miralles (ESP). Spanish rider Dany Torres, who carried off the first prize in the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighters, is making his Swiss debut in NIGHT of the JUMPS and will be looking to win at the first attempt with his repertoire of Oxecutioner Flip and Paris Hilton Backflip. David Rinaldo will be intent on frustrating Torres’s campaign; the Frenchman, who has already won two rounds of the world championship, comes fresh from being crowned as FMX European Champion and will be motivated to continue in the same vein. All of the big names will be intent on exploiting the absence of current championship leader Remi Bizouard who is ruled out due to injury.
Leading German FMX contender Hannes Ackermann also has big plans for the occasion; currently ranked sixth in the world, he has been working hard on his Tsunami, Cliffhanger and Hart Attack flips in the hope of making it onto the Basel podium. Czech rider Petr Pilat returns to the NIGHT of the JUMPS track following an injury-induced lay-off; it remains to be seen whether he is sufficiently back in form to execute his full range of backflip combos at the St Jakobsalle and defend fourth place in the standings.
Clinton Moore from Australia is entering the world championship fray for the first time this season; he is guaranteed to include The Volt in his routine, and it may even be enough to catapult him onto the podium. Maikel Melero (ESP), Kai Haase (GER) and Massimo Bianconcini (ITA) complete the starting field for Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2013 FIM Freestyle MX World Championship.
The Swiss crowd can look forward to a feast of daredevil tricks and stunt premieres from the global FMX elite. Fans are also in for a breathtaking spectacle when the mountain bike trick specialists risk life and limb to perform cash-rolls, front flips and 360s on the ‘Big Ramp’.
But that’s not the only sideshow on the supporting programme that will be vying with the main event for attention: in the Maxxis Highest Air, record holder Massimo Bianconcini – yet another rider returning from injury – will be trying to beat his own best jump of 11.5 metres. This will be unmissable in its own right.
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