February 4th, 2017: The world’s best athletes from NIGHT of the JUMPs met once again in Berlin only one week after the World Championship kick-off in Basel. 12 riders from six nations took part in the second round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship in the sold-out Mercedes Benz Arena.
The three-time former World Champion, Remi Bizouard, joined the World Championship riders after the first Swiss round. Unfortunately Remi was not yet in top shape and didn’t manage to perform his Hart Flip, Egg Roll or Volt, leaving the Frenchman to finish in a disappointing 10th position. The Berliner Kai Haase raised the roof for the local German crowd. With his final jump being the Egg Roll, the first time he’s landed this trick in competition, the crowd wildly cheered on their home town hero.
The newcomer Ryan Brown from Australia also won over the German crowd with his second competition at NIGHT of the JUMPs. With a huge signature Switchblade Flip and the Flair, he finished the qualification round in 5th position.
Dany Torres made an impressive comeback to the World Championships. With his Flair in the Double Up, he sealed his entry into the final. Pat Bowden and Maikel Melero were two of the three podium winners from Basel to make it through to the final. However Petr Pilat surprised everyone by missing out on the final. Unfortunately washing out on his Flair attempt, he was unable to make it past the preliminary round. Marc Pinyol premiered a brand new trick in competition with the Surfer Take-Off to Super Flip off a Quarter Pipe. With some small mistakes it was enough to claim his ticket to the final.
There was a huge rider line-up for the LifeProof best Whip competition including Pat Bowden, Marc Pinyol, Filip Podmol, Massimo Bianconcini, Leo Fini and Kai Haase. Pinyol and Podmol didn’t give the other riders a chance when they went through to an epic battle in the LifeProof final. In the end, Pinyol took the honours.
The Maxxis Highest Air Competition was between Massimo Bianconcini and Brice Izzo. Bowden and Haase were eliminated early on in the proceedings. But it was the Frenchman who would surprise Bianconcini and push him to the 9.00 metre mark. In the end, “Bianco” would seal the victory on a countback after both riders couldn’t complete the final height.
In the finals, the 6 finalist had to plan their freestyle run with more caution with two extra jumps than normal, bringing the run to 11 jumps plus the Double-Up. With the extra jumps it perhaps disrupted the first four riders in the final. First, Pinyol had a dead sailor in his run, then also crashed out on his Inside Roll on the Double Up. Ryan Brown then performed an incredible run but on the final jump he crashed his flair on the quarter pipe. His countryman Pat Bowden put together a solid run, but turned out that he forgot two tricks in the run. Despite having a Double Hart Flip, he still managed to finish in fourth position. The podium was a replica of the qualification results. Dany Torres finished in 3rd place, with huge tricks like the Lazyboy Flip, Oxecutioner Flip but was unable to hold onto the Flair on the Double Up jump, but it was just enough to seal 3rd place.
Libor Podmol and Maikel Melero were neck and neck for the victory. Podmol had an impressive run with the California Roll, Surfer to Tsunami Flip, Egg Roll and the Volt. The Czech star looked to have beaten the Spanish reigning World Champion, until Melero brought some of his biggest tricks including the California Roll, Seat Grab Indy Flip and Nac-Nac Flair. There would only be 4 points separating the pair, which meant Melero could celebrate his 12th victory in 12 months.
With the win in Berlin on the first night, Melero has increased his overall championship points with 40 points and the Aussie young-gun Pat Bowden is sitting in second place with 30 points.
The third round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championships will take place tomorrow at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin. If you don’t have the chance to experience the battle live at the Arena, you can also watch the Live Stream on www.nightofthejumps.com/live completely free, from 6:00pm CET
NIGHT of the JUMPs/FIM Freestyle MX World Championship
Berlin, 04th February 2017 – Round 2
Results NIGHT of the JUMPs – Final
1. Maikel Melero ESP RFME Yamaha 449 Points
2. Libor PodmolCZE ACCR Yamaha 445 Points
3. Dany Torres ESP RFME KTM 341 Points
4. Pat Bowden AUS MA Yamaha 328 Points
5. Marc Pinyol ESP RFME Kawasaki 307 Points
6. Ryan Brown AUS MA Kawasaki 296 Points
NIGHT of the JUMPs