Curtain-raiser to biggest Freestyle Motocross World Championship of all time
The adrenaline will be pumping once again on March 2nd when the curtain finally rises on a new FIM Freestyle MX World Championship season at the NIGHT of the JUMPs in Kaunas (LT). The Žalgirio Arena will get its Freestyle Motocross baptism when it welcomes the world’s best FMX riders. The top freestyle motocross riders will whip the crowd into a frenzy as they execute the most outrageous tricks and backflip combos ever seen on the planet.
The freestyler motocrossers will be locked in fierce battle at the opening grand prix in Lithuania with only one goal in mind – victory! Remi Bizouard (FRA) comfortably secured victory in 2012, lifting the world title but will need to dig extra deep this year to defend his position, since new challenger Dany Torres (ESP), winner of the 2011 Red Bull X Fighters and X Games medallist, is now on the world championship circuit and has just one aim driving him on – victory in the World Championship.
But other riders have also put their winter break to good effect, refining new tricks, and no one will have worked harder than last year’s runner-up and 2010 world champion Libor Podmol (CZE). He will do his utmost to end the season on top.
Petr Pilat (CZE), Hannes Ackermann (GER) and David Rinaldo (FRA) are sure to set pulses racing too. For the first time in two years, Red Bull flip ace Pilat is free of injury for the start of the season and aims to consistently finish on the podium. Three-time German FMX champion Hannes Ackermann finished the World Championship in fifth place overall and won the NIGHT of the JUMPs award for ‘Most Improved Rider of the Year’. He wants to continue his meteoric rise and join the podium party. David Rinaldo (FRA) is the third member of this gang of three. Placed third in the 2012 World Championship, he is highly motivated and intends to pull out all the stops and finish the season as best French rider.
Maikel Melero (ESP) is not lacking in motivation either. He intends to show mentor Dany Torres that he holds the aces in the championship fight. Third Spaniard in the line-up is the fans’ favourite, Jose Miralles. For him too, asserting himself as a solid championship contender by consistently notching up good results remains paramount, since competition from fellow Spanish riders has never been stronger. Brice Izzo (FRA) too is always a force to be reckoned with. At the end of last year, the 2010 runner-up demonstrated that he has regained his old top form.
Czech rider Martin Koren completes the field in Kaunas. He is keen to make progress in the World Championship with his backflip combos, as is Kai Haase (GER). The German motocrosser will, no doubt, be eager to get his world championship season off to a good start, because his home grand prix is on the programme just one week later in Berlin. His ambition is to progress through to his first NIGHT of the JUMPs finals as the home fans cheer him on.
The freestyle competitions will be supplemented by MAXXIS Highest Air and the ROCKWELL Time Best Whip contest – all in all, plenty of action to get fans fired up at the Freestyle Motocross Premiere in Lithuania. This event promises to be a fitting prelude to the most gargantuan FIM Freestyle MX World Championship season to date.
Communication NIGHToftheJUMPs – www.NIGHToftheJUMPs.com –