On Saturday, o2 World in Berlin hosted the second half of a thrilling NIGHT of the JUMPS double bill. Over two nights, fans were treated to a freestyle motocross spectacular at the highest level. The elite eleven contesting the German FMX Grand Prix pulled out all the tricks in their repertoire to keep the pulse rate up for three whole hours in a sold-out o2 World arena.
The German duo of Kai Haase and Hannes Ackermann were clearly out to make a big impression, and while Haase once again finished in the Top Ten (just), Hannes Ackermann put in a perfect qualifying run to book fourth place in the final – an interim result that was all the more impressive considering Gabriel Villegas (Chile), Massimo Bianconcini (Italy) and Rich Kearns (USA) failed to make the cut. The American superstar, who arrived with a big reputation from the X-Games, was the big disappointment of the weekend, attempting not even a single upside-down trick and being marked down accordingly on both days – P11 out of eleven. Jose ‘El Loco’ Miralles crashed into the barrier coming out of a Sidesaddle Lander, which cost him so much time that he failed to progress past the preliminary round.
David Rinaldo, Libor Podmol, Petr Pilat and Brice Izzo made it through to the final for the second day in succession. Remi ‘Le Roi’ Bizouard was visibly anxious to eradicate the embarrassment of Friday and put in a flawless run to top the qualifying board.
Rich Keans at least redeemed himself in the ROCKWELL Time Best Whip, picking up the trophy for the second day running. The Maxxis Highest Air turned into a three-way battle between Massimo Bianconcini, Luc Ackermann and Jose Miralles, with the Italian eventually prevailing.
The 10,000 crowd were thoroughly entertained by the half-time acts from Australia’s Emma McFerran, who performed her second NOTJ backflip, and from Petr Pilat, who repeated his tandem backflip from the night before. Suitably fired up, the fans then roared on Hannes Ackermann. Inspired by the support of the partisan crowd, he put in a flawless final run that included Cliffhanger and Hart Attack Flip. Even so, his performance was judged to be marginally inferior to that of Brice Izzo and Petr Pilat, which consequently pushed him down into sixth.
With the non-podium places decided, the Top Three then waded into action for maximum points. Podmol gambled on his version of the 360 in the double-up, but it fell short of perfect, and so he finished third. Bizouard pulled out his own 360 right at the start of his run, following up with Cliffhanger Flip, Hart Attack Flip and Ruler Flip. But despite his best efforts, he was unable to dislodge his fellow Frenchman from the hot seat. Rinaldo’s impressive sequence of triple combos was enough to convince the judges that he had earned his maiden Grand Prix victory.
Remi Bizouard will nonetheless have been delighted to reclaim the lead in the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. Libor Podmol drops back to second, while today’s winner Rinaldo consolidates his third position. Hannes Ackermann is the best-placed German in seventh. The riders now have a two-week break in which to recharge their batteries and quite possibly practise some new tricks. The fourth round of the World Championship takes place on 23rd March at Danzig (Poland) in the context of NIGHT of the JUMPs.
Results
1. David Rinaldo FRA FFM Yamaha 392 Points
2. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Kawasaki 387 Points
3. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha 385 Points
4. Petr Pilat CZE ACCR KTM 374 Points
5. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 360 Points
6. Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 355 Points
Qualification
1. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Kawasaki 332 Points
2. Petr Pilat CZE ACCR KTM 326 Points
3. David Rinaldo FRA FFM Yamaha 325 Points
4. Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 316 Points
5. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha 312 Points
6. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 301 Points
7. Massimo Bianconcini ITA PZM KTM 280 Points
8. Gabriel Villegas CHL FMC KTM 273 Points
9. Jose Miralles ESP RFME KTM 273 Points
10. Kai Haase GER DMSB Suzuki 246 Points
11. Rich Kearns USA AMA Kawasaki 167 Points
Results MAXXIS Highest Air
1. Massimo Bianconcini ITA KTM 8,00 Meters
2. Jose Miralles ESP KTM 8,00 Meters
3. Luc Ackermann GER KTM 7,50 Meters
Results ROCKWELL Time Whip Contest
1. Rich Kearns USA AMA Kawasaki
2. Kai Haase GER DMSB Suzuki
3. Massimo Bianconcini ITA PZM KTM
FIM Freestyle MX World Championships
Ranking (after 3rd contest)
1. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Kawasaki 54 Points
2. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha 52 Points
3. David Rinaldo FRA FFM Yamaha 48 Points
4. Petr Pilat CZE ACCR KTM 42 Points
5. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 31 Points
6. Jose Miralles ESP RFME KTM 27 Points
7. Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 24 Points
8. Kai Haase GER DMSB Suzuki 18 Points
9. Dany Torres ESP RFME KTM 18 Points
10. Massimo Bianconcini ITA PZM KTM 16 Points
11. Gabriel Villegas CHL FMC KTM 16 Points
12. Maikel Melero ESP RFME KTM 12 Points
13. Rich Kearns USA AMA Kawasaki 10 Points
14. Martin Koren CZE ACCR KTM 7 Points