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Freestyle of Nations 2022 wrap-up

Steve Sommerfeld — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 18:02:00 +0000

NIGHT of the JUMPs returned for 2022 with the Freestyle of Nations in Munich and Cologne with almost back to back events after a couple of years in Covid-19 limbo and we wrap-up both events with this short, sharp podcast!

Firstly we cover Munich with the World Team vs Team Czech vs Team France. Huge crashes, some controversial decisions I thought, but one hell of a return for the season.

And the second event held in Cologne just last weekend was between Team Germany vs Spain vs Italy. And with some of the best riders having only 2 hours sleep, they still threw down like you would have never known!

Find out how Luc Ackermann managed to smash into the wall in Munich, Maxime Gregoire returning to try land the Nac-Flair which he crashed out on in Basel in 2021. David Rinaldo on fire and filling in for Germany for some reason?! Kai Haase returning to competition after his AMA SX training crash in the USA with a Front Flip with absolutely no training. Marc Pinyol getting back on the bike after being heavily concussed only a few days before competition.

Plenty more went on, but you’ll have to listen to find out!

You can watch the NIGHT of the JUMPs Replay on Recast for Free here (with yours truly commentating): https://share.recast.app/v/8ELMy?referrer=60vZG

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The post Freestyle of Nations 2022 wrap-up first appeared on Riders Lounge Podcast.

Team Germany wins on home soil with Luc Ackermann and Kai Haase at NIGHT of the JUMPs

Steve Sommerfeld — Tue, 31 May 2022 18:23:55 +0000

On Sunday the second Freestyle of Nations competition for 2022 took hold in front of more than 8,000 spectators in Cologne’s LANXESS arena with the teams from Italy, Spain and Germany going head to head. Two of the world’s best riders, Luc Ackermann and David Rinaldo, both world champions and X Games gold medallists were in the German team which was complimented by the return of Kai Haase after his supercross training accident in the USA.

Team Italy rounded up an incredibly strong team with the Highest Air record holder, 5-time World Champion and X Games medalist Massimo Bianconcini with the stylish duo of Leonardo Fini and Davide Rossi. Team Spain, on the other hand, was led by the young gun Marc Pinyol who recently recovered from a huge crash only 10 days prior to competition and joined by the tandem duo of Rocky Florensa and Antonio Navas as well as the young Czech Matej Cesak who completed the “Selección”. Rinaldo was added as a wild card to Team Germany and Cesak to Team Spain.

Germany started the event as the event favourites going into the first round. Berlin’s Kai Haase (GER) surprised everyone after 6 months off the bike from injury to return with his Lazyboy Flip and finishing with the unexpected Front Flip. In doing so, he relegated Marc Pinyol (ESP) and Massimo Bianconcini (ITA) to second and third places respectively. The Italian freestyle legend tried to counter this in the Best Whip Contest. ‘Bianco’ made it to the semifinals against Matej Cesak and Kai Haase but had to say goodbye as Matej and Kai went head to head in an epic Whip final with Kai Haase narrowly beating the young Cesak with crowd decision and scored 100 bonus points for Team Germany.

The Frenchman David Rinaldo, who filled in for his good friend Hannes Ackermann who was unable to ride for Germany, dominated the second Freestyle Round. With electricity inside the arena at a high, Rinaldo turned it on with extremely difficult tricks with the California roll and finished his Double-Up with a dead sailor, but returned with a Double Hart Flip just for the crowd. It was still just enough to be at the top of the round, despite the mistake. The Italian, Davide Rossi moved into second place with a Cliffhanger Backflip and Ruler Flip, which relegated the Spanish Tandem duo of Navas & Rocky to third place after impressing the crowd with their unique tricks like the Superman and Ruler at the same time.

In the synchro contest, Team Germany and Team Spain fought a spectacular battle. With two perfectly synchronized Indy Flips, and a mistake from Team Germany, Marc Pinyol and Matej Cesak managed to secure the most important 100 points for the Iberians to keep them in the race.

In the third freestyle round, Matej performed spectacularly with a Tsunami Flip and a Seatgrab Flip. But Leonardo Fini countered with tricks like the Hart Attack Flip and technical Rowedova Flip. Then it was time for the German FMX Terminator Luc Ackermann. Having flown in from Prague with only two hours of sleep, the German World Champion was still unstoppable and ignited a veritable fireworks display of tricks. With the biggest Tsunami Flip of the evening, Flatspin 360, Holygrab and finishing with a clean Double Flip as the crowning finale, he received the highest score of the evening with 96 points as the crowd inside the LANXESS arena roared.

Team Germany put the icing on the cake after winning the Best Trick with a Rock Solid Backflip by David Rinaldo and another Double Backflip by Luc Ackermann and secured overall victory with 547 points. Spain came in second with 449 points ahead of Italy in third with 408 points.

The next NIGHT of the JUMPs will be in the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin on February 24th and 25th, 2023. Tickets for the entire 2023 tour are already on sale at Eventim and Ticketmaster.

VIDEO LINK NIGHT of the JUMPs Cologne 2022:

NIGHT of the JUMPs / Freestyle of Nations

Cologne – 05/29/2022

Results

Overall

Team Germany 547 points
Team Spain 449 Points
Team Italy 408 points

Freestyle Motocross Run 1

Team Germany – Kai Haase 86 points
Team Spain – Marc Pinyol 79 points
Team Italy – Davide Rossi 72 points

Freestyle motocross run 2

Team Germany – David Rinaldo 90 points
Team Italy – Davide Rossi 78 points
Team Spain – Navas / Rocky 65 points

Freestyle motocross run 3

Team Germany – Luc Ackermann 96 points
Team Italy – Leonardo Fini 83 points
Team Spain – Matej Cesak 80 points

Whip Contest

Team Germany – Kai Haase 100 points
Team Spain – Matej Cesak 75 points
Team Italy – Massimo Bianconcini 50 points

Synchro Contest

Team Spain – Pinyol / Cesak 100 points
Team Germany – Haase /Rinaldo 75 points
Team Italy – Rossi/ Fini 50 points

Best Trick

Team Germany – Luc Ackerman 100 points
Team Italy – Leonardo Fini 75 points
Team Spain – Matej Cesak 50 points

More info, pictures and videos at www.NIGHToftheJUMPs.com

The post Team Germany wins on home soil with Luc Ackermann and Kai Haase at NIGHT of the JUMPs first appeared on Riders Lounge Podcast.

Crazy Tricks & Crashes as FMX Competition Returns to Germany

Steve Sommerfeld — Mon, 09 May 2022 19:01:02 +0000

World Team wins NIGHT of the JUMPs

Freestyle Motocross came back to Germany with a bang on Saturday night with some of the biggest tricks, crashes and controversy in front of an ecstatic Munich crowd. The first Freestyle Motocross competition in Germany after more than 2 years due to the pandemic, returned to the Olympiahalle with more than 8,000 motorsport fans at the almost sold-out event. For the first time ever in Munich, the fans were treated to the Freestyle of Nations competition format with teams from the Czech Republic vs France vs the World Team, which also featured 3 world champions, David Rinaldo, Maikel Melero and Luc Ackermann.

Led by the 2013 World Champion, David Rinaldo, Team France had a strong field with former vice-World Champion Brice Izzo and the unique style of Maxime Gregoire. Flying the flag for Czechia, former European World Champion, Petr Pilat was joined by Filip Podmol and Matej Cesak. While the World Team was captained by the 9-time world record holder, World Champion, X Games gold medallist Luc Ackermann, with the 5-time World Champion Maikel Melero from Spain and the team completed by not one rider but two on the FMX Tandem duo of Antonio Navas and Rocky Florensa.

With 3 groups of FMX Competition and several disciplines throughout the night of competition, it was important for the World Team to establish a win in the first FMX round. Maikel Melero surprised everyone as the first rider to compete in the World Team, and after stomping a perfect No-handed Front Flip in his Double Up after a solid run including the California Roll, he quickly shunted Brice Izzo (FRA) and Matej Cesak (CZE) into 2nd and 3rd position respectively.

After the 3rd place in FMX, Matej Cesak was the hot favourite in the first of the special disciplines of Best Whip. After taking a huge win over Edgar Torronteras in Basel 2021, all eyes were on the young Czech rider to make short work of everone in this round. However, with a bit of controversy and confusion, Matej was beaten by the World Team’s Luc Ackermann who managed to pip the youngster. However, the confusion came from Luc throwing out a huge 360 as his final jump. With some left blown away by what is technically the biggest whip you could do, turning into a full 360, it actually was not counted and Luc won on his traditional Racer Whip.

In the second round of FMX, Czech Republic had their redemption when Filip Podmol threw down a clean run of Shaolin, Hart Attack and Tsunami Backflips. Maxime Gregoire who was looking for a comeback after his Nac-Flair crash in Switzerland in 2021, had a good run but fell again on the same trick. This time without injury, compared to the Basel crash which left him suffering a fractured wrist. The Tandem team of Navas and Rocky put together a solid run, however lost 30 seconds of valuable time when Rocky was jumping aboard the KX450F and only managed a handful of tricks to take 3rd place in round 2.

The Synchro competition which was one of the special rounds which can really change the rankings with the full 100 points for first place, 75 points for second and 50 points for 3rd position, riders know the importance of winning these special rounds. While Team France looked to be the clear front runner during the qualifying round with big tricks perfectly timed between Brice Izzo and David Rinaldo, they were shut-down in the final by the two World Champions holding 6 World Championship titles between them, Maikel Melero and Luc Ackermann threw the biggest Ruler Flips side by side to seal the win and snatch the full 100 points to continue growing their total throughout the night.

The final FMX round featured some of the best riding seen all night after the showman from Czechia, Petr Pilat brought his usual high level of tricks and enormous extension from his naturally tall frame. David Rinaldo countered with a Rock Solid flip off the Superkicker and the Cali Roll in the middle of his run for what was one of the finest runs of the night. With the World Team in the lead by almost 70 points, it seemed like it was the World Team‘s competition to lose. And unfortunately the local hero, Luc Ackermann riding for the World Team was almost jinxed! Throwing a huge Ruler Flip on the first jump, Luc over-cooked it and whiskey throttled into the wall with a resounding thud. Somehow not injured and managing to get network cables and backstage material caught in his bike. With the crowd nervously watching to see if he was alright and hoping his KTM450 wasn’t bent beyond repair, Luc fired up the 4-stroke and finished his run in pure class amid the drama. With his huge 360 and 540 Flair and finishing with the Double Backflip he somehow won the 3rd group with the biggest total of the night with 93 points.

The final contest of Best Trick featuring Mountain Bike as well, the World Team managed to win both categories with Luc Ackermann and Dawid Godziek both taking the win, with the FMX Double Flip and the MTB Twister.

Overall the World Team had won all of the Joker rounds and took the overall win with 633 points overall. France with 521 points and Czech Republic with 434 points.

The Munich crowd celebrated with the best riders at NIGHT of the JUMPs well after the awards ceremony, and after 2 long years without competition, nobody wanted to go home.

The next NIGHT of the JUMPs will take place on Sunday, May 29, 2022 in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. Munich FMX fans can look forward to March 25, 2023 when the longest running FMX Competition series returns.

NIGHT of the JUMPs / Freestyle of Nations

München – 23.04.2022

Results

Overall

Team World 633 Points
Team France 521 Points
Team Czech Republic 434 Points

Freestyle Motocross Run 1

Team World – Maikel Melero 88 Points
Team France – Brice Izzo 78 Points
Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak 71 Points

Freestyle Motocross Run 2

Team Czech Republic – Filip Podmol 80 Points
Team France – Maxime Gregoire 56 Points
Team World – Navas/Florensa 52 Points

Freestyle Motocross Run 3

Team World – Luc Ackermann 93 Points
Team France – David Rinaldo 87 Points
Team Czech Republic – Petr Pilat 83 Points

Whip Contest

Team Germany – Luc Ackermann 100 Points
Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak 75 Points
Team France – David Rinaldo 50 Points

Synchro Contest

Team World – Ackermann/Melero 100 Points
Team France – Rinaldo/Izzo 75 Points
Team Czech Republic – Pilat/Podmol 50 Points

Best Trick

Team World – Luc Ackermann 100 Points

Team World – David Godziek 100 Points

Team France – David Rinaldo 75 Points

Team France – Simon Godziek 75 Points

Team Czech – Petr Pilat 50 Points

Team Checz – Nico Scholze 50 Points

The post Crazy Tricks & Crashes as FMX Competition Returns to Germany first appeared on Riders Lounge Podcast.

X Games 2021 FMX : Review 2/6

Steve Sommerfeld — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:27:00 +0000

X Games Freestyle Moto is one of the most important and longest running motocross discipline in the ESPN stables. In 2021, it didn’t disappoint and there was so much going on, that it gave us plenty to talk about here!

From the difficult course bugging out most riders, the judging, the crashes and even what time everyone must have had to wake up to even ride this event!

From Luc’s incredible win, to Sheeny’s impressive run, Adelberg’s mistake that cost him potentially a win and David Rinaldo landing an all new trick! Bink and Benny Richards took dirt samples and couldn’t finish and Taka was perfect like always and Jacko made some big mistakes which we didn’t expect! X Games had it all!!!

We’re joined again by X Games Gold Medallist in Freestyle 2007, Adam Jones who knows more about this event than almost anyone else in the world!

el Presidente Antonio Navas returns with his views on the competition, plus Chris ‘Rocket’ Rose as a track builder to talk about the difficult course and Jose Gaspar as a former X Games judge to highlight points the judges would have been looking for.

We have even more fan interaction with FMX Grizz returning, and joined by an old FMX friend of mine, Andy Christie who isn’t scared to ride ramps on a CR500 if given the chance. Also DannyDwayne416 jumped in on the action with his reply to the first episode, the Overall Impression episode (which I recommend you go back and listen too if you missed it)

Results:

Freestyle Moto: