FIM Freestyle Motocross
The Stadthalle in Vienna was the perfect setting for Day 1 of the 11th round of the NIGHT of the JUMPs / FIM Freestyle MX World Championship on Friday.
With a flip worthy of Travis Pastrana himself, Brice Izzo secured victory over main rival Libor Podmol to trim the deficit in the championship standings to four points.
The Viennese air was obviously very much to the Freestyle Motocross riders’ liking as they sought to impress in the qualifying round with a sequence of tricks, each better than the one before.
Local FMX hero Thomas Wirnsberger treated the home crowd to three backflips in his IFMXF premiere. Alastair Sayer put in a series of solid underflips and Superman Seatgrab Flips.
Remi Bizouard performed a Heart Attack Flip and Josh Sheehan dug deep to pull out various tricks including a 1 Hand Underflip.
Although Freestyle Motocross championship hopeful Brice Izzo was saving up the best for later, the two other main contenders Libor Podmol and Jose Miralles made their intentions clear right from the start.
Meanwhile, Brody Wilson and William van den Putte were experiencing problems that would prevent them from progressing any further at Viena FMX.
The Belgian had a heavy fall that required medical attention. The German duo of Hannes Ackermann and Fabian Bauersachs put in decent runs, with the former even managing a debut Cliffhanger.
Even so, both were eliminated in the preliminary Freestyle Motocross round, a fate they shared with Massimo Bianconcini, despite his perfect underflip.
With qualifying out of the way, Josh Sheehan and Brody Wilson went on to win the Team Whip Contest against Massimo Bianconcini and Alastair Sayer.
The world step-up record holder from Botswana got his own back in the Highest Air Contest, jumping 8.8 meters to see off the challenge from Sheehan.
Twelve-year-old German FMX prodigy Luc Ackermann then became the youngest ever motorbike rider to perform a backflip in Austria, an achievement that whipped the crowd up into a frenzy for the finale.
Alastair Sayer now had the bit between his teeth and pulled off various triple combinations and daredevil flip tricks to claim fourth place on the evening.
To some extent, he was the beneficiary of others’ misfortune as Josh Sheehan smashed into the barrier while coming in for a side-saddle landing from his Clickerflip and Remi Bizouard’s 360-style landing after an underflip bent his wheel rim, which brought both Freestyle Motocross runs to an abrupt end.
None of this should in any way diminish Sayer’s performance, with fourth place representing his best FMX NIGHT of the JUMPs result to date.
The main focus of attention on the Freestyle Motocross evening was once again the battle between Miralles, Izzo and Podmol, who sought to outdo each other with flip combinations such as Superman Seatgrab Flip Indy (Miralles), Cliffhanger Flip (Podmol) and Switchblade Underflip (Izzo). However, the decisive moment in the Austrian Grand Prix came when Brice Izzo performed his Pastrana Flip in the double-up.
The Frenchman thus trimmed Podmol’s lead in the FIM Freestyle Motocross World Championship to four points. Miralles, who is twelve points behind the Czech front-runner, is starting to look out of contention in third position.
The next points in the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship will be awarded Saturday during Day 2 of the NIGHT of the JUMPs in Vienna.
NIGHT of the JUMPs – FIM Freestyle MX World Championships
Vienna, Nov. 26, 2010 – Round 11 Results:
1. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 430 Points
2. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Suzuki 412 Points
3. Jose Miralles ESP RFME KTM 395 Points
4. Alastair Sayer BOT MSA Suzuki 381 Points
5. Josh Sheehan AUS MA Honda 304 Points
6. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Yamaha 279 Points
Vienna Freestyle Results Qualification
1. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Suzuki 372 Points
2. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Yamaha 366 Points
3. Jose Miralles ESP RFME KTM 366 Points
4. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 364 Points
5. Josh Sheehan AUS MA Honda 360 Points
6. Alastair Sayer BOT MSA Suzuki 354 Points
7. Massimo Bianconcini ITAL DMSB KTM 320 Points
8. Brody Wilson USA AMA Yamaha 329 Points
9. Fabian Bauersachs GER DMSB Suzuki 328 Points
10. Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 294 Points
11. William v.d. Putte BEL FMB KTM 244 Points
12. Thomas Wirnsberger AUT OeAMTC Yamaha 232 Points
Vienna Freestyle Motocross Results Team Whip Contest
1. Josh Sheehan / Brody Wilson
2. Massimo Bianconcini / Alastair Sayer
Vienna Freestyle Motocross Highest-Air
1. Alastair Sayer BOT MSA Suzuki 8,80 Meter
2. Josh Sheehan AUS MA Honda 8,50 Meter
3. Massimo Bianconcini ITAL DMSB KTM 7,00 Meter
FIM Freestyle Motocross World Championships Ranking (after 11th contest)
1. Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Suzuki 182 Points
2. Brice Izzo FRA FFM Yamaha 178 Points
3. Jose Miralles ESP RFME KTM 170 Points
4. Remi Bizouard FRA FFM Yamaha 114 Points
5. Brody Wilson USA AMA Yamaha 112 Points
6. Massimo Bianconcini ITAL DMSB KTM 98 Points
7. Alastair Sayer BOT MSA Suzuki 97 Points
8. Fabian Bauersachs GER DMSB Suzuki 87 Points
9. Lukas Weis GER DMSB Suzuki 68 Points
10. Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 65 Points
11. Petr Pilat CZE ACCR KTM 61 Points
12. David Rinaldo FRA FFM Yamaha 45 Points
13. Rob Adelberg AUS MA Yamaha 34 Points
14. Josh Sheehan AUS MA Honda 32 Points
15. Martin Koren CZE ACCR KTM 20 Points
16. Marcelo Simoes BRA CBM Yamaha 10 Points
17. Tomas Lysacek CZE ACCR Yamaha 8 Points
18. Kai Haase GER DMSB Suzuki 8 Points
19. William v.d. Putte BEL FMB KTM 5 Points
20. Aleksey Koleshnikov RUS KTM MFR 4 Points
21. Thomas Wirnsberger AUT OeAMTC Yamaha 4 Points
22. Freddy Peters GER DMSB Yamaha 3 Points
23. Ales Liemann CZE ACCR Suzuki 3 Points
