Freestyle Motocross World Championship of Nations:
What an exciting finale to the FMX World Championship 2013. The final decision came down to the last race of the NIGHT of the JUMPS season in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Up to that point the Czech Libor Podmol and the leader David Rinaldo (France) had only one point between them. Remi Bizouard, defending his title and long the favorite, and the Spaniard Dany Torres, of whom much was expected, had been forced prematurely in the season out of the contest for the World Championship title through injuries in accidents.
The last round of the World Championship series could not have been more exciting, either for the approximately 10,000 spectators or the riders. During the show-down between the two aspirants for the title it quickly became clear that each of them would fight without any ifs and ands.
Rinaldo could have taken the easy course, for he only needed to land two places behind Podmol to become world champion. But that’s not the Frenchman’s thing. He did not spare himself and poured out his entire trick repertoire, including the double-grab flip.
Tragically, after the double-up in the finale he crashed at full force against the ring fence and was taken to hospital with a shattered hand. However, this seemed to have thoroughly distracted Libor Podmol, who had small errors in his heat, and in the double-up even made a dead sailor. This meant that the world championship was decided, and David Rinaldo could enjoy his first world-championship title. The winners’ ceremony had to take place without him, however.
Now David Rinaldo will certainly need a few weeks of rest in order to recover. But at the FREESTYLE OF NATIONS on 31 May 2014 at the Veltins-Arena Rinaldo will be in top form again…and Libor Podmol will certainly not let himself be robbed of his chance for revenge and an opportunity to win the World Championship of Nations. Now we can look forward with excitement to the renewed clash of the two top riders. The day’s victory in Bulgaria went to the Spaniard Maikel Melero.
Even before the final contest, we had an opportunity to hold an exclusive interview with David Rinaldo about the world premiere on the FIM Freestyle of Nations; the video is attached above.
