The sixth round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championships kicked off in front of a 13,000 strong crowd in the Tauron Arena in Krakow last weekend. The Polish national FMX hero, Marcin Lukaszczyk put in his best run in front of a high-class field of World Cup riders but not enough to make it through to the final.
The birthday boy Petr Pilat wanted nothing more than to get a berth in the Final. But with the stiff competition in Krakow, he narrowly missed out with seventh place. The same fate befell on Hannes Ackermann who brought a new trick for his run, the Double Grab Flip. But it was only enough to make eighth place, which was a disappointment for the German.
Surprisingly David Rinaldo only qualified in sixth place to go into the finals, but without his big tricks, he still had some room to move in the final run. Rob Adelberg also didn’t bring his California Roll to the qualifying round, but he did show the Egg Roll on the quarter pipe to get into fifth place. The 18-year-old Luc Ackermann put a solid run together with a Surfer take off to Tsunami Flip and Flair to make it to fourth place, level with Libor Podmol. Remi Bizouard and Maikel Melero rounded out the top two qualifying positions.
The LifeProof Race & Style was a battle between Bianconcini and Jose Miralles. Miralles put Brice Izzo away in the opening round while Bianconcini was lucky to go through after Pat Bowden was disqualified. The Australian showed considerable speed but he cut the first corner in the race and was disqualified. In the LifeProof finale, Bianconcini had no chance against the Speedy Miralles who also had the best style.
In the Maxxis Highest Air, Bianconcini suffered another surprise defeat. Uncharacteristically Massimo knocked off the bar at 7.50 metres which left only Luc Ackermann and Jose Miralles to battle until they both knocked the bar off at 8.50 metres and shared the prize money.
David Rinaldo was the first rider out for the final and the Frenchman was on fire. He brought the Volt to Heelclicker combo and then finished with the Double Grab Flip to No Hand Lander which was enough for him to move from sixth place to third on the podium. A highly motivated Luc Ackermann launched into his run with the Egg Roll and Flairs on the quarter pipes and the Surfer Take off to Tsunami which almost got out of control he finished with the California Roll which he just held together. With some small mistakes he had to settle with sixth place.
Although Rob Adelberg brought a Cordova Egg Roll and California Roll, it was also a tough night for him and he finished in only fifth place.
Libor Podmol surprised the judges again. With the Surfer Take off Flip, Volt and California Roll he also brought the Egg Roll on the quarter pipe as a new trick in his run. With big points, he would also sit just in second place on the podium to show it wasn’t a fluke when he returned to competition in Stockholm after a long break.
Maikel Melero continued the same results from Stockholm by taking another win. The Spaniard had nerves of steel and showed his usual perfect final run including the Double Grab Flip, California Roll to one hand landing and Nac-Nac Flair. He just bested the Czech Ninja to celebrate a whopping 10th NIGHT of the JUMPs consecutive victory.
Melero still holds onto the lead of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship tour. He is now 20 points clear of second place Remi Bizouard despite his Volt and One-Hand Egg Roll to finish in only fourth place in the Polish World Championship round.
The longest running FMX series in the world will now take a small break. On April 23 NIGHT of the JUMPs will return to Munich to compete for points in the European Championship. The next round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship will return on June 11 in Jerez, Spain.
