On Sunday the o2 World arena in Berlin was packed again and the temperature was high. This time with two local heroes because Freddy Peters returned to the track. But Peters and Kai Haase couldn’t challenge Libor Podmol, Rob Adelberg and Remi Bizouard for the places on the podium. The crowd saw a World Champ that stroke back and won the 2nd contest of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship ahead of Adelberg and Podmol.

With Adelberg the NIGHT of the JUMPs seams to have a new contestant for the fight of the World Championship title. Again the guy from Down Under could win the qualification round. Bizouard, Podmol, Miralles, Izzo and Fabian Bauersachs followed him in the finals. Alastair Sayer and Brody Wilson had strong runs. The American who changed the manufacturer in 2010 is getting better and better on his Yamaha. But due to a Deadsailor he missed the finals. Surely Alastair Sayer would have been in the next round, if he landed his Underflip in the Double-up.

The ADAC Whip-Contest went to Massimo Bianconcini. Youngster Kai Haase could win the Race & Style contest ahead of Jose Miralles.

In the finals the six riders raised the trick level up to max. Fabian Bauersachs reached 251 points with his run and ended up on 6th position. Vice-World Champion Miralles didn’t have the peak form of the last season and landed on 5th place.

Between the 1st and 4th position it was a hard fight. Only 7 points decided about the win or 4th place. This went to Brice Izzo even though he invented the Heelclicker to Superman Indy Backflip combo. Saturday’s winner Podmol flew in on 3rd position. Remi Bizouard contested the victory with Rob Adelberg. Both did a Backflip battle with lucky ending for the World Champion based on his Ruler flip in the Double-up. Rob Adelberg came on 2nd position only one point behind.

In the overall ranking of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship World Champ Bizouard took the lead with 38 points ahead of Libor Podmol (36 points) and Rob Adelberg (32 points). The next rounds of the FMX World Championship take place at the NIGHT of the JUMPs in Basel on April 24th and 25th.

 The FIM Freestyle MX World Championships series had a massive kick-of Saturday evening in Berlin with the NIGHT of the JUMPs. 12 riders out of eight nations came to Germanys capital city for the first World Championship points 2009. In the totally sold out o2 World arena the 11.000 spectators saw Libor Podmol beating current World Champion Remi Bizouard. Australian newcomer Rob Adelberg jumped on 3rd position at his first IFMXF contest.

In the qualification the four German riders Fabian Bauersachs, Hannes Ackermann, Kai Haase and Lukas Weis fought against the rest of the FMX world, but only Fab Baersachs made it into the final. Local hero Freddy Peters had to pass, due to a crash in the practice. Therefore young Kai Haase got into the field of riders. Ackermann and Weis had solid runs, but today it was not enough for the finals. Weis was returning to the IFMXF track after a year absence due to injuries. Rob Adelberg won the qualification round followed by Remi Bizouard, Libor Podmol, Jose Miralles and Brice Izzo.

In the break the spectators saw Lukas Weis winning the ADAC Whip-Contest and Massimo Bianconcini the Race & Style. After the flip of Jostein Stenberg with his Ski-do and the show of Luc Ackermann, youngest German Freestyle Motocross rider at the age of 12, the crowd freaked out.

The final was not even less spectacular. Libor Podmol won this with his Cliffhanger Flip, Underflip Indy and a Superman Seatgrab Flip Indy. Remi Bizouard did Ruler Flip, Seatgrab Flip and a Ruler Flip Indy in the double up. But yesterday this was not enough to win. 3rd position went to Rob Adelberg, who did hard tricks like Tsunami Flip Indy. It is hard to believe that Jose Miralles got 4th by doing a double Heelclicker flip. 5th position went to Fabian Bauersachs and 6th place to Brice Izzo, who missed one trick.

In the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship Libor Podmol leads with 20 points ahead of Remi Bizouard with 18 points and Rob Adelberg with 16. The next NGHT of the JUMPs / FIM Freestyle MX World Championship round will happen on Sunday in Berlin.
 

Podmols final run:

In February the worldwide FMX scene was shocked after the tragically death of Jeremy Lusk. He succumbed to his injuries, which he got from a hard crash at the X Knights San Jose/Costa Rica. The probably best FMX athlete last year was nominated for the FMX Awards in the two categories “Best International FMX Rider” and “Best Trick Innovation”. In both sections the users honored his incredible performance in 2008 and his lifetime achievement.

With Brody Wilson another American has been voted for the Best Rookie of the Year. Brice Izzo is Europe’s Rookies of the year. Both riders had their international breakthrough last year at the NIGHT of the JUMPs contest. This series was the career source of another FMX Awards winner 2008: Mat Rebeaud, who reached Best European FMX Rider. Again the users choice for Best German FMX Rider went to Busty Wolter. Gemany’ Rookie of the Year is Sebastian Dunkel.

The users choice for the best FMX Event/Series felt to the Red Bull X-Fighters. Best FMX Bike 2008 is Yamaha YZ 250 and finally RobbieMaddison.com has been voted for the Best FMX Riders Website.

The FMX Awards were established in 2006 by Berlinièros Sports Agency to honor the world's best Freestyle Motocross riders. Annually it awards FMX competitors who have been outstanding during the previous year.

There was a two-part voting process to find the winners: Firstly, a Selection Panel of FMX experts and leading FMX editors, writers and broadcasters from several countries voted to create a shortlist of max. six nominations in each category.

2008 the expert group consisted of Chris Foreman (Global Action Sports, Crusty Demons Tour), Dan Bonnermann (X-Rider), Jason Moriarty (Headjudge IFMXF, Pro Rider), Jimmy Verburgh (FMX4Ever), Jose Gaspar (fmxnews.com.br/Brazil), Jörg Hotzel (IFMXF - NIGHT of the JUMPs), Oliver Franke (Berlinièros Sports Agency), Olivia Schoch (Freestyle.ch), Marek Rejman (GSMA, Gladiator Series), Marko Manthey (IFMXF - NIGHT of the JUMPs), Ryan Leba (FMX-Blog-ESPN), Sascha Jurek (funsporting.com), Simon Makker (Freerider Mag Australia), Sven Schreiber (Hammer Events) and Tobias Hannig (forty8.de/Germany).
    
In the second voting process every user of the fmxawards.com-Website had the chance to vote for his/her favorites. Here are the winners in the 10 categories:

Category:                                    Winner:
Best International FMX Rider        Jeremy Lusk (USA)
Best European FMX Rider             Mat Rebeaud (SUI)
Best German FMX Rider                Busty Wolter (GER)
Best International FMX Rookie     Brody Wilson (USA)
Best European FMX Rookie           Brice Izzo (FRA)
Best German FMX Rookie             Sebastian Dunkel (GER)
Best FMX Series / Event               Red Bull X-Fighters
Best FMX Bike                              Yamaha
Best Trick Innovation                   Double Hart Flip / Jeremy Lusk (USA)
Best FMX Riders Website             RobbieMaddison.com

Jeremy Lusk – Robbie Maddison (Alex Schelbert/Red Bull Photofiles)

Mr. Adam Jones recently solved his sweating problems by acting in an Axe commercial. See his new signature trick the "no-hand armpit to no-hand armpit spray flip":