A spectacular start to the Night of the Jumps season as the Tips Arena crowd witnessed an aerial assault of Freestyle MX action in Linz on Saturday night. Kicking off the European Freestyle Motocross Championship were the 11 FMX riders from six nations. In the mix was the Austrian local hero, Thomas Wirnsberger who against a top-class field was unable to assert himself and move into the finals.
Rob Adelberg whose 2016 ambition is to win the FIM World Championship, was unable to take top honours on the podium. He put together an impeccable run and went for a California Roll to No-Hand-Landing on the Double Up. It would almost guarantee him a victory, if it weren’t for Melero who started his final run with a Double Grab Backflip and finished with his own version of the Cali-Roll to triumph in the end. The last rider, Petr Pilat who qualified first, put together a picture perfect run including the Candybar take-off Flip and finishing with the Side-saddle takeoff to Suran Wrap Flip to Side-saddle lander. But it would not be enough for victory and Petr would sit safely in third place, only one point ahead of Remi Bizouard in fourth place after he didn’t bring the Volt body varial for his Double Up, a notable change to his runs we’ve seen as of late.
With the opening round win going to the World Champion Maikel Melero he takes an early lead in the overall European Freestyle MX Championships. He is followed by Rob Adelberg and Petr Pilat. The second round will continue for a second day here in Linz, Austria.
