Ten of the worlds best Freestyle MX riders from eight nations competed in the third and 4th rounds of the 2019 FIM Freestyle MX World Championship in the Bavarian capital city of Munich over the weekend.
With young-guns like Luc Ackermann and Maikel Melero competing against American FMX OG Adam Jones, the crowd were treated to a night of the best tricks in the world of FMX, both new-school and old.
See below for the press release and results from NIGHT of the JUMPs:
After terrible crash from Libor Podmol on the first night of competition, Hannes Ackermann was called up at the last minute to join the starting field. The older brother of last night’s winner, Luc Ackermann, Hannes celebrated with an incredible return to competition as the first rider in qualification and pulling enough big tricks such as the Front Flip, to place him in the final for the first time in 2 years.
The weekend didn’t get much better for X Games champion Rob Adelberg, who Dead-Sailored the first jump of his run, made some mistakes and missed out on the Top 6 final. Filip Podmol on the other hand was looking to seal his entry into the Final with a full run of impressive tricks, after seeing his brother crash heavily the night before. Filip was clearly exhausted after spending much of the previous 24 hours with his brother in hospital, and as he went for the Surfer to Indy to Indy Backflip, he came up short and was bucked off the bike. Filip was uninjured, but he missed his place in the finals, but still able to compete in the Best Whip competition. Filip pushed through the Whip rounds to go up against Pat Bowden in the final. But Bowden showed no mercy and stomped his trademark Turndowns for the win.
Back in the Qualifying round, the American Adam Jones, Javier Villegas from Chile, Aussie Pat Bowden and the two who are battling at the top of the World Championship, Maikel Melero and Luc Ackermann shone brighter than the rest. Melero mixed up his run from the previous day to try pick up some extra points. But it was to no avail, as Luc Ackermann took the lead in Qualifying with a Flair, 360, Surfer Tsunami and Double Flip.
In the finale, Hannes Ackermann was unable to capitalise on his brilliant qualifying run, with a mistake riddled run and finish in 6th position. However, to return to the Top 6 Final will surely give Hannes the motivation boost to return to NIGHT of the JUMPs in the future and show the rest of the field what he has up his sleeve.
The Chilean rider, Javier Villegas put together a clean run, but missed his Double Up jump with a Dead Sailor flip at the end. Although he did bring out a new variation of the Surfer Take-Off into a 9 O’clock.
The duel between the style kings at NIGHT of the JUMPs was brewing again on Day 2 between Pat Bowden and Adam Jones. The Australian upped his game in his final run of the day and landed the Rock Solid Backflip. But like Day 1 in Munich, it wasn’t enough as the American showed the rest of the field how to land a perfectly clean run without mistakes, while still pulling huge backflip combos like the Dead Body Backflip, which was enough to take 3rd place on the podium for the second night in a row.
For the fourth time this year, the final battle at NIGHT of the JUMPs was Maikel Melero vs. Luc Ackermann. And for the fourth time, Maikel had to start in front of Ackermann. Maikel landed the Nac Flair, the California Roll, Ruler Flip and No-hand Front Flip in his run before finishing with the Flair Superman. Melero amassed a total of 370 points, 26 points more than the day before. However with 10,000 German spectators inside the Olympiahalle, Luc Ackermann was motivated to throw his biggest run yet, with the Front Flip, Flair, 360, Hart Indy Flip and Double Backflip in his run, and then finishing with the Double Backflip Nac-Nac. The Olympiahalle was on fire and the judges rewarded his energy with 392 points for Luc to take his fourth victory in four rounds of World Championship competitions in 2019.
The 21 year old German, is sitting at the top of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship with maximum championship points of 80. Eight points behind him is Maikel Melero. Pat Bowden has advanced to third overall.
The NIGHT of the JUMPs riders have one month to get ready and learn some new tricks if they have a chance of beating Luc Ackermann. On May 25th, the next World Championship points will be up for grabs inside the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. Munich FMX fans should mark the calendar on April 25, 2020 for the return of the World Championships inside the Olympiahalle. Tickets are on sale now.
If you want to watch the whole FMX festival from NIGHT of the JUMPs Munich, you can tune in to www.nightofthejumps.tv
NIGHT of the JUMPs – Final Results
- Luc Ackermann GER DMSB Husqvarna 392 Points
- Maikel Melero ESP RFME KTM 370 Points
- Adam Jones USA AMA Yamaha 345 Points
- Pat Bowden AUS MA Yamaha 335 Points
- Javier Villegas CHL FMC Suzuki 281 Points
- Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 208 Points
Qualification Results
- Luc Ackermann GER DMSB Husqvarna 339 Points
- Maikel Melero ESP RFME KTM 323 Points
- Adam Jones USA AMA Yamaha 309 Points
- Pat Bowden AUS MA Yamaha 307 Points
- Javier Villegas CHL FMC Suzuki 300 Points
- Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 254 Points
- Leonardo Fini ITA PZM KTM 249 Points
- Rob Adelberg AUS MA Yamaha 239 Points
- Filip Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha 220 Points
- Fred Kyrillos BRA CBM Honda 220 Points
Best Whip Contest Results
- Pat Bowden AUS MA Yamaha
- Filip Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha
FIM Freestyle MX World Championship 2019 Ranking
(after 4th contest)
- Luc Ackermann GER DMSB Husqvarna 80 Points
- Maikel Melero ESP RFME KTM 72 Points
- Pat Bowden AUS MA Yamaha 56 Points
- Libor Podmol CZE ACCR Husqvarna 42 Points
- Javier Villegas CHL FMC Suzuki 41 Points
- Rob Adelberg AUS MA Yamaha 40 Points
- Leonardo Fini ITA PZM KTM 36 Points
- Adam Jones USA AMA Yamaha 32 Points
- Filip Podmol CZE ACCR Yamaha 28 Points
- Kai Haase GER DMSB Suzuki 17 Points
- Petr Pilat CZE ACCR KTM 13 Points
- Fred Kyrillos BRA CBM Honda 12 Points
- Brice Izzo FRA FFM Husqvarna 11 Points
- Hannes Ackermann GER DMSB KTM 10 Points
Photo Credit: NIGHT of the JUMPs