Last weekend, Berlin hosted the NIGHT of the JUMPs, the biggest motorsport event in the city for years. After Team Czech Republic surprisingly took the victory on Friday, the favorites from Germany and Spain wanted to strike back on Saturday. Over 10,000 enthusiastic fans flocked to the Mercedes-Benz Arena to celebrate the world’s best freestyle motocross riders.
Freestyle Heat 1
Kai Haase from Berlin showed a very good run with tricks like the Superflip Indy, Rock Solid or Hartattack and took his revenge against the strong Czech Matej Cesak, who had won the day before. Spain’s Marc Pinyol finished in 3rd place.
Whip Contest
The engine of Friday’s champion Matej Cesak burst in the middle of the jump, but he was able to save himself skillfully into the airbag. This cleared the way for Germany, who scored 100 points in person of Kai Haase with blatant turndown whips.
Freestyle Heat 2
David Rinaldo, starting for Germany, showed the most spectacular run of the evening so far. With tricks like Tsunami Flip, Supercan Flip, Californa Roll and a Doublegrab Backflip with maximum extension he made the German team cheer. Filip Podmol from Czech Republic showed an even better run than on Friday with Switchblade Flip, Cliffhanger Flip and Tsunami Flip and took the second place with 68 points. Dany Torres from Spain finished third again.
Synchro Contest
Team Spain and Team Germany had a spectacular battle. While on Friday Maikel Melero and Marc Pinyol scored 100 points for Spain with perfectly synchronized Tsunami Flips, Germany took revenge on Saturday and secured the victory with No-Hand-Flips.
Freestyle Heat 3
Petr Pilat from the Czech Republic kicked off and was able to sweep the spectators off their seats with his tricks. Matador Maikel Melero was the only rider to jump the frontflip on both days and secured second place in the third heat. When Luc Ackermann finished the freestyle runs with Holygrab, 360, Tsunami Flip, Indy Flip, Cliffhanger, Clicker Superflip, 9-O-Clock and Double Backflip and got the highest score of the day, there was no stopping him.
Best Trick Contest
In the final Best Trick Contest, points were awarded for both freestylers and mountain bikers. For Team Germany David Rinaldo first showed a California Roll and as a bonus the Rock Solid Flip. Nico Scholze showed a trick premiere on the mountain bike with the Clicker Superflip Combo. When Luc Ackermann landed another perfect double flip for the best trick finish, Team Germany was the winner. Filip Podmol almost caught up with Spain, but he had to dismount during his double backflip attempt in the second rotation and landed sideways in the airbag. Thus, Team Spain took the silver medal, while the Czech Republic finished third.
NIGHT of the JUMPs World Tour Ranking 2023
Since this year there is again a World Tour Ranking at the NIGHT of the JUMPs. Athletes receive points for their placement in the freestyle runs at each stop of the season. After two competitions, German rider Luc Ackermann leads with 40 points ahead of David Rinaldo from France with 36 points.
Next stop: Munich
The next NIGHT of the JUMPs will take place on March 20 at the Olympiahalle in Munich. Here the riders have the chance to collect more points for the Tour Ranking. Berlin fans can look forward to October 5, 2024, when the FMX athletes will once again be guests in the capital.
Conclusion
The NIGHT of the JUMPs in Berlin was a rousing start to the season with spectacular tricks, exciting competitions and enthusiastic fans. Team Germany was able to prevail against the competition from the Czech Republic and Spain and take the day’s victory. We can look forward to more exciting competitions at the upcoming stops of the World Tour Ranking in Munich and other cities.
Here are the results of the NIGHT of the JUMPs / Freestyle of Nations in Berlin on 25.02.2023:
Overall standings
1st Team Germany – 517 points
2nd Team Spain – 427 points
3rd Team Czech Republic – 396 points
Freestyle Motocross Run 1
1st Team Germany – Kai Haase – 61 points
2nd Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak – 59 points
3rd Team Spain – Marc Pinyol – 47 points
Freestyle Motocross Run 2
1st Team Germany – David Rinaldo – 79 points
2nd Team Czech Republic – Filip Podmol – 68 points
3rd Team Spain – Dany Torres – 50 points
Freestyle Motocross Run 3
1st Team Germany – Luc Ackermann – 82 points
2nd Team Spain – Maikel Melero – 77 points
3rd Team Czech Republic – Petr Pilat – 67 points
Whip Contest
1st Team Germany – Kai Haase – 100 points
2nd Team Spain – Marc Pinyol – 80 points
3rd Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak – 65 points
Synchro Contest
1st Team Germany – Haase/Rinaldo – 100 points
2nd Team Spain – Melero/Pinyol – 80 points
3rd Team Czech Republic – Pilat/Podmol – 65 points
Best Trick
1st Team Germany – Ackermann/Rinaldo/Nico Scholze – 95 points
2nd Team Spain – Melero/Torres/Alejandro Bonafe – 78 points
3rd Team Czech Republic – Podmol/Pilat/Richard Zelinka – 72 points
NIGHT of the JUMPs World Tour Ranking 2023
1st Luc Ackermann (GER) – 40 points
2nd David Rinaldo (FRA) – 36 points
- Maikel Melero (ESP) – 32 points
- Filip Podmol (CZE) – 28 points
5th Petr Pilat (CZE) – 24 points
- Matej Cesak (CZE) – 18 points
- Kai Haase (GER) – 18 points
- Dany Torres (ESP) – 18 points
- Marc Pinyol (ESP) – 14 points
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