Podmol strikes back to open up six-point lead

Saturday’s NIGHT of the JUMPs in Vienna rounded off a giant double bill of freestyle motocross. Libor Podmol staged a superb comeback to take the honours in the 12th round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. The Czech rider goes into the title decider in Fortaleza (Brazil) six points ahead of his main rival Brice Izzo.

William van den Putte was absent from the starting line-up after his tumble on Friday, so his place was taken by local rider Martin Schenk. In the contest to impress the home crowd, Schenk lost out to fellow Austrian Thomas Wirnsberger, whose repertoire on the evening included a Superflip. However, both of them had to bow out after the preliminary round, together with the German duo of Hannes Ackermann and Fabian Bauersachs. Likewise making an early exit were Brody Wilson (USA), who bombed twice, and Alastair Sayer (BOT), who made a respectable run but was still edged out by Massimo Bianconcini. Joining the Italian in the final were Josh Sheehan (AUS) and Remi Bizouard (FRA), plus the three main title contenders, Jose Miralles (ESP), Libor Podmol (CZE) and Brice Izzo (FRA).

Sheehan and Wilson repeated their success of the night before in the Team Whip Contest, as did Alastair Sayer in his speciality event, the Highest Air Contest.

Bianconcini led off in the final and put in what must surely rank as his finest run of the season, his underflip in the double-up taking him to fifth overall. On Friday, Josh Sheehan had looked a dead cert for a podium spot before crashing into the barrier. Today, there was no stopping him. Riding his customary four-stroke machine, he executed a 1-Hand Underflip and a Superman Seatgrab Indy Flip, as well as a mini-flip on the edge of the landing mound, all of which was good enough to secure the third rung on the podium. For a while, it looked as if this might be snatched away from him by Remi Bizouard, but the Frenchman did not quite recover from an incredible 180-degree whip and made a hard landing. After Bizouard’s fall, Jose Miralles emerged onto the track and attempted all the tricks in the book. But the Spaniard was visibly awed and could only manage fourth.

The big showdown of the evening between Podmol and Izzo was still to come. Libor ran through all the same tricks he had performed on Friday, but this time made them longer and more drawn out, plus his landings were more precise. Brice Izzo responded with a repeat of his mini-flip. The pair of them finished level on the leader board with 429 points, but counting back to earlier heats, Libor’s total was higher, which gave him victory on the day. 

In the championship standings, the Czech has a six-point lead over Brice Izzo, which means that he now has his destiny in his own hands. Yet based on what we have seen from the Frenchman here in Vienna, we can confidently expect the grand finale of the World Championship to be the most exciting ever witnessed in NIGHT of the JUMPs. The 2010 FIM Freestyle MX season comes to a close on 12th December in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza.