The biggest motorsport event of recent years in the German capital came to its crowning conclusion on Saturday. With the NIGHT of the JUMPs, freestyle motocross sport finally returned to the Mercedes-Benz Arena last weekend after three years. Over 10,000 enthusiastic fans flocked to the arena to celebrate the world's best FMX heroes. After the completely surprising victory of Team Czech Republic on Friday, the favorites from Germany and Spain wanted to strike back on Saturday.

And Team Germany went "All In" right away in Freestyle Heat one. Kai Haase from Berlin did a very good run with tricks like the Superflip Indy, Rock Solid or Hartattack. With this he took his revenge against the strong Czech Matej Cesak, who won the day before, and was just two points ahead of him. Spain's Marc Pinyol finished in third place.

In the following Whip Contest the engine of Friday's champion Matej Cesak (CZE) burst in the middle of the jump, but he skillfully saved himself into the airbag. This cleared the way for the team from Germany, who scored 100 points in person of Kai Haase with blatant turndown whips.

In Freestyle Heat 2, David Rinaldo, competing for Germany, smashed off the most spectacular run to date. Tsunami Flip, Supercan Flip, Californa Roll and a Doublegrab Backflip with maximum extension let Team Germany cheer. Filip Podmol (CZE) 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 (ESP) finished third again.

In the Synchro competition Team Spain and Team Germany had a spectacular battle. While on Friday Maikel Melero and Marc Pinyol scored 100 points for the Iberians with perfectly synchronized Tsunami Flips, Germany took revenge on Saturday and secured the victory with No-Hand-Flips.

In the third freestyle heat Petr Pilat (CZE) got going and was able to sweep the spectators off their seats with his tricks. Matador Maikel Melero was also the only one to jump the frontflip on Saturday 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, the highest score of the day, there was no stopping him. The crowds in the Mercedes-Benz Arena cheered their hero and Germany had the best chance to win the day in the final Best Trick Contest.

In this contest, points were awarded for both freestylers and mountain bikers. For Team Germany David Rinaldo showed in the Best Trick Contest first 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. So Team Spain took silver ahead of Team Czech Republic.

Since this year there is finally a World Tour Ranking at the NIGHT of the JUMPs again. Here the athletes get points for their placement in the freestyle runs at every stop of the season. After two competitions the German terminator Luc Ackermann leads here with 40 points ahead of David Rinaldo with 36 points.

The next NIGHT of the JUMPs will take place on March 20 at the Olympiahalle in Munich. Here the athletes can collect more points for the Tour Ranking. Berliners can look forward to October 5, 2024. Then the FMX athletes will be back in the capital.

NIGHT of the JUMPs / Freestyle of Nations

Berlin – 25.02.2023

Results

 

Overall

1. Team Germany          517 Points                     
2. Team Spain                   427 Points
3. Team Czech Republic 396 Points

 

Freestyle Motocross Run 1

1. Team Germany – Kai Haase 61 Points
2. Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak 59 Points
3. Team Spain – Marc Pinyol                   47 Points

 

 

 

Freestyle Motocross Run 2

1. Team Germany – David Rinaldo         79 Points
2. Team Czech Republic – Filip Podmol 68 Points
3. Team Spain – Dany Torres                   50 Points

 

Freestyle Motocross Run 3

1. Team Germany – Luc Ackermann 82 Points
2. Team Spain – Maikel Melero         77 Points
3. Team Czech Republic – Petr Pilat 67 Points

 

Whip Contest

1. Team Germany – Kai Haase          100 Points
2. Team Spain – Marc Pinyol            80 Points
3. Team Czech Republic – Matej Cesak         65 Points

 

Synchro Contest

1. Team Germany – Haase/Rinaldo          100 Points
2. Team Spain – Melero/Pinyol   80 Points
3. Team Czech Republic – Pilat/Podmol   65 Points

 

Best Trick

1. Team Germany –Ackermann/Rinaldo/Nico Scholze   95 Points
2. Team Spain – Melero/Torres/Alejandro Bonafe           78 Points
3. Team Czech – Podmol/Pilat/Richard Zelinka   72 Points

 

 

NIGHT of the JUMPs World Tour Ranking 2023

1. Luc Ackermann (GER)       40 Points
2. David Rinaldo (FRA)          36 Points
3. Maikel Melero (ESP)         32 Points
4. Filip Podmol (CZE)           28 Points
5. Petr Pilat (CZE)                24 Points
6. Matej Cesak (CZE)            18 Points
7. Kai Haase (GER)               18 Points
8. Dany Torres (ESP)             18 Points
9. Marc Pinyol (ESP)              14 Points