Basle, 20th May 2011: For the fifth time in the history of the competition, the Sankt Jakobshalle in Basle was the arena for the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. But what the fans got to see on Friday was probably the most spectacular NIGHT of the JUMPs ever. Following up on his stunning victory last weekend in Hamburg, Josh Sheehan has now notched up his first World Championship win, relegating all his rivals to bit player roles.

Twelve riders from six countries competed in qualifying for the six coveted places in the final round. Unfortunately, Swiss local hero Mat Rebeaud was absent from the line-up because he unable to get fit in time after a serious injury earlier this year. That did not detract from the atmosphere, however, because right from the qualifying stage, the showmen were thrilling the audience with 360s, Hart Attack Backflips, Tsunami Flips, Superman Seatgrab Backflips and many other breakneck combinations.




Josh Sheehan performed the best qualifying run of the season so far to claim top spot with 400 points. He was joined in the final round by Libor Podmol, Remi Bizouard, Jose Miralles, Javier Villegas and Maikel Melero. Despite pulling out his toughest tricks, David Rinaldo missed the final because of a Dead Sailor. Romain Izzo showed off a miniflip on the landing hill, but didn't make it through to the last six either. Best-performing German Hannes Ackermann took tenth place with a first-time Tsunami Flip.




After the preliminary competition, Lukas Weis won the Race & Style Contest ahead of Jose Miralles. The Spaniard made up for this by triumphing in the Maxxis Highest Air with a leap of 7.5 metres.

Then the bulldozers were brought out for the last time to create optimum track conditions for the final round. Maikel Melero opened the final and styled some extreme extensions. Ultimately, though, it was enough only for sixth place. Javier Villegas emerged next and topped his run in the preliminary round, securing a podium spot from P5. Jose Miralles, on the other hand, seemed to have run out of steam and dropped back to fifth place. Despite performing a Ruler, Switchblade, Cliffhanger and Hart Attack Flip, Remi Bizouard somehow missed out on a podium. Libor Podmol made sure of his by using the dirt jump to perform a brilliant Indy Underflip in the double-up. But despite all their huffing and puffing, none of them came close to knocking Downunder Dominator Josh Sheehan off his pedestal. He flipped a Lazyboy, a Tsunami and a Superman Seatgrab, topping off the display with his new Heelclicker 360 to win his first World Championship competition.

In the overall standings, Remi Bizouard still leads from Javier Villegas, both of them on 68 points. Jose Miralles is third on 62 points. The next World Championship race will take place tomorrow (Saturday). The stars will then be lining up in Basel for the fifth round of this year's NIGHT of the JUMPs / FIM Freestyle MX World Championship, and we will see whether Villegas can overtake Bizouard in the standings.

Basle, 21st May 2011: The second day of the Swiss Freestyle Motocross Grand Prix weekend could prove to be the tipping point of the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. Javier Villegas was runner-up on the evening, a result that was good enough to see him take the lead in the championship standings. But outclassing all the other riders was Josh Sheehan who won his third NIGHT of the JUMPs in a row.





Unfortunately, only 11 riders lined up for qualification on Saturday, as Libor Podmol had crashed in training and sustained an injury. The remaining riders were highly motivated and keen to top their performance of the day before. Lukas Weis was the first rider to use the transfer jump and improved significantly on his Friday routine. But it still wasn't enough to get him into the final. Fabian Bauersachs also flopped, in his case to an unaccustomed 10th place. But the third member of the German trio on the bill turned in the best result of his career to date: Hannes Ackermann used all the ramps to best effect and refined his Tsunami Flip.


Hannes Ackermann



He was only three points short of qualifying for his first NIGHT of the JUMPs finale. This honour was snatched from him by Red Bull rider Petr Pilat who essentially claimed the place that would have gone to injured compatriot Libor Podmol.


Petr Pilat is back after his injury and qualified for the final


In fact, the remaining five places in the final went to the same riders as the day before. Tragic figure of the weekend was David Rinaldo who mistimed his landing in the double-up. So after his Dead Sailor on Friday, he once again missed out on the finals.

Maikel Melero


Jose Miralles dominated proceedings in the side-contests. First he scored top points in the Race & Style and then he jumped 7.9 metres to victory in the Maxxis Highest Air.

Great Speed & Style Action with Miralles and Sheehan

But those who thought he had shot his bolt before the finale were in for a pleasant surprise. In a flawless run, including a dirt jump, he performed his first ever underflip. A performance that was rewarded by the judges with third place.


Remi Bizouard doing a great Ruler-Flip


Remi Bizouard could have felt miffed by this: the Frenchman pulled everything out of the bag, from Ruler Flip to Hart Attack Flip, but had to settle for a frustrating fourth. Petr Pilat and Maikel Melero put in solid final runs in the battle for the podium, but they finished out of contention.

Jose Miralles doing his signature trick

As early as the preliminary round, it had become clear that the winner of NIGHT of the JUMPs in Basle would have to get past Josh Sheehan. Villegas laid in with a Tsunami Flip and several daring combinations, but Sheehan was firing on all cylinders. A miniflip on the landing hill after his perfectly styled run and a perfect Clicker 360 in the double-up secured him a third victory in his third successive competition.

Josh Sheehan doing the Lazyboy upsidedown


After five out of twelve rounds, Javier Villegas took over the lead in the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship. Remi Bizouard has dropped back to second place, four points behind. The next NIGHT of the JUMPs takes place over the coming weekend at the Olympiahalle in Munich. And who's to say that Josh Sheehan won't complete a grand slam and record his fourth win in a row? There will be more World Championship points up for grabs on the weekend of 18th -19th June in Penza (Russia).

Winners 2nd night: Javier Villegas, Josh Sheehan and Jose Miralles