FMX Insider No.18: Munich’s Water
Welcome to our brand new weekly web-exclusive column, Transmoto‘s FMX Insider. Penned each week by South Australian rider, Ben Heidrich, the FMX Insider will present the story-behind-the-stories of the Aussie and international freestyle motocross scenes.
Last weekend’s Red Bull X-Fighters competition in Munich was all about pontoons, Double Backflips and waterlogged bikes. 18,000 roaring spectators watched as riders from all over the globe came together for a world class competition.
Here’s a quick re-cap incase you haven’t seen or heard about the world-first X-Fighters floating FMX course in Munich. The entire track was built on top of 260 floating pontoons on the lake next to the Olympic Stadium. It is a triangular shaped course with a total of nine jumps, four regular jumps, two gap jumps, a quarter pipe and a super kicker. To construct the entire course above water and run such a successful competition is a pretty amazing feat.
Leading up to the competition, I was wondering if any of the riders would lose their bike in the lake. It was bound to happen to someone; especially with such a tight course. During a training session, Japan’s Taka Higashino’s motorcycle slid off the pontoon and into the lake. Taka was not hurt and posed for a photo next to his visible bike, submerged in the water. X-Fighters tour leader, New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood, spoke on the mishap. “The incident involving Higashino’s bike had focused everyone’s attention as the big focus is going to be staying dry.”
France’s Tom Pages came through with an amazing performance on the Red Bull X-Fighters qualifying night. He nailed all of his trademark tricks, including the Bike Flip, the 360, Special Flip, 540 Flair and The Volt, which qualified him in first place. “It was a great run but I was a bit scared (of the water) and really stressed,” said Pages.
In the finals it was Australian rider, Josh Sheehan who came out on top with his second career win and his first victory since 2011. Over the day, Sheehan executed three perfect Double Backflips along with the rest of his flawless runs. “It’s amazing to win in front of a great crowd like this,” said Sheehan.
He won the finals battle against Taka, who put up a good fight but had to settle for second place.
Sherwood made a podium finish in third place with his smooth run and perfectly extended tricks. “It’s a bummer that Sheehan beat me in the semis,” said Sherwood. “I think I rode as well as I could, so we’ll see what happens now in South Africa.”
Pages fell behind in the finals after missing his Bike Flip, when he came crashing down hard and suffered a shoulder injury.
Josh Sheehan now sits in second place in the World Tour with 260 points, only five points behind Levi Sherwood with 265. There is one more round left of the Red Bull X-Fighters in South Africa.
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