Martin Soderstrom and Dane Searls won the BIG IN BAVARIA VOL. II at the BIKE EXPO in Munich this past weekend, winning 10,000 dollars cash and, most importantly, a huge keg of beer. The UK’s Sam Pilgrim ran in second with VANS rider Ben Hennon taking second in the BMX comp.
Read on for the details…
Munich, Germany, July 26th 2010 – Mountain bike rider Martin Soderstrom from Sweden went “BIG” in Bavaria. The Australian Dane Searls dominated the BMX discipline of the international dirt jump competition hosted by the bicycle tradeshow BIKE EXPO. 40 riders from 12 countries made their way into Bavaria’s capital to show their latest tricks on a big sized dirt line. The winners did not only receive 10,000 US Dollars cash, but also a big keg of Bavarian beer.
The mountain bike riders were the first ones to go big on the 150 meters long dirt line in the early afternoon on Sunday. The numerous spectators on site as well as the ones watching the live webcast on watch26.tv presented by GoPro cameras got some first class dirt jump action: Swedish young gun Martin Soderstrom landed his tricks super clean. In his best run he showed a tailwhip at the start tower step down, a huge 360 table top, a double tailwhip, another 360 and a 360-double tailwhip. No question, once again the NS Bikes team rider deserved the BIG IN BAVARIA title. Great Britain’s Sam Pilgrim was, once again, his strongest competitor. Sam and Martin had a lot of trick battles this season and Sam had only a 1,25 points gap to winner Martin Soderstrom. Pilgrim showed 360’s at the step-down, 360 x-ups, backflip no handers and 360 double tailwhip as well.
French Yannick Granieri proved again, that he has one of the best styles and went third with tailwhips, high in the sky inverted 360s, backflips and perfectly executed flipwhips. Fourth place went to Benny Korthaus. The Munich local got pushed by the crowds as hard as possible. He thanked them by pulling the biggest backflip table tops of the weekend, as well as inverted flips and his signature flatspin 360 double tailwhip.
Another big highlight was Bienvenido Alba’s front flip from the start step down, which was landed well but a tiny bit overshot. So the Spanish rookie that is famous for his frontflip combos ended only in 21st place. The prize ceremony was a very traditional Bavarian one: The winner got a 30 liter beer keg, the second a spigot, and the third a hammer. A few minutes of teamwork later, the men on the podium were able to celebrate their success with a zip of fresh and cold beer.
The mountain bike action had been on a super high level, and all riders gained important FMB World Tour points. After the 26” class, everybody was anxious for the upcoming BMX finals and the hottest tricks on 20” bikes.
Australian Dane Searls, who is well known as an airtime lover, went crazy on the super-sized doubles of the BIG IN BAVARIA dirt line and showed tricks like 360 superman seatgrap indian airs or a super nice downside whip to tailwhip. No question, he was the man of the day with this super technical tricks and great style. Second place went to Ben Hennon from the United Kingdom who also had a big banger on the last jump: a 360 table top to tailwhip.
But combined with flip lookdowns and double tailwhips, he was not able to take the win. The German BMX legend Markus Hampl rocked the line with opposite 360 combos, flipwhips and 360 super seaters, so he finished with a great third place in front of Ricardo Laguna and Patrick Guimez.
The final TOP 10 results in a short overview:
Mountain Bike
Rank Firstname Lastname (Nat./Team)
1. Martin Soderstrom (SWE / NS Bikes)
2. Sam Pilgrim (GBR / Ashton Diamondback)
3. Yannick Granieri (FRA / Commencal)
4. Benny Korthaus (GER / Red Bull)
5. Amir Kabbani (GER / Mongoose)
6. Jakub Vencl (CZE / Agang)
7. Szymon Godziek (POL / Dartmoor)
8. Linus Sjolholm (SWE / Scott Bikes)
9. Sam Reynolds (GBR / DMR Bikes)
10. Thomas Genon (BEL / Canondale)
BMX
Rank Firstname Lastname (Nat./Team)
1. Dane Searls (AUS / Unit Clothing)
2. Ben Hennon (GBR / Eastpak)
3. Markus Hampl (GER /Twenty Bikes)
4. Ricardo Laguna (USA / Dans Comp)
5. Patrick Guimez (FRA / Monster Energy)
6. Dusan Antalík (SLO / Nike 6.0)
7. Bob Manchester (GBR)
8. Jean-Baptiste Peytavit (FRA / Twenty Bikes)
9. Daniel Juchatz (GER / Vans)
10. Sven Lehmann (GER / KHE)
Most of them already took care, that their spot on the riders’ list of the BIG IN BAVARIA in 2011 is secured. So you can already look forward to next year’s Vol.III of the BIG IN BAVARIA at the BIKE EXPO tradeshow (July 21st to 24th).
But you don’t have to plan that far to get first class dirt jump action. If you haven’t seen the live stream on http://www.soulbmx.com and http://www.watch26.tv, look forward for the BIG IN BAVARIA highlight clip coming soon.
Find the latest news of the GO BIG OR GO HOME and BIG IN BAVARIA Vol.II partners SR Suntour, 55DSL, One Big Park and GoPro on: http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com http://www.55dsl.com http://www.onebigpark.at and http://www.goprocamera.com
The mountain bike contest of the BIG IN BAVARIA Vol.II is ranked as a “Gold Event“ of the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour. Find the actualized ranking on: http://www.fmbworldtour.com
