One of the best bits about Eurobike for me was the outdoor courtyard…outdoors, fresh air and people actually riding bikes. Here’s the results of the Dirt Jump competition:
Munich, September 8th, 2008 – After a bad injury in the middle of the year, Darren Pokoj dominated the international Nissan Dirt Jump comp during the last day of the Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Australian young gun won the contest and 2,000 Euros cash in front of Sam Pilgrim and Amir Kabbani.
The dirt jump track at the World’s biggest cycling exhibition consisted of two big sized doubles as well as a step up – step down box. The finals on Sunday featured the top ten riders of over 80 competitors that had to qualify on Saturday. Among the large field of riders were top riders like Martin Söderström, Trond Hansen, Lance McDermott, Marius Hoppensack, to name only a few. The finalists had to ride three runs and the best two were counting.
Darren showed that he had ridden a lot during his trip in California a couple of weeks ago. His unique style was spiced up with several new tricks. It was really important for the judges to see variety of technical moves. That was exactly what Darren’s runs were like and he mixed it up each time:
First run: tuck no hand and backflip at the first two doubles followed by a 360 off the box.
Second run: superman seatgrab indian air, nosedive 360, tuck no hand onto the box and a 360 off the drop.
Third run: nosedive 360, cannonball, barspin onto and 360 off the box.
I didn’t think it was possible to ride a bike with your trousers that far down?
It was his clean riding and the diversity of his tricks that secured his win. But you have to bear in mind that he got a new FELT Jumpshot Frame just the day before. Obviously the slightly modified Jumpshot model works well for Darren – his riding looked even better than before earlier in the season on his ‘08 model.
Sam Pilgrim, Amir Kabbani, Martin Söderström, Trond Hansen and the other finalists showed great tricks like 360s, backflip x-ups and backflip no handers or 3-whips. But they often didn’t finish their runs or they weren’t as consistent with their tricks and crashed, so at the end the judges presented the following results:
.jpg)
Results:
1st Darren Pokoj (AUS)
2nd Sam Pilgrim (UK)
3rd Amir Kabbani (GER)
4th Anton Wilms (GER)
5th Martin Söderström (SWE)
6th Inigo Yanci (ESP)
7th Trond Hansen (NOR)
8th Bjoern Woerner (GER)
Watch out for Darren at the upcoming 26TRIX dirt jump competition in Leogang, Austria, on September 19th and 20th. He will compete with other big named riders like Andreu & Lluis Lacondeguy, Timo Pritzel, Trond Hansen, Lance McDermott, Sam Pilgrim or Grant Fielder.
Pokoj wins the Eurobike Dirt comp
