Metal Mulisha Athlete Rob Adelberg grabbed another solid podium finish this past weekend at the 2nd round of Night Of The Jumps FMX World Championships, solidifying himself as a title contender in 2016
On Sunday, the second round of the FIM Freestyle MX World Championship returned with only 10 riders in the starting line up in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel due to Brice Izzo being unable to compete after sustaining a wrist injury from the crash on his “Flair” the night before.
In his 70th world championship appearance, David Rinaldo was seeking revenge for the defeat he suffered from the previous day. Going into the qualifying run, David brought the Double Grab flip, the Cali-Roll and Hart Attack Flip which he hoped to win the qualifying round. However, the World Champion Maikel Melero threw a spanner in the works and again won qualifying with a flawless run to finish in pole position for the final.
For Remi Bizouard (FRA), Petr Pilat (CZE) and Rob Adelberg (AUS), they moved easily into the final round as they also achieved the previous day. In round 2 they were joined by Luc Ackermann (GER) in the final 6 after regrouping from a crash the previous day on a body varial. Notable mentions from riders who missed the top 6 final were Pat Bowden (AUS) with the Double Grab Flip as his Double-Up and also Marc Pinyol (ESP) who has the potential to make the finals but with a missed Cliffhanger Flip and a crash on the Surfer to Tsunami Flip, it meant they weren’t able to progress.
Pat and Marc would redeem themselves in the LifeProof Best Whip competition going one and two in the final. The Australian would go on to win for a second night in a row after showing huge Turn-down whips. In the Maxxis Highest Air competition the battle couldn’t have been any tighter when the previous day’s winner, Bianconcini had to share the night’s title and prize money with Jose Miralles when they were in a draw with both riders not able to pass the 9.00 metre height.
In the finals the wunderkind Luc Ackermann charged the course with huge tricks but a small error on landing the Flair relegated him to 6th position. Petr Pilat showed a solid run but missing the podium without a Body Varial or Flair.
Rob Adelberg threw down all of his tricks he could within the time-limit. And what wasn’t enough for a podium position on the Friday night, would end up just clinching a 3rd place in the second round of the World Championship with third place. That was due more because David Rinaldo made a small mistake when he missed 1-hand Take-Off Seat Grab Flip over the Super Kicker. Despite this small mistake, both riders ended on the same score but due to a tie-breaker on a 5-judge points system, the Australian eventually triumphed.
In his 90th WC round, Remi could have been crowned the day’s winner with a series of impressive tricks finishing with a Volt in the Double-Up. He put everything on the line and just stomped his foot on the landing. But against the reigning World Champion, Maikel Melero was again untouchable. The Spaniard started his run with the California Roll over the 23 metre gap to 1-had landing and finished his run with the Flair Nac to solidify his win with a 28-point lead and guarantee his second contest win in Switzerland.
This now has given the little Spaniard a clean sweep of the championship points on offer so far with two World Championship wins to join his two victories in Linz the previous weekend at the European Championships. With this, and the last 2015 round wins, Maikel now equals the NIGHT of the JUMPs record winning streak set by Josh Sheehan (AUS) of 6 wins in a row. It will be difficult for the other riders to stop Melero’s current run of form.
With the best points yield from two rounds, Melero currently sits in 40 points on the World Championship ladder with Remi Bizouard in second with 34 points.
The next two World Championship rounds will take place on 26th/27th of February 2016 at the NIGHT of the JUMPs in Berlin (Mercedes Benz Arena). Can Melero set a new NIGHT of the JUMPs longest winning streak record there?
