Perfect freestyle conditions in Marsala
The day started with Stefan Spiessberger and Hugo Guias going big right from the start. Stefan had his best heat early, landing a nice back mobe five and defeating Guias. The second round of men had all the top riders in the world with perfect freestyle conditions. Reno Romeu and Ewan Jaspan went out with their 12 meter kites, Reno came out strong and landed his KGB, slim and nice S-bend 3 and stayed in front the whole time. The next heat was between Shitzhofer and Jacobs, two of the most powerful riders on tour. Mike had a nice low back mobe but Marc’s front blind mobe and hinterberger was enough to win.
The heat between Hutter and Whaley was one of the best ones of the day. Liam was on fire, landing the best BJ5 of the day with 8.53 and a heat total of 38.39 which was also the highest heat total of the day. Hutter was getting some really good scores and would have won many heats today but Liam was unstoppable. Zoon vs Madson was up next, Zoon was really powerful and his execution was flawless landing a big BJ5. Madson’s KGB 5 was not enough to upset the world Champion. Tack and Langeree both advanced to the next round. Da Silva got passed Mario the European champion, with his explosive style. The last heat of the second round was between Alex Pastor the current points leader and Spiessberger. Pastor’s flawless execution put him well in the lead and Stefan could not find his rhythm.
The first round of women was won by Baumeiter, Novotna, Van Westerop and Potter. All the girls were getting their Blind Judges and S-bend-1. The next round of women was much tougher with all the round one winners meeting the top 4 girls in the world. Kajiya was against Baumeister, Bruna was riding extremely clean with lots of power and got the win. Gisela went against Novotna from Czech Republic who was riding with a lot of power, but was not able to outdo Gisela’s full repertoire of tricks. The Jungo vs Van Westerop heat was close, but the young Aruban was riding really well and beat Jungo. The final heat of the round Karolina was on fire and easily beat Potter.
The men’s quarter finals had all the top 8 men riders in the world. The first heat was between Jacobs and Romeu, both had many good tricks but Marc had just a little more power. Heat two was between Whaley and Zoon. Whaley was coming off a great performance in round 2 but was unable to match Youri’s 317 and BJ5 to upset the world champion. Tack vs Langeree was up next with Christophe Tack dominating with super technical moves like the BJ5. The last quarterfinal was between Pastor and DaSilva, pastor won with a 317 and BJ5 and Double S3.
During the semifinal the wind started to drop and riders had to put up their big kites. The heat between Jacobs and Zoon was a great battle of similar styles. Both riders were going for maximum power, the heat was very close with only .3 separating the riders. Youri won with a nice front blind mobe to secure a victory. Marc also had a nice trick(front blind mobe) but was outside the zone and did not count. The second semifinal was between Pastor and Tack. The heat was again very close, Alex won by .03. All their tricks were in the excellent range with scores consistently in the upper 7’s. In the end Alex landed a double S-bend 3 that scored an 8.02 and secured his win and another final.
The women’s first semifinal was between Kajiya and Pulido, two world champions. They were both riding extremely, Gisela won with an S-bend 3 and ABB. Bruna landed a nice S-Mobe and S-bend 3 but it was not enough to upset Pulido. The second semifinal was between Winkoska and Van Westerop, Karolina was riding well and reached another final.
The women’s losers final was between Kajiya and Van Westerop, Kajiya was really consistent and powerful and finished 3rd on the podium. On the men’s side Tack and Jacobs had a great heat with Tack being extremely technical again, landing a massive BJ5 and getting a big win and a spot on the podium.
The women’s final was extremely close between Pulido and Winkoska. Karolina got a nice back mobe with a 6.7; S-bend pass and air back to blind. Gisela was able to edge her out with more consistent tricks and slightly higher scores. Gisela scored 28.59 vs 28.47 for Karolina, one of the closes final we have had on the PKRA.
Unfortunately the wind died on us and we were unable to finish the men’s final. Pastor and Zoon both had a few good tricks but a couple of minutes into the final the wind died and the race director canceled the final. The Italians know how to put on a show on some motocross freestylers came out to take over the show.
The 4th day of the Marsala Freestyle World cup saw some of the most technical tricks being landed in competition. Gisela got her second consecutive win and regained her lead in the points. The conditions were perfect for freestyle and hopefully tomorrow we will finish the single and the double elimination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjCvt7TDiiM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DhG_gepOVU