text by mk & pics by fmx.cz |
Last weekend while the IFMXF WC and German championship was going on, a lot of the US FMX stars came to the Czech Republic for a big Freestyle show in the brand new Sazka arena for the Extreme Tour. This Event has a big history going back to 2000 which was the first FMX event in the Czech Republic.
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The Arena in Prag with 2 landings and 4 ramps
So far the events have been in a contest scheme. This year the promoters decided to change the act a bit and make it one big show instead. With a completely sold out hall and not a single seat empty, we were cheered on by 16 thousand fans.
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Martin Koren with a nice Double Hart Attack
The Riders list went as so: Ronnie Renner, Jake Windham, Dustin Miller, Jesse Olson, Jeff Fehr, Robbie Maddison Reagan Sieg, Andy Bell, Petr Kuchar, Libor Podmol and me (Martin Koren). The show started with Big Air where we all got two attempts to show a bit of style. Next was the Freestyle run on the track for 90 seconds and finally a jam to end up the show. Because the track was in an X shape and the jumps crossed, we divided into three groups to keep it at least a little bit safe. Even though there was a sort of contest scenario, there were no judges as the event was as said, a show.
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Libor Podmol with a extended Kiss of Death
Even though all riders had very little practice at the track due to the late finishing the landings, (about 5-10 minutes per rider), it was great to see what the trick and style trends are over seas. The unofficial king of the night was Petr Kuchar who flipped several times including of one of the regular ramps that was set up at 18m and a one hand flip. During the jam, Jeff Fehr got some inspiration and pulled a flip of the 21m distance. Due to the short practice, no one of them tried the flip during practice. Me and Libor tried to keep up the pace and not be too far behind the over seas stars stars.
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Mr. Robotman Ronnie Renner with his signature trick Deadbody
I think we did better than some of them. Every year its getting better and better. Hopefully well be around next year to give an attempt at the WC. The unlucky rider of the night was Maddo who had a breathless bike and couldn’t pick up enough speed out of the corner to clear the big gap each time perfectly. And must I say, the ramp was directly out of the corner and not so easy to jump (There was about a 17m in run). Maddo went down hard a few times. On his last fall he broke his front wheel.
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Petr Kuchar with his traditional Onehand Backflip
After the show we all went to PARTY, which is nothing really unusual after FMX. The Americans and Canadians are on their way to another similar show in Budapest.
Peace, Martin - generalx.cz
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