French rider Remi Bizouard extended his overall lead on the International Freestyle Motocross Federation (IFMXF) 2012 Night of the Jumps World Tour on Saturday by beating out Javier Villegas and David Rinaldo to top the podium in front of a sold-out crowd at Olympic Hall in Munich, Germany.
"I really enjoyed the place," Bizouard said in an interview after the podium presentation. "It's good to be here … we're going to have some drinks tonight."
His winning run featured a scorpion-style tsunami, a massive whip, a cliffhanger backflip, a Shaolin backflip, a switchblade backflip, the only 360 underflip of the night, and a Hart attack backflip.
Bizouard, the 2008 and 2009 FIM Freestyle MX world champion, now has a commanding lead in the 2012 Night of the Jumps series with 421 points, ahead of Czech rider Libor Podmol, the 2010 FIM champ (316 points), and Villegas, the defending 2011 FIM champ (296 points).
"Everyone was riding so great," Villegas said after the competition. "After I saw David's run I was like, 'I need to step up my game.' I improvised a little bit with a Cordova flip on the big ramp and a tsunami flip … now I've just got to go home and practice some more tricks. Remi's doing 360s, and cliffhanger flips and his Shaolin flips are huge, so I need to work on some more tricks and I'm really excited and motivated."
Some events on the IFMXF Night of the Jumps World Tour are sanctioned by the Union Européenne de Motocyclisme (UEM), others by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), and others, such as Saturday's event in Munich, are stand-alone IFMXF events. The IFMXF tracks rankings for the UEM and FIM events separately and tracks all of the Night of the Jumps events cumulatively.
Villegas, a Chilean rider who has relocated to the United States to pursue his freestyle motocross career, is the only U.S.-based rider competing in the IFMXF events this year. He is the current leader on the 2012 UEM Freestyle MX European Championship series after back-to-back wins at the opening rounds in January in Linz, Austria, but has slipped in the 2012 FIM Freestyle MX World Championship rankings -- all the way to seventh place -- after missing a round in March in Turin, Italy, because of injury and two rounds earlier this month in Basel, Switzerland, because of a scheduling conflict with the Red Bull X-Fighters opener in Dubai. He's currently in third place overall on the 2012 Night of the Jumps World Tour.
Night of the Jumps final results -- April 28, 2012, in Munich, Germany
1. Remi Bizouard (France) 419 Points
2. Javier Villegas (Chile) 405 Points
3. David Rinaldo (France) 374 Points
4. Brice Izzo (France) 355 Points
5. Hannes Ackermann (Germany) 326 Points
6. Martin Koren (Czech Republic) 292 Points
Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPNâs media platforms. Learn more