The
weekend started on Friday afternoon with the first training session in front of
the picturesque Vienna
City Hall. By
Saturday’s midday the 45 riders from thirteen nations got used to the
jumps, which consisted of a decent start drop from the eight meters high
starting tower followed by three big sized doubles. The competitors had not
only to cope with the technical challenging roller between the last two jumps,
but with the fast changing wind conditions during the qualifications.
Compared
to last year’s Vienna Air King the riding level definitely went up: Benny
Korthaus (GER) stoked the judges with clean runs including a Backflip on the
first double as well as 360-Tailwhips and one handed 360 Tabletops. Yannick
Granieri’s (FRA) really high Backflips and Sam Pilgrim’s clean
riding style including 360-Tabletops secured their way into the finals on
Sunday.
The
highlight on Saturday, the PANASONIC-Best-Trick-Competition, marked the ending
of Vienna Air King’s first contest day. The Top 5 of the qualifying:
Martin Soederstroem (SWE), Yannick Granieri, Bartek Obukowicz (POL), Sam
Pilgrim (UK) and Benny Korthaus (GER) made the numerous visitors of the Argus
Bike Festival yelling for more. The best trick competition was dominated by
Benny Korthaus and Sam Pilgrim in the end. Both were not able to pull their
tricks clean till their last attempts which could just be described as
perfectly exectued: Benny Korthaus’s 360-Double Tailwhip demolished the
other five riders’ performance, including Sam Pilgrim’s Backflip
Superman. The awards of the PANASONIC-Best-Trick-Competition were given out
during the 10-Years-Anniversary party from the Mountainbike Revue Magazine.
Apart from the prize giving, the party featured different peak levels including
the European premiere of Kranked 7, a trial show, a live concert from Binder
& Kriegelstein and a long party night, especially for the ones who
didn’t make their way into the finals. Benny was not only happy to win
500 Euros, but a Panasonic 3-chip camcorder, so he will be able to get all his
future traveling experiences taped in full HD.
Three
final runs, of which the best two counted, forced the riders to prove their
consistence and trick variety on Sunday. Benny had some bad luck, showing a
perfect first run, including a Backflip, 360-Table Top and 360-Tailwhip. The
following two runs he had to fight the wind and loosing speed after a 360-drop
from the starting tower. Yannick impressed the judges with the highest
amplitude back-flipping the first double, being about three meters above the
take off, followed by a No Foot Can Can and a 360. Norway’s well known
freeriding export Trond Hansen placed fourth after pulling e.g. one run with a
Tailwhip, 360-Table Top One Foot and a 360-opposite. The rookie Bartek from Poland
made his way to the podium with a huge Backflip, Double Barspin and 360-Table
Top. But the most ambitious battle was the fight between the two just 18 years
old riders Martin Soederstroem and Sam Pilgrim: Martin dropping in with a 360,
tail whipping the first double and ending his best run with a Tuck No Hand
followed by a 360-Barspin to X-Up! Sam wasn’t willing to let the matter
rest and gave his best in his last two runs pulling: a Backflip-X-Up One Foot,
Superman Seatgrap and 360-Tailwhip. Martin would have won the finals with his
best run, but with two runs counting, Sam showed more variety overall. One
thing is for sure: the next generation of European dirt jump talents is not
about to come – it can be stated that they are already a fixture in the
international competitions.
Mr.
Pilgrim will be pretty glad to take home 2,000 of the 5,000 Euro overall prize
money, as well as a Panasonic SD based ultra compact HD cam which was given out
to the top three. Sam Vienna Air King title 2008 was well-deserved, but
everyone who watched the action live paid big respect to the other riders who
reached the Top 15:
1st
Sam Pilgrim (UK) Diamondback
2nd
Martin Söderström (SWE) Peak Performance
3rd
Bartek Obukowicz (POL) NS
Bikes
4th
Trond Hansen (NOR) Specialized
5th
Yannick Granieri (FRA) Giant
6th
Benny Korthaus (GER) Specialized
7th
Amir Kabbani (GER) Cannondale
8th
Mike Smith (UK) DMR
Bikes
9th
Linus Sjoeholm (SWE) Scott
10th Aze Etzold (GER) Solid Gravity Team
11th Philipp Fruehwirt (AUT) /
12th Mischa Breitenstein (CH) Kona Clump Team
13th Matthias Gattringer (AUT) Solid Gravity Team
14th Rob Jauch (GER) Canyon
15th Alfred Scholtze (AUT) Solid Gravity Team
With
over 70.000 visitors during the Argus Bike festival and about 6.000 people
watching the Vienna Air King grand final – presented by Raiffeisen Club,
Nissan, internet-provider “3” and Panasonic – this weekend
proved itself as one of the most spectacular and well worth seeing seasons
opening events in Europe.
Be
anxious for the Vienna Air King clip coming up this week to see all the action
in moving pictures.
Until then enjoy the 360-Double Tailwhip from Benny
Korthaus
