Trond Hansen wins 26TRIX in Leogang

Last Friday and Saturday, 30 riders from 12 countries rocked the mega sized 26TRIX dirt line in Leogang, Austria. With two stunning runs Norwegian Trond Hansen took first place and earned himself 3.500 Euros in cash. Andi Wittmann from Germany showed technically very difficult combos on the most tricky parts of the track and won the Oakley Sick-O-Award. On Thursday evening the bottom part of the Bikepark Leogang was packed with riding, chilling and chatting young guns from all over the world. The guys from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Australia and the US had to get used to the revised 26TRIX track: nine jumps consisting of big sized doubles, hips, step ups and downs. It started with two qualifying runs on Friday afternoon, then the top 15 riders went straight to two final runs followed by two more final runs on Saturday in the early afternoon. The best two runs of all four were summed up to determine the winners. The riders were fighting heavily against the wind in the main part of the dirt track on both days. It was hard to go really big, but most of the riders managed it and stepped up the level of last year’s event: Trond Hansen shot his tricks like out of a machine gun: superman seatgrabs, 360 one foot tabletops, backflips, tailwhips, 360-opposites and frontflips. His runs were super clean and smooth. It was no question that the judges had him in first place. Trond was pretty happy winning the 26TRIX: ”I’m just super stoked. I already had a great season, but winning the 26TRIX is some kind of special for me. Furthermore, the big air time here in Leogang is a good preparation for the upcoming Rampage!” Amir Kabbani backflipped x-uped not only the first step up, but also showed tailwhips or superman backflips and got second place which was well-deserved. Sam Pilgrim made his way on the podium doing tuck no hands, tailwhips, 360-table tops, backflip x-up one footers, but crashed twice during the finals on two double tailwhip attempts. The other competitors also showed a great performance, which lead to following final ranking: 1st Trond Hansen, Specialized, NOR 2nd Amir Kabbani, Cannondale, GER 3rd Sam Pilgrim, Diamondback, UK 4th Linus Sjöholm, Scott, SWE 5th Andi Wittmann, Giant, GER 6th Mischa Breitestein, Kona, CH 7th Andrew Taylor, Versus, USA 8th Pascal Breitenstein, Kona, CH 9th John Alm Högman, Scott, SWE 10th Sam Reynolds, DMR, UK 11th Yannick Granieri, Giant, FRA 12th David Acedo, Mondraker, ESP 13th Grant Fielder, Kona, UK 14th Martin Söderström, NS Bikes, SWE 15th Lluis Lacondeguy, Kona, ESP Besides, the rider with the best skills and most props had to be crowned with the Oakley Sick-O-Award. It was a tight battle between Andrew Taylor’s backflip on a step down jump that didn’t give him much time to rotate and Andi Wittmann’s jump in the finals at the first step-up: Andi pulled a nice and clean 360 x-up one foot at the first step up, followed by a backflip x-up one foot at the big double after the hip jump. The judges were totally stoked about this trick combination. Sebastian Grobholz, Alex Dropsy and Bibi, who are all former or active BMX pros, had no other chance to dedicate the Oakley Sick-O-Award to him. The 500 Euros cash was for sure a nice add on for Andi. Be anxious for the video clip of the 26TRIX, which is being edited right now. And don’t miss the next big freeride event in Leogang: the White Style winter slopestyle competition on January 30th, 2009