Czech Stunt Days 2019
Traditionally, the stunt riding world championship was held in Ostrava in mid-August: the biggest international competition of the season, the best riders, a high level of competition and a large audience. This year, the organizers changed the rules so that the winner was determined not by the final runs alone, but by the sum of the semi-final and final scores.
The contenders for the prizes are the same as last year: Jensen, Glowacki, Vatanen, Kalinin, Karbownik, Kanik.
Once again, the champion was the most experienced and most titled rider of our time — Marcin Glowacki. Two tight, dynamic runs without serious mistakes left no chance to his competitors, who were already far behind after the semi-final. This year, Marcin added a ride-out from power circles, which has become an essential element over the last couple of years, and dropped the highchair kangaroo he stumbled on last year. He slightly rebuilt his freestyle while remaining one of the fastest riders with the highest trick density. A professional approach and a well-deserved result.
Foma Kalinin rode poorly in the semi-final, but in the final he showed the best freestyle of the season with many complex, innovative tricks. For the first time, we saw a power eight with a jump from frog to highchair on the direction change, a coaster in highchair power circles and a flamingo watchtower. Foma also added a shuffle 360°, new for him. There was also a kangaroo 360° with a transition to the spreader and a flamingo kangaroo 360° — three 360° tricks in one freestyle, which is also unprecedented. Foma’s run was a logical and very rapid development of the new school, in which tricks from the usual slow circles shift into high-speed power mode. A super complex set of tricks at high speed looks impressive and sometimes scary.
Joona Vatanen is riding the CBR1000RR for his last season. We had been waiting for the Finn’s perfect signature ride, one for the history books. And so it happened, albeit with a few mistakes. Already a style icon, Joona beautifully and worthily completed the most successful stage of his career, taking third place. On the CBR1000RR, he became not only the fastest and most aggressive rider, but also one of the best pro riders in the world and the best in the 1000cc class. He opened a new chapter in the sport, showing that speed can be not only spectacular but also technical. Next season, the furious Finn will be doing highchair power curves with ride-outs, fast stoppies with long rolls, crazy slides and drifts on a BMW S1000RR.
For Mike Jensen, this tournament was his first on his new 2014 Kawasaki ZX636. After many years of riding the CBR600F4i and winning on it for the last two years, changing bikes right before the world championship was very risky. Crashes in the semi-final and final kept him off the podium, but his potential was obvious. Mike has become faster and now keeps up with Vatanen, and, as always, he added interesting elements: impressive NASCAR circles at top speed and a power spreader with a ride-out, which looks huge when performed by such a tall rider. He didn't land the shuffle 360, although he did it in practice. Mike's standard tricks are now much more dynamic: the kangaroo 360 looks suicidal, and his drift combos with tornadoes, side-to-side moves and curves are very wide and fast at critical lean angles; his circle technique has both amplitude and speed. In general, Jensen continues to improve his style: he goes even faster, performs at 100%, adds new tricks and perfectly combines technique and showmanship. Next year we hope to see the full potential of the Dane.
Denis Rybalko was very close to third place in the world championship, the gap between him and Mike was negligible as a result. Nevertheless, Den showed top freestyle and noticeable progress, left behind experienced titled riders and repeated last year's result, but in a tougher competition this time. Denis improves his style with a smooth continuous flow, goes faster and wider, adds power curves with ride-outs, wheelie slalom, bunny-kangaroo, tornado drift. The final was the best run in the career of the Russian rider.
Pawel Karbownik was not ready for the tournament and was unable to repeat last year's freestyle. He was one of the favorites of the world championship, but he didn't perform his super complex freestyle cleanly in either the semi-final or the final. The Polish rider is one of the most technical and stylish stunt riders in the world. In Ostrava, he pushed the limit with his switchback combo: track stand — one-handed drift — wheelie. But his highchair stoppies and kangaroo didn't work out, and he made mistakes on his super trick, the highchair coaster eight: in the final, his muffler fell off. The result was 6th place, a poor result for such a renowned Polish rider.
Martin Kratky was a big surprise. After a serious knee injury and on a new motorcycle, no one expected a high level from him, but in the semi-final Martin showed his best freestyle at high speed, with virtually no mistakes. Martin became the Czech champion once again, as he had the best result of all Czech riders.
Rafal Kanik, unfortunately, has barely updated his program for the second year in a row. The result was 8th place, although his final run was clean and well done.
Paulius Labanauskas was in great shape and had a great freestyle, though too complex and risky. This is his semi-final run, which was his best. Paulius included three risky 360 tricks (kangaroo, whip, bunny); none of them was perfect, but he didn't make any serious mistakes. He also did a highchair power curve with a ride-out, which is a great modern stunt. Overall, the run was dynamic, diverse and at times risky.
The top ten is closed by Dawid Olczyk, who had a good final run, overtaking Sarah Lezito and Diego Christian Mafra. The Polish rider did great drifts and stoppies, and a risky tornado frogger as his best trick.
We couldn't skip the run of the great French pro rider Sarah Lezito, who competes on a par with men. This time, Sarah made it to the final and took 12th place. She added some interesting dynamic combos and showed great stoppies, drifts and switchback stunts. We didn't see her watchtower, which could have put her in the top 10 like the previous year. Sarah is still the world's best female stunt rider and a unique athlete. We look forward to seeing her on her new ZX636.
TOP 10 most innovative and unique tricks from the championship:
Best stunts and crashes from qualifying, the semi-final and the final:
We also managed to film the interesting wheelie race contest.
Overall, we'd like to highlight the excellent organization, the highest level of stunt riding and a great atmosphere. We didn't like the cumulative scoring format, because the main intrigue unfolded in the semi-final, and the final was less spectacular. We hope to visit the Czech Republic again next year, and we recommend this tournament to everyone.