Moscow Stunt Champ 2023
The Russian stunt riding championship has resumed after a long break, which began with Covid restrictions. Three stages are planned: two in Moscow and one in Ekaterinburg. The Russian champion is determined based on the results of the season. The event official website with regulations and judges protocols: https://stuntchamp.ru
The first stage took place in early July and was announced shortly before the start. Maybe that is why only few participants could come despite the good prize money; many were not in the best shape.
The qualification day took place in heavy rain; but even without it, it was clear who the leaders were, so we only came to the final. It was interesting to watch Dasha Kharchenko’s performance, because she is making noticeable progress and is gradually approaching the professional level. She didn’t qualify, but she was allowed to show her ride on the day of the final - her performance was good, clean, with stoppies and acrobatics, but with no switchback burnouts or power circles, which Dasha can do.
One of the participants was quite noticeable. It was Pavel Choporov, who started his performance at a very high speed, which made him stand out from the rest. But Pavel couldn't handle the speed and made a bunch of mistakes. Alexander Mikhailov also rode fast, did the most difficult power circles in different positions, and overall showed a high level.
Nikita Pokusay was really impressive. He performed a good freestyle with dynamic parts and added powers with exits and a wide drift into the highchair. The vip 360 was without exit, but as the best stunt it was performed 100% well. He took third place.
Foma Kalinin showed a unique unicycle to the right side, although everyone was waiting for the eight. Denis Rybalko's riding was not perfect, he showed a standard program with whip 360, and this was enough for second place. Andrey Rakshin did kangaroo 360, Yura Verkhovnikov did power eight, and Danila Zhelanov's chain fell off during the ride.
The Open beginner class as a whole did not differ from the Pro class: there were few participants and the level was not really high, although this was the first time we saw a switchback wheelie on a pitbike.
The organizers did an interesting team competition, in which Foma Kalinin and Danila Zhelanov performed the best: they showed top professional tandem stunts. The ATV stunts of Grikha Taldykin and Yuri Verkhovnikov were outstanding, especially the fire carousel with a burnt sneaker.
In fact, the tandem rides looked chaotic, because no one was specially prepared, but the compilation turned out great with cool stunts and combinations:
The second stage also took place in Moscow, in the parking lot of the Lokomotiv stadium. The site was smaller, the rides were not better, so we didn't publish the video. We couldn’t visit the third stage in Ekaterinburg, but there're great photos from Dmitry Petrushin who attended the event:
Based on the results of three stages, Foma Kalinin became the Russian champion. Two teammates, Dan Rybalko and Nikita Pokusay, took second and third place, respectively.
Overall, the season was a success! The best riders of the country took part in it, the organizers provided good prize money, so there was competition for top places and intrigue until the last stage.
Stunt Champ used to be an open international competition, and we hope it will remain so. It is very difficult to pull off a national championship without riders from abroad. Even the Poles and French failed to do this, and we have much fewer riders and bigger distances here in Russia.
