Riders Lounge Podcast - Freeride / Freestyle Motocross and Action Sports

Here we go! It has been a minute since the last podcast!

Sorry for the little hiatus (after the last hiatus) but time is of the essence, and I figure while the studio isn't finished, let's just go audio only now.

This is a special type of episode, perhaps one I continue into the future. This is the re-live audio commentary from NIGHT of the JUMPs in Munich at the second round of the 2026 season.

So if you prefer the old school days of listening to the radio, where you can form your own imagery of the action that is going down in your mind, you will hopefully appreciate this!

If you prefer to watch it, which I would also recommend you do, please watch it all on NIGHT of the JUMPs YouTube channel here:

Qualification: https://youtu.be/HebFQ0vJo6k

Final: https://youtu.be/4xfN7BX3KFE

We're just getting ready for the 3rd round in Leipzig this Saturday night, so if you haven't bought your tickets, head on over here and we'll see you there 19:00!

https://www.ticketmaster.de/event/night-of-the-jumps-tickets/588624464?language=en-us

Thanks for tuning in, and see you with the next Re-Live from Leipzig next week!

Steve

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Freestyle Motocross Finale

1.    Luc Ackermann (GER)                                        86,50 Points

2.    Marc Pinyol (ESP)                                              76,00 Points

3.    Davide Rossi (ITA)                                             75,00 Points

4.    Matej Cesak (CZE)                                             72,50 Points

FreestyleMotocross Qualification Group 1

1.    Marc Pinyol (ESP)     75,50 Points

2.    Matej Cesak (CZE)    69,50 Points

3.    Leonardo Fini (ITA)   65,50 Points

4.    Mikolay Tempka (POL)  61,50 Points

Freestyle Motocross QualificationGroup 2

1.    Luc Ackermann (GER)    79,50 Points

2.    Davide Rossi (ITA)    68,50 Points

3.    Libor Podmol (CZE) 66,00 Points                      

4.    Hannes Ackermann (GER)  61,00 Points

Whip Contest

1.    Matej Cesak (CZE)                                          

2.    Davide Rossi (ITA) 

10 years ago in Hamburg, Germany, Hannes Ackermann took his first major win at NIGHT of the JUMPs against some of the world's best riders!

The following year, he would suffer a horrendous crash, broken back and take 9 years to get back to the point he can ride consistently at NOTJ.

This weekend, he'll be back in Hamburg and bringing the heat with some new tricks and lets see if he can snatch a win. But it's going to be tough to get past his younger brother and 3x World Champ, Luc Ackermann and 6 more riders ready to throw down!

Tune in for the latest preview with Clint Esposito and Steve Sommerfeld from the Two Wheels to Freedom YT

The competition will go down this Saturday night, tune into NIGHT of the JUMPs YouTube LiveStream 7:00pm local German time

UNofficial Track Walk - if you buy tickets and want the exclusive track walk with Steve, please message on Riders Lounge Podcast Instagram with proof of ticket and see you at 17:15 for the VIP walk!

FMX

Luc Ackermann (GER)

Davide Rossi (ITA)

Matej Cesak (CZE)

Mikolej Tempka (POL)

Hannes Ackermann (GER)

Marc Pinyol (ESP)

Brice Izzo (FRA)

Paul Manesse (FRA)

MTB/BMX/Scooter:

Alejandro Bonafe (ESP)

Lennox Zimmermann (GER)

Leon Binckebanck (GER)

Tom Pfeiffer (GER)

Lucas Huppert (SUI)

Dan Miler (CZE)

Enzo Dejesus (ESP)

Jimi Brandt (GER)

Maty Pekarek (CZE)

Petr Castka (CZE)

Pascal Kobl (GER)

This was a wild one! NIGHT of the JUMPs 3rd round of competition came to Budapest, Hungary for the very first time and the second best qualifier crashed out and nearly wiped our the reigning World Champion!

Davide Rossi got away with his Suicide No Hand Front Flip crash, and Luc Ackermann got away with not getting to smashed by a riderless YZ250 veering towards him.

Listen for the behind the scenes of how this latest round went down. From training, missing our rider manager, Rachael, all the tricks in the runs and how hard it is to try and keep riders together and ready to ride the show!

It's all happening in Budapest.

The results:

1. Luc Ackermann (GER) – 87 pts
2. Matej Cesak (CZE) – 72.5 pts
3. Libor Podmol (CZE) – 68.5 pts
4. Davide Rossi (ITA) – 67 pts
FMX Qualification Group 1
1. Davide Rossi (ITA) – 70 pts
2. Matej Cesak (CZE) – 65.5 pts
3. Dany Torres (ESP) – 50 pts
4. Marcin Lukaszczyk (POL) – 40.5 pts
FMX Qualification Group 2
1. Luc Ackermann (GER) – 82 pts
2. Libor Podmol (CZE) – 65 pts
3. Mikolaj Tempka (POL) – 48.5 pts
4. Hannes Ackermann (GER) – 43 pts
Best Whip Contest
1. Matej Cesak (CZE)
2. Marcin Lukaszczyk (POL)
Synchro Contest
1. Libor Podmol (CZE) & Matej Cesak (CZE)
2. Luc Ackermann (GER) & Hannes Ackermann (GER)MTB/BMX/Scooter Best Trick Final
1. Alejandro Bonafe (ESP)
2. Tom Pfeiffer (GER)
3. Petr Castka (CZE)

Did you guys know about this one? I didn't!

In 2018, as part of the Nitro Circus Live tours, the crew rolled into Paris and had one of the biggest competitions that never happened. As comps go, we think of X Games, X-Fighters, Night of the Jumps or even Nitro World Games.

But this time in 2018, with Tom Pages present on his home turf, Travis Pastrana and the crew set about creating one of the biggest comps that was really just for the Paris crowd on the night.

Until now, Clint Esposito and I have our grubby little hands on some epic footage thanks to John Mathews giving us a heads up. And it was pretty epic!

Bilko with the One-handed Nac 360, Tom casually throwing body varials and Travis landing his Double Backy 360 on pedal power.

Riders in:

Travis Pastrana

Blake Williams

Josh Sheehan

Tom Pages

Gregg Duffy

Adam Jones

Harry Bink

Jarryd McNeil

Beau BambergJaie Toohey

Ryan Williams

Beaver Fleming

Dusty Wygle

Jed Mildon

Todd Meyn

Matt Whyatt

Andy Buckworth

While I was driving on the German autobahn trying to figure out AI audio enhancements to make my recording sound better than listening to a guy talking into a phone microphone in an empty van full of road-noise... Luc Ackermann was Tsunami-Flipping from one semi-trailer to another truck, at speed, over a 9 metre high street sign.

There's a small difference in where our creativity ventured while driving on the autobahn, safe to say, Luc's a little more creative. And crazy!

Here's a little break-down of just what Luc did last week, and why it's an important part of the Freestyle MX game.

And something I'd love to see more of in the future. Maybe not sooooo close to death though.

What a battle! In 2015, X Games decided that FMX Best Trick was getting too gnarly, so they decided to tame things down and bring the Quarter Pipe Best Trick comp so hopefully no one would kill themselves live on ESPN.

But that didn't stop Tom Pages, Josh Sheehan, Levi Sherwood, Jey Rouanet, Davi Johnson and Cam Sinclair from sending it hard with probably more crashes than we've seen in a regular Best Trick competition!

I joined Clint Esposito on the Two Wheels to Freedom YT for a companion piece as we step back in time 10 years ago to when Quarter Pipe's were all the rage and some new innovation was coming thick and fast.

It takes a lot for anyone to come close to surprising Javier Villegas, the veteran FMX rider from Chile and former World Champion.

But Nico Ferreira came with the big tricks at the Brazilian FMX Championships now known as FMX na Roca with a Surfer take-off to Tsunami backflip over a Dirt Jump!!! And it was only like 65ft and mellow as hell on a step-down. How the hell did Nico get that done?

Either way, it was enough to narrowly take the win over Javier in Brazil!

Tune in to hear Steve Sommerfeld join Clint Esposito on the Two Wheels to Freedom YouTube companion video. If you'd like to watch it, you can go here: https://youtu.be/-UvJCcIxPz0?si=XNns7m8bg42DZIR1

Results from 2025:

1. Nicolas Ferreira (BRA) – 77.25
2. Javier Villegas (CHL) – 75.25
3. Gilmar Flores “Ladybug” (BRA) – 61.00
4. Kiko Loco (BRA) – 53.00
5. Francis Navarro (ARG) – 47.00
6. Pedro Nougalli (BRA) – 47.00
7. Pablo Ferreira (BRA) – 41.00
8. Caio Lopes (BRA) – 37.00

Title history

• 2017  – Motorcycle Duel in Atibaia – Javier Villegas
• 2019  – Motorcycle Duel in Atibaia – Fred Kyrillos
• 2020  – Motorcycle Duel in Atibaia – Kiko Silva
• 2021  – Motorcycle Duel in Atibaia – Fred Kyrillos
• 2022  – Motorcycle Duel in Atibaia – Javier Villegas
• 2024  – FMX Internacional – Javier Villegas
• 2025  – FMX in the Countryside – Nicolas Ferreira (BRA)

NIGHT of the JUMPs 25th anniversary show was one to remember in Dresden, Germany! After the first ever show in Riesa in 2001 it is crazy to see NOTJ still here 25 years later and going strong!

Luc Ackermann has been the man to beat for the past 5 years and for round 2, 2025 Pat Bowden arrived to put some pressure on the local German on his home soil.

Highlights include:

• Dakar Rally Bike Backflip with Libor Podmol
• Pat Bowden's winning run as one of the best we've ever seen in 25 years
• Marc Pinyol's Record breaking 12 metre high Backflip Drop
• Luc Ackermann's HUGE Double Backflip Nac-Nac
• Eddy Frech with the first ever Simson S51 Backflip on a 40 year old East German motorcycle
• Alejandro Bonafe's winning Best Trick run
• Reto Heini joining Tom Pfeiffer and Lennox Zimmermann with his Triple Backflip and much, much more!

Join Clint Esposito and I as we go through the Qualification and Finals before the next event coming in Budapest, Hungary on October 4th.

(Also, sorry on the background sound - sounds like it was echoing from our YouTube companion piece. It's quiet enough that you should hopefully forget about it)

Freestyle Motocross Final

1. Pat Bowden (AUS)​​​​​​288 Points

2. Luc Ackermann (GER)​​​​​283 Points

3. Libor Podmol (CZE)​​​​​​263 Points

4. Matej Cesak (CZE)​​​​​​246 Points

Freestyle Motocross Qualifikationsgruppe 1

1. Pat Bowden (AUS)​​​​​​267 Points

2. Libor Podmol (CZE)​​​​​​249 Points

3. Marc Pinyol (ESP)​​​​​​242 Points

4. Mikolej Tempka (POL)​  ​​​​205 Points

Freestyle Motocross Qualifikationsgruppe 2

1. Luc Ackermann (GER)​​​​​275 Points

2. Matej Cesak (CZE)​​​​​​235 Points

3. Hannes Ackermann (GER)  ​​​​​220 Points

4. Alex Bucholtz (AUS)​​​​​​153 Points

Whip Contest

1. Matej Cesak (CZE)​  

2. Pat Bowden (AUS)​​​​​​

Synchro Contest

1. Luc Ackermann (GER) & Hannes Ackermann (GER)

2. Libor Podmol (CZE) & Matej Cesak (CZE)​​​

Best Trick MTB/BMX/Scooter Final

1. Alejandro Bonafe (ESP)

2. Lennox Zimmermann (GER)​​​​​

How many times has Colby Raha come from behind to take the win on the final jump?

2025 Quarter Pipe was one of the best we've seen and the young gun Guillem Navas snuck up into second place over Corey Creed. Jason Borosky also had a huge improvement this year!

Join Steve Sommerfeld and Clint Esposito as they watch the full competition and review for X Games Quarter Pipe 2025.

X Games Best Whip was always going to be a nail-biter, especially in 2025 when X Games banned the Electric Bikes, so there was no Patrick Evans returning to defend his medal.

But Julien Vanstippen, Tom Parsons, Jarryd McNeil, Tyler Bereman and I'd say Wyatt Fontenot showed why it didn't matter!

Join Clint Esposito and Steve Sommerfeld for the full review of X Games Best Whip 2025

1. Julien Vanstippen (BEL)
2. Tom Parsons (USA)
3. Jarryd McNeil (AUS)
4. Tyler Bereman (USA)