Bizouard wins IFMXF Gdansk day one

"I'm really happy about my run, everything went good," said Bizouard, in a webcast interview after the competition on Saturday. "I'm going to practice harder tomorrow and try my best again, and see what's going on." Bizouard qualified for Saturday's finals in first place, then held his ground in the big show at the Ergo Arena. His winning run featured a Kiss of Death ruler off the superkicker, a jackknife to sidesaddle landing, a switchblade flip, a Shaolin flip, a holy man seatgrab switchblade combo, a flatliner, a backflip cliffhanger, a one-handed Hart attack, a huge race whip turndown, a tsunami flip, and a backflip Hart attack to one-hand landing on the final double-up trick (in FIM competition riders get one bonus trick after the buzzer, worth double points). His final score of 437 put him ahead of Villegas (429) and Izzo (416), as well as Czech rider Petr Pilat (412), Spanish rider Maikel Melero (395), and French rider David Rinaldo (293).

Night of the JumpsFrench rider Remi Bizouard on his way to winning round 10 of the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX Championships on Saturday in Gdansk, Poland.

Bizouard also beat Villegas last week in the ninth round of the FIM series, in Ostrava, Czech Republic, but still has his work cut out for him if he's to catch up: Villegas still leads Bizouard in the overall points race, 174 to 155. Spanish rider Jose Miralles is trailing in third place, with 132 points, ahead of Melero (117), 2010 champ Libor Podmol (104), and Rinaldo (100). Bizouard won the FIM Freestyle MX Championships in both 2008 and 2009, but Villegas will be hard to topple: Even if Bizouard wins each of the final two rounds he won't be guaranteed an overall win unless Villegas misses the podium altogether. Still, anything's possible in FMX, and Villegas knows it.

"I never play it safe because I play it run by run," Villegas said, after Saturday's competition. "I'm just going run by run, and every crowd deserves the best I can give them." Villegas, who has become a crowd favorite in this year's International Freestyle Motocross Federation (IFMXF) events, had plenty of fans cheering for him in Poland: In August he just missed the podium at the Red Bull X-Fighters event in Poznan, Poland, finishing in fourth place. Villegas thrives on the energy of his fans, and has taken to wearing a jersey with his Twitter handle, @JVAirX, in place of his name.

Night of the JumpsChilean rider Javier Villegas finished in second place at round 10 of the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX Championships on Saturday in Gdansk, Poland, holding his lead in the overall FIM series.

Villegas' run in finals on Saturday featured a big opening air off the superkicker, a backflip Superman seatgrab Indian air, a Kiss of Death ruler, a Pastrana, a backflip tsunami, a sidwewinder, a flatliner, a flip whip nac-nac combo, a backflip switchblade, a Cordova, and a holy grab/rock-solid combo, plus a backflip no-hander suicide flip on the double-up.

Izzo's appearance on the podium came as a surprise to FMX fans following the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX Championships: He won the first IFMXF Night of the Jumps events this year, back in January in Linz, Austria, but was sidelined with injuries for most of the rest of the year, missing six FIM events in a row. Saturday was his third post-injury event this year and his first time back on the podium. He'll be one of the riders to watch in the final two events: Izzo finished in second place overall, behind Podmol, in the 2010 FIM Freestyle MX Championships.

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