11 juni werd voor het eerst de Braun 26 Trix verreden. De intentie van het evenement? De grootste dirt jump wedstrijd van de wereld zijn. En grote dirt jumps lagen er in Leogang. Tijdens de wedstrijd laat Greg Watts de eerste gelande dubbel-backflip in een event zien, maar ook dat kan Cameron McCaul niet van de winst afhouden. Met een nagenoeg perfecte run laat hij alles en iedereen achter zich. Hier het persbericht van het evenement.

The first BRAUN 26TRIX mountain bike dirt jump contest took place from the 9th to 11th June as part of the Out of Bounds Weekend at the Bikepark Leogang, Austria. The BRAUN 26TRIX marked the first major contest of 2006 for the huge number of international freeride mountain bike stars in attendance. 28 riders from 12 different countries threw down their best tricks on the specially built course. Almost 50 riders originally signed-up, but the jumps proved too large for many and almost half the preregistered entrants eventually decided the contest would be too high level for them to compete…

BRAUN 26TRIX is the largest mtb dirt jump contest ever held in Europe, hosting four 7-8 metre long (20-25ft) gap jumps, two berms, a hip jump and a massive “booter” jump into the finish area. The downhill orientation and dry conditions allowed riders to gather speed and launch off the jumps, giving them more airtime to lay down their biggest tricks. Raymond Dulieu from Kjerag, Braun´s agency, mentioned: “When Tarek (Rasouli, event organiser) approached us with the concept for BRAUN 26TRIX we knew it was going to be something special. But it wasn´t until the first images started coming through of the course building in progress that we realised just how huge the contest was going to be!”

Riders got a warm up and fans got their first taste of world class dirt jumping when the KONA Indoor Dirt Jump took place on the Friday night before qualifying. 15 invited dirt jumpers showed up to battle it out on 2 indoor jumps for the EUR 2,500 prize money on offer. In the process, spectators were treated to an incredible display that included Lance McDermott (UK) stomping a frontflip, and NorCal boy Jamie Goldman (USA) winning with a backflip at the first jump and a tailwhip on the second.

Qualifying for the BRAUN 26TRIX took place the day after, with riders taking 2 runs and judges picking their best run. The usual contenders of Paul Basagoitia (USA), Darren Berrecloth (CAN), Cameron Zink (USA) etc all impressed spectators and judges alike, but it was the relatively unknown Spanish youngster Andreu Lacondequy (ESP) who had everyone talking. The 17 year old laid down an awesome first run, breaking out huge Nofoot-CanCans, Back Flips, No Handers, Tailwhips and 360s to take first place in qualifying, right from under the noses of the big guns. Not even Darren Berrecloth´s (CAN) stunning 360-combos and flat spin were enough to unseat the Spaniard.

And so the 16 best riders made it through to Sunday’s finals.

The BRAUN 26TRIX finals were greeted with clear blue skies and 2,000 excited spectators. This time the riders had 3 runs, with only their one best full run being counted… thus allowing the riders to take a risk on their biggest tricks.

And what risks they took. Greg Watts (USA) surprised everyone in his last run by stomping the first ever double backflip in competition on a 26” mtb. His perfect landing allowed him to continue on over the next couple of jumps but his chain skipped and he couldn’t keep the speed for the corner jump…meaning a lower points total for the overall run. However, an ecstatic Greg said: “I have never jumped a double flip, except into the foampit, but it was the perfect jump for it here in Leogang. “ The manager of Leogang lift station was also so impressed by seeing history made that he fronted an unforeseen extra 500 Euros for Greg as part of an impromptu “Best Trick” award.

Top qualifier Andreu Lacondequy (ESP) impressed the audience with his first run, with the judges also deciding that his Backflip, 360°, Nofoot-CanCan, Tuck-Nohand, 360°, Tailwhip sequence was the best of his 3. Similarly, Jamie Goldman´s (USA) first run was his best, with sick tricks such as Backflip-Xup-OneFoot, Superman-Seatgrab, NofootCancan, 360°, Superman and Barrel Roll.

Everything was looking good for Lacondequy until Cameron McCaul (USA) embarked on his final run. The Californian stuck a Backflip, Barspin/NofootCanCan, Tailwhip, 360°, Superman-Seatgrab, Barrel Roll sequence to convince the judges he was worthy of becoming the first winner of the BRAUN 26TRIX.

1. Cameron McCaul (USA)
2. Andreu Lacondequy (ESP)
3. Jamie Goldman (USA)
4. Paul Basagoitia (USA)
5. Ben Boyko (CAN)
6. Trond Hansen (NOR)
7. Greg Watts (USA)
8. Pascal Breitenstein (SUI)

At the awards the top 5 shared 5,000 Euros of prize money.

Freeride Entertainment were in charge of capturing all the action for Freecaster, the online media partner of the event. Will Ockelton from Freecaster said “The Freeride Entertainment guys have really defined this contest with their film work, the cable cam footage especially has provided some stunning angles of the riders in action. We´ve already got the Top 5 runs online and Greg´s double backflip…but I still can´t wait to see their final edit of the event when it´s ready in a few days.” Freeride Entertainment were also shooting exclusive content for their new movie “NWD 7 – Flying High Again”.

Watch the top 5 runs as well as Greg Watts’s double flip at Freecaster: http://sports.freecaster.com/mov.php?mid=824&aid=868&cat=00003 Check it out!

Andreu Lacondequy (ESP) not only took second place but also the wildcard entry (including plane ticket) for the Red Bull District Ride in Catania, Italy, from July 14-16th. The World is waiting to see how the 17 year old will fare against the biggest stars of the freeride world. Check out the new site at www.redbulldistrictride.com for more info.

The BRAUN 26TRIX was the perfect complement to the Out of Bounds weekend. The mix of DH race action (in the KONA Top to Bottom Eliminator) and Dirt Jumping has helped to redefine the progressive mountain bike scene in Europe and put Leogang Bikepark firmly on the map as freeriding centre.

We are already excited about next year and we wanna thank BRAUN, KONA, Red Bull, Leogang’s lift station, the Leo-GANG and the region of Saalfelden as well as every helper for the support of this event