Welcome to our regular ‘Walkabout’ column with Australia’s pro FMX rider
Steve Sommerfeld. Steve keeps himself busy as an athlete manager, motojournalist, FMX rider and Night of the Jumps judge and commentator - but
now he’ll also be travelling the world, bringing you the best possible blend
of travel blog meets FMX feature. He’ll be living out of a suitcase for the
foreseeable future with his wife Rachael, and together they have made their
way to Europe for 2014/15 to see how long they can last. FreestyleXtreme
will be bringing you the low-down on their FMX antics from all corners of the
globe!
Jerez – Night of the Jumps World
Championship Round 7
Unfortunately, that’s where all the good
news ends for Maikel! We drove seven
hours from his home in the mountains
down to Jerez, one of the hottest places
on Earth, all while towing his own quarter
pipe. In practise the day before the event,
Maikel went for a Seat Grab Flip, which
he has done perfectly so many times
before. Unfortunately, he missed the
grab and was ejected to the flat ground
without any wheels under him. A broken
collarbone for his troubles and what would
seem like all the wind knocked from his
sails! Now Rinaldo was free to pick up full
championship points from the round and
not be too pressured to do anything risky
to stay at the top.
To be inside the bullfighting arena was
unbelievable. The electricity in that place
was second to none, and I wasn’t even
on my KTM! When Dany Torres came
out and threw down his run, the sound
from the Spanish crowd was deafening.
I just felt so sorry for Maikel, missing that
opportunity, and having to watch from the
sidelines with his chicken wing in a sling.
Off to Great Britain – Bournemouth
Wheels Festival and NOTJ Press
Conference
After a quick stop at Rémi Bizouard’s
place in Bordeaux, France, we headed to
our next location: Bournemouth, England.
This was the second year of shows there
for me, and once again we were greeted
by a fresh storm rolling in. Bringing with it
60-80 kph winds, we were in for a tough
show. Riding with my good English mate,
Jamie Squibb, on his sweet Squibb
Freestyle setup made it a little easier. We
were trying to work out if we should even
do the show, when the storm calmed to a
blustery 30km/hr wind I said “No, but I’ll
do it if Jamie does it”. Lukas Weis, also
back for a second year, had about the
same sentiments as I did, but when we
turned to Ryan Pasch he said the best
thing I’ve heard in a long time: “Monkey
see, monkey do”.
So with that, we rode all the shows