Australian rider Josh Sheehan won the fifth and sixth rounds of the FIM Freestyle MX Championships this weekend in Basel, Switzerland, sharing the podium with Libor Podmol (Czech Republic) and Javier Villegas (Chile) on Friday night, and with Villegas and Jose Miralles (Spain) on Saturday night.
"I'm super stoked to get first place two nights in a row," says Sheehan, who is a rookie on the FIM series but has been dominating the competition with tricks like his flatspin 360 heel clicker. "This is my first year competing in Europe and these are my first wins for the FIM championship, so I'm super pumped. I came over here knowing the level of riding was high and it would be hard to break in against these guys, but I've been exceeding my own expectations."
Sheehan missed the first two stops of the series last month in Berlin, Germany and still has some catching up to do in the overall points race: He's currently in 8th place overall thanks to this weekend's wins.
Meanwhile, Villegas' podium finishes this weekend bumped him to the top of the leader board in the overall series with 86 total points, ahead of French rider Remi Bizouard (82 total points) and Miralles (78 total points). Last week Bizouard clenched the three-stop UEM European Freestyle MX Championships in Hamburg, Germany, but his fourth place finishes both nights in Basel at the Saint Jakobshalle arena this weekend weren't enough to hold his overall lead in the FIM series.
In another big shakeup for the FIM series, Czech rider Libor Podmol was seriously injured after landing hard over his handlebars, breaking several ribs, and puncturing his lung before tonight's event. Podmol won the 2010 FIM Freestyle MX Championships and is currently in 4th place overall in this year's series. He had been hoping to make a strong showing this year at X Games 17.
"I've heard that he's stable and that they're operating on him tonight," says Sheehan. "It always sucks to see a great competitor go down."
There are eight events remaining in the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX Championships series, each coinciding with stops on the International Freestyle Motocross Federation's Night of the Jumps world tour.
Current overall standings for the 2011 FIM Freestyle MX Championships are available online here.