Physics was absent without leave in Newcastle over the weekend as the Qashqai Urban Challenge did what can only be described as “went down”. Several days of sawing and hammering saw an impressive array of North Shore-style stunts and ramps erected in the city’s Centre for Life Plaza ready for Friday’s qualifying round.

The Qashqai Challenge is a five-round freeride tour visiting cities across Europe. Newcastle had the honour of hosting the opening round, with the qualifying runs taking place under classically English overcast skies on Friday. Riders spent the morning riding through the course and testing out the ramps in preparation for the qualifying round. The pros were able to hit the big drop after the start of the course, testing their speed and the best way to land the drop. From the sidelines, you could see the riders planning their runs from top to bottom.

The first qualifying round was particularly good for British riders Lance McDermott, Gee Atherton, Grant Fielder and Dan Atherton. They qualified first, third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Most riders were throwing down tricks on the starting drop, like fourth place qualifier Grant Fielder with a tailwhip, and Ben Boyko with a super extended no-foot can. The first place qualifier, Lance McDermott, saw no need to trick the first drop, but he flipped the first big step-up jump – a jump that most riders were only able to x-up or tabletop.

Andreu Lacondeguy, the second place qualifier, was the only other rider to throw a big trick on the first step-up. He was able to bring his trademark-style Superman (clapping his feet together in the air) on the step-up. Combined with a tuck no-hander flip on the last jump and plenty of style in between, he had no problem wrapping up the second place qualification.

Top Ten Qualifiers – Round 1

1. Lance McDermott
2. Andreu Lacondeguy
3. Gee Atherton
4. Grant Fielder
5. Dan Atherton
6. Phil Sundbaum
7. Amir Kabbani
8. Trond Hansen
9. Sam Pilgrim
10. Brandon Semenuk

After the qualification round, the riders were invited to compete in a best trick contest on the last jump of the course. Phil Sundbaum, Greg Watts, Andreu Lacondeguy, Lance McDermott and Sam Pilgrim all joined the contest, which offered them three chances to bring their best tricks to the last jump.

Phil Sundbaum was the first rider in the best trick contest, and he started it off right with a huge 720, landing perfectly in front of a screaming crowd. Phil was congratulated by tons of screaming fans at the end of the course, and everyone knew that the bar had been set very high for the contest.

The rest of the best trick contest riders landed all of their tricks impressively: Lance McDermott with a flip-whip; Andreu Lacondeguy stuck a superman flip; Greg Watts landed a double barspin flip; and Sam Pilgrim came through with a one-foot x-up flip.

None of the riders were able to top Phil Sundbaum’s 720 though. In addition to Phil’s first run 720, he landed a 360-tailwhip on the second run and a stretched out superman on the third. Consistency and big tricks were more than enough to impress the judges and give him the win.

The story of Phil’s win goes much deeper than landing a 720 in a contest. Phil put his entire life on hold and quit his job to come to Europe (for his first time!) for a shot to compete against the world’s best. Phil was only able to stay for a few weeks, but now with the best trick win and an extra €1,500 in his pocket, it looks like Europe is going to be seeing a lot more of Phil Sundbaum…

Saturday

A second round of qualifying took place on Saturday morning featuring a bunch of riders absent on Friday. The top twelve riders (from a total of 25) across both qualifiers would go through to the final in the afternoon, with the winner taking home a healthy €8,000.

One thing’s for sure, the freeride elite has been busy over the winter. We don’t know where they keep finding another level of riding, but somehow they manage to step it up a notch every time. The 10,000 spectators in Newcastle were certainly impressed…

The morning began with the second round of qualifying, where top riders like Darren Berrecloth and Cameron McCaul had their chance to make the finals. “Bearclaw” was able to sneak into the finals, although he was one spot away from missing it entirely.

A lot of surprising runs came during qualifying, as many riders were on the bubble and needed to clinch their spot in the finals. Ben Boyko solidified his spot in the finals early on by being the first rider to 360 off of the start ramp. After that, the floodgates opened and more riders started pushing it. By the end of qualifying, the crowd saw nearly every trick unleashed on the drop.

It might have seemed as though most of the tricks had been done on all of the obstacles in qualifying, but after the first rider of the finals, Kyle Strait, came through the course, everyone knew that the final round of competition would be an extremely exciting and creative session.

The Finals

Finalists were given two rounds to put down their best riding in front of the judges and an extremely crowded Centre Of Life in Newcastle. The first runs of the finals were exciting, but the second round was out of control.

Gee Atherton

Gee Atherton surprised everyone at the contest by 360ing off of the start ramp. Ben Boyko, Berrecloth and Christopher Hatton had already 360’d the same drop, but no-one was expecting a regular top ten finisher in DH World Cups to do it. Gee proved his skill to the judges by his 360 on the drop, followed by a barspin up the step-up, good style through the course, ending with a flip on the final jump.

Christopher Hatton

The most original and insane trick to be attempted of the day came from the Frenchman Christopher Hatton. Hatton qualified in first place for the finals with some strong runs, but wanted to drop the hammer with a new trick. Hatton was seen strapping on a full-face helmet prior to his run, so the area was buzzing with anticipation when he stepped up to the drop-in. As he rolled in, everyone held their breath and Hatton attempted a 360-tailwhip off of the drop! The 360 tailwhip drop didn’t come all the way around, but everyone was still cheering loudly and congratulating the crazy Frenchman for his attempt. He finished in fifth place, his biggest success so far.

Kyle Strait

The second round of finals started with Kyle Strait clicking an invert off the drop, right into a backflip up the step-down. Strait backed it up with sick style through the course, ending his run with a perfect double-tailwhip to pedals.

As the finals wound down, it was Berrecloth, Boyko and Basagoitia that had the most to offer. Each rider had already put down a solid first final run, but they all knew that they had to step it up in order to top Kyle Strait for the win.

Ben Boyko

Boyko kept the energy high by adding in an x-up to his 360 off the start drop, following it up with a barspin and capping his run off with a 360-tailwhip to pedals.

Darren Berrecloth

The Claw came through with an amazing run that blew everyone away. He 360’d the start ramp, tailwhip on the step-up, took the skinny North Shore bridge and dropped from the wall to a tuck no-hander on the next step-up, 360 out of the “satellite dish” (which no one else was able to trick with more than a x-up or table) and then a boosted big 360-table at the final jump.

Paul Basagoitia

Tension was high as Berrecloth’s closest competitor, Paul Basagoitia, stepped onto the starting platform to attempt to dethrone The Claw. The riders on course were stacking hay bales in some odd places, which intrigued the crowd and the judges. Basagoitia began his run with a perfect tailwhip, into an amazing 360 on to a platform that was no more than four feet wide. Basagoitia over-rotated a little bit, but somehow was able to save it and bunnyhop transfer over to a landing and continue his run as if it was planned that way. Basagoitia found a new step-up line and also a new landing, a transfer which he no-foot canned, and finished his run with a perfect flip-whip.

The spectators were going absolutely insane after Basagoitia’s run, and the judges were shaking their heads over the nearly impossible task of sorting out the riders’ results. Even Basagoitia and Berrecloth admitted that they had no idea who would take the first title of the five-stop Qashqai Urban Challenge series.

Riders and spectators milled around while the judges deliberated the results. Everyone slapped high-fives and shook their heads at what was undoubtedly one of the craziest final rounds in the history of freeride mountain biking.

It was Darren Berrecloth who took the first win of the tour and a nice payout of €8,000. Paul Basagoitia took second place and Kyle Strait held on to the podium in third place.

Qashqai Challenge Final Results – Newcastle

1. Darren Berrecloth
2. Paul Basagoitia
3. Kyle Strait
4. Ben Boyko
5. Christopher Hatton
6. Grant Fielder
7. Amir Kabbani
8. Greg Watts
9. Gee Atherton
10. Andreu Lacondeguy
11. Brandon Semenuck
12. Lance McDermott

Next weekend the Qashqai Urban Challenge touches down in Milan, Italy for the dirt jump-themed round. So if you find yourself in or around Milan, head for the main station. In the meantime, visit www.nissan-qashqaichallenge.com for more about the event, the venues and the riders.