News: Nissan Qashqai Challenge Madrid

Benny Korthaus's 360 Tailwhip Yorrick Carroux

The second stop of the Nissan Qashqai Challenge was this past weekend at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, in Madrid, Spain. The course was a dirt jumping line with the added twist of including a North Shore ladder element built into the middle of it for step-up and down maneuvers. It had a long roll in and offered excellent flow with a few banked turns giving the excited spectators a great show.

The Qashqai Series is really coming into it’s own, the courses are getting better and better, the judging panel is working very well together and the live time results are quick and accurate on the venue’s flat screens. With beautiful weather, a local DJ spinning smooth euro beats throughout the competition, and live local hip-hop show, it was a great day in the heart of Madrid. In the finals, Andreu Lacondeguy blew everyone away with the highest score of the day after performing a Superman back flip, into a 360 on the step up, to turn-down on the step down, to a huge extended superman, followed by a clean 360 tailwhip to pedals.

Greg Watts was close with a suicide back flip to barspin, into a no-footed cancan on the step up, barspin on the step down, superman seat-grab, into a truck driver to reverse bar spin. Benny Korthaus pulled off the biggest 360-tables of the day and a couple perfect 360-whips, Kyle Strait had his double whips dialled, and Amir Kabbani showed off also rode incredibly well rounding out the top five.

The competition for the final 5 qualifying slots in Munich and London was incredibly tight. Mitchell Chubey, Bartek Obukowicz, Alex Reveles, Tyler McCaul and Andi Wittman are all going to the big urban freeride battle, which starts next weekend in Germany. The young riders in contention were riding smart and putting together amazing runs. In a classy move, the organizers, being so impressed with the level of riding in Milan and Madrid, decided to collaborate with the judges and award 5 additional wildcard slots to bump the final rider line-up from 25 to 30 riders at the next two Nissan Qashqai Challenge events. The riders are Martin Soederstroem (winner of Milan’s qualifying), Marius Hoppensack (10th in Milan), Andrew Taylor, Geoff Gulevich and Cameron Zink who all showed a solid performance in Madrid.

Madrid’s Final Results:
Watch the top-three finishers do their runs below:

1 Andreu Lacondeguy SPA Kona

2 Greg Watts USA Gary Fisher

3 Benny Korthaus GER Specialized

4 Kyle Strait USA Specialized
5 Amir Kabbani GER Cannondale
6 Mitchell Chubey CAN NSMB.com
7 Bartek Obukowicz POL NS BIKES
8 Alex Reveles USA Santa Cruz
9 Tyler McCaul USA Specialized
10 Andi Wittman Ger Giant Bicycles
11 Andrew Taylor USA Versus Cycles
12 Kurt Sorge CAN Giant Bicycles
13 Geoff Gulevich CAN Rocky Mountain
14 Lance McDermott GBR Scott Bikes
15 Anton Gustavson SWE Fire Eye

The Qashqai Madrid Podium Yorrick Carroux