In mid-January, Adrian Kiener invited to the «Bergamont Greenhouse Urban MTB Race» on the outskirts of Bern. In one of the greenhouses of the Kiener market garden, the invited pro riders competed on a pump track, and a roller race and a big party ensued.

Promotional flags showed the way to the Kiener market garden in the centre of Ostermundigen. And the crowd came in droves: Soon, the allowed maximum of 300 visitors was reached and the location got seriously crowded. And there was a lot of mountain bike pros as well, with no less than four Onza Tires' team riders showing up: Apart from René Wildhaber and Rob Jauch, Roger Rinderknecht and David Graf had also made the trip to the Bern region. But other than most visitors they had more on their mind than just partying.

After all, there were material prizes and money on offer at the «Bergamont  Greenhouse Urban MTB Race» as well, both in the «Pumptrack Race» and the «Chris King Goldsprint». The latter was being contested on two road bikes strapped to rollers and connected to a laptop. For the «Pumptrack Race», Ädu Kiener had built a suiting course in one of the old greenhouses, including an exact timing system. The weather added to the magic: It was a starry night, and the temperatures dropped below zero as a consequence.

The cold temperatures were not an issue in the overcrowded party location anyway, and the riders did not bother either. Shortly before nine o'clock in the evening, the «Pumptrack Race» started in earnest. While Roger Rinderknecht got eliminated early on by the host Ädu Kiener, David Graf was in splendid form. Right now, he is serving in the Swiss army following a special program for athletes – and after having posted the fastest seeding time, he safely made his way to the big final. There he kept Ädu Kiener at a distance of 17 hundredths of a second, thus winning his first race in the Olympic season 2012.

«Next week, we travel to Manchester for some BMX training. Thanks to the prize money that I have won for first place, the trip to Ostermundigen was well worth it», Graf commented after his win in the big final. But the next race followed soon after: The «Chris King Gold Sprint» was about to start, and Onza Tires' team riders were in a good position for the material prizes at hand: In the timed seeding runs, Roger Rinderknecht had posted the second-fastest time, and Graf followed closely wit the third-fastest time. Only Pascal Seydoux, another BMX and Fourcross specialist, had managed to post an ever faster time.

With heats that lasted for less than 15 seconds and breaks in between that only got shorter as the race proceeded, the «Chris King Gold Sprint» turned out to be a real test of fitness – and of cleverness in competition. Only four weeks after he had injured his wrist while training on his BMX bike, Roger Rinderknecht showed that he is a master in both regards: He was the only rider to keep the race situation in check constantly despite the short and intense duels, carefully pacing himself. That way, he got faster and faster from round to round before he distanced the fastest qualifier by more than a second in the big final, posting the fastest time of the entire evening and being celebrated as the deserved winner after.

Being freeriders, Rob Jauch and René Wildhaber were decidedly less ambitious: During winter, Wildhaber works as a ski instructor, and because of that he had to get up early in the next morning to work on the slopes of the Flumserberg ski resort on Sunday.

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Pressemitteilung von onza Tires

15.02.2012