Bike Park Winterberg finally opened its gates for the 10th anniversary of the iXS Dirt Masters Festival. Over the weekend we expect more than 1 000 participants and thousands of visitors and fans at the festival to spend their days watching some high-class racing, cheer with the crowd at numerous exciting contests and shopping at more than 150 brand booths in the expo area.

Ed Masters

The first day in Winterberg has already come to an end. After many riders already arrived during the afternoon on Thursday, the Bike Park officially opened its gates today for some sports and contests. The downhill track has been opened for a first open training session for more than 500 riders who registered during the past two days.

It is crucial to find and check out the best and fastest lines as soon as possible, but with hundreds of riders down the hill all day long, these lines are always apt to change until the final race runs on Sunday. And, of course, it is not easy to fit hundreds of participants into one training session, which often causes long queues both at the lift and at the gate. And whenever a rider decides to stop somewhere along the track, it is then extremely hard to find a gap between the sheer endless chain of riders to hop back in. Today it definitely took nerves of steel and a lot of patience to make it through the first training session, but that’s just the way it is and somehow it just adds up to the general atmosphere full of anticipation for the days to come.

A first highlight in the agenda was also scheduled for this first day with the first competition of the weekend – the TSG Cash for Tricks at the slopestyle course. As the name already implies this contest is all about providing the crowd and the judges with some breathtaking tricks in order to get some money. Fueled by this prospect, the participants really put on quite a show and turned up the heat for the crowd round after round.

But the day isn’t over yet! All riders and visitors are cordially invited to spend the evening (and the night) at the Music Night area with BRICKS & CLAY supported by MC EDGAR WALLIS! The duo formerly known as the DiscoDogs took it to the next level for the special occasion of the 10th anniversary of the iXS Dirt Masters Festival and combined their DJ skills with some of their own productions and a live MC. The stage is set for quite a show tonight!

But don’t stay up too late! Tomorrow the festival will await you all with action at every single corner and in every single discipline. So take some time to gather your strength – you will need it, that’s a promise! The German Downhill Cup will start with the Seeding Run, the 4X Pro Tour will hold the qualification runs and at the Slopestyle the amateur riders will have to prove their skills. The day will be crowned by the Whip Off contest as Saturday’s highlight and – if you still haven’t got enough – the DONOTS will take you for another ride at their concert on Saturday night!

On the second day of the festival things really got into full swing around the Bike Park Winterberg. Today’s agenda included the qualifications in both the GDC and the 4X ProTour, the Slopestyle contest of the amateur classes and the Whip Offs.

As usual the day started very early for the participants of the GDC. The track opened already at 7 am this morning for another open training session and after the track was extremely crowded all day on Friday, many riders seized the chance to ride on a completely free track and find the fastest lines for the seeding – first come, first served. Around noon, however, most riders made their way down the track on foot one last time for another track walk, before the first timed runs started in the afternoon. More than 500 riders from 17 different nations registered for the race on Sunday and were eager to reach the best starting positions in their respective categories in the Seeding Run. On the one hand, the faster riders will start late in their categories, and, of course, everyone wants to set the best time and prove his or her skill. On the other hand, however, the seeding also already influences the overall rankings which makes it even more important to finish as fast as possible in order to score as high as possible.

At the end of the day it was a double for the Bergamont Hayes Factory Team with Morgane Charre (FRA) dominating the Elite Women and Edward Masters (NZL) the Elite Men category with a best time of 1:46.607 minutes. Masters was followed by Faustin Figaret (FRA – Radon Magura Factory Team) and Matt Walker (NZW – Cube Global Squad).

Another important competition simultaneously took place at the other end of the bike part: at the Fourcross track. The qualifications for the 4x ProTour also determine the starting positions for all riders in the final runs, and the better your result, the (supposedly) weaker your opponents on Sunday and the better your chances to win. Tomas Slavik (CZE – Ghost Bikes) and Natasha Bradley (GBR – Propain) took this advice and finished fastest, already setting the stage for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, at the Slopestyle parkour the crowd was provided with a completely different kind of competition. Today the amateur classes entertained the spectators with some crazy tricks and a lot of style – that’s for sure! Alexander Schlief (GER) was crowned the best rider of the day which earned him a place in tomorrow’s Pro contest!

The last contest of the day invited riders and visitors once more to the Fourcross track for the annual Whip Offs and both the crowd and the list of participants was huge, once more demonstrating how extremely popular this contest is. The 2016 Winterberg Whip Off Champion is Fabio Wibmer (AUT – Team Specialized).

The second day comes to an end and as nightfall approaches a little peace returns to the bike park… but… WAIT! Of course there is nothing like a peaceful and quiet atmosphere at a weekend like this! Instead we invite you all to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of the iXS Dirt Masters at the Music Stage! After a warm-up made by Social Distrust, the Dan Dryers will rock the stage before we finally welcome this year’s headliner and probably the Dirt Masters’ most popular guests in this 10-year history: Make some noise for the DONOTS!!!

Morgane Charre

The third day of the festival brought the two highlights of the weekend: the final rounds of both the iXS German Downhill Cup and the 4X Pro Tour!

Unfortunately, it seemed like today would be all about the weather at first: a mixture of snow, sunshine and rain made for some really complicated conditions for the riders in all disciplines. But nevertheless, the fans and visitors simply continued to support them despite the bad weather. The tracks and the expo area were as crowded as ever and the overall atmosphere was still at its best.

And what an amazing day! Today, most visitors of the festival had a really tight schedule in order to fit in the different contests and being at exactly the right places at the right time. As every year, the third day united the main contests in nearly all the different disciplines included in the iXS Dirt Masters. For most of the visitors the day began at the expo area for some shopping or somewhere at the bike park and nearby trail park for some riding of their own. From noon onwards, however, it was all about finding the perfect spot somewhere along the tracks just in time to enjoy the show!

One of today’s hotspots definitely was the downhill track, which was crowded all day with more than 500 riders from 16 different nations who registered for the first round of the iXS German Downhill Cup. Like every other downhill race, the final run started with the open non-licensed categories. The Elite categories in the afternoon and early evening usually draw a lot more attention and visitors to the track and the atmosphere grew more and more excited and cheerful as the race proceeded. Former World Champion Morgane Charre (FRA – Bergamont Hayes Factory) managed to defend her lead from the seeding and finished in first place. Carina Cappellari (SUI – Radon Magura Factory) took the second place, followed by Lucy Drees (GBR – Grips Bikes) in third.

After that, the top 10 riders of the Elite Male category were welcomed with a real explosion of cheers and whistles, pushing them even more during their fight for the title. Edward Masters (NZL – Bergamont Hayes Factory) again proved some nerves of steel and delivered a best time of 1:54.241 minutes with a 5-second gap towards Faustin Figaret (FRA – Radon Magura Factory). Greg Williamson GBR – Cube Global Squad) completed the podium in third place.

After the downhill race, in which the only direct enemy is time, the 4X Pro Tour added some face-to-face racing to the mix. 4 riders, 1 track – heat after heat until only the fastest and best riders are left for a last final round.

In the final heat Tomas Slavik (CZE – Ghost Bikes) managed to triumph over his competitors and took the title. Felix Beckemann (SWE – RSP/Ghost) finished in second, followed by Quentin Derbier (FRA – Rider´s Spirit MTB) in third. Hannes Slavik (AUT) had to settle in fourth place after he crashed. The Elite Women category was dominated by Natasha Bradley (GBR), followed by Vanessa Kager (AUT) and Michaela Berakova (CZE – FoxHolesShop.cz).

Another day is in the books and after three days buzzing with activity tomorrow night the bike park will finally settle with peace and quiet again. But until then, all eyes are on the youngest riders participating in the iXS Rookies Downhill Cup. Riders from the age of 11 onwards will compete at nearly the same track as their older role models did in the GDC on Sunday. Let’s find out who will be our future Elite riders!

Scott Beaumont

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Official website: dirtmasters-festival.de