On September 14th 2019 in Dinslaken, Germany, Red Bull Dirt Diggers took place. An event in which participated world’s best FMX riders.
We interviewed Jake Walker, a BigAirBag® team member who was in contact with Red Bull since the beginning of the project.
Since November 2018 when the organising team visited the first time the place in the North Rhine-Westphalia, they have done an impressive job transforming the location in a freestyle motocross complex. The site was a coal mining area before and with rider’s aid, it was converted in three sections: Freestyle, Snakerun, and BigDogs sections. Steve Sommerfeld, the track designer said the best way to create a high-end freestyle motocross platform, was to refresh the surface in some parts. To make the course even more attractive, the BigAirBag® team was contacted.
“We had days with 4000-5000 tons of dirt coming !”
The role of LANDING BigAirBag® in athlete’s performance
BigAirBag® teamed up with Red Bull and started to design a suitable LANDING airbag for the competition. After the analysis of the site, a 19x7m LANDING was built with a fully Red Bull branding on it. Our product was chosen due to its features. The big airbag LANDING gives the opportunity to adjust the softness and firmness, thereby simulating a softer or a more realistic landing. The topsheet is made out using advanced technology allowing to combine characteristics such as strength, durability, flexibility and elasticity. The innovative blower system is enclosed within the airbag providing protection from the elements, reduced noise, and increased safety by eliminating the risk of kinked blower hoses or unwanted access to the blowers themselves. Lastly, the LANDING bag has a fully customizable size/shape and can be branded anything the customer wants. Due to previously mentioned factors, our LANDING BigAirBag® is a perfect FMX airbag, thereby fitting just right with Red Bull Dirt Digger competition.
Before the final show, many riders practised their complex tricks on the BigAirBag®. Luc Ackermann trained his doubled backflip a day before, giving him the confidence to do it on dirt the next day. Due to the LANDING, Luc Ackermann performed the first successful double backflip on dirt in Europe, making an amazing show in Dinslaken.
The experience of Jake Walker
Jake Walker works in the sales department of BigAirBag®, and he was in touch with the organising team from the beginning. He said that this was one of the greatest projects he worked on.
“It was pretty amazing to see the best riders in the world performing and training on our BigAirBag”
Moreover, his fascination was driven by “working with so many skilful people in different areas was awesome” such as designers, professional athletes, course guides and others. During the preparation and execution phase he met motocross freestyle riders such as: Luc Ackermann, Colby Raha, Jamie Squibb, Maikel Melero, Kai Haase, David Rinaldo, Jarryd McNeil, Brody Wilson, Pat Bowden, Gilles Dejong
“It was astonishing how they built their own course out of coal.”
It’s without a doubt one of the most impressive partnerships of BigAirBag®, and we want to congratulate one more time Luc Ackermann who showed how to perform a double backflip on dirt.
