All hail the new FIM Freestyle MX World Champion Javier Villegas
On the night of Saturday, December 17, 10,000 spectators witnessed the rise of a new champion in Freestyle Motocross (FMX) at the packed Sofia Arena in Bulgaria as Chile’s Javier Villegas captured the 2011 International Motorcyclist Federation (FIM) Motocross (MX) World Championships Title despite finishing in runner-up place at the final stop of the series. For the first time in the history of the series, the title had not gone in the hands of a European rider.
France’s Remi Bizouard had managed to claim top honours at the final stop of the 2011 International Freestyle Motocross Federation (IFMXF) Night of the Jumps World Tour and FIM Freestyle MX World Championships, but Villegas had already built up a sufficient lead to cement his place on top of the season standings walk away with his maiden championship title.
There was absolutely no pressure on Villegas during Saturday’s event as it was a victory lap for him. However, he admitted that he was a bit disappointed to finish in second place on Saturday, hoping to cap off the season in a memorable fashion.
The Chilean rider had made it to the podium in all but one event during his first full year of the Night of the Jumps World Tour and FIM Freestyle MX World Championships. Aside from a victory in Riga, Italy, in October, Villegas secured second position in eight events, while making a third-place finish at two stops this season. The consistent form put him on top of the ranking table with 210 points.
Talking about the championship title in an interview with the leading sports network ESPN, Villegas said, “When I started the FIM series at the beginning of the year my goal was just to be on the podium as much as I could. I wasn't expecting to be on top of the podium, much less win the championships! I just wanted to make finals at every event and give it my best, but I've been working for years to be here and now I feel like I've finally got my chance.”
The 2008 and 2009 champion Bizouard had to settle for second place this season despite finishing on top in the first and final four events of the season, which included the stop in Italy, the event Bulgaria, two stops in Poland and the stop in Czech Republic. While the start and end of the season had been superb for the Frenchman, he had not been able to make a solid impact during the middle of the season, failing to land a place on the podium on a number of occasions. As a result, he finished behind Villegas in end-of-season rankings with 195 points.
Rounding out the top-three for this season was Jose Miralles, who finished in fifth place during the final stop of the season on Saturday. The Spanish FMX rider finished with 158 total points from the twelve events that were considered for points in the current season of 2011 FIM Freestyle MX World Championships.
It had indeed been an amazing year in terms of exciting performances by the best FMX riders from around the globe. One can only hope that the next season delivers the same dose of thrilling action, if not surpass it. It is also only natural to expect the confrontation between Bizouard and Villegas to be nothing short of electrifying as the Frenchman would attempt to regain the throne while the latter puts up a fight to defend his title.
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