Vienna Air King - 2009 edition bigger than ever

The fourth anniversary of the Vienna Air King on April 4th and 5th welcomes 50 riders from 15 countries. Athletes from Canada, USA, Russia, Australia, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic will launch the mountain bike dirt jump contest season right in front of the Viennese city hall. Not only well known riders like the former Vienna Air King winners Darren Pokoj (2006, Australia), Benny Korthaus (2007, Germany), Sam Pilgrim (2008, UK) and freeride all stars like Darren Berrecloth (Canada) or Paul Basagoitia (USA) will hit Vienna on the first weekend in April. Also a whole bunch of promising young talents like Mike Montgomery from the U.S. or Pavel Aloykhin from Russia will be among the top riders: Darren Pokoj (AUS) Matthias Gattringer (AUT) Philipp Fruehwirt (AUT) Darren Berrecloth (CAN) Mischa Breitenstein (SUI) Yannick Granieri (FRA) Amir Kabbani (GER) Benny Korthaus (GER) Bartek Obukowicz (POL) Pavel Aloykhin (RUS) Linus Sjöholm (SWE) Martin Söderström (SWE) Lance McDerrmott (GBR) Mike Smith (GBR) Sam Pilgrim (GBR) Mike Montgomery (USA) Paul Basagoitia (USA) The head of course construction, Andi Brewi, who also built last years’ dirt lines, modified the course concept for 2009: “The starting tower is a bit lower, but features two different sized jump ramps on the edge to take a nice and smooth step down. Due to the step down, you will be fast enough for the first double: a racer jump with dirt launch and landing. The following two big doubles with wooden take offs have a small roller in between, so the riders will be able to push and gain speed again, in case they might have overshot the jump before. Brand new for 2009 is also a quarterpipe-bank combo, at the very end of the track, which gives all riders the chance to proof their park skills. In my mind, the course will perfectly showcase the latest tricks after a long winter break with hardly any contests at all.” The riders will definitely go for it – in total there will be 7.500 Euros of prize money, as well as three Panasonic digital cameras for the Top 3 and an extra HD camcorder for the winner. In general it will pay out to show some really stunning tricks: directly after two hours of qualification runs on Saturday afternoon, the Panasonic-Best-Trick-competition promises an inferno of trick combination. The winner of the best trick session can look forward to 500 Euros cash and a Panasonic camera. The Saturday will be topped off by the official Vienna Air king riders party at the WUK club (Währingerstr. 59, 1090 Vienna). The cycle maniacs "Plexus Solaire" (Paris/Vienna) are playing Indie-Chanson-Powerpop live on stage and afterwards DJ Jamika’s set (FM4/Vienna) will make you move. But the TOP12 riders from the qualification shouldn’t party too hard, because the Vienna Air King finals are scheduled for Sunday 2:30 pm. The Vienna Air king is the perfect kick-off for the bike season 2009. On April 4th and 5th, the Argus Bike Festival will attract ten thousands of visitors to enjoy the bike exhibition and a great variety during the two days program. In case you need more detailed information about the Vienna Air King, the contest schedule and the attending riders, please check out the official Vienna Air King website: www.vienna-air-king.at