Trond Hansen wins first stop of the 2008 Nissan Qashqai Challenge! Mischa Breitenstein, Sam Pilgrim, Kurt Sorge, Damjan Siriski, and Trond Hansen qualify for the Challenge events in Munich and London.
The crowd in Parco Sempione was treated to an amazing final under sunny skies in downtown Milan today. The qualifier was extremely tight, and many new faces were making their presence known. Young American Tyler McCaul put together impressive runs, but was just shy of making the cut into the finals. He will be one of the many riders making the trip down to the infamous Estadio Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain next week for another shot at qualifying for the final Nissan Qashqai Challenge Events.
The fifteen finalists ran in reverse order, ending with the top qualifier Martin Soederstrom from Sweden. In the finals the wind picked up and riders had to be strategic with their three runs, as their two best scores were combined. Some of the riders like Norway’s Trond Hansen and Switzerland’s Mischa Breitenstein played their cards well and earned their spots in the final challenge events.
In the first round of the finals, Trond uncorked a clean front flip over the final jump for a good first round score. In his next round he earned the highest score of the day as the first rider to pull a clean 360 over the first jump, straight into a one-footed 360 invert, followed by a tire grab to set up for an opposite 360 over the last double. “The last two hours went just perfect, being qualified for the Nissan Qashqai Challenge competition feels just great!” beamed Trond after the award ceremony.
Congratulations to Trond Hansen, Mischa Breitenstein, Sam Pilgrim, Kurt Sorge, and Damjan Siriski for earning spots in the final Qashqai Challenge Events in Munich and London. Some of the other highlights of the day were Adam Hauck’s 720, Kurt Sorge’s superman to pendulum air, Alex Reveles’s Indian airs, and Tyler McCaul’s no footed can can x-ups.
1 Trond Hansen SPECIALIZED NOR
2 Mischa Breitenstein KONA EUROPE SUI
3 Sam Pilgrim DIAMONDBACK BIKES GBR
4 Darren Pokoj FELT AUS
5 Kurtis Sorge GIANT BICYCLES CAN
6 Adam Hauck BLACKMARKET USA
7 Damjan Siriski AUTHOR CZE
8 Geoff Gulevich ROCKY MOUNTAIN CAN
9 Phil Sundbaum HARO, GRAVITY USA
10 Hoppensack ADIDAS GER
11 Mitchell Chubey NSMB.COM CAN
12 Alex Reveles ADIDAS USA
13 Linus Sjöholm SCOTT SWE
14 Martin Söderström COLORBIKES SWE
15 Andrew Taylor VERSUS CYCLES USA 
