FMB World Tour 2012 presents the first ever Amateur Champions

The debut of the FMB World Tour Amateur rankings was a great success! For the first time in 2012, AM riders were divided into a North American and European AM ranking. Patrick Leitner (AUT) and Nick Tingren (CAN) became the first FMB World Tour AM Champions! FMB World Tour partner - GoPro, is happy to award both podiums with their newest GoPro Hero 3 cameras!

North American AM ranking
1st : Nick Tingren (CAN) : 372.20 pts
2nd : Grant Schnell (USA) : 352.80 pts
3rd : Shane McKenzie (USA) : 302.60 pts

European AM Ranking
1st : Patrick Leitner (AUT) : 1020.50 pts
2nd : Urs Reinosch (GER) : 735.50 pts
3rd : Steffen Graf (GER) : 610.20 pts

This year the FMB World Tour introduced an Amateur ranking to offer a platform for talented riders to progress and gain high-level competition experience. AM and Pro riders are distinguished by their FMB World Tour rider licence. AM licences are designed to introduce young riders into the competitive world of mountain biking. They are accessible to anyone with a bike, a helmet and the drive to compete! AM riders can climb the AM ranking by scoring points at Bronze and Silver events. Thanks to GoPro, their efforts and competitiveness are well rewarded – Both overall first place riders receive the brand new and awesome GoPro Hero 3 Black edition. Second and third place riders are awarded the GoPro Hero 3 Silver edition. For AM riders this is great news – with their new GoPro camera they will be able to capture unique shots and create stunning video edits. We hope that this additional material will help AM riders to further develop their riding career.


Succeeding as an AM rider is a blend of sick skills and smart tactics. Canadian rider Nick Tingren clinched the title with high scores from the Silver event Ranchstyle and the Bronze event Wam Bam Dirt Jam. Nick who is completely stoked about his win told us: “It was really rad to be a part of the FMB World Tour this year! I met tons of cool people and got to ride in lots of cool places, I'll definitely be back in 2013“. Next to Nick in second place is Grant Schnell, who finished in the top ten at the first ever Bearclaw Invitational AM competition. Rounding up the podium in third place is Shane McKenzie with a solid season. Freeriding is a highly competitive sport in North America so finishing on the podium is a great result for these talented riders.


Patrick Leitner from Vienna, Austria won the European AM ranking. He told us: “Man, I'm so happy to finish the European AM tour in first place, but to be honest, I´m even more pumped to be in the top 30 of the FMB World Tour overall ranking! Winning the Symphony Jam Session in Wagrain was pretty awesome as well. For 2013, my goal is to make the top 20 in the FMB World Tour and to compete as a Pro rider.” Urs Reinosch from Germany achieved second place in the European AM ranking. Urs had his highlight at Treeline Dreck Attack, finishing ahead of the crowd in first. The last spot on the podium goes to Steffen Graf, also from Germany. He had solid appearances, highlighted with a respectable 10th place at Dakine Airstrike.

Huge congratulations go out to the podiums of both AM rankings – we hope to see them competing next year as well as seeing all the fantastic riding footage taken with their new GoPro Hero 3 cameras! The AM ranking is a great stepping stone to later compete with the Pro’s in the FMB World Tour overall ranking. Rider registrations for the FMB World Tour 2013 open soon on the FMB World Tour website!