2016 iXS Dirt Masters Festival - Winterberg, Germany

The 10th anniversary of the iXS Dirt Masters Festival was a complete success, with this year’s schedule having it all: Downhill, Fourcross, Slopestyle, Whip Offs and, of course, lots of side actions spread all over the bike park.

For 10-years now, Winterberg has been inviting riders and fans to its bike park for 4-days of action. The iXS Dirt Masters Festival simply takes the fastest, most popular and most exciting disciplines within the MTB scene and stuffs them all together into the biggest bike park in Germany, creating one hell of a festival...

TSG Cash for Tricks

With more than 500 participants from 17 different nations, the iXS German Downhill Cup is the biggest of the numerous races and competitions. The track was literally crowded with riders and fans all weekend. In Saturday’s seeding the stage was already set for Sunday’s race and former world champion, Morgane Charre (FRA - Bergamont Hayes Factory Team), and her teammate, Eddy Masters (NZL), already made clear that their minds were definitely set on winning this weekend.

After Saturday’s seeding run under perfect dry conditions, they both went on to repeat their performances in their final runs on Sunday, even after the track had been completely soaked with water after some heavy rainfall and even snow. Seems like it was a double-double for the Bergamont Hayes Factory Team this weekend!

Morgane Charre (FRA - Bergamont Hayes Factory Team)

Ed Masters (NZL - Bergamont Hayes Factory Team)

Isak Leivsson (NOR - Propain Dirt Zelvy)

Johannes Fischbach (GER - Radon Magura Factory)

Marcus Klausmann (GER - Nox Cycles)

The second contest should have been all about the style instead of speed with the Descendant Slopestyle powered by Truvativ. Unfortunately, the weather simply did not play along and the Silver Event of the FMBA World Tour and it regrettably had to be cancelled. Another highlight of the weekend, however, is the annual Whip-Off Contest.

In this open competition, everyone is invited to join the crowd at one of the jumps at the Fourcross track to crown the best whip, which came from Fabio Wibmer (AUT - Team Specialized) this year.

Martin Söderström (SWE - Specialized)


But of course the Fourcross track also plays another important part element of the festival - for the second time, Winterberg hosted a race of the 4X ProTour and invited some of the best riders of the scene to join the festival.

With 150 riders from 15 nations competing right in front of a huge cheering crowd with 4 riders competing against each other on one track seems to make for a perfect crowd-puller! In the final heat, Tomas Slavik (CZE - Ghost Bikes) managed to triumph over his competitors and took the title. Felix Beckemann (SWE - RSP/Ghost) finished in second, followed by Quentin Derbier (FRA - Rider´s Spirit MTB) in third. Hannes Slavik (AUT) had to settle in fourth place after a crash.

The Elite Women category was dominated by Natasha Bradley (GBR), followed by Vanessa Kager (AUT) and Michaela Berakova (CZE - FoxHolesShop.cz).




While the days were all about sports and competitions, the evenings were all about music at the party area. This years’ headliner the Donots, lured hundreds of fans to their concert and made it a worthy celebration of the 10th iXS Dirt Masters Festival!



The only thing that did not really fit in with the occasion this year was the weather. After the first two days that were at least acceptable, Sunday even brought some snow – which was definitely a first in our 10-year history. But nevertheless, the fans simply went on supporting their teams and riders and managed to make up for the weather creating an incredible atmosphere.

www.ixsdownhillcup.com

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MENTIONS: @iXSsports / @Racement

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