Aaron Chase wint de Red Bull District Ride

Aaron Chase – the conquest of Nuremberg
Nuremberg, 24th of September 2005 – on 23rd and 24th of September 27 of the world’s best mountainbike freeriders from ten countries gathered in Nuremberg to celebrate the ultimate Red Bull District Ride. This massive mountainbike freeride show featuring breathtaking tricks and spectacular jumps across the old town of Nuremberg attracted an audience of 40.000 who watched in amazement. Aaron Chase (USA) is the winner of the Red Bull District Ride 2005. Paul Basagoitia (USA) came in second place, Kyle Strait (USA) was placed third.
Mountainbike Freeride – it’s a sport and an attitude! Mountainbike Freeride originated in the rough natural terrain along the Northern shore of Vancouver, Canada. Playing with the bike and the terrain, the freeriders jump and do tricks across rocks and gaps. What you need is perfect body control, bike control and riding technique as well as creativity and style. Spectacular and innovative events like the Red Bull District Ride in Nuremberg pave the way for mountainbike freeriding to conquer the inner cities.
During qualification on Friday, those 27 top riders – among them “Ride to the Lake”-champion Kyle Strait (USA), Aaron Chase (USA) and Timo Pritzel (GER) made clear what mountainbike freeriding is all about. They were launching off huge jumps, doing super technical tricks and massive backflips all the way along. Straight after, the top-5 riders of the qualification rode in the Street District for the „Sick O Award“ from Oakley. Urban Freeride pioneer Aaron Chase (USA) impressed the judges, his distinctive style and large trick repertoire earning him first place! “The course is extremely versatile and fun to ride”, says Aaron Chase, “again, Red Bull is way ahead of its time.”
Bigger, further, style galore – in the finals on Saturday, riders as well as spectators went totally crazy. Sunny blue skies and the historical setting of the old town had the ten finalists battling to conquer Nuremberg. At the start of the course the huge 10 m “Drop” off the Kaiserburg (castle) had the crowds gasping in amazement and cheering the riders who dared take it. Shortly after, riders had to negotiate a series of wooden ramps and structures which wound through the narrow streets of the “Gap ‘n’ Grind District”. Backflipping onto the boxes and speeding across the North Shore Bridges at 35 km/h, whilst also trying to handle 5m high bridges which are only 7 cm wide! After this tricky section the athletes wheelied into the Street District to show off all of their technical tricks on the various Street Ramps, Wallrides and Quarterpipes. Finally, the cheering crowd welcomed them to the Dirt District right in front of the townhall where they hit 3, 4 and 7 m long dirt jumps.
Dominating the whole event with the most creativity was the outstanding Aaron Chase (USA). Extremely complicated technical tricks and impressive style sent 26-year-old Aaron Chase right onto the podium. “I didn’t expect it at all”, says Chase, “it is the biggest and greatest contest I have ever won. It just blows me away!”. 18-year-old Paul Basagoitia was going for huge airs and tricks and came in second place. Thanks to an extremely athletic performance, streetstyle superstar Kyle Strait reached third place. The best German riders were Carlo Dieckmann (5th place) und Timo Pritzel (6th place). The riders share a price money of 20.000 Euros!
 
Ranking:
1. Aaron Chase (USA)2. Paul Basagoitia (USA)3. Kyle Strait (USA)4. Cameron McCaul (USA)5. Carlo Dieckmann (GER)6. Timo Pritzel (GER)7. Thomas Vanderham (CAN)8. Geoff Gulevich (CAN)9. Cedric Gracia (FRA)10. Gareth O. Dyer (CAN)