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MEGA JUMP in the Lausitz region of eastern Germany



A new Mega JUMP was achieved at the BAJA 300 Powerdays 2009 event, courtesy of the NIGHT of the JUMPS Freestylers and the big-name stars of the BAJA Offroad Series, Ballistic B.J. Baldwin and 'King of Drift' Ken Block. As evening fell on the stretch of track designed by Sven Schreiber and Pro Circuit, Ken Block's WRC and .J. Baldwin' Trophy Truck were synchronised with each other prior to the feat, in which .J. Baldwin cleared Block's WRC car. They then swapped vehicles and the NIGHT of the JUMPS Freestylers jumped over the Trophy Truck, which in turn jumped the WRC car. Freestylers included Libor Podmol (3-times IFMXF / FIM World Championships runner-up), Nick Franklin, Kai Hase and Fabian Bauersachs.

20,000 exuberant fans were at the Lausitz track to watch their heroes perform. Fabian Bauersachs was treated in hospital before the grand finale with a suspected torn tendon in his hand and could only follow the Mega Jumps on RTL TV. He may get his chance to emulate his colleagues at other Rally events and pull off the same Mega JUMP. The MEGA JUMP at the BAJA 300 Powerdays meeting marked the successful start to a series of additional NIGHT of the JUMPS demos scheduled to take place as part of the NIGHT of the JUMPS 10th anniversary event.

Marko Manthey, CEO and President of the IFMXF and holder of the rights to the NIGHT of the JUMPS, was ecstatic and congratulated Armin Schwarz, European Rally Champion, on the successful event. Sal Fish, CEO and President of SCORE and rights holder to BAJA, was equally pleased and Europe can be confident that it will be the venue for more BAJA Off-Road events in the near future.

(Picture credit; Marko Manthey / IFMXF.com)