Marco Dallago will try to make it three wins in a row at the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship race in Moscow on March 8, live on redbullcrashedice.com. The Austrian ace has won the first two Red Bull Crashed Ice races of the season but still has Canada's Scott Croxall and Germany's Fabian Mels hot on his heels heading into the frosty Russian stop.
Austria's speeding bullet, Marco Dallago, was unbeatable in Helsinki and Saint Paul but he will have a hungry pack of the world's best ice cross downhill athletes breathing down his neck at the third stop of the season in ice-cold Moscow on March 8. With his lightening fast starts, uncanny ability to stay on his feet, and astonishing versatility with victories on both a short, fast track like Helsinki and a long, gruelling race like Saint Paul, Dallago leads the world championship with a perfect 2,000 out of 2,000 points up for grabs at the midway point. But the nimble 23-year-old businessman from Graz knows that the overall lead after two races doesn't mean anything after seeing Canada's Kyle Croxall win the season openers in both 2012 and 2013 but end up second overall in 2013 and just barely holding on for the title in 2012.
"It's just unbelievable to be first at the halfway point of the season," said Dallago, who will be looking forward to test his stamina and skills on an even longer and steeper track in Moscow: 455 metres from start to finish with a 50-metre vertical drop with a strength-sapping sprint finish at the end of the track packed with challenges like a slingshot turn, a mini spine, a huge bridge jump and a set of stairs. "It feels great, especially because Saint Paul was such a different kind of track than Helsinki. Now I know that I can do well on various tracks."
Dallago, who trained hard in the off-season, had the endurance needed with his come-from-behind victory in a thrilling final against American Cameron Naasz, who had led most of the race before stumbling due to fatigue near the end of the 430-metre-long Saint Paul track. Scott Croxall has made it to the final in an incredible eight of the last 10 races but once again fell short of his goal of winning a race. He is nevertheless second in the championship to Dallago, 700 points behind with 1300 points. Fabian Mels, of Germany, is third with 1,160 points, while Naasz is fourth on 960 points and France's Pacome Schmitt fifth with 920 points.
Defending champion Derek Wedge, of Switzerland, has gotten off to a dreadful start and is in 42nd place while 2012 champion Kyle Croxall is in 10th place. Three Americans have cracked the top eight this year, their best-showing ever, with Naasz, Reed Whiting and Andrew Bergeson, who made it to the final in Saint Paul. Khariton Vlasov is the leading Russian this season and will be looking to give the home crowd in Moscow something to cheer about along with his fellow countryman Andrey Lavrov.
Watch Red Bull Crashed Ice in Moscow!
Catch all the action from Red Bull Crashed Ice in Russia:
Webcast: We will stream the entire competition live right here on redbullcrashedice.com, Red Bull TV and Apple TV from 7.45pm (Local Time) / 4.45pm (CET) on Saturday, March 8. Please note that the live webcast is geo-blocked in the US; the event will be broadcast nationally for the first time on Fox Sports. Stay tuned for further information
TV: The main event will be broadcast live on several TV stations outside the United States. Please check local listings.
Live Results: To get results and standings in real-time, hit redbullcrashedice.com/results.