All-American team UNRL powered their way to an impressive victory at the second Red Bull Crashed Ice team race of the 2015/16 season on one of the fastest ice tracks ever on Friday with top athletes hitting record-breaking speeds that averaged over 70 km/h to move into an overall first-place with 1,800 points in the battle for the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship. The blazing speed of Tommy Mertz and Maxwell Dunne along with a solid run by Daniel Bergeson was too much in the final for the multi-national Ice Crew team led by Germany's Fabian Mels and Canada's Coleton Haywood.
"These guys up front were really fast and did a great job blasting through the hole in every race and I tried to bring up the rear," said Bergeson, referring to his teammates. "This is definitely the fastest track we've ever raced on. That drop at the end is incredible and you're definitely going fast. You can see from the wipe outs how fast people are going."
Team UNRL celebrate their win on the podium in Munich. Picture: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
The team competition in front of an enthusiastic Munich crowd watching the world's fastest sport on skates on a chilly Bavarian evening set the stage for Saturday's individual competition, where American Cameron Naasz will be looking to extend his winning streak to three straight races. He underlined that determination on Friday posting the fastest time in the shootout that makes him the top-seed in the finals, followed by Canadian Scott Croxall and Tristan Dugerdil from France. The 370-meter long track with a 45-meter vertical drop features a breathtaking 20-meter long jump just before the finish line.
In Friday's team competition, Living the Dream, an all-star team featuring Scott Croxall, Kyle Croxall of Canada along with American Cameron Naasz, took a disappointing third place after being eliminated in the semi-finals by Team UNRL. Living the Dream had actually won the semi-final race with the Croxalls finishing one-two but the team was penalized when Naasz pulled down Mertz by tugging on his jersey near the start.
Team results Munich: 1. Team UNRL (Tommy Mertz USA; Daniel Bergeson USA; Maxwell Dunne USA), 2. Ice Crew (Fabian Mels GER; Jim De Paoli SUI; Coleton Haywood CAN); 3. Living the Dream (Cameron Naasz USA; Scott Croxall CAN; Kyle Croxall CAN). 4. Couch Garden Crew (Luca Dallago AUT; Marco Dallago AUT; John Fisher CAN); 5. Steal17 (Reed Whiting USA; Dean Moriarity CAN; Daniel Guolla CAN).
Team overall standings: 1. Team UNRL 1,800 points, 2. Living the Dream 1,600, 3. Ice Crew 1,160, 4. Steal17 1,050, 5. Couch Garden Crew 950 , 6. Alpine Rockets 900, 7. Team Finland 660, 8. Hill Bombers 650, 9. Team Tenson Sweden 580, 10. Globetrotters 540
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You can't join us in Munich? Don't worry, you can catch all the action live on Saturday at 6:40pm CET right here!