Red Bull Hardline 2022: Inside report by Bernard Kerr and Andreas Kolb

Contents:

Report by Bernard Kerr, last year's winner of the Red Bull Hardline

Report by Andreas Kolb, rookie at the Red Bull Hardline

Results RED BULL HARDLINE 2022

Report by Bernard Kerr, last year's winner of the Red Bull Hardline

I was in a good mood: Time of my Life! I had a great World Cup season behind me and wanted to win the Hardline to crown it all - and then this! I'm often called the King of Hardline, but that's not how I feel at the moment. My wrist is cracked, a finger is broken, my ego is bruised, the victory is ruined. What bad luck, when I felt so good, was so fast and thought I could win the race for sure. But there was more:

I think I should have won - and then the front wheel slipped off on the slippery rock. What a shitty end to the season! - Bernard Kerr

Bad luck! It was bad luck because I drove well, was determined and confident. Maybe too confident. I'd missed almost the whole training session because of my crash when I was inaugurating the big jump, a 30-metre jump. It was the first time there were jumps that big at the Hardline. Dan Atherton had upgraded the course this year for more airtime. But the jump was too steep for him. As a result, I flew through the air a bit tail-heavy, landed on the tail and the front snapped forwards. Not really a problem for me, but the front wheel collapsed on landing. The wheel was a prototype and must have taken a beating beforehand. Bam! Nasty thing, hard impact, but nothing happened - after that I won the qualifying.

Some say the course is too tough, but I don't think so. On the contrary, it has actually become easier, because the really difficult technical sections have become less tricky. It used to be the case that you had no chance of winning your first time on Hardline, or even of driving really well, because you lacked experience of the course. That's no longer true. I want to emphasise the success of Jackson Goldstone not diminish. Jackson is super talented and fearless.

When you're young, you don't know fear, you're weightless, you just go over the big jumps, no matter how "gnarly", because you don't have all the painful experiences. Jackson and my team mate Sam Gale have impressed me the most this year. And Gee Atherton. It's crazy how he came back after his monster crash last June.

And there's someone else: Jess Blewitt, the first woman at Hardline. She has my full respect! I was really scared for her. She's really, really brave, maybe too brave. She even jumped the rock drop. It's difficult to judge because you can only brake at the last moment and jump off blind, so you can't see the landing.

I had the most fun on the road gap. The feeling of flying so high and far through the air and feeling the acceleration grab you is crazy. But let's not kid ourselves, even if the course isn't as technical, the Hardline feels like you're going into battle. There's a good side to that: camaraderie. You become part of the Hardline club. Hardline riders get on better at World Cups, talk to each other more, help each other - the Hardline bonds you together. You make friends for life here.

Next year there will be a hardline series with races in Norway, Canada and New Zealand. I'm looking forward to that! That will be great and will take downhill to the next level. I don't see any conflict with the Downhill World Cup, because the World Cup races are no less risky due to the extremely high speeds. And you have to remember that so many more people follow the Hardline than the World Cup - that will attract a lot of racers. Nevertheless, I disappointed everyone this year. My fans, my sponsors and myself! (Bernard Kerr on instagram)

Report by Andreas Kolb, rookie at the Red Bull Hardline

What applies to the Rampage also applies here: It's much steeper and gnarlier than the livestream suggests. I was still confident during the trackwalk: Canon jump? I can do it, that's race style, that suits me. Middle ramp and rock drop? Also doable. But then we were faced with the on-off jump and the two monster jumps. At first I even doubted that the on-off jump could work at all, but later it was one of the easiest features. But when it came to the 90-footers, I could only marvel. Inhuman! I've never jumped anything that big. We don't have anything like that in Austria.

I'm on the Atherton team. So it's almost obvious that I should tackle the Hardline. Gee and Dan Atherton raved about it and I agreed. It was only when Dan said he was going to include 30 metre jumps that my confidence dwindled and I thought: Oh dear, now it's going to get interesting! - Andreas Kolb

I couldn't prepare anyway, because I was fully focussed on the World Cup. I spoke to Johannes Fischbach and Erik Irmisch - they had already tried the Hardline. They unanimously said: "Way too extreme, don't do it!" And now I was there! Together with Phil Attwill, I was the last person to jump the 55-foot roadgap (16.7 metres). If you push into the wooden wave just beforehand, you get the full adrenaline rush. Because now there's no turning back. You take off and experience an indescribable feeling. It's more than awesome. Both the height and the distance are scary. I jumped too far the first time because I didn't want to jump too short. But the landing is perfect. After a few times it was actually really fun. It's bad from the head, really bad, but easy in terms of riding technique.

But I was worried about the 90-footer. When Kaos Seagrave miscalculated there in training and hit the landing hill, I decided against the hardline! If you have doubts, you have to let it go. I knew that if I made just one small mistake, I would injure myself. The other riders were surprised at my decision, because I had been safe everywhere else on the jumps and was even one of the fastest in the technical sections. Red Bull would even have allowed me to take part in the race and ride round the 90-footer. Please go! I didn't want to make a fool of myself on live TV. I am a racing driver! When I start a race, I want to be there 100 per cent. No compromises!

So I became a spectator. I liked freerider Vinny T, who sailed over the gap in the Suicide No Hander or did a backflip. It was clear to me that Jackson would ride great. At the latest when he was the first rider to complete the whole run, I knew he was going to be right at the front. Jackson grew up in Whistler and has been jumping big jumps since he was little. Rónán Dunne impressed me with how safely he roared through the course. And Bernard Kerr? As a serial winner, the Hardline is a big deal for Bernard. It's unbelievable how he coped with the horror crash on the 90-footer in training, both physically and mentally. He really wanted to win; he was on a mission! Perhaps he was overconfident. The spot where his front wheel slid off was slippery. And off-camber. But not really a problem for a hardline expert like Bernard. Tough luck!

Results RED BULL HARDLINE 2022

1. Jackson Goldstone (CAN) - 2:20.525
2. Joe Smith (UK) - 2:27.043
3. Taylor Vernon (UK) - 2:27.084
4. Rónán Dunne (IRL) - 2:27.273
5. Gee Atherton (UK) - 2:28.356
6. Sam Gale (NZ) - 2:28.902
7. Jim Monro (UK) - 2:28.930
8. Harry Molloy (UK) - 2:31.714
9. Thibault Laly (FRA) - 2:31.767
10. Florent Payet (FRA ) - 2:37.436
11. Vincent Tupin (FRA) - 2:40.951
12. Adam Brayton (UK) - 2:50.620
13. Théo Erlangsen (SA) - 2:51.066
14. Bernard Kerr (UK) - 3:13.357
15. Gaetan Vigé (FRA) - 3:14.476
16. David McMillan (Aus) - 3:16.616
17. Craig Evans (UK) - 3:42.714
18. Chris Cumming (IRL) - 4:12.581
19. Charlie Hatton (UK) - DNF