It took the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour Track Team 10 days to turn the Poznan soccer stadium into one of the most spectacular tracks of the 2011 season. 6,400 cubic meters of dirt was trucked in the 40,000-seat stadium and piled on top of the stadium’s grass that is home to soccer club KKS Lech Poznan.
Just under a year before matches in the 2012 European soccer championship are played in the new City Stadium in Poznan, the world’s best FMX riders will be revving their engines. Nate Adams (USA), Dany Torres (ESP) their pursuers will perform their tricks for important championship points on motocross bikes in the penultimate event of the season.
To give the riders a perfect field to play on, the stadium’s grass field was removed and replaced with dirt. Course designer Dane Herron and his three-member crew (all from the U.S.) spent 10 days with the help of additional hands from Poznan getting the track in shape. “The area is compact and the dirt is moist, but we’ve put together a great track,” said Herron after 10 days of exhausting efforts. “It’s going to be a challenge for the riders, just like all the tracks have been this year.”
A total of 440 truckloads of dirt were brought in to build the jumps and landings that will be used for leaps of up to 15 meters high and 36 meters in distance. “We brought in a total of 6,400 cubic meters of dirt,” Herron said. The athletes will have 8 jumps to do their tricks off of, including 4 ramps and 3 dirt piles to take off from.
The dirt will not stay in the stadium long. Just minutes after the victory ceremony, Herron and his crew will begin removing the dirt and restoring the grass turf for KKS Lech Poznan.
440 truckloads of dirt in stadium