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X Games 12

In X games 12 we saw some new events such as BMX Big Air and Rally Car and lost some old ones like Aggressive Inline and Wakeboarding. X Games is an event in which athletes from all over the world come to compete and hope to win the Gold. This years X games had five main events: Surf, BMX, Skateboard, Rally Car and of course Moto X. These, other than Surf and Rally Car, were further broken into categories, BMX was split into five: Big Air, Dirt, Park, Vert and Vert Best Trick. Skateboarding was divided into four: Big Air, Street, Vert and Vert Best Trick. Moto X had Best Trick, Freestyle, Step Up and Super Moto.
The X games were in Los Angeles, California this year and the venues were held in the Staples Center, the Home Depot Center and in Mexico (surf) from August 3-6. The athletes invited were Nate Adams, Jamie Bestwick, Bob Burnquist, Matt Buyten, Tommy Clowers, Allan Cooke, Tom Curren, Brian Deegan, Sandro Dias, Ryan Guettler, Eric Koston, Bucky Lasek, Jermey McGrath, Dave Mirra, Ryan Nyquist, Travis Pastrana, Mat Rebeaud, Shaun White and Blake Williams to name a few.
On August 3 BMX Dirt and Skateboard Vert took place. For BMX Dirt, Anthony Napolitan got the Bronze, Ryan Nyquist got the Silver and Corey Bohan took home the Gold. As for Skateboarding Vert, Bucky Lasek received the Bronze, Bob Burnquist got Silver and Sandro Dias stole the show and took home Gold.
On August 4 the events held were BMX Vert and Moto X Best Trick and skateboard Vert Best Trick. In BMX Vert Simon Tabron threw down an amazing run including tricks such as the 900 but it was only good enough for the Bronze medal. Jamie Bestwick also had an incredible run but was only enough to get him Silver behind The first person to win the event since 1997 other than Bestwick or Mirra, Chad Kagy. In Moto X Best Trick the stands were filled and the cameras were ready for what tricks were about to be unleashed from many riders with two runs each. First up was Ailo Gaup who threw a Backflip Cordova to late one-hander lander across the 75 ft. jump and earned an 86.20. The second rider was Jim McNeil who did a nice Backflip Indian Air and received an 89.60 from the judges. Brian Deegan was the third rider and he landed a 360 and scored an 85.60. The fourth rider to invert his bike was Blake Bilko Williams who nailed the first ever Backflip Cliffhanger in competition and it had great extension and got a 91.80. Number five on the list to go was Adam Jones who stomped a Backflip Cordova to no-handed lander and received an 89.40. The sixth person to go was the lesser-known rider Remi Bizouard from France, he attempted a Heart-attack Backflip but couldnt complete the rotation and fell hard to the ground. He may not have gotten a medal but he gained the respect of all of his fellow riders for going for such a crazy trick and going so huge on the extension, even with the fall he scored a 74.40. Its always difficult to do tricks after seeing a friend fall so hard and Mat Rebeaud was the one who had to go next, Mat luckily didnt fall, he landed an Underflip Nac-Nac to earn himself a 92.80to take the lead from Blake Williams. After seeing that run Nate Adams had to go and he stomped down a clean 360 Nac-Nac to one hander lander and got an 88.40 from the judges. The final rider was Travis Pastrana who was hoped to attempt the Double Backflip. On his first run Travis Pastrana went for a Superman Backflip that was extended to the most extreme and then landed it one handed. He only earned a 91.20, which set him up for the Double Backflip in his next run if he was up for it. In run two Blake Williams landed the first ever 360 heelclicker and became the fourth rider to ever land a 360 in competition and scored an 89.20. Mat Rebeauds second run got him a 93.80 by doing an Underflip Nac-Nac One Hander. Nate Adams decided he need to change it up and threw backflip no hander to no hander lander without a barcheck and earned a 91.80. Then it was Travis Pastranas last run and the last run of the night. When Travis dropped into the ramp a pin drop could be heard a mile away. Pastrana hucked a perfect double backflip and won without a doubt in anybodys mind, sure enough he earned a 98.80. Nate Adams and Blake Williams tied for Bronze, Mat Rebeaud with the Silver and of course the amazing Travis Pastrana stole the Gold. Then after all of that there was still Skateboard Vert Best Trick where Shaun White was attempting a 1080 to be the first to ever land one. Shaun White has landed many 1080s in his other sport, Snowboarding in which he earned the United States a Gold Medal in the Olympics. Shaun Attempted the 1080 many times coming extremely close on every try but never was able to roll away. Bob Burnquist however was able to land some tricks including a front side tail slide 360 revert that earned him a Bronze medal. Max Dufour was able to stomp down a backside 360 kickflip tall grind which was enough to take home Silver. But when all eyes werent on Shaun White they were on Bucky Lasek who landed a front side cab varial heelflip and won the Gold medal.
On August 5 BMX Park, Rally Car, Moto X Freestyle prelims and Moto X Step Up took place all at the Home Depot Center. In BMX Park Daniel Dhers received the Bronze. Morgan Wade was managed to get the Silver and the Gold was given to Scotty Cranmer for his amazing run. Rally Car was an incredible sight with times within a half of a second. Driver Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino earned a time of 2:01.92 in the final race and 12.21.32 overall which was enough for the Bronze. Colin McRae and co-driver Nicky Grist earned a time of 1 minute and 57.11 seconds even with a mistake on the final turn and last 100 yards of the entire race which cause them to roll and managed a time of 12 minutes 2.71 seconds on Colin McRaes Birthday but it was only enough for Silver to Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom who raced a phenomenal race and only took 1:56:49 in the finally and 12:02.19 overall for Travis second Gold medal. In Moto X Freestyle Prelims only five of ten were allowed to advance. Those eliminated were Ailo Gaup, Nate Adams, Ronnie Fiasst, Ronnie Renner and Robbie Madison. Ailo Gaup, Nate Adams and Ronnie Fiasst all had hard crashes and were not able to take a next run or come back the next day and ride. Those who advanced were Travis Pastrana, Mike Mason, Adam Jones, Jim McNeil and Mat Rebeaud. Then there was Moto X Step up in which riders try to launch them selves up into the air and over a bar and land safely on the other side. Tommy Clowers and Myles Richmond were unable to clear 21 feet and were the first eliminated. Then Brian Deegan and Jeremy McGrath were unable to clear 23 feet and then Matt Buyten cleared it for the Gold.
August 6 was the final day of X Games 12 and there was the Mega Ramp, which took place for the Skateboard and BMX Big Air competition. There was also Super Moto, Surfing and Moto X Freestyle Finals. In Skateboarding Big Air six riders each took five runs and launched them selves over a 50 or a 75 foot ramp and then up a 25 foot quarter pipe. Those skaters that didnt place were Rob Lorifice, Andy MacDonald and Bucky Lasek. Bob Burnquist got the Bronze medal and although he attempted it but didnt land in his last run Bob went for a front flip which has been landed once and only by him in Mexico. Jake Brown put together two solid jumps to get himself a Silver medal. To nobodys surprise Danny Way, the only person to win the event in X Games so far, won it again for three in a row by pulling a Rocket Air Backflip and then his signature Christ Air to Method. In BMX Big Air Allan Cooke landed a big Backflip X-Up and then a big air on the quarter pipe. Chad Kagy landed a Backflip Double Tailwhip and then did a double Tailwhip on the quarter pipe but was only enough to get him Silver behind his good friend Kevin Robinson who put down a Backflip No Hander into a huge No Handed Flair. SuperMoto had many racers, once the gates dropped Travis Pastrana was already in the lead but didnt even make it to the first jump before spinning out and falling and then having to pick up the bike and start it up and by that time he was in last. Travis didnt finish last but still didnt medal. Doug Henrey had a good race and finished with the Bronze Mark Burkhart led the race and at a point had a half lap lead over everyone, but due to a slow pit stop, lost the lead to 45 year old Jeff Ward who won by 0.572 seconds in a dramatic finish. Then it was time for the MotoX Freestyle Finals. Mike Mason got the Bronze medal, Adam Jones got the Silver medal. Travis Pastrana had an amazing run that earned him the Gold which included a Saran Wrap Backflip, Backflip Kiss of Death and the Lazyboy Backflip. Travis only took one run. He was walking around after run one and tripped over a televison cable and popped his knee out of place. Pastrana needed knee surgery before X games stared but didnt have time so they drained the fluids between every event. Travis felt like an idiot having thought he disappointed his fans by not taking a second run but he most certainly did not, the crowd was going wild and wouldnt stop the entire day.
X Games is an incredible set of events in which athletes push the limits. At the X Games new tricks are invinted, new people are turned into fans, New athletes are introduced. Every year new things happen and X games has no end in sight and will hopefully go on for many years to come.
Written by, Robby Williams