Freestyle Motocross’ biggest international series is set to kick off today, Friday, April 16, with Round 1 in Mexico City where 42,000 fans are expected. Elite, world-class riders are invited to participate this year as the tour heads to three different continents: South America, Europe and Africa.
Nate Adams is the reigning 2009 world champion, though Red Bull’s well-known high-stakes stuntman, Robbie Maddison, is a serious threat for the title this year. Maddo has been working hard on his “regular” FMX skills. These two established Freestyle icons will have to share the spotlight with a snot-nosed challenger, Levi Sherwood. This 18-year-old rider from New Zealand made a wildcard appearance last year which earned him the right to attend the full schedule for 2010. The Rubber Kid will be hungry to prove himself with the big dogs aboard his KTM 250SX.
Johan Nungaray puts in some practice in Mexico prior to the opening round in the capital city.
Mexico’s Johan Nungaray will try to use his home-turf advantage to get a jump on the competition (pun intended), but it's Cameron Sinclair who qualified first on his Yamaha. Last year saw a massive crash and injury for Sinclair. The
Yamaha rider failed a double-backflip attempt in Madrid and was forced out of his YZ250’s saddle while his body healed. That hasn’t kept the Australian down as he qualified first in the opening round – and the Aussie hasn’t pussed out on the Double.
“I have been working on it again for the last few months and have pulled at least 40 perfect ones since,” he said in a release. “I am ready to go and really looking forward to it.”
X-Games gold medalist Blake Williams just missed the top-five. Bilko is running the only 4-stroke dirt bike in the contest with his
Honda CRF250R. There’s still a heavy favoritism for the lighter, zippier 2-stroke machines, but pay attention in 2010, this may be the year that 4-strokes finally start to exert dominance in FMX – the final smoking holdout.
Mexico City Qualifying Start List:
1. Cameron Sinclair, Yamaha YZ250
2. Charles Pagès,
Suzuki RM250
3. Jim McNeil, Suzuki RM250
4. Andrè Villa, Yamaha YZ250
5. Adam Jones, Yamaha YZ250
6. Blake Williams, Honda CRF250R
7. Johan Nungaray, Yamaha YZ250
8. Levi Sherwood,
KTM 250SX
9. Dany Torres, KTM 250SX
10. Eigo Sato, Yamaha YZ250
11. Robbie Maddison, Yamaha YZ250
12. Nate Adams, Yamaha YZ250
Below is the schedule of remaining 2010 Red Bull X-fighters competitions, ending in the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome.
5/14/2010 Giza (EGY) Pyramides / Sphinx
6/26/2010 Moscow (RUS) Red Square / Kremlin
7/23/2010 Madrid (SPA) Plaza de Toros de las Ventas
8/14/2010 London (GBR) Battersea Power Station
10/1/2010 Rome (ITA) Stadio dei Marmi
What can you expect to see tonight in Mexico? This Red Bull X-Fighters 2010 video breaks down some of the many tricks needed to win any of the X-Fighters competitions, including a myriad of backflip variations.
