ESPN Action Sports

Brayton is a late bloomer, a hard worker and the silver medalist from XG 2009. The Iowa native was a high school wrestler who raced arenacross (small, indoor tracks) growing up. He turned pro at age 18, making his name in the AMA Arenacross Series before earning a ride in Supercross. Results came slowly, but Brayton kept improving, earning a KTM factory ride for 2008-2009, then a 2010 gig with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he finished fifth in his rookie AMA Supercross (450) season. But Brayton really excels in one-off events like X Games: he took bronze at the '08 Moto X World Championships, silver in the '09 XG Super X final, and won the prestigious Paris Bercy SX in November 2009.