FMX was off and poppin' this weekend and we got the haps
November 2, 2009, 3:55 PM
By: Ryan Leyba
Not only did the sweetest (literally) American holiday go down this weekend, but unlike years past, the FMX industry was buzzing with numerous happenings. Let's start with the biggest news of all: The never-say-die Paris Rosen has put the nail in the coffin and landed an 88' front flip. Paris broke the news to me via text message and a friend of his dropped it via Freestyle MTX message boards, but at the moment, the HD footage of the stomp is safely in Rosen's possession waiting for a home. Isn't the anticipation killing you? Yeah, us too!
Garth Milan/Red Bull Photofiles
The infamous and highly publicized Red Bull Compound will be the site of the first-ever Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour Compound.
In other FMX news, it turns out that the 2010 Red Bull X-Fighters will be breaking its reputation of being an invite-only event. I've known about this to some extent for a while now, but now the official word has been dropped along with all the details of how it'll all go down. Here's an excerpt from the announcement:
In its 10th year the Red Bull X-Fighters will be throwing its doors open to the whole world and inviting all the globe's best FMX riders to take on the international elite for a spot on the number one freestyle motocross tour. Between 2nd and 10th February 2010 a world ranking will be created in the Red Bull X-Fighters Ranking Session taking place at the Red Bull Compound in California (USA), where the 26 best applicants will be invited to do battle for 6 open spots on the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2010. The top four riders from the 2009 season Nate Adams (USA), Robbie Maddison (AUS), Eigo Sato (JAP) and Mat Rebeaud (SUI) are already pre qualified. Two wildcard riders will finally complete the starting list of 12 riders for each Tour Stop.
As always, there's ups and downs of the new format and rider opinions are already airing out on the message boards.
Pretty awesome how the qualifications will be at the Red Bull Compound where all the Red Bull riders will be practicing for months before the event ... seems fair." —Adam Jones via freestylemtx.com
If you think you have what it takes to dice it up with the world's best, click here to sell your soul to Red Bull. For more details on this groundbreaking event, check out redbullxfighters.com.
Jean Francois Muguet
The favorite, James Stewart, was able to dominate the first two nights in Bercy, but after getting struck with a bad case of food poisoning, he had to sit out the last night handing the King of Bercy title to Justin Brayton.
Lastly, the annual Bercy Supercross took place in Paris, France and it was Justin Brayton who walked away with the King of Bercy title. James Stewart took the first two nights, but right before the third and final race, he came down with a nasty case of food poisoning, forcing him to sit out ultimately giving the overall to Brayton.
But Bercy wasn't just racing — as usual, the halftime show was owned by an international cast of riders. Mike Mason, Edgar Torronteras, Mat Rebeaud, Andre Villa and Eigo Sato threw down all three nights, bringing the crowd to their feet every time. Ghetto YouTube footage of the event can be seen here.
Apparently while in Paris, Mike Mason made a new friend and had a dirt bike epiphany.
"Edgar Torronteras is my new favorite dude. Guy is friggin funny and fun to ride with! P.S. RIP Honda, I'm switching to Yami's ..." —Mike Mason via Twitter
Jean Francois Muguet
The Parisians went nuts during the FMX show, ensuring its world-wide popularity.
Jean Francois Muguet
Andre Villa (left) and Mat Rebeaud do what they do in the City of Lights. Ohlala!
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Contributors
Ryan Leyba
Leyba is a bitter, retired FMX rider that likes to sit in his cubicle and call the professionals of the sport wussies for not pulling 360s and double backflips. He claims he quit riding FMX before flips were even invented... yeah, right.
Cliff Talley
Making FMX videos exciting is easy. Making them look good is not. Cliff Talley does both of these well and still manages to find enough time to piss off his neighbors with his Travis Barker-esque drum skills.
Chris Tedesco
You've seen his photos on the covers of Transworld, Racer X and more. You've also seen his tequila shooting skills at your local dive bar. Ladies, Chris is single and looking to mingle.
Grant "Goba" O'brien
FMX in Australia wouldn't exist if it weren't for Goba. Well, maybe it would, but it wouldn't be nearly as cool. I don't know why, but we can't quit calling him gobalobadingdong — it just rolls off the tongue.
Tes Sewell
Tes is the dude that's always involved in everything that's going on in FMX. How he does it, we don't know, but that's the reason we hired him to share his plethora of FMX wisdom in the form of a monthly column.
