The holy grail
The holy grail of FMX competition, the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain, was host for the third round of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2015, bringing Freestyle Motocross to the next level once more with most of the riders bringing in new tricks to the event. Tom Pagès kept his nerves together and went for the hat-trick, winning three times in a row in probably the toughest event to win in this sport, ahead of Levi Sherwood and Clinton Moore. Attached you find the official press release (go to www.redbullxfightersnewsroom.com to find the release in other languages than english from saturday morning on).
Video-Links
Winning run: http://www.redbullxfighters.com/en_INT/video/tom-pages-winning-run-madrid
Best action clip: http://www.redbullxfighters.com/en_INT/video/amazing-action-attack-madrid
You can find all videos, photos and press releases in your language in the Red Bull X-Fighters Newsroom or just share the content from our social media channels (see below a list of links).
If you have missed the action, you can watch the Live Replay on www.redbullxfighters.com or Red Bull TV. Red Bull TV is available on connected TVs, gaming consoles, mobile devices and more. For a full list of supported devices visit http://about.redbull.tv/
Additional Rider Quotes
1. Tom Pagès is the only rider in history who was able to win Madrid three times in a row. He seemed to be holding back slightly, but said after his hattrick: „There is no strategy in Freestyle other than to bring the best you have, make the people happy and have fun. But of course I had a bit less pressure after Levis mistake. Las Ventas is the hardest and biggest FMX event in the world and that is where all the riders want to win. It is crazy to see how all the riders are stepping up right now and bring new stuff to the events, but that is what you have to do if you want to win a freestyle competition nowadays.“
2. Levi Sherwood stepped up his game by bringing in the Flair. „I am pretty happy about second place and stoked to bring the Flair after I had problems with it in the past months during practice. Taka and me spent a day in the foampit before Madrid and I am happy to get this one off my shoulders now. I was happy to include it to my runs, but am really bummed about my crash in the final. I have to lift my hat to Tom, who was riding really well with his difficult tricks. He has definitely raised the level this year.“
3. Clinton Moore finished the third event of the year on the podium, this time in third position, which means he is still in the lead of the World Tour standings in front of Pagès and Sherwood. „I am happy with my result. Levi obviously has stepped up his level and brought a few extra tricks. I stuck to my gameplan and tried to get my points for the whole end of the season. For Pretoria at this point I am not looking for something new and will try to stick to my plan and have a constant, good year.“
4. David Rinaldo appeared to be a constant thread and finished in fourth position again, same as in Athens. „I am pretty happy with my fourth place, especially since last year I finished in last position here. I was pretty happy about my quarter final run, but had a few mistakes in the semi finals. But it is what it is and even though I do the Cali Roll a couple of times every day in practice, mistakes can happen.“
5. Josh Sheehan experienced not the best weekend by crashing the double backflip again in his quarter final run after he crashed it already in the qualification. „It is a tight arena and I tried to find the right balance between run up size and gap. After the qualification I moved in the ramp by half a meter, but made a mistake in the run up and was too slow again. It is very disappointing. But sometimes things don’t go to plan and you have to keep pushing. But now I have plenty of time at home to relax, regroup and bring new tricks and come fresh for the next round.“
6. Adam Jones was happy about his sixth place result. „I came here to make it to the finals and do the run that I like. And that is exactly what I did. Clinton rode great and there was not too much I could do. I enjoyed myself and my riding.“
7. Taka Higashino was happy to be back on the tour after his foot injury. „I only had two days back on the bike before I went to Madrid and am happy about my riding. But the level of riding is so insane now, it is important to have permanent access to a foampit, what I don’t have right now. But I will try to spent more time into a foampit now and come back strong at the next stop.“
8. Rob Adelberg advanced through the first round, but Tom Pagès ended his competition. „Obviously it is tough against a good run from Tom, but his scores were not that far away from mine and I feel if I had one of his tricks I could see me beating him. I will keep pushing, pushing, pushing, that is what we do and I want to be competitive.“
9. Maikel Melero celebrated his comeback, but just missed advancing into the quarter finals by 0.1 points and was very disappointed. „I was happy about my riding, especially since I could not really practice after my injury. But I don’t really understand the judges decisions from yesterday and today. To ride in front of my homecrowd was great, they were so loud I could barely hear my bike.“
10. Javier Villegas rode without mistakes and good extensions, but did not make it through the first round. „The level now scares me a bit about what is gonna be the next level of tricks! Tricks that would have guaranteed you a win two years ago count as basic run nowadays. But I scared myself with my riding today, which is good since I was to conservative in the past.“
11. Dany Torres ruined his competition already in the track testing session, when he tried to land the Flair for the first time to dirt and injured his knee and ribs. But he still went out to ride in front of his fans. „I am sad how this event went for me and it was difficult to ride today. But I am thankful for the crowd and very happy to be able to ride once more in this amazing place.“
12. Rémi Bizouard decided to not start in the main competition after practice, feeling the impact of his crash in the qualification.
The fourth event will take place on September 12th in Pretoria, South Africa.
Helpful links:
Full Results: www.redbullxfighters.com/results
News Room (for photos, videos, press releases and more): www.redbullxfightersnewsroom.com
