Soulsports were invited to checkout the final global round of the Red Bull X Fighters at Battersea Power Station on Saturday night. The X Fighter series showcases the top freestyle motocross riders in the world on a variety of jumps and obstacles, it was a spectacular show with a sellout crowd of approx 20,000 people who all lapped up the atmosphere. Checkout the highlights below:
Soulsports Pro BMXer Kye Forte was part of the Judging crew, with both Ed Leigh & Tim Warwood taking the roles of presenters for the official TV show on UK network DAVE.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
Nate Adams destroyed the competition at Battersea Power Station to take the top spot at X Fighters London and the overall 2009 title.
Red Bull X Fighters London 2009
After such a solid qualifying performance on Friday, you might be forgiven for thinking that Nate had it easy, but nothing could be further from the truth as a number of thrilling displays, not least from Levi Sherwood, pushed the new champion all the way in what had started as a four-way battle for the title between Adams, Mat Rebeaud, Eigo Sato and Robbie Maddison.
In the first round, Chris Birch got the local crowd roaring with his debut display and, as he had promised, some new tricks he’d kept from his practice and qualifying, but it was Thomas Pagès who set the early standard. Then Sato put his indifferent qualifying behind him with an imperious first round score of 89pts, and Mike Mason put in a stunning performance on his debut to take 88pts from the judges, enough to grab the second quarter-final berth. Birch, Pagès, Adam Jones and Andrè Villa bowed out, but all got a terrific reception from the 17,000-strong crowd.
‘The greatest achievement of my career!’ - Nate Adams
The first quarter-final saw the only crash of the evening – poor Mat Rebeaud landed awkwardly after over-rotating on a trick, sending the Swiss flying and ending his chances of retaining his championship title. Fortunately, despite needing stitches, Mat wasn’t seriously hurt. Maddison went through to the semis.
Levi Sherwood was up against his friend Jeremy ‘Twitch’ Stenberg for a semi-final spot, and it was the 17-year-old ‘Rubber Kid’ (pictured, below) who put in an awesome display to keep alive his hopes of a bookending win to go with his debut victory in Mexico at the start of the season. Dany Torres ended the championship hopes of Sato with the kind of display that won him his home event in Madrid.
Then the impressive debutant Mason came up against the championship leader Adams. Mason looked great again, but Adams was simply unstoppable and took the round. As the riders retired, Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Starting Something burst onto the arena’s PA system. There was an ominous feeling in the air…
But first the Mexico and Madrid winners had to fight it out for the final. It was nip and tuck, but again Sherwood impressed the judges most, and Torres was forced to ‘hit the showers’, his night over.
The Adams/Maddison semi-final was as close to an anti-climax as the evening came. As Maddo whipped the bike around and went for a jump, he seemed to lose all power in his usually trusty machine. With the clock ticking, a rueful Maddison shook his head and went around again, but, sadly for him, the damage had been done and his championship hopes were over for ’09.
A view from the Grandstand, with people still entering on the far side.
So, in a sense, the final was Nate Adams’s coronation, but Sherwood was determined to crash the party. With arguably his best showing of the evening, and with Adams also maintaining his superb form of the weekend, the crowd waited with bated breath – and the judges gave Adams the nod as Battersea went wild, with a hail of glowsticks flying into the arena.
It had been an occasion befitting the impressive surroundings of the power station, and one that Adams called “the greatest achievement of my career”.
“I’m pumped,” said the 25-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona, enjoying a moment he never thought he would witness after a 2008 when he was ravaged by bad luck and injury problems. “I guess I just wanted it!” he added. “I’m riding right now because I love it. Last year I missed the competition, I missed the hanging out with the boys, the camaraderie, the travelling, you know, everything… I missed it all and I wanted it back!”
Defeated finalist Sherwood was pleased to have got back to within a whisker of a win after some lows mid-season. “I practised a lot, and all I wanted to do was put down my best performance, and it paid off, you know,” said the New Zealander.
Local hero Birch paid tribute to the Battersea faithful after his debut appearance. “It was great,” he said. “In the corners, when you’re about to hit the ramp, you’ve got the crowd [shouting], ‘Go on, Chris, go on!’ They’re really behind me. It’s just a good feeling – it’s cool!”
