Red Bull X-Fighters was a freestyle motocross stunt competition organized by Red Bull from 2001 to 2017. It became popular around the world, staging 50 events on six continents in bull rings and famous locations and sites.
Competing riders went head-to-head in a series of knockout rounds, and their jumps and routines were judged by a panel who awarded points based on eight criteria, which included execution, energy, excitement and entertainment.
X-Fighters was founded in 2001, with the Plaza de Toros de Valencia in Spain being the first venue to host the competition. A 12,000 person crowd was recorded, with American Mike Jones taking out the inaugural event, Spanish Edgar Torronteras coming second and French rider Xavier Fabre coming third. Due to the popularity of the event, Red Bull X-Fighters returned for a second time in 2002 at Madrid's Las Ventas. The crowd had almost doubled in size from the previous year, with the arena to a full capacity of nearly 20,000. Edgar Torronteras, who came in second in the previous edition, won the event and took the trophy that season.[1]
2003 brought some major developments to the event. Two events took place that year with both Valencia and Madrid staging competitions in their bullrings. At Las Ventas in Madrid, a new rider to the competition, the 18-year-old Nate Adams from the USA performed the first ever back flip at the event.[2]
The riders then returned to compete in the bullring of Madrid for the only X-Fighters event of 2004. Riders regularly performed backflips along with new combinations of backflips.[2]Travis Pastrana, a well-known rider, joined the X-Fighters event and took first, and Nate Adams came second after going in head-to-head battles for the majority of the event. [1] The following year, after continuous success in Spain, X-Fighters staged its first event outside of Europe. The 2005 event took place at the biggest bullring on the planet, the Plaza de Toros México in Mexico City. The growing popularity of the sport was shown by the crowd capacity of the event at 40,000 fans. Ronnie Renner won this edition of the event. After Mexico, Madrid hosted yet another event in the same year, won by Nate Adams. In 2006, Mexico City and Madrid again hosted the event, with the Mexican event being won by Swiss rider Mat Rebeaud and the Madrid event being won by Travis Pastrana.[3]
World Tour: 2007–2015
In 2007, X-Fighters started their World Tour series as they moved into exclusive bullring locations in new arenas. The tenth competition took place in Mexico City.[4] For the next stop of the World Tour, X-Fighters built a custom arena near with the backdrop of the Slane Castle in Ireland. Travis Pastrana yet again came first in the event, after tackling a wet course due to rainfall.[5] After Ireland, the world tour returned to Madrid. Pastrana rode to his second consecutive win that season.[6]
2008 increased the lineup of stops from three in 2007 to six. The first event took place in Mexico, after which the tour travelled to the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro before coming to Texas. The European Leg of the tour included events in Spain, Germany and Poland.[7] Mat Rebeaud dominated the 2008 season, due to which the lineup of riders was made more competitive at the start of the 2009 season. The first event was in the monumental Plaza de Toros México. A 17-year-old from New Zealand, Levi Sherwood, had a promising debut.[8] After a closely fought contest in Calgary, Canada, the tour rode into Texas. The course built in Fort Worth was one of the biggest courses created. With new tricks being performed, Cam Sinclair successfully performed the double back flip, becoming the first rider to perform it in a competition.[9] Moving on to the next event in Madrid, Sinclair again attempted the double back flip but this time he under rotated the backflip, suffering severe injuries along with extensive internal bleeding.[10] With Sinclair in recovery, the 2009 tour ended with Red Bull X-Fighters twenty-third event and a first for London with the finale at the iconic Battersea Power Station.[citation needed]
In 2010, Red Bull X-Fighters were granted permission to stage an event in Moscow's Red Square right beside the Kremlin, using it as their backdrop.[11] Along with this another event took place in the Giza Plateau in Egypt with the Great Sphinx of Giza in the background. Red Bull X-Fighters then returned to Madrid, with AustralianRobbie Maddison pulling off a body varial.[12] A first ever seen trick in the competition, Maddison went on to win the event. At the next event in London, Maddison bailed in an attempt at the volt badly, ending his season. After the UK stop, X-Fighters wrapped up its twenty-ninth event by rounding off the 2010 tour in Italy where Nate Adams achieved another first to add to his Red Bull X-Fighters career. Being the first rider to claim a second title for a second consecutive year.[13]
2011 saw Red Bull X-Fighters reach its 10th anniversary and stadiums and arenas across the world were selling out to a huge international fan base. It brought up its 30th event on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. The tour then encountered a spectacular show when it staged round two of the championship in front of the Monumental Axis in the Brazil capital, Brasília.[14] In front of a crowd with over 100,000 people, was the biggest FMX attended event in the history of the sport.[3] Following the events in Rome, Madrid, and Poznań, the tour ended in a grand finale on Cockatoo Island in the heart of Sydney Harbour, Australia. Making the most of competing in front of his home crowd for the first time was Australia's Josh Sheehan. He surprised everyone by pulling off the last win of 2011. But the tour title that year belonged to someone else, Dany Torres.[15] In 2012, the Red Bull X-Fighters tour took a huge leap forward. It started in Dubai with a course that included the biggest jump distance ever built in a competitive freestyle course but the next event was a giant leap of FMX kind. In Glen Helen, Red Bull created the biggest course ever constructed.[3] After the huge course the tour moved to Europe in Madrid where New Zealander Levi Sherwood took a stunning victory and extended his lead in the overall standings. Next up was Munich's Olympic Stadium which became the stage of a night of huge drama and significance in the freestyle world. The leading man was Tom Pagès. The tour was set for another close finale once again on Cockatoo Island in Australia. It saw Jackson Strong perform X-Fighters first front flip and did it again one handed. But it came down to the overall current first and second place riders to meet in the final for a chance to win the World Tour title. It was Sherwood whom bet Pagès after he performed the huge tricks and style when it really mattered to take the 2012 title.[16]
Grand Slam: 2016–present
After eight years of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, 2016 concentrated on one season highlight event at the legendary Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid on June 24. The Red Bull X-Fighters stop in Madrid marked the 15th straight year that the famous bullring hosted the event of Freestyle Motocross, where the riders from all across the world came to showcase their new tricks.[17] France's Tom Pagès became the first rider in history to win Madrid three consecutive times with his stirring victory in 2015 in front of another sold-out house of 23,000 spectators. Travis Pastrana of the USA had also won Madrid three times but not consecutively while Spanish rider Dany Torres had won the most important stop of the season twice.[18]
It was Tom Pagès who set records with a fourth straight Red Bull X-Fighters win in Madrid, the home of freestyle motocross that celebrated its 15th anniversary in style in front of a full house. At the Las Ventas bullring Pagès treated the crowd to his new Front Flip Flair, the first time ever the trick was performed in competition. In a three-way battle featuring the world's elite FMX riders, Clinton Moore, the 2015 World Tour champion, came in second place after his Bundy jump recorded to be 14 meters high by a new Intel high-tech device. Josh Sheehan took third place despite landing his signature double back flip. Levi Sherwood of New Zealand finished fourth at the FMX extravaganza in the Spanish capital.[19]
2017 would begin with Las Ventas hosting an X-Fighters contest. Levi Sherwood took 1st place with Josh Sheehan taking 2nd and Taka Higashino coming in 3rd. 2017 would end up being the final year of Red Bull X-Fighters.[20]
Format
Event
Each day of every event, riders get opportunities to train. Day one starts off with a briefing. Day two is qualification and day three is competition. In qualification, there is one 90-second qualifying run. All twelve riders ride in their start order. Any rider who misses a qualifying session will be scored in the last place position. Should more than one rider miss the qualifying session then previous year's Tour rank will determine placing, with the lowest ranked rider being scored as the last place. Should no Tour rank exists, and then a draw will take place to establish rank for the purpose of qualifying. The results of the qualification will define the three groups of four riders that will compete in the Cuadrillas Elimination.[21]
The Cuadrillas Elimination is where each group of four riders will spin a roulette of tricks one time (old-school tricks that are barely shown in competition). All riders have to pull out this trick within their 50-second run. The best two riders of each group qualify for the semi-final. At the completion of each rider's run, the judges award a score. When all riders in this round have completed a scored run, the scores are announced and the top scored rider advances through to the semi-final. Six riders are then qualified in pairs and battle head-to-head in the semi-final, in which there is no mandatory trick. Each rider takes his own run with a pre-determined time limit (75 seconds). The lower seeded rider in each pair ride first. Time starts when the rider takes his first jump. After each run, the rider goes a pre-designated position to watch his replays on the big screen. The second rider in the pair, who is not riding, will wait at the Hot Spot, remove his helmet and watch the other rider's run. After the second rider's run, both wait at a pre-designated position for the judges' decision of which of the two will proceed to the final round. The winner from each battle would advance to the final.[21]
The final consists of three winners from the semi-final that meet in a head-to-head run-off. Each rider takes his own run with a pre-determined time limit (75 seconds). The rider from the semi-final A will ride first followed by the winner of the semi-final B and C. Time will start when the rider takes his first jump. After the 75 seconds each rider can perform a Bonus Trick which is not affected by the time limit. After each run, the rider goes a pre-designated position to watch his replay on the big screen. The second and third riders, who are not riding, will wait at the Hot Spot, remove their helmet and watch the other rider's run. After the third rider's run, all three wait at a pre-designated position for the judges' decision of whom of the three will be celebrated as the winner of the Red Bull X-Fighters competition. Overall the riders can win five helmets. If there is a tie (e.g. two riders win two helmets and one rider 1 helmet) the Bonus Tricks decides on the winner.[21]
Judging
Judging in all rounds consist of five judges, each one judging the overall impression based on the following criteria:
Variety
Execution
Form and flow
Use of course
Challenge
Energy
Excitement
Entertainment
There are two separate judging systems for the Red Bull X-Fighters competition. Round one judging panel comprises five judges, plus one Head Judge. These judges will award each rider a score from 1-100 points. The final score will be represented as a number from 0–100 based on an average of all five judges' scores (From a total of 0 - 500 ÷ 5 judges). In the semi-finals and final, each judge award each of the riders in the heat a score on a scale of 1–100 points. The rider with the highest score from a single judge will win that judge's vote. The rider who gets three or more judges' votes out of five will win the match-up. The Head Judge is solely responsible for indicating when time expires on a run. If, in the mind of the Head Judge, a rider is considered to be 'on approach' to a jump when the time clock reaches zero, then that jump (or series of jumps in a double-double or 6-pack) will count in the rider's final score. The Head Judge will also have the ability to change any single score or group of scores and makes the final decision in any tiebreaker situations. Should two or more riders in Round one have a scoring tie out of 100 points, then the high and low scores for each rider will be eliminated and the remaining three scores averaged to give a score of 100 points. Should this method still result in a tie then the highest single score will break the tie(s). In the event that none of these methods breaks the tie(s), then the Head Judge will break the tie(s).[21]
Venues
Overall there has been 25 different locations that have hosted an X-Fighters event. Below shows a list of former and current venues, along with their location and number of times taken part.
Dany Torres of Spain is the all-time top points holder on the World Tour, with 7 wins and 1 title. Torres also holds the following records; Most starts, Most head to heads, Most head to heads won, Most head to heads lost, Most quarterfinals, Most semi-finals, Most top three appearances and Most World Tour top three appearances. He is the most successful rider to hold a total of 9 X-Fighters records. New Zealander Levi Sherwood holds two (Most finals and Most wins), with Nate Adams and Mat Rebeaud both holding one each.[citation needed]
In all, 86 top riders have competed in at least one X-Fighters event. Of these, eight riders have won the World Tour. With two titles, AmericanNate Adams is the most successful World Tour rider. Adams (2009 and 2010) is also the only rider to have won two consecutive titles.
Red Bull X-Fighters released their very own Wall of Fame in a video about the history of the competition.[3] There also is a Hall of Fame. There are only 9 Freestyle Motocross riders in the sport's most exclusive club. It is reserved only to the winners of Madrid, the most important FMX stop each year since the inaugural event in 2002. The Hall of Fame in Madrid features plaques hanging on the walls with the names, Spanish nicknames, and portraits of each year's winner, framed in the style of famous bullfighters who have also graced the grounds of the Las Ventas bullring. The Hall of Fame starts with Edgar Torronteras (2002, "E.T."), Kenny Bartram (2003, "El Cowboy"), Travis Pastrana (2004/06/07, "El Prodigioso"), Nate Adams (2005, "El Destroyer"), Mat Rebeaud (2008, "Air Mat"), Dany Torres (2009/11, "El Pajarillo"), Robbie Maddison (2010, "Mad Dog"), Levi Sherwood (2012/17 "El Chico de Goma") and Thomas Pagès (2013/14/15/16, "Mr Flair").[22]
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