If you did not know the first round of the X Fighters kicked off a little while ago in fact it’s finished. If you were lucky enough to remember it (or get a little reminder in my case) then you would have seen the new kid, the 17 year old phenom went off and is instantly my favourite for the year.

Let’s head back to the beginning. To the surprise of commentators Ronnie “Who’s your daddy” Renner and Tes Sewell, Danny Torres 8th in qualifying. To add to that he didn’t even make the semi final going down to X Fighters veteran Eigo Sato who was superb the whole night. Aussie FMXer Cam Sinclair was also on top of this game riding a 2-stroke bike which he had brought along to do the double backflip in an FMX run; Too bad Mexico is so high above sea level and the oxygen levels are low so power to the bike suffered. However he displayed his Aussie pride and took out 4th place overall.

Mat Rebeaud the champ from ’08 had a crash in practice; the day prior whilst doing an underflip. Of course he felt a little pain but you couldn’t tell by watching his run. Throwing down his signature tricks he was flawless against all the competitors except Levi Sherwood. Mat had his usual tricks, the underflip and backflip variation but Levi has the same tricks almost with his one style for each. Not to mention he worked the crowd.

It was disappointing to see so many riders screw up. Eigo Sato missed a shift, Sherwood was a little quick with the throttle on the slick ramps, Andre going off the down ramp. There were many mistakes but most recovered nicely. It’s also disappointing to see so much emphasis on how many tricks you do. Tes Sewell mentioned that the judges want 8 tricks. In my opinion it’s about how good the tricks are. More tricks equals less extension maybe they can improve the course design to compensate that.

But the major shock for the night was Levi Sherwood, the young gun, 17 years old from New Zealand (South-East from Australia for those unfamiliar) literally whacked a frying pan over everyone. It’s hard to comprehend how someone which such huge tricks is a) 17 and b) never been to a big competition before. That’s right, he hasn’t been at x Games, Dew Tour or the IFMXF series. He’s the new kid on the block who is sure to provide some intense rounds ahead.

Tags: Backflip Cam Sinclair Freestyle Motocross LuskFMX Metal Mulisha Video X Knights

Travis Pastrana, a legend in everything Motocross is making a comeback to what he loves most; Supercross! After a 3 year break from any AMA Supercross racing, that being Daytona 2006 where he had shown so much promise but went down in the whoops (Watch Racing Days Vol.1 to see), now he is back and has been training for 2 weeks solid. No doubt the 199 could beat 80% of the riders that line up to the gate week in, week out without training, now lets see how much he can improve.

The track will play to his advantage since he was part of it’s design and no doubt he added in aspects that will help him get along. The only thing that Travis has to watch out for is crashing. It seems everybody’s favourite racer just couldn’t seem to stay on the bike long enough to grab an AMA 250cc/Pro Class wins but perhaps now it’s time. No doubt Stewart and Reed won’t give Travis an inch, they have the championship. Similarly to Jason Lawrence at Daytona this year, Travis also has nothing to lose so he’ll be going all out this time.

If you’re going to the race be sure to mention KICKERMAN360 and KICKERfilm.com to Travis! Or if you’re like me you’ll be watching the broadcast which airs on either CBS or SpeedTV this weekend. Check your local listings.

Tags: Backflip Double Freestyle Motocross James Stewart Kevin Windham KICKERfilm KICKERfilm.com KICKERMAN360 Travis Pastrana Video

Bad news. Reigning X Games Gold Medalist and all round good guy, Jeremy Lusk has had one of the most intense and disturbing crashes in FMX history. He was performing his signature Hart Attack Backflip when he under-rotated it. This made him and his bike land upside down, Lusk landing on his head and and bike increasing the harsh amount of pressure placed on his neck and head when it landed on him. He’s in hospital in an induced coma with brain trauma. A helmet can only do so much, maybe FMX riders (like Mat Rebeaud) should always wear Leatt Braces if Jeremy wasn’t himself. Apparently his spine is still in good shape which is great news considering the crash, it made me cringe just thinking of what it must have felt like.

Here are the facts from Ryan Leyba’s Blog at ESPN Action Sports (EXPN)

• Jeremy Lusk was transported to Calderon Hospital in San Jose, where he now remains in a medically induced coma, in stable, but very critical condition where doctors are closely monitoring the swelling on his brain.

• Post-crash, suspected brain trauma required immediate surgery to treat a subdural hematoma on the brain.

• Surgery lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes.

• X-rays were done to the neck and spinal column and no breaks are being reported by hospital.

• When asked about injuries to other parts of his body, hospital is not reporting other injuries at this time.

• Jeremy was attended to by the head of neurological surgery, Dr. Jorge Ramirez.

• Doctors report that they will know more Jeremy’s future prognosis within the next crucial 36 to 48 hours.

So I Let’s keep Jeremy in our prayers, I’m not too religious so I’ll just hope he pulls through.

In other news, I made a new video the other day, some would say it’s a late video, others will say it’s next X Games’ Trailer. Anyway, here’s the X Games 14: MotoX Freestyle video, which does not include Andre Villa and Nate Adams because I didn’t have their runs. Enjoy!

Tags: Crash LuskFMX Metal Mulisha Video X Knights XKnights

Another (in my opinion) boring race, the season looked like a close Reed-Stewart and perhaps Ryan Villopoto and Reed in the mix, but it’s turned out to be a James Stewart show (again). Winning both his heat race and the main event, Stewart gained a substantial lead over 2nd place. Reed came out of the first corner in 4th, passing Ryan Villopoto and team mate Mike Alessi but unable to even challenge Stewart.  Alessi eventually dropped back a few more places when the Redbull Honda riders and Kevin Windham charged through. Villopoto has picked up the speed, this week being able to keep up with Chad Reed and finally, for the first time this year, he didn’t stack it or fall over like he usually does. Bad luck for my Kawasaki fave, Tim Ferry, he was caught up in his heat race holeshot and got run over b a few riders, maybe he should relax and take it easy for the motocross season? Here’s the podium:

1. Stewart
2. Reed
3. Villopoto

And this week I didn’t do a video about the SX Lites reason being, I haven’t got the race yet. I might do a double race wrap up next week but don’t count on it! So I don’t even know the results!

Enjoy

Tags: Chad Reed James Stewart Jr Kevin Windham KICKERfilm KICKERfilm.com KICKERMAN360 Lites Monster Motocross Racing Supercross

This round was quite boring. Reed had a bad start and Stewart was at full speed. So none of those close Reed-Stewart battles I hope for each week, but still some enjoyable racing. Mike Alessi, the holeshot master, did what he does best, got both holeshots in each of his races, glad to see he is coming bad from injury quite nicely, but he couldn’t hold that 1st place position. Reed came from mid pack to 2nd which was a good performance, unable to catch Stewart. I’m not sure if Ryan Villopoto is having bike issues or something, but every round he falls over on the corners/berms, it’s quite the mystery, he won’t win a race if he keeps that up, but he did make the podium, too bad he surrendered 2nd to Reed when he fell over, again! Stewart was no doubt the fastest, looks like he felt good all night, especially with that ‘performance’ at the start of the night. Reed and Stewart were the heat winners!

Final results for the main:

1. Stewart
2. Reed
3. Villopoto

Well this is the first race of the east coast lites, and i must say, i like the west coast racing better! Mainly because this race was boring or maybe it was the track? I don’t know, we’ll see in the next rounds ahead. And it seems I am abit of a Suzuki fan, going for Nico Izzi, mainly because he is racing for Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki. Anyway, I’m not really a East Coast Lites fan but here’s the overall for the night:

1. Christophe Pourcel
2. Brett Metcalfe
3. Nico Izzi

And if you have a song, suggest it! If a suggested song is suitable I’ll use it and credit them. It turns out YouTube is going to beat down hard on anyone with copyrighted music, luckily my video was spared because I am a partner  I think or maybe Universal Media Group don’t mind it. Lucky I have this site at around 60% completion so all my videos can be posted here, unless I get a cease and desist order, anyway, I am trying to get as much done while I can!

Tags: Chad Reed James Stewart KICKERMAN360 Lites Monster Motocross Racing Supercross

Latest round of the supercross, it was the usual showdown of Reed and Stewart, too bad they never battled for the lead or which each other. Stewart takes the win, Reed does the impossible, coming from dead last to second in 20 laps, over taking Windham on the final lap and beating James Stewart’s best lap of the night by 2 seconds, he’s doing a good job of representing Australia.

250 Main:

1. Stewart
2. Reed
3. Windham

The supercross lites class is kinda exciting, bad luck though for champ Jason Lawrence, another bad round for him, having to go to the LCQ and not placing well in the main. My favourite Lites rider, Ryan Dungey had a good night, taking the heat race and the main. Team Pro Circuit Kawasaki had a good night, riders Ryan Morais and Jake Weimer placing 2nd and 1st in the their heat race and 2nd and 3rd in the main.

125cc Main

1. Dungey
2. Morais
3. Weimer

Tags: Chad Reed James Stewart Jr Kevin Windham Supercross