FMX News
Motocross champion Josh Hansen revs up for his third consecutive gold medal at this summer's X Games 16 in Los Angeles. Hansen, known for his natural talent and inimitable smooth riding style (inherited from his father, Donnie Hansen, former world supercross champion), secured back-to-back X Games victories in 2008 and 2009 during the Men's Moto X Super X event.
Following a comeback season, the 26-year-old has been invited to compete in this year's following main events: Best Whip, Speed & Style and Super X. Hansen hopes to close the summer with another win under his belt.
In 2009, Hansen elected to put his career on hold after the tragic loss of two close friends, choosing only four AMA races to compete in for the year. In January, renowned motocross coach Mitch Payton selected Hansen to ride the West Region for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit team.
Making what many have called a comeback, Hansen finished at the top of the season, winning the final round of the 2010 Supercross West Lites series at Salt Lake City, placing second at the AMA East/West Shootouts in Vegas, and concluding top 10 overall.
Since stepping into the limelight of professional motocross at the age of 17, Hansen's career has exploded, receiving top honors in the AMA Lites Class and Full Factory Ride sponsorships, a professional campaign that has placed him amongst the very best of the sport.
X Games 16 will be held in Los Angeles from July 29-Aug 1 at the following venues: L.A. Live, L.A. Coliseum, Nokia Theater and STAPLES Center. For a full schedule, visit www.xgames.com
Red Bull X-Fighters brings together the world’s top FMX riders and the world’s most celebrated bull-fighting arenas to create the most intense freestyle motocross event on the planet. Check out all the details for 2008 at www.redbullxfighters.com
VADODARA: City-based Veer Patel, who has the distinction of being country's youngest rider and the winner of national supercross championship last year, has launched his own private supercross team in India.
Nineteen-year-old Veer was so far riding for Pune-based Team Pashankar Racing, but the rider launched his own team Team Lilleria Racing at the second round of MRF National Supercross Championship 2010 which was held in Coimbatore.
"Ours is the first such team from Gujarat. The official launch of our team will happen in October when the city will host the fourth round of the national supercross championship," says Veer, who last year had brought laurels to Gujarat by not only winning the national supercross championship, but by also creating a history by becoming first privateer to have clinched the championship.
The national supercross championship is returning to the city after a gap of two years with the fourth leg of the championship to be held on October 31.
Veer, who had in December ended stranglehold of factory team -- Team TVS Racing, which had always bagged the championship since it was formed in 1987, is upbeat about the single rider team with two mechanics and two crew members for support and two test tracks, including one at Umeta on the outskirts of the city and other one at Kolhapur at Mohite Racing Academy.
"This year, I missed the first round at Bangalore and hence, won't be able to retain the title. But I am looking to claim back the title next year. At the same time, with our own team, I will be now competing at both national and international circuits," says Veer, who after a six-month long off season due to knee injury started racing again at Coimbatore, where two international riders from Sri Lanka and Dubai had also participated.
Veer's new team, which will join the league of other private teams like Pune's Pashankar, Goa-based A S Racing and Nagpur's Jatin Racing Academy, which also has a single rider Jatin Jain, will also participate in international championships, including the round three of the Asian Motocross, to be held in Iran in September and the Sri Lankan Supercross scheduled in Sri Lanka on August 20. "We are looking at gaining this international exposure to win Asian championship after two years," Veer added.
prashant.rupera@timesgroup.com
About 150 bikers from all over the country participated in India's national supercross bike championship on Saturday. The event was held in Coimbatore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The race began amid cheers from spectators and the roar of motorcycle engines, as the racers set off on the obstacle-ridden dirt track.
The winner of the Coimbatore championship in the Indian expert category was Pramod Joshua.
[Pramod Joshua, Supercross Race Winner]:
"It's been a great day and, yeah, I've just had a great day today. I was able to win and I'm going back home with 40 points to the championship, leading the championship. So definitely looking forward for the next round in Jaipur. And definitely wanting to win that race too, so that I can pull a good lead in the championship and win this year's title."
Other riders say the Coimbatore track was a tough one.
[C. S. Santosh, Supercross Rider]:
"The track was little tough. And the cycle motor, I think, was worn out a bit and I had a lot of rocks coming up and was very loose, and I think I got a good start but I had a flat front tire, so I crashed in the first turn and from there I picked it up, and I tried to charge back and I was in third, I was in a good position, and I thought I could try and catch the leaders but then I crashed again, and I broke my front brake calliper so I kind of ended my race right then and there."
The MRF Super Cross National championship race has six rounds, with the first held in Bangalore and the second in Coimbatore. The third round will be held in Jaipur and the remaining three races will be held in Baroda, Goa and Pune.
The first extreme motocross in the capital’s history has revved up at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium attracting bike lovers from over the world.
A whole set of motor stars from Europe, the US and Australia have arrived at Moscow’s Bike Drive X-fest Contest to show what they can do on their powerful machines.
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The program of the event includes a motor drag racing section (start and acceleration by 0.25 of a mile); motor stunt racing section – daredevil stunts on superbike by the craziest stuntmen; and motor freestyle section performed by FMX stars. Motor soccer players will also compete for the Cup of Europe.
The event promises at least three attempts at record breaking.
In addition, the best artists specializing in motor tuning and design will present their works, and the sexiest girls on motorbikes will compete for the First Motor Lady 2010 title.
The event’s visitors will also be able to see with their own eyes the Motor Monsters contest, boasting the most extraordinary motorcycles.
High-flying, fast-paced dirt bike and ATV racing will be featured as the preview show for this summer’s premier event, the Pierce County Fair, on Friday, July 30, at the fairgrounds grandstand in Ellsworth.
You will see racers jump 70 foot triples, navigate bermed corners and pound through the whoops. Local racers are invited to sign up for the races--as young as four-years-old and as old as 50. Pit gates will open at 3 p.m., sign up will start at 4 p.m., practice will start at 6 p.m. (for race entrants only), and the racing will start at 7 p.m.
A Supercross Race contains 18 different classes, four ATV classes and 14 dirt bike classes. The program consists of a Heat Race and a Main Event, and every person who signs up to race will race in both the heat and the main. The Heat Race determines what gate pick the rider gets for the Main Event and the Main Event will determine what trophy the rider gets.
There will also be an intermission race for pit bikes. For racing information, check out www.motokazie.com and click on the SX menu.
Are you a spectator and not a participant? That’s great, too! Come early to enjoy the first fair food of the season, along with the Miller/Leinies Social Garden opening at 4 p.m. Grandstand gates will open at 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for ages eight and over, and $5 for ages seven and under.
The following is a press release from Fuel TV...
Airing Friday, July 9 at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (6:00 pm Pacific Time) and telecast three additional times, Erica Hosseini, Ryan Villopoto and DJ Qualls will appear on “The Daily Habit.
Today, three-time Motocross Lites Champion Ryan Villopoto stops by to tell us about why his 2010 Supercross Championship run was cut short. Plus, surfer, model, and host Erica Hosseini treats us to a visit to the set. Also, actor DJ Qualls talks about how he almost fell from an 11-story building while filming the new TV series, “Memphis Beat.”
Erica Hosseini’s sponsors include: Body Glove, Filtrate Eyewear, Sharp Eye Surfboards, Jack’s Surfshop, Flip Flop Shops, Sector 9 and Baby-G Watches. Ryan Villopoto’s sponsors include: Vans, Oakley, Volcom, Thor, Kawasaki and Monster.
Oakley’s 18-year-old Levi Sherwood of New Zealand won his second ever Red Bull X-Fighters event last weekend in Moscow. Oakley’s Andre Villa placed third.
A exhilarated crowd of 40,000 fans were on hand to witness the best twelve freestyle motocross riders in the world competed in front of the world-famous Kremlin on Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday night. Sherwood and Nate Adams battled it out in the final match up with Sherwood taking the win.
No fewer than 250 loads of dirt transformed the historic cobblestones of Red Square in the heart of the Russian capital into an FMX course worthy of hosting the top riders on the planet as the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour hit Russia for the first time ever. Levi “Rubberkid” Sherwood who jumped through the air and into the hearts of the Russian fans packed into the historic location: “The tricky course here was just right for me. This day will go down in history.”
Just meters from the eastern walls of the Kremlin, spectacular tricks, incredible flips and the whine of two-stroke motors brought the tens of thousands of fans in the stadium to boiling point. The legendary square in the heart of Moscow, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 1990, was packed to the rafters as the best riders in the world came to town.
Oakley’s Andre Villa of Norway finished third and remains in the overall lead in the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2010, 20-points ahead of Adams.
The next event is scheduled for July 22nd and 23rd at the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas bullfighting ring in Madrid, Spain. The final two showdowns of the season will take place in London and Rome.
The Crusty Demons were the pioneers of freestyle motocross (FMX) and began in 1994 in the USA by filmmakers Jon Freeman and Dana Nicholson. Mind blowing tricks and world record jumps have made them the first name in FMX. Jon and Dana unleashed the groundbreaking video Crusty Demons of Dirt on the unsuspecting motocross world in 1994, featuring behind the scenes action of Americas pro motocross riders, their lifestyles and unparalleled daring talents. The DVDs are one of the biggest selling action sports DVDs of all time. Since 1994 the Crusty Demons home entertainment DVD series has become a phenomenon, creating FMX legends such as Seth Enslow, Mad Mike Jones and Brian Deegan. The Crusty Demons brand has further extended into live events, video games, magazines, clothing, motorcycles and many other consumer products categories such as BMX bikes and skateboards. The Crusty rider group, which comprises an ever-growing list of fearless riders have toured the world performing new and increasingly risky moves. The live shows were created in 1999 and were an instant hit with sell-out tours across Australia. Since then, the brand has taken shows into New Zealand, the USA, UK, Ireland and India. To date live tours have generated over 0m in ticket sales. The tours always feature the best line up of FMX riders available with new tricks, stunts, freestyling, quad freestyling, back flips, snowmobiles and mini motocross madness. Freaks, stunts, the Crusty Babes and some of the most …
When considering the entirety of the supercross and motocross schedules many riders keep in a season the Moto X Super X final is a mere moment; it's a thrilling 20 lap 'blip' on one hot summer afternoon in Los Angeles. For two consecutive years those 20 laps were all Josh Hansen had to his name. Until 2010, living for the moment was the best way to describe Hansen's nine year professional racing career.
Hansen's story is well known. He's the talented son of a former AMA Supercross and motocross champion who learned the hard way that talent alone doesn't win races and championships. Despite annihilating the Super X field in 2008 on a bike and team he'd hastily scrapped together, Hansen spent the next 11 months jumping around to different teams and borrowed bikes before he finally found himself in a position where he didn't even want to ride motorcycles. "It's an eye opener when you know you've reached rock bottom," Hansen said. Comparing his life today with one year ago, Hansen said he had nothing.
As the defending gold medalist, Hansen knew being competitive would be tough because the only bike he owned on July 1, 2009 was a clapped out KX450 that surfing legend Sunny Garcia had given him. Two weeks before the '09 X Games Hansen went to Pro Circuit to beg for a pipe and silencer for his beater ride and hit up owner Mitch Payton for help. Payton, the manager of Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki, the most powerful non-factory team in racing shocked Josh by calling him back the following week. He was given a bike and full team support for the X Games and the X Games only. Beyond that, Payton promised, he was back on the street.
Hansen repeated in '09 for another gold medal, a win as shocking as his performance a year earlier. Payton kept "Lil Hanny" on the Pro Circuit lineup but made him sweat a little by waiting until the fall to officially offer a racing deal for the 2010 AMA Supercross season. Hansen hasn't been the same since. Maybe it was hitting 'rock bottom' earlier in the summer or maybe it was the intimidation of riding under the eye and on the equipment of the best in the championship business but something happened after XG '09, something that took until the age of 25 to find -- consistency.
"I haven't been doing anything new or revolutionary," he said. "It's been as simple as being consistent with my training, my schedule and actually having goals. I even started doing motos at the practice track, something I'd never done in the past." The 2010 SX West Lites season was his best since he tied Grant Langston for the championship back in 2005. Early on he struggled with minor injuries but the year ended with a win in Utah and a second place in the East/West shootout, a race that combines the top riders from each of the two regions in the country.
One year after his repeat performance, Hansen can't say he's done anything overwhelmingly impressive but for the first time in his life he's proud that he's been putting the work. "I got my life straight because I almost lost everything. I understand myself more now and respect the opportunity in front of me. I don't want to be that guy going down the wrong road."
Racing in the X Games is still a big moment for Josh but instead of being 'the' moment it's now just another major race on his list of goals.