X Games Day 2 Report

More Medal Minutia at X

Medal Minutia Noche Dos

By Jana Bond, Photos Scott Hoffman

Night 2 at the X Games was full of big, badass, air. We had 3 events to bedazzle our eyeballs. Best Whip, Step Up, and Best Trick.


Best Whip
Whippy, whippy, whippy what a gyppy. Best whip is the event where 6 fellas see who can shimmy their bike completely around almost 360-degrees and then “whip” it back and stick the landing. They can toss out as many whips as they can in a 6-min sesh. Then the crowd votes via text. Well, let’s just say the crowd got it wrong. According to my expert judging, which was very high tech and consisted of my small 3×5 memo pad where I wrote down the dude’s name and then as he whipped by me he got a check mark next to his name if I was smitten with him, the 1st rider Edgar Torronteras got 5 checkies and the 3rd rider Jarryd McNeil got 6 checkies. My memo pad looked like the Check Republic. Their whips were so sick and had a lot of sass thrown in too. I like sass. Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg didn’t have any checks next to his name. Well guess who won? That’s right . . . Twitch. I felt like I was back in high school and the cool kid who had a lot of friends was voted head cheerleader and the people who performed better and had the better high kick did not win. But I guess if you’ve been invited to the X Games 13 times like Twitch you deserve it. I must say I did like the fancy gold fenders on his bike. Oh, I forgot to vote so maybe that’s why they lost. As Randy Jackson says, “You gotta pick up the phone and vote Dawg.”

Jarryd McNeil whipped it out but did not have the votes.

Next Event…Step Uhhhhhhhp
Let’s just start out by saying WOW. The first height started at 32 feet. Come on. All 6 guys cleared it like they were jumping over a curb. Piece of cake. Then it proceeded to 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and then finally the Gold-grabbing height of 47 feet! The previous world record was 37 feet. At 36 feet, fan favorite Todd Potter, fell on his 1st attempt but he got up with a lot of gusto. For a moment there everyone’s hairs on their fake mustaches were standing on end but he rebounded and quickly remounted for his 2nd attempt but the bar came tumbling down and he was out. At 38 feet, Myles Richmond cleared the bar but came down hard and we heard that he may have broken his femur in one leg and his ankle on the other. Good times. But as he was carted off the track he waived to the crowd so obviously nothing was wrong with his hands. Enter 39 feet and we have 3 contenders left, Brian Deegan (the Metal Mulisha General), Ronnie Renner, and Matt Buyten. All clear it. At 40 Deegan failed to keep up and out he went. So the final two, Renner and Buyten, battled it out and with each landing you could see them start to wear down a tiny bit as the hits to the ground seemed to really jostle them around. Go figure. But they cleared the bar by so far each time it was insane. Finally at 47 feat (typo intended) the only one to clear it was Renner. Renner, Winner, Chicken Dinner. We suspect he may have been running a supersoft Endurocross tire which helped with his takeoffs.

Ronnie Renner was unstoppable in Step Up and broke a new world record.

Final Event – Best Trick

For the second year in a row, Jacko nailed the trick and the Gold.

Welcome to the Jerseyless Shore. Aussie Jackson Strong took the Gold again this year in the event as his jerseyless body (only covered by his chest protector) backflipped above the bike then did a double hand seat grab to pull himself back on. Eight brave souls entered the event, but several of them were unable to land their tricks and suffered injury. Bruce Cook, an X Games rookie, hurt his ribs and hip and didn’t attempt his 2nd trick. Kyle Loza, who was going to debut a never-before-seen trick where he tried to flip the bike around while floating above it, didn’t seal the deal on his first try. During his 2nd attempt he came down the ramp but stopped short to adjust his handlebars and when he regrouped up at the top, the pain from his injury on the first attempt was too great and he dismounted and I don’t know if the pain from his injury was worse or the pain you could see on his face from his disappointment. Other medal nabbers were Taka Higashino for the Silver. My taka on Taka’s trick: a backflip and while he and the bike are upside down both hands come off and then he grabs back on and then lands with only using one hand. Show-off. Cameron Sinclair came away with the Bronze by performing his double backflip and making it look flawless. Insane.

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