Javier Villegas took the win at the final round of the 2011 Night of the Jumps FMX World Championships in Latvia. In doing so he also took the overall series title, 23 points ahead of Remi Bizouard in second.
1 Javier Villegas CHL 20.0 2 Remi Bizouard FRA 18.0 3 Josh Sheehan AUS 16.0 4 Petr Pilat CZE 14.0 5 Jose Miralles ESP 12.0 6 Maikel Melero ESP 10.0 7 David Rinaldo FRA 9.0 8 Libor Podmol CZE 8.0 9 Massimo Bianconcini ITA 7.0 10 Brice Izzo FRA 6.0 11 Hannes Ackermann GER 5.0 12 Fabian Bauersachs GER 4.0 13 Nikolay Ivankov RUS 3.0
For the past three years, DC Shoes have organised one of the sickest Freestyle Motocross shows on the planet, and last weekend we flew over to see what all the fuss was about.
It takes place at the surf capital of Europe, Hossegor in Western France. It all ties in with Quiksilver Pro surf event which takes place at the same time. This year they had an insane line up, with 2011 X Fighters Champion Dany Torres, 2010 FIM Freestyle Motocross World Champion Libor Podmol, Metal Mulisha's Taka Higashino, and the guy with the best whip in the world, Tom Pages.
We flew out from Bristol Airport at 6am on Friday morning; an epic trip ensued with trip with two busses, one hire car, two planes and a lot of walking! Originally scheduled for Friday evening, it had to be postponed until Saturday – the weather took a turn for the worse as you can see in the pictures below!
As well as the FMX Show we also had a day at the Pages Brothers compound [Brothers Trip] which is about half an hour from the beach. As far as FMX compounds go this is the best we’ve ever seen by a long way. 10 FMX ramps, a wall ride, mulch landing, three huge dirt landings and a 40 foot foam pit are just some of the highlights!
Minibike racing took place in the morning, on a small minibike track just outside the compound. It’s always a good laugh watching FMX riders on track, especially on bikes which are far too small and a track they’ve never ridden on before – utter carnage! Everyone else had the chance to race on the track, and the FreestyleXtreme crew went up against DC and Events22 [they run the Red Bull Pro Nationals and a load of other awesome events]. As you’d expect FreestyleXtreme came out the victors, after a close fought race with at least 8 crashes one of the marketing guys took the win.
Once everyone had finished the minibike racing the FMX riders put on a private show, which was one of the best FMX displays we’ve ever seen. Taka started by wafting out a couple of sick backflips, then Tom Pages pulled out the best whip in the business, followed by Podmol throwing and underflip and Torres a huge Indian air. They continued for half an hour, with some huge tricks, wall rides, three rider backflip trains and Taka throwing down some obscene backflip combos which really shouldn’t be possible!
Just round the corner from the ramps they’ve got the huge foam pit, so what better to do on a sunny afternoon in Western France than ride a BMX down a huge hill and launch it into a big pile of foam? Nothing! It was a pretty rad experience – the Pages brothers and Taka giving advice on what to do - then it was down to us! Starting from the top of the biggest landing ramp [it’s the one Tom landed the flair the other week] you went down the other side and launched into the pit – then had to attempt to get out…
The run up for the ramp was pretty sketchy, the top section was super rough and as it was a BMX suspension wasn’t happening – one guy got so out of shape he managed to miss the foam pit..! We’ve got loads of clips from the foam pit in the video, and a couple of snaps from below – if you ever get the chance give it a shot, do it! Much harder to get out than you’d think though, it’s a bit like swimming but with a crash helmet and nothing to stand on.
As Friday’s show had been cancelled they moved it to Saturday evening, but a few showers beforehand nearly put a stop to the event. They managed to dry it all out - Taka showed the world he has insane control of leaf blowers, drying out the take off ramp to get the show rolling.
Once Tom Pages had thrown a couple of test jumps the rest of the guys were good to go; with all four of them throwing down massive tricks, huge extensions and getting the 5,000 strong crowd screaming. A lot of the fans hadn’t seen FMX before, they’d come for the Quiksilver event so the FMX turned out to be a real treat, and brought a lot of new faces into the FMX world.
It was super difficult to get decent pictures of the show – taking place in darkness combined with flashing lights and a bit of rain made it really tough but we’ve still got a few!
To round off the trip we decided to head down to the beach on Sunday morning to check out the Quiksilver Pro surf event – one of the final rounds of the 2011 world tour. We’ve not seen a huge amount of surfing but these boys were seriously impressive – the things Kelly Slater can do on a surfboard really shouldn’t be possible!
A huge thank you goes out to everyone at DC for the event, as well as the FMX and Surf they treated us like royalty all weekend – top bunch of guys and an awesome trip.
Motorsport, action sports legend and Red Bull's Travis Pastrana has signed up for the Race Of Champions at Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena in December
Pastrana has won 11 X-Games gold medals and four Rally America titles and is set to embark on the next chapter of his career, NASCAR, where he’ll compete in 2012
The American has been largely out of action since shattering his ankle in a bike crash at July’s X-Games – but he will be ready to race again at ROC
American action sports sensation Travis Pastrana will compete at the 2011 Race Of Champions, to be held at Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena on December 3-4.
The event will be one of Pastrana’s first competitive appearances since he smashed his right foot and ankle while attempting a motorcycle trick at July’s X-Games. The accident forced him to delay a planned switch to NASCAR until 2012 but this month he finally had the pins removed. The American won’t be able to walk for a few more weeks but he is adamant he will be ready for ROC 2011 regardless.
Pastrana said: “I'm honoured to be invited to compete against the best of the best and represent the USA again this year. There isn't an event anywhere else like the Race Of Champions. The competitive nature of the drivers combined with our limited experience in the cars makes for a lot of fun and chaos. I've been injured most of this year and can't wait to get back in a car to prepare for this event!”
Since becoming the youngest freestyle motocross world champion at the age of 14, Pastrana has picked up an impressive range of silverware both on bikes and in cars. He has four Rally America titles and 11 gold medals from the X-Games, where he wowed the crowds as the first rider to nail the double backflip. Pastrana is just as well known for stunts including jumping out of a plane without a parachute and the longest ever jump in a car over water.
Pastrana’s record at the Race Of Champions is impressive too. In 2005 he made the semi-final despite a broken leg sustained in a freestyle motocross exhibition jump at the very same event. The next year he single-handedly took Team USA to the ROC Nations Cup final after both Jimmie Johnson and his replacement Scott Speed were injured just before the Paris event. He is pictured in conversation with newly-crowned F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel last year in Düsseldorf.
ROC race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “Travis is an absolute legend of the Race Of Champions – and a true crowd pleaser – so we are thrilled that he is coming back in 2011. We already know his mighty strength of will at overcoming injuries from his incredible performances at previous ROC events. Now we are delighted that he will recover from his latest spill in time to race with us again in December.”
The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world’s greatest drivers from all motorsport’s disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, touring cars, Le Mans and the X-Games – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery on a specially constructed parallel track. Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for Saturday 3 December, before the individual Race Of Champions takes place on Sunday 4 December.
Six drivers have been confirmed so far for ROC 2011, including F1 world champions Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. Plenty more big names will be added in the run-up to the event at Düsseldorf in December. For information about tickets (starting from €19) please visit the website www.raceofchampions.com.
Drivers already confirmed for the 2011 Race Of Champions:
Sebastian VETTEL, Reigning Formula 1 World Champion
Michael SCHUMACHER, Seven-time Formula 1 World Champion
Jenson BUTTON, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion
Andy PRIAULX, Three-time World Touring Car Champion
Mattias EKSTROM, DTM star and triple ROC Champion of Champions
Travis PASTRANA, Four-time Rally America winner and X-Games legend
After a fantastic season in the World Superbikes on the factory Yamaha, Eugene Laverty is one of the top riders on the market for 2012 - after Yamaha announced they would pull out of the championship.
Rumors are circulating the paddock that Eugene is heading over to Aprilia for the 2011 season. Aprilia Motorsport boss Gigi Dall'Igna has recently been quoted talking about Eugene signing for the team.
Gigi spoke to GPOne.com and had the following words to say
"Nothing has been signed yet but we are only working out the fine details. The basic agreement is already in place. My objective for 2012 is to have four Aprilia RSV4R's on the grid next season. This means we could have one or two bikes in the official team, and based on that decision we will find a place for Laverty. In any case, he would have factory support next season."
When the initial news came out just after our visit to Silverstone earlier this year it was a huge shock, but with Eugene's form only getting better 2012 started shape up.
We can't confirm or deny the news, but what we will say is that our boy Eugene is going to be tough to beat in 2012, and yes, it will be in World Superbikes and for an Italian team...
Chilean FMX Rider Javier Villegas had a massive practice when practicing last week, the throttle cable broke just as he was taking off resulting in an enormous crash.
He hasn't sustained any major injuries apart from a couple of huge bruises, check out the video below!
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Motorsport, action sports legend and 
