LW Mag LW Magazine
Related Articles
The final stop of the 2015 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour took place in Abu Dhabi an saw the final showdown between Tom Pagès and Clinton Moore, who were tied in points for the championship. Clinton Moore withstood the pressure while Pagès crashed in their head-to-head duel in the quarterfinals. But Moore not only crowned himself the new Tour champion, he did it in style beating his fellow countryman Rob Adelberg in the final. Josh Sheehan rounded off an all-Australian podium.
1st Clinton Moore did not crack under the pressure even though he also showed nerves, after Pagès crashed in their head-to-head battle in the quarter finals, nearly crashing on his signature trick, the Bundy. But he stayed on the bike and finished his run, crowning him the new Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour Champion. He continued to deliver his great tricks, even stepping it up in the finals with a Bundy to No Hand Landing and a Volt to No Hand Landing. A dream has come true for the Australian. “It has been so much pressure and so much is going on in my mind right now. To come out here and to achieve what I have done is the most unbelievable thing in my life. This has been a dream ever since I was a child and started Freestyle Motocross. Now it is reality! After Tom made his mistake all I had to do was to put my run together, but that played on my mind too much and when it came to the Bundy I almost threw it away as well. I nearly cracked under the pressure, but held it together. The whole season was a mental game on my mind, I had to make sure I was smooth and consistent with my runs. I just want to thank everyone who has helped getting me here.”
2nd Rob Adelberg had a strong ride in Abu Dhabi from touching the track for the first time. With his new trick Egg Roll Cordova, his signature big extensions and perfect execution he rode himself into the finals, beating Dany Torres and Josh Sheehan on his way. This also landed him the 3rd place in the World Tour Ranking behind Moore and Pagès. “I had high expectations and was confident coming here and was working on the Egg Roll Cordova at home. I stuck all my tricks and was pumped about my riding. To finish in second place here, I am super stoked. I had a really good year and am happy about it.”
3rd Josh Sheehan was frustrated with his result after he crashed in the semifinals on a Double Can Egg Roll, handing over the head-to-head battle and third place in the World Tour Ranking to Adelberg. “I stuffed up and am angry at myself. It has been a heavy season for me and I had some mistakes that should not have happened and had some bad luck with draws like in Athens, when I met up against Tom so early. The level of riding is crazy and everyone has stepped it up this year.”
4th Maikel Melero has had a bad start to this season with injuries, but was happy to scratch on the podium at the final event of the year with perfectly executed tricks like the Doublegrab Backflip, Flair, Sidesaddle Takeoff to California Roll and more with plenty variation. “My season was difficult this year, but now I am really happy to finish in fourth position and felt really good this week. I am really motivated for the future.”
5th Remi Bizouard brought a new trick, the Egg Roll Heelclicker, but was unhappy making small mistakes in his run against Melero in the quarter finals, even though he showed great extensions. “I am not really happy with my riding today because I made a few mistakes. This track was really hard for me, and everyone I guess.”
6th Dany Torres showed a perfectly executed run including the Doublegrab Backflip off the Superkicker and his big trick variation. He barely lost his quarterfinal against Rob Adelberg, even though the 5-0 score did not show it. “I was very happy with my run, it was very clean. I felt very comfortable on this track. It was difficult to go up against Rob Adelberg, because he was very strong here.”
7th Taka Higashino had a difficult weekend with some crashes, but stepped it up in his quarterfinal against Josh Sheehan by throwing a Rock Solid Backflip into the game. “This round was a crazy one for me because I had some problems with the Flair. I was really confident with it before coming here, but crashed my first attempt in practice. I landed the second one, but again crashed on the third, made it again on the fourth try. It nearly broke my spirit but I decided to go for it in the quarter finals and am happy that I landed it.”
8th Tom Pagès successfully worked his way through the first round and met up against his championship opponent Clinton Moore in the quarterfinals, where he was the first rider out. He started his run with the Bike Flip, followed it up with the Egg Roll, included the Special Flip, but then rotated a little too slow on the Alley Oop Flair, and crashed throwing away his championship hopes after Moore managed to finish his run. “My feeling is a little weird right now. Second place in the World Tour is a great result, but that was not the reason I came here. I am disappointed that I made another mistake and could not put a whole run together. I had a lot of pressure before coming here and did a lot of work at home to win this competition, but in my eyes achieved nothing tonight. It is hard to do a trick like that perfectly every single time, with these tricks it is all or nothing.”
9th Javier Villegas was happy to bring the Egg Roll to Abu Dhabi, but had to accept Tom Pagès beating him in the first round. “I brought new tricks, that made me very happy, but for some reason it did not make the judges happy. But I had a lot of fun and was happy to include the Egg Roll into my run even though I only could try it a few times into the foam-pit before I landed it here onto dirt for the first time.”
10th Luc Ackermann showed a clean run including a Flair and Surfer Takeoff to Superman to Surfer Landing while fighting off tonsillitis. “This event did not start well for me when I crashed hard during the track testing session casing the 120 foot dirt jump. I was lucky to walk away with only a few bruises. But then I suffered with tonsillitis as well, which caused me to sit out the qualification. I was happy with my run besides putting my feet down landing the Flair and gained a lot of experiences for the future.”
Photos by Predrag Vuckovic, Daniel Grund, Joerg Mitter and Naim Chidiac
Photo Gallery:
