The monumental event we had all been waiting for finally arrived under the watchful eye of the Nelson Mandela statue at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday 23rd August. The 2014 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour finale blew 22,000 Freestyle Motocross fans’ minds as they gathered to watch 12 of the world’s best riders battle it out on the biggest track of the 2014 series. The day was filled with thrills and spills in what was the 50th event of the X-Fighters.
Round 1:
5 riders, one run each, upside tricks only except for a “Joker Trick” and only the highest scoring rider going through to the quarters. The then tour leader Levi Sherwood unfortunately went down in qualifying on Friday injuring his ankle and putting him into round 1. He was joined by David Rinaldo and Maikel Melero as well as local riders Nick De Wit and Alastair Sayer. The injured Sherwood came out and pleased the crowds with a show run of stylish whips but the injury unfortunately put him out of contention.

Nick De Wit didn’t have the run he was hoping for dealing with the wind from the start of his run. He still held South Africa’s flag high and represented in what was a highlight event of his career. Alastair Sayer put down a phenomenal run and was riding better than we’d ever seen, but it was just not enough to beat the runs of Rinaldo which included a Double Grab Backflip and Melero who had the 540 Flair. In the end it was Melero who went through to the quarter finals.

Quarter Finals:
Taka Higashino vs Adam Jones. Higashino impressed the masses with his California Roll and various other big tricks but Jones pulled out all the stops in his run and took the win over Higashino with massive Backfilp variation tricks.
Dany Torres vs Clinton Moore. Torres remained his consistent self and landed all his tricks perfectly. Moore, who qualified 3rd, was set to have an insane run and was hoping to throw in his, yet to be seen, 360 Flat Spin No-Hander but he went down early in his run after over cooking his 540 Flair. Torres moved through to the semi’s.

Remi Bizouard vs Thomas Pagès. Bizouard rode well and stylish but also got lucky in this round when Pagès went down in his run. Pages came out flying with an energy packed run which included the Volt, but when it came to the quarter pipe Pages though down a huge Superman Flair, stuck it but not in the right place and fell off the side of the landing ending his winning hopes. South Africa would not get to see the highly anticipated Bike Flip.
Maikel Melero vs Josh Sheehan. Melero was another victim of the 540 Flair and also went down on his attempt. Sheehan just had to put in a safe run to move through to the semi’s. Sheehan also had the pressure of the world tour title off his shoulders with Sherwood already out of the competition.

Semi Finals:
Remi Bizouard vs Dany Torres. Both riders have a similar riding style and put everything on the line. It was an intence and close battle with both riders being awarded 2 helmets by the judges but the 3rd and final helmet was awarded to Torres seeing him go through to the final.


Finals:
Dany Torres vs Josh Sheehan. Torres just didn’t have enough in his arsenal of tricks to beat the unstoppable Sheehan. Sheehan again stomped a flawless run which included the Double Backflip and took the X-Fighters Pretoria win as well as the 2014 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour victory.

An event of this magnitude in South Africa was a dream come true and we cannot thank Red Bull enough for putting it all together. To all involved thank you, and to all the Riders you are all an inspiration. We really hope to see the Red Bull X-Fighters back in South Africa in the near future.
Red Bull X-Fighters Pretoria Results:
1st Josh Sheehan
2nd Dany Torres
3rd Adam Jones
4th Rémi Bizouard
5th Thomas Pagès
6th Clinton Moore
7th Taka Higashino
8th Maikel Melero
9th David Rinaldo
10th Alastair Sayer
11th Nick De Wit
12th Levi Sherwood
2014 World Tour Results:
1st Josh Sheehan
2nd Levi Sherwood
3rd Dany Torres
4th Thomas Pagès
5th Take Higashino
6th Remi Bizouard
7th Adam Jones
8th Rob Adelberg
9th Clinton Moore
10th Maikel Melero
Highlights Video:
Photos by Rich Sutherland and Red Bull Content Pool