Thursday, Aug 11, 2011

Gulf News

Dubai Nate Adams once again proved he is among the best when he topped the Poznan round clinching his 18th career podium in the Red Bull X-Fighters in front of a capacity 35,000 spectators last weekend.

With an array of tricks up his sleeve, the American didn’t give his title rival Dany Torres of Spain any chance in the final even as Eigo Sato of Japan came in third position.

A total of 440 truckloads of dirt was used to turn the home field of Poland’s football champions KKS Lech Poznan into a freestyle motocross track, a stage that had the longest and highest jumps for the world’s 12 best FMX riders this year.

Adams had to deal with some jittery moments in the final with the ramps. “The bike was under-rotating on the long jump and I came down on the front wheel. But I’m really happy to beat Dany,” he said.

Torres said he will keep fighting for the title. “I wasn’t 100 per cent fit so I’m happy to get second place. I’m going to train hard for the next six weeks and fight back in Australia.”

Adams picked up his third victory of the season and with 365 points, now has a 40-point lead over Torres (325 points).

Backflip crash

Andre Villa of Norway came to Poznan leading in the title race but crashed while doing a backflip in qualifying and ended up with a broken femur.

Switzerland’s Mat Rebeaud was hoping to launch his comeback in Poznan but arrived in Poland on crutches and had to ditch his return plans.

The three Australians Robbie Maddison, Blake Williams and Josh Sheehan were also knocked out by injuries in the run-up to Poznan.

The decisive battle will take place in the season finale on September 17 in Sydney.

Final standings Poznan (Poland): 1. Nate Adams (USA), 2. Dany Torres (ESP), 3. Eigo Sato (JPN), 4. Javier Villegas (CHL), 5. Maikel Melero (ESP), 6. Petr Pilat (POL), 7. Adam Jones (USA), 8. Andre Villa (NOR), 9. Libor Podmol (CZE), 10. Beau Bamburg (USA), 11. Jackson Strong (AUS)

Standings (after 5 of 6 events): 1. Nate Adams (365 points), 2. Dany Torres (325 points), 3. Andre Villa (270 points), 4. Blake Williams (AUS/215 points), 5. Eigo Sato (180 points), 6. Robbie Maddison (AUS/160 points).

x-fighters

Staff Report

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