The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour will expand across Asia and Africa in 2013 with stops in Japan and South Africa added to the traditional hotspot locations in Dubai, Glen Helen (USA), Madrid. Back on the schedule for the tour that is going genuinely around the world next year is Mexico City.


New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood will be looking to defend his Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour championship title in an expanded 2013 tour after prevailing against Thomas Pagès of France in the most riveting battle in the 12-year history of the world’s most prestigious and challenging freestyle motocross competition. The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour will be going to the four corners of the planet next year with new stops in Osaka, Japan and Pretoria, South Africa. Japan has two top stars in the tour, Eigo Sato and Takayuki Higashino.

The soaring popularity of the sport in eastern Asia and Africa has prompted the expansion of the World Tour to Japan and South Africa while the traditional locations on Dubai’s sandy beaches, in Madrid’s Las Ventas bullfighting arena and on Glen Helen, California’s cavernous track will be back on the calendar as well. The sport where riders jump with their motorcycles up to 30 meters in distance and 15 meters high while performing spectacular tricks off and alongside their motorcycles will also return to Mexico City, which hosted stops for six years, for the first time since 2010.

Sherwood, 21, was the youngest champion in the history of Red Bull X-Fighters in 2012, winning three of the five stops but needing a victory in the season finale in Sydney, Australia against hard-charging rival Pagès. The Frenchman turned the world of FMX on it´s head in the second half of the season with a breathtaking array of new tricks that pushed the sport to the next level. Pagès finished a close second, just 20 points behind Sherwood’s 335 points, while the 2011 champion, Dany Torres of Spain was third. Chile’s Javier Villegas got a career-best fourth while Japan’s Eigo Sato took fifth.

Schedule 2013:

  • March 8, Mexico City (MEX)

The traditional season opener in Mexico City (MEX) has been a staple of the Red Bull X-Fighters calendar from 2005 to 2010. After a 2 year break the Mexican capital is back on the tour schedule to kick of the 2013 season. Rightly so: the city offers a stunning backdrop and is the perfect venue for the Red Bull X-Fighters concept.

Red Bull X-Fighters returns to Dubai for the 3rd time and will switch the location from the Jumeirah Beach Residence to a new location near the impressive Burj Al Arab.

  • May 11, Glen Helen (USA)

Red Bull X-Fighters returns to California and the iconic motocross track in Glen Helen will host the thrid stop of the World Tour. Glen Helen has hosted the event in 2012 with the biggest and most-progressive freestyle motocross track and brings FMX back to it´s roots with the stop in Southern California.

  • June 1, Osaka (JPN)

The Osaka Castle and the Nishinomaru Garden will be the venue and are situated in the center of Osaka. Nishinomaru Garden, designated as a special historical site, is about 6.5 hectares and lies west of the castle and is full of greenery with some 300 cherry blossom trees.

  • July 19, Madrid (ESP)

Practically the home event for the Red Bull X-Fighters! The series originally began 12 years ago in the bullfighting arena in Valencia. Only a year later, the competition went to Madrid.

  • August 31, Pretoria (RSA)

The Union Buildings in Pretoria will be the backdrop for the venue. They are the official seat of the South African government and also house the offices of the president of South Africa. The buildings, designed by Sir Herbert Baker and completed 100 years ago in 1913, occupy the highest point in Pretoria and constitute a South African national heritage site.

 

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