The second round of the 2013 Red Bull X fighters world tour will be held in Dubai on April 12th – this coming Friday night!

After hosting the season opener for 2 consecutive years, Dubai (UAE) will be the 2nd destination in 2013 for the 12 riders! This year will see the event change location from the sandy beach and iconic Jumeirah Beach Residence towers, on April 12, to the unique Burj Khalifa, that will witness action, thrill and excitement of the Red Bull X-Fighters.

The Finals 12/04/2013

Podium – Levi Sherwood, Danny Toress and Tom Pages. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Dany Torres of Spain won the 2nd round of the 2013 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour on Friday with a sick final run next to the tallest building in the World Burj Khalifa, beating defending champion Levi Sherwood of New Zealand by a score of 3-2 in a super tight final to the delight of 13,000 enthusiastic spectators. Tom Pagès of France took third place after taking a slam going for a backflip seat grab, & won the SWATCH BEST MOVE on the Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Downtown Dubai.

Dany Toress winning run. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

 It was the first win for Torres in the world’s most prestigious FMX series since Madrid in 2011 but he was reluctant to say it made him the new title favorite this year after Pages dominated the first stop. “The level of the top riders is so close this year,” he said. “If you make just one mistake, you’re out. It’s difficult to say who’s going to win the championship,” added Torres, who had a brilliant run in the final against Sherwood.

Levi Sherwood. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Pages, who had dominated Qualifying, put in a fucking sick run with the Volt, Special Flip, and a big one handed Flair. Pages had the crowd screaming their heads off as he nailed three of the most difficult tricks known to mankind but he slammed on his last jump when he went for a super un-characteristic  backflip variation, and was punished hard by the judges. Pages threw a massive seatgrab indy backflip off the super-kicker, and I think everyone was so shocked to see Tom go upside down like that, and then to slamm – the whole arena fell silent. “I just went for it,” said Pages. “I pushed it but maybe pushed it too much and crashed. I’m disappointed.”

Tom Pages. photo:Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Daice Suzuki representing for Japan! photo: Daniel Grund/Red Bull Content Pool

Rob Adelberg from Australia put in a solid ride to take home 4th place. photo: Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool

 

Final Standing Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai 2013

1. Dany Torres (ESP)

2. Levi Sherwood (NZL)

3. Tom Pagès (FRA)

4. Rob Adelberg (AUS)

5. David Rinaldo (FRA)

6. Libor Podmol (CZE)

7. Mat Rebeaud (SUI)

8.Maikel Melero (ESP)

9. Josh Sheehan (AUS)

10. Daice Suzuki (JPN)

11. Todd Potter (USA)

Tour Standings after 2 rounds:

1. Torres 180 points,

2. Pages 165,

3. Sherwood 145,

4. Adelberg 110,

5. Josh Sheehan (AUS) 65,

6. Melero 60,

7. Rinaldo 45,

8. Todd Potter (USA) 40,

9. Podmol 35.

10. Rebeaud, 30.

Qualifying 11/04/2013

Tom Pages is in the top spot after qualifying, and he has a new trick up his sleeve! It was only a training session late last night, but when Thomas Pages nailed a sick new trick he calls the “Flair Superman”  ahead of Friday’s World Tour stop in Dubai, a group of about 10 other Red Bull X-Fighter riders watching from the stands stood up and started giving mad props.  It was a moving tribute to the flying Frenchman who is on a never-ending quest to take freestyle motocross to new and unchartered territory.

 Tom Pages winning qualifying. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Pages had a spectacular first Qualifying run on the pleasant Dubai evening  in Downtown Dubai, at Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard. He managed to stomp all his big tricks including two flairs, a Special Flip and a Volt. Pages was in the comfortable position of still being in first place ahead of his second run when Torres, Adelberg and last year’s Dubai winner, Levi Sherwood, all failed to overtake him on their second runs so the Frenchman skipped all the difficult tricks on his final run.

The first run was very good except for one little mistake that I don’t think anyone noticed,” said Pages after nailing the three difficult tricks and treating the spectators to two flairs en route to winning 85.8 points from the panel of judges an beat Torres with 85.0 points. “I was in first after the first run and because ‘Special Flip’ and ‘Volt’ are very hard I didn’t do them again but worked on other things like speed through the track.

Danny Torres, qualifying 2nd. photo: Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool 

Josh Sheehan did massive double back-flips in both his Qualifying runs but couldn’t quite ride away from them and came off both times. It was a ballsy performance from the Australian with one of the most difficult and high consequence tricks ever created, but not quite nailing it left Sheehan in 10th place. Japan’s Daisuke Suzuki had to bail a jump in mid-air because he said he got stuck in first gear while approaching the ramp. Switzerland’s Mat Rebeaud slightly injured his hip when his attempt to do a flair went wrong but he will take part on Friday. France’s Remi Bizouard sadly broke his leg in training, again going for a flair!

Rob Adelberg from Australia qualifying in third. photo: Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai, UAE – Qualifying Results

1 Thomas Pagès (FRA) – 85.80 Points

2 Dany Torres (ESP) – 85.00 Points

3 Rob Adelberg (AUS) – 84.30 Points

4 Levi Sherwood (NZL) – 83.60 Points

5 David Rinaldo (FRA) – 81.50 Points

6 Libor Podmol CZE) – 81.40 Points

7 Mat Rebeaud (SUI) – 80.50 Points

8 Maikel Melero (ESP) – 80.20 Points

9 Daice Suzuki (JPN) – 77.9 Points

10 Josh Sheehan (AUS) – 76.00 Points

11 Todd Potter (USA) – 75.70 Points

“It’s a lot of pressure being in first place and it’s not a position that I’m used to,” Pages said. “To be honest, I don’t really care about my position in the standings. My riding style isn’t going to change because of that. I still go for the big tricks that I want to do, the fun tricks and the scary tricks. So if I can do that and be safe, I’ll be satisfied with what I’m doing even if I don’t win here.”

Practice 10/04/2013:

Practice was fully underway yesterday in preperation for todays qualifying. Dane Herron has done an awesome job on the course as always, and it’s looking super sick, especially with the jaw dropping backdrop of the Dubai skyscrapers. The course is bigger than Mexico, which will favour riders like Todd Potter, Rob Adelberg and Levi Sherwood for sure, although it is fair to say that all eyes will be on Tom Pages this week after his insane win in Mexico!

Levi Sherwood – practice. photo: Naim Chidiac/Red Bull Content Pool

 

Josh Sheehan  – practice. photo: Naim Chidiac/Red Bull Content Pool

Remi Bizouard of France building his bike. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Tom Pages takes a look around Dubai, and the X-Fighters freestyle course:

“Tom is the guy to beat at the moment,” said Sherwood, who won the stop in Dubai last year. “I take my hat off to him because I’m not going to go out there and start doing body varials,” Sherwood added, referring to Pages Volt and Special flip which he seems to have on total lock down at the moment, ( although Tom did slamm on a volt at the recent X-Knights in Copsta Rica ) Sherwood said he wasn’t even going to try to match Pages’ other tricks like the 360 / 540 flair. Levi said his strategy would be to wait for Pages to make mistakes and in the meantime try to get on the podium as often as possible – as he did with third place in Mexico City. “I want to be there for when he does make a mistake,” Sherwood said. “When you’re out there doing tricks like that it’s only a matter of time until something happens. I don’t want to think bad for it or hope it happens. I just want to put myself in situation so that if it does I’ll be ready to go.”

Spain’s Dany Torres, the 2011 World Tour winner, finished second in Mexico City after being beaten decisively 4-1 by Pages in the final. Torres said there is a better way to beat Pages than waiting for him to mess up: “We have to find new tricks,” said Torres.

Pages, who has won two of the last two events going back to Munich in 2012, does not think he is unbeatable at all. “That’s not true,” he said. “I’m just different but I’m not better, for sure. We’re not doing a ‘best-trick contest’. We’re doing freestyle runs. You’ve got to be constant and do good runs on every kind of track. You’ve got to be fast, you’ve got to be loved by the crowd. That’s not just because of a few tricks. There are a lot of really, really good riders here.”

The course. photo: Daniel Grund/Red Bull Content Pool

Dubai Freeriding 9/04/2013:

Before the course was ready to ride a bunch of the riders went out on Tuesday with freeride legend Ronnie Renner into the near-by Nazwa desert to get their fill of freeriding near Dubai.

Josh Sheehan, Mat Rebeaud and Ronnie Renner carving lines. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Josh Sheehan, Mat Rebeaud and Ronnie Renner chat with the locals. photo: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool

Ronnie Renner hittin’ up the dunes. photo: Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool

Riders List Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai 2013

– Levi Sherwood (NZL)

– Tom Pagès (FRA)

– Dany Torres (ESP)

– Josh Sheehan (AUS)

– Todd Potter (USA)

– Rob Adelberg (AUS)

– Maikel Melero (ESP)

– Mat Rebeaud (SUI)

– Libor Podmol (CZE)

– Remi Bizouard (FRA)

– David Rinaldo (FRA)

– Daice Suzuki (JPN)

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