Tom Pages takes Qualifying win from Torres in Madrid

By lokomag • 11 years ago

Jul
2013

Frenchman Tom Pages came from far behind in qualifying to beat Spain‘s Dany Torres in a thrilling showdown ahead of the Red Bull X-Fighters stop in Madrid.
MADRID (Spain) – Tom Pages came roaring back from far behind with a brilliant second run to beat local hero Dany Torres for the top spot in qualifying on Thursday ahead of the most traditional Red Bull X-Fighters event on the freestyle motocross calendar in the Las Ventas bullring on Friday. After a dreadful first qualifying round that left him 17 points behind Torres and in last place, the Frenchman rose to the challenge with a superb effort under pressure and was rewarded by the judges with a eye-popping score of 89.80 – nearly two full points ahead of Torres’ 87.90 for second place. Japan’s Taka Higashino was third on 87.1 after a strong second round.

Tom Pages – photo: Jorg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool

Danny Torres – photo: Oscar Carrascosa/Red Bull Content Pool

Torres, the local matador who has won twice on his home track in Madrid, threw down the gauntlet and piled the pressure on Pages, the championship leader, with a polished first qualifying run (87.90 points) that was nearly a full point ahead of then-second place Josh Sheehan of Australia (87). Sheehan crashed on his second run while attempting to do a no-hands landing after a successful cliffhanger, suffering from a collarbone injury. Torres aborted his second run early on after a hard landing moments later, setting the stage for Pages. He aced all his big crowd-pleasing jumps – the Flair, the Volt and the Special Flip – and then put the icing on the cake with a new jump he calls the “Flair Tsunami”, a wild 540-degree turn off the quarter-pipe with his legs flying high into the night sky.

“I made a big mistake on my first run so I had to ride past the big ramp and my first run was all messed up because of that,” said Pages. “The rest of the run I just used to prepare for the second run. I’m happy now. I came here with my new tricks. I’m excited because I was able to put down my new trick, the flair tsunami.”