JUDGE,
JURY+
UTIONER
OXEC
Words: Adam Simpson / Pictures: Red Bull Content Pool
I
N CASE THE NAME doesn’t ring a bell, Jason Moriarty is currently the head judge
of both the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour and the FIM World Freestyle Motocross
World Championships / Night of the Jumps. He has been judging world class FMX
contests for around 12 years now and is one of the most respected dudes in the
world of freestyle motocross. We sat down with Jason at a recent contest to hear his
story and learn a bit more about the high pressure world of FMX judging.
Back in the 1990’s Jason was racing Motocross and Supercross at a top level in his
home country of South Africa. After many years of racing and with some championship
wins under his belt, Jason decided to dedicate more time to his studies and earned
himself an advertising degree. Like any true dirt biker however, the urge to ride his
bike quickly came knocking, and Jason soon found himself out in the South African
countryside riding the quarries and dunes with his friends. Not really knowing what
they were doing, and with no-one else there to follow, they discovered a passion for
freeriding: hitting big, unsafe jumps and trying tricks over them. Jason turned pro at
FMX in 2000, around the time Freestyle was blowing up in the USA and Europe. Soon
enough Jason had sold everything he owned, quit his job and left South Africa. Bound
for Europe, he quickly managed to hook up with the guys from the Night of the Jumps /
IFMXF and was invited to help build some courses and do some judging for the series.
Around 2003/04 he was traveling back and forth from South Africa to Europe like a yoyo. u