FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 6 | Page 118

#throwback:

Fredrik Johansson lands the
first ever Flair in FMX

We look back
at the night one
dude from Sweden
changed freestyle
motocross forever.

I think this is a big
moment for freestyle.
Johansson just did
something very big

T

HE OPENING ROUND
OF the 2015 Red Bull
X-Fighters series in Mexico
City saw a record-breaking
3 quarter-pipes squeezed into the
tight FMX course in the Monumental
Plaza de Toros. The quarter pipes
were essentially set out for three
different tricks, but collectively
would still only be used by under
half the field of riders.
Now flash back to the 2008
X-Fighters in the bullring in Madrid,
Spain, where there was one quarter
pipe, one potential big trick and only
one rider who had any chance of
landing it.
He was by no means the biggest
name to be competing that night,
but Sweden’s Fredrik Johansson
brought FMX into a new era in
Madrid, when he boosted out of the
quarter pipe and stomped the first
540 Flair ever seen in a freestyle
motocross contest.
Back in the pits, whilst being
congratulated by his fellow

118 | FreestyleXtreme.com

competitors after landing the trick,
the ecstatic Swede was stoked to
have finally landed his big, technical
and innovative new trick.
“I’m so f**king happy. That’s what I
came here to do, so I can go home
more than satisfied,” commented
Johansson.
“That was very very cool,” said
fellow competitor Mat Rebeaud
right after Johansson’s run. “I think
this is a big moment for freestyle.
Johansson just did something very
big.”
Mat was not wrong. With riders
like Tom Pagès and Levi Sherwood
pushing the boundaries of contest
quarter pipe riding over the last few
years, 2015 will see the first official
quarter pipe contest held at X
Games in Austin, Texas.
After Fredrik showed the world the
Flair in Madrid, the focus of the
quarter pipe kind of shifted to the
insane antics of one Ronnie Renner.
His ‘Go Big’ take on the quarter pipe

blew minds when he aired over 59.2
feet out of the Red Bull pipe on the
Santa Monica pier.
It was almost as if Johansson and
Renner were both so far ahead of
their time in the quarter pipe world,
that no one else could touch them.
For a number of years, no one
followed in Fred’s footsteps, and the
Flair was almost forgotten about.
It took a young Frenchman by the
name of Tom Pagès to reignite the
Flair - by mastering the trick in 2011,
some three years after Fredrik’s
epic night in Madrid. Being able
to throw a legit trick off a quarter
pipe is becoming more and more
of a necessity for riders looking to
pick up podium positions in today’s
top FMX contests. Like it or not,
this element can be attributed to
the guts and innovative mindset of
Fredrik Johansson. In our eyes Fred
is an absolute legend, and freestyle
motocross is a better sport thanks
to his epic contribution. T

© FLO HAGENA / RED BULL CONTENT POOL

- Mat Rebeaud