The track was good and technical. There was a super kicker with a short run up, and a step down for the first time. During the event I gave everything my best. I went big because Eigo always used to GO BIG!
Who are your best competitors and best friends both in X-Fighters and outside this event?
During the Red Bull X-Fighters tour it’s like a family. For me it’s a funny time with all the riders, but I love to spent my time with Dany Torres, Eigo Sato and Andre Villa, who is like my second brother. Me, Charles and Andre stay together all the time. Also this year I met some new friends, like Taka Higashino and Josh Sheehan.
“I’m always working on new tricks, and thinking about them during the day”
What do you think about Levi Sherwood?
This is a hard question, he is a very good fmx rider, every time he rides it’s super clean. He was the winner of the X-Fighters last year but I think he is too safe. I prefer to see Josh Sheehan, Eigo Sato, Jackson Strong, Dany Torres... people who just go crazy and push hard. Sheehan did three double backflips in a day, Strong tried a frontflip and I know what that is because of my brother’s crash... these guys are the best for me. Levi is a trick machine, no mistakes and sometimes too safe but he is a strong guy and he can win... I can’t say anything else.
The level of FMX is growing so fast..what do you think about that? Will there ever be a limit?
I don’t think there are any limits in freestyle motocross. Today the bikes are better and the events are better. If you look at the bmx world, it’s growing day by day, and we can always take inspiration from them. In the seven years that I’ve ridden fmx, I think about new tricks every day, but the other top riders are thinking too, you can see this during contests and events. Travis Pastrana was in front of everyone in terms of fmx progression. We can remember the double backflip that changed the level of fmx, but he is still working on new tricks, like we saw during last years X-Games with the 720. Now it’s time for us to come up with new tricks! When I close a new trick I immediately think “what’s the next one?” When I did the flair, I was already thinking about the one handed flair that I did in Sidney, the tsunami flair, and for sure there will be other combos.
Could you describe how you worked on the flair?
I decided to do a different trick from everybody else, like Fred Johansson did in Madrid in 2008. For me it’s freestyle, so I need to try every single trick. I put a quaterpipe near the foampit at our home compound and then I made a ramp for the dirt landing. The movement and the feeling was good and I decided to add it to my trick list. While I was trying it I said “maybe I’ll try this during a comp..” and when I saw the quarterpipe in Munich I decided to try it there. I was so scared about it but I’m sure next year some other guys will try the flair. Now I’ve got two ramps set up for the flair, one near the foampit and one to dirt.
So what do you think about Kyle Loza and the fact that he only worked on Best Trick for X-Games?
Kyle Loza you like or you don’t like, he did a lot of new tricks, best tricks for sure. But if you watch a video of Travis from 2005 there were all these new tricks that he was working on. The bike-flip, the volt, the flair, the double backflip, 360 and 720 all come from him. Travis Pastrana for me “ Is FMX!” If Kyle Loza loves to do Best Trick for X-Games