Freestyle Motocross Final
By the extremeathletes.com staff

Faisst the kung fu master

Heading into the final day of competition it looked as though any one of eight athletes had the ability to win the Gold in Freestyle Motocross. The usual suspects like Metzger, Clowers and Jones all were atop the Prelim standings separated only by one point. Last years Prince of the Team competition, Kenny Bartram held down fourth position, while he was followed by Brian Deegan, Ronnie Faisst, Carey Hart and Trevor Vines who were also only separated by one point after the Prelims. Metzger easily had the flash, while the rest of the bunch went about their business of producing consistent, quality runs. One individual though, Carey Hart, seemed preoccupied and wasn't producing the level of tricks he is accustomed to as he sat back tied for sixth position.

The first athlete on the course for the Finals was Jeff Tilton, who took Rick Heddles 10th position when Heddle encountered a hip problem just after his 2nd Prelim run. Tilton displayed original tricks and smooth runs to earn an 80.50 in his first run and a 79.50 in his second run to finish ninth overall. Clifford Adoptante qualified ninth in the Prelims and was the next athlete to follow Tilton. Clifford put together two very consistent runs to secure eighth overall. He combined tricks like the "cliff hanger", "bar hop" and his own creation, the "", to add 88 and 87.50 for his eighth place position.

Trevor "from wherever" Vines was the third competitor on the course. Trevor came out swinging when he dropped in and completed seven tricks in a row before taking his time to regroup and conquer more huge leaps. Vines connected on "one handed seat grabs", "nothings" and "candy bars" to gather 91.50 points in his first run. Next out was Carey Hart who combined a limited amount of tricks with an unorthodox approach to his run. You could sense that Hart wasn't completely focused on his run and he was only able to add up 83.50 points in his first run.

Ronnie "kung fu" Faisst came out of the Prelims tied for sixth place with Hart and he was looking to move up the standings in the finals. He dropped in and immediately went to work on the judges when he brought back the "kung fu chop" over the first hit. Faisst then went on to perform huge "cordovas" and "bar hops" off the 90 foot main jump and executed several "candy bar" and "heel clickers" to earn his highest points of the weekend with 89. After Faisst came the Metal Mulitia member, Brian Deegan who didn't score as high as he intended in the Prelims with a total of 171.50. Deegan jumped on the course and immediately hit every jump; turn and trick known before the one-minute mark came out. Once Deegan got settled in he through a new trick out, the "mulitia march" and sailed in to earn the most points of the weekend with 93.50. Kenny Bartram was obviously inspired by Deegan's run because Kenny came out on his YZ 125 screaming the engine and setting a blistering pace around the course. Kenny reminded us all that Travis Pastrana wasn't here because many of Bartram's moves looked duplicated to Travis'. You could sense that the two of them had been practicing together especially when Kenny would throw a "seat grab scissors kick" or a "lazy boy" over the huge 90 foot jump. Kenny was taken seriously when his score tied Deegan's 93.50 atop the lead.

Mike Jones came out next a bullied his bike around the course. It is fun watching Jones ride his motorcycle because you can see that he puts the bike where he wants it, not where the bike wants to go. A perfect example is when Jones pulls a "nothing" to "no hand lander" on the huge 90-foot jump. Or when he would come up a little short on a landing and muscle the bike to the next hit. Unfortunately for Jones, he made too many errors on the bike and the judges didn't score his tricks high as he was left with only 87.50 points after his first round. Tom "cat" Clowers followed Jones in the Finals. Tommy had two great, consistent runs in his Prelims and looked to be the upset going into the Finals. He executed every trick near perfection and was the smoothest rider on the course during the Prelims. During the finals, Tommy even through the "cat walk" and "seat walk" over the huge gap and landed every jump perfectly on the downside. When the judges' scores were added, Tommy moved into third place tie with a score of 91.50.

Metzger prays

The last rider on the course for round 1 was Mike Metzger. Metz jumped on and energized the crowd with moves like the "McMetz", the "double siren wrap" and his famous "whipped nac nac" over the huge jump. Metzger had so much energy that he made a few mistakes to bobble in corners and on landings to score 91 points in his first run.

The second runs were completely over shadowed by Carey Hart's back flip. Carey came out of the box and circled the course twice looking over a special hit on the backside of a landing. You could sense what he was thinking when he would motion his body back and tilt his head upside-down. On his third approach, Carey grabbed a handful of throttle and hit the 5 foot vertical wall to leap up about 20 foot while he rotated his body and bike backwards and upside down to complete the first ever back flip on a motorcycle in competition. Carey landed on the down side and went forward a foot or two before his hand slide off the handle bar and he feel over in joy. He picked himself up; through up his hands and was greeted by his dad, friends and staff in celebration of such a tremendous feat. The judges were confused at this run since he didn't complete the full two minutes and he didn't do any other tricks. Due to the nature of scoring, Carey was given a low score of 72.50, however went home the hero of the Gravity Games.

Trevor Vines put together a solid second run by duplicating his first run of tricks. He didn't score as high though as he missed a couple of landings and tricks to gather 90 points for a total of 181.50 for fifth overall. Ronnie Faisst didn't have a better performance in his second run either. He performed much of the same tricks, however his trick selection was tapped out and he added 87.50 points to equal a 176.50 and sixth overall. Ronnie finished sixth last year and voiced that "….I'll be back next year….but not for sixth place"!

Deegan's second run was dominated by a smooth and consistent trick list. Deegan executed every trick in the book near perfection and used up the entire dirt course took earn a 92.50 and take a commanding lead. He would later be given the Gold Medal after the remaining five athletes performed their final runs. Bartram followed Deegan and tried to execute all his tricks to match that of Deegan's consistency. But as the Oklahoma native sounded disappointed in his run, he said "I choked on some tricks and didn't ride as smooth as I could of….", he did collect the Bronze Medal and the respect of his peers. Mike Jones rode about the same in his final run. He landed every trick and executed them with authority, however his brash style of riding and his bulldog power didn't collect as many points in the second round as he needed to be a medallist. He was given an 88.50 for a total of 176 and seventh overall.

The last two athletes on the course (Clowers and Metzger) had a mathematical chance of taking the Gold from Deegan. Clowers would need a 94.50 to tie and Metz would need a near perfect score of 95 to tie Deegan and take it to a jump off. They would prove to be Deegan's toughest competition. Clowers was excited and shot out several tricks in a row with back to back airs off the huge center jump. He performed his entire trick list and netted a score of 90.50, good enough for fourth place. Metzger came out anticipating a huge score as he immediately took a warm up lap and then took to the course. It was unfortunate, as he confused the judges and wasn't scored on his first set of tricks. He even performed a huge transfer (from a small landing to the huge jumps landing) that would have scored high. In the end he did earn enough points for the Silver Medal when he scored the highest run of the weekend at 94.50, finishing just .50 points behind Deegan.

Freestyle Motocross Finals