FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 14 | Page 12

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from the editor

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Join the revolution

Late last year I got a text from a high up industry
friend: “Pastrana off Red Bull”, naturally my follow
up was “Why?”
For me Travis Pastrana is one of the greatest
ambassadors action sports have ever seen.
Someone who genuinely cares about his fans and
magically manages to have time for everyone. I’ve
watched PR guys dragging him away from fans to
do TV interviews.
The answer to my question was simple and to the
point: he’s too dangerous for Red Bull. But if Felix
jumping from space was okay, what could TP be
planning that would ruffle Red Bull’s feathers? Was it
a strategic move away from FMX? Around the same
time it was announced that the Red Bull X-Fighters
World Tour would be canned and dialled back to a
single event. 2016 looked pretty bleak.
I was gutted! I’ve loved and followed the X-Fighters
since its inception. It was starting to feel like FMX
was in an odd place. X Games had been fumbling
trying to figure out what to do with the sport. The
competition circuit seemed to be dead at a global
level, with the supposed pinnacle of X-Fighters at
risk of losing touch with its core audience. I was
pinning a lot of hopes on 2016 restoring some of its
former glory. The event in Las Ventas was ultimately
an incredible spectacle - as you’ll see on page 62.
But one event doesn’t live up to a world tour.

(read the article on page 78), the level of planning
and coordination involved was unprecedented even
for an operation on the scale of Nitro Circus. They
delivered on Travis’ promises without pulling any
punches. They took the problems they saw with
X-Fighters and the like and systematically addressed
them.
“[Red Bull’s] system has crowned Tom Pages twice
as the world champion when he can’t even Backflip.
How is that possible?” asked Mike.
Does that explain Tom’s absence from the NWG?
We took that as a slight on the X-Fighters judging
process rather than a dig at Pagès. But why take
a level at Pagès at all – a guy who in our eyes has
been the most creative FMX rider of the last few
years?
There’s two main channels of progression with FMX:
amplitude and creativity. Amplitude is what looks
best on TV: doing more and going bigger. You can
do one flip? I’ll throw two – hell, I’ll try three. It’s the
clearest way to set people apart for competition
in a sport that isn’t inherently, directly competitive.
But without doubting the difficulty and danger
of a double-backflip, while it is unquestionably
progressive, you can’t call it creative.

.

Creative riding explores what’s possible with a dirt
bike in a much more technical and sometimes subtle
way, rather than just building on what’s come before.
This approach produces some of our favourite “what
did I just watch?” tricks where you almost have to
slow them down to appreciate the intricacy.

So what was Travis planning that was too dangerous
for Red Bull? We eventually found out: Nitro World
Games. And man did the Nitro crew pull it off and
prove progress can be done safely.

Porra complaining Pagès “can’t even Backflip”
sounds a bit like a rock fan bemoaning that the new
Daft Punk album doesn’t even have any guitar solos:
it’s kind of missing the point. The fact that Tom’s able
to innovate without busting out a Backflip is what
makes him remarkable.

As soon as Travis and Mike (Porra) released the
plans I was excited – but at the same time scared.
Could it turn into a crash-fest? And what effect
would a live TV audience have on the atmosphere
of the crowd in attendance (I’d seen the energydraining effect of holding for TV first-hand at X
Games).

So which is best, amplitude or creativity? The
answer’s simple: neither and both. Both are an
essential part of wherever the sport is going and
both were visible at Nitro World Games across the
full spectrum of disciplines. It’s why we love actionsports - there isn’t a single goal or a set way to score
a point, it will always be open to the unexpected.

I was wrong to be concerned though. As Simon
Makker found out when he spoke to Mike Porra

And that’s what we want more of.
© NITRO CIRCUS

W

OWSERS… HASN’T THIS year
flown!? Eight months in and action
sports has seen another step beyond
anything we could have expected!
2016 has been huge – against all odds.