ABU DHABI // Aerial acrobatics will be on display in Abu Dhabi on Friday with the arrival of the Red Bull X fighters freestyle motocross tour.
After being held for three consecutive years in Dubai, the gravity defying event comes to the capital for what is expected to be a thrilling finale to the 2015 world tour.
The 2013 winner Tom Pages from France and Australia’s Clinton Moore, tied at with 280 points each, will battle it out on the Corniche for the title of tour champion.
Over the course of 10 days, 7,000 cubic metres of dirt was sculpted into a track featuring nine jumps, that will send the riders as high as 15 metres in the air and 30 metres in length.
A tighter course than previous stops has both riders apprehensive about trying something new, but both left the door open to dazzle an expected 3,000 spectators.
“I’m trying to bring innovation as much as I can, but bringing innovation also brings mistakes,” said Pages, the 2013 world tour winner and unbeatable in the last two stops in Madrid and Pretoria.
“The one with the most skills on the bike is going to be the winner.”
The Frenchman will not be making it easy for Moore, who started the season strong pulling off wins in Mexico City and Athens.
“The track is very technical in some areas,” said Moore. “My motocross skills are going to have to come in handy and hopefully I can pull it off.”
Tes Sewell, director of track management, said having two racers in a tie on the remaining stop of the tour was unprecedented in the history of Red Bull X fighters.
“They are both so different in the way they ride and the way they competed this season, that I think it shows how unbelievable this sport is.”
A total of 11 riders will be competing from Japan, Spain, Australia, France, Germany, and Chile.
A team of five judges will be assessing the riders on the variety of trips they pull of, their ability to execute, the reaction they receive from the crowd, their use of the course, and their performing style.
Australian Rob Adelberg, 26, third-place winner in Athens this year, said he had been competing in the sport since he was 13 years old.
With a 20 centimetre-long scar on his ankle – shattered four years ago on a missed jump – and another one on his wrist from a broken bone, he described what it is like to participate in the extreme sport of freestyle motocross.
“It’s great to do something you love, but you have to be dedicated.”
esamoglou@thenational.ae
