After all the hype surrounding the match up between Mark Burkhart and Jeff Ward, the SuperMoto Final ended up being a race for second. In a surprising turn of events that not even Nostradamus could have predicted, Burkhart went down—not once, but twice in the first lap. The second crash took him out of the running, and off to the sidelines to answer questions on live tv about "what happened?!" (the question equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound) while Ward smoked the rest of the competition. Robbie Horton and Brandon Currie (who you may or may not have seen on the live broadcast—I heard that the cameras only followed Ward) (because it's really exciting to watch someone race by himself) battled it out for second, with Horton nabbing the silver in the end.
You can watch what happened with Burkhart for yourselves here...
It's only fair if we're going to talk with the ladies we give the same treatment to the men. Quotes from the track and post-final press conference for Moto X Men's racing, where Gold went to Josh Hansen, silver to Jeremy McGrath, bronze to Josh Grant.
Jeremy McGrath
ESPN: Given the amount of laps you had to run today, did you feel all of 36?
McGrath: Sort of, at the end. Well, with the back to back races, I did, but I've been putting in the time so it wasn't so bad. But it's hot, and it's a lot of riding.
ESPN: When you fell and had to run in the last chance qualifier, were you worried about having to turn around and race again?
McGrath: I was totally worried. You get a bad pick on the gate, but thankfully my starts are still there. It sure takes the pressure off if you make it through the qualifier, but it didn't happen.
ESPN: When Josh Hill passed you for second, then fell, was that due completely to the power of your aura and legend?
McGrath: I don't know. It was a little mojo, maybe. He passed me on the inside. I went back under and bumped him a little, pushed him outside and kind of knocked him off his rhythm, and then he made a mistake. It was really just a defensive move on my part. I got kind of lucky.
ESPN: So it wasn't a Jedi mind thing?
McGrath: No, I didn't put a hex on him or anything.
At the Press Conference
Hansen: I really didn't make any mistakes. You just have to be consistent and carry good fluid momentum through each obstacle. I really lucked out on my start, since (Grant) actually got the start, but the slick pushed him out wide and he gave it up.
ESPN: Did you surprise yourself to see that you were so alone looking around after the start?
Hansen: You know what, I knew I had to get a start. I've always been pretty good at starts, but definitely. I had a good spot on the line, but with a pretty big bump in it. I made it happen, but kind of lucked out, too. That definitely made everything a lot easier.
McGrath: The track was pretty hard to ride. It was really slick, and like Josh said, easy to over ride. But I'm glad they didn't water. It was really slick and dusty, but had they watered, it would have been a disaster. As slick as it was, the guys did a good job on the track.
ESPN: Jeremy, did you try to prove to the younger guys that you still have it?
McGrath: You know, I don't know if I still have it or not. It's nice, and we got a few gifts out there with Hill crashing and Josh Summey came inside me, and I just kind of played it smart. I think my experienced helped me, and obviously my starts were great. It was a bummer that I collided with Grant in the first heat, because it takes the pressure off for sure to qualify out of the heat, but it didn't happen. I ended up running 23 laps right in a row. I'm pretty worked right now.
ESPN: Josh (Grant), were you happy with your result?
Grant: Just to get a medal, it was an awesome for me, and a good experience. The track was a little tough, and I'm just excited to be up here. I had a good jump and got out of the gate really good and came into the first turn in first, but it was so slick I slid to the outside, and four or five guys got around me. I just stayed where I was at, really, and Summey and the other guys made a mistake, and I luckily got around him, then I made a mistake and went down and fell off in the step up/step down, so to come back and get third was good.
MX racing went off without a hitch, so long as you weren't Jeremy McGrath. The field's biggest legend endured a crash that nearly knocked him out of the early motos. But he crawled his way into the LCQ and lived to fight another final. Josh Hansen, however, had other ideas, leading the final from wire to wire for his first X Games Gold.
I had a chance to talk with some hardware hauling Moto X riders after Saturday's women's final. Here's the verbiage, from the top of the podium.
Tarah Geiger, Gold, Women's Moto X
EXPN: The first Women's Moto X gold is yours. Geiger: It's a lot of stress off me. I don't have to worry about it at all for next year, because I got the first one. It's just going to be a fun event for years to come. Everyone else has to worry about it and try to get it done. Luckly, I did it.
EXPN: Did you see Jessica Patterson go down? Geiger: Yeah, she was right in front of me. Luckily, I was just far enough behind that I could change my line and avoid her. She was definitely going fast, and it was a little bit of a relief she went down because I would have had to make a pretty gnarly pass to get by her—it was pretty slick out there. It was nice I didn't have to do that. But I do wish we could have raced a little longer.
EXPN: Nobody else was near you, so was it just a question of being careful not to screw up? Geiger: Yeah. I was a little disappointed because on the last few laps I didn't look as good as I did in the first few, but I just wanted to make sure I finished and didn't crash. I've done that a lot, crashing in the lead. I just wanted to make sure I finished and won the gold.
EXPN: Not everyone was hitting the kicker and some of the obstacles on the course. Was it important for you to show people you could handle that sort of thing? Geiger: Yeah. I was stressing this morning because there were a few triples I wanted to do out there. I knew I could do them, and I didn't want to go out and not give my best, so I got them in practice and was able to do a few laps out there. I was really excited about how I rode.
Sherri Cruise, Silver, Women's Moto X
EXPN: You got bumped pretty hard right at the beginning, how close were you to going down? Cruise: Not very. As soon as she hit me, I gassed it. I knew I wasn't going down.
EXPN: So you were in the top three the whole time. It looked like you were having a pretty good run. Cruise:I was in third the whole time, then Jessica Patterson fell and I moved into second. I came around and saw the yellow flags and thought it was a lapper, then I got close enough to see, and was like, "Oh my god, that's Patterson." You can't jump on the waving yellow, so I was like singling it and pinning it, singling it and pinning it. Hurry, hurry, hurry. She got her bike running right when I was passing, and I knew if she got up she'd pass me again, but I guess she crashed again.
I didn't think Tatum was going to catch me, so I knew if I didn't go down I'd stay in second.
EXPN: Where do you put the medal? Cruise: I haven't decided yet. Probably in my room for now. Maybe give it to my mom and dad.
Big day in men's Moto X Racing. The top qualifier in today's seeding process was Josh Hill—the only guy to clock a lap under a minute, at 59.56. Behind him was Josh Hansen, whose fastest time was 60.16 seconds. Justin Brayton was third at 60.28, followed by Josh Summey (60.31) and a strong showing from privateer Jeff Alessi (60.57).
I had a chance to talk today with Josh Grant, who will be the number seven seed tomorrow, and Josh Demuth, who finished down in the 12th spot. Both are considered by some to be dark horse candidates to medal in a wide open field.
A smattering of stuff they said:
Kamenetzky
Josh Demuth
JOSH GRANT
EXPN: Have you had a chance to see the adaptive racers before this event? Grant: It's pretty cool. I can't believe how far it's actually come. Ricky James, he's pretty much the inventor behind all that. I think it's cool that these guys can come out here and do that, still have fun, and get that experience. It's insane. For them to come out and show they can ride despite all that adversity? It's unreal, and I give those guys so much credit for doing it.
EXPN: Looking at your race, how's the track setting up? Grant: I think it's alright. It's not bad. Definitely a lot different than a Supercross. I think all the jumps are a lot deeper and taller. They didn't build the same exact track we race every weekend, which kind of switches it up a little bit.
EXPN: Does it favor a particular type of rider or bike? Grant: It probably favors a 450 a little better, just because you can get over a lot more jumps, and it's a lot easier. It's a little bit tighter. And I think the ramps are pretty cool, how they brought those in.
EXPN: And it's a wide open field. All six guys in last year's final aren't here. Grant: There are a lot more guys who didn't make it, but I like having this opportunity to come out here and ride and show off in front of the fans and have a good time. Anyone has a chance to win. You want to go out and do the best you can, but at the same time you want to be safe and focus on our real job, and that's racing (the pro circuits).
JOSH DEMUTH
EXPN: So how have you been feeling on the bike these days? Demuth: Awesome. I had a good couple weeks of practice down at Carey Hart's place in Vegas. I had been a little dormant since Vegas Supercross. I had a couple injuries, and let that heal up. I just started riding a couple weeks ago and feel like a million bucks. I've got a good team (Hart and Huntington) behind me, and it's going really good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
EXPN: Were you pushing pretty hard today, or just taking it easy? Demuth: I've never been one of those guys to be able to go out and put in one fast lap. I try to ride at the same pace all the time, so I was out there and putting my laps in. I felt great as far as the length of the race. I have plenty of stamina. It's just tough trying to get up front doing those one lap speed sprint deals (to establish seeds) that I'm not very good at.
EXPN: You touched on it, but health has been a big problem for you. Are you healed up? Demuth: It's been really rough for a while. I broke my left wrist right before the Supercross season last year, and I've been struggling with it until two weeks ago, basically. I dislocated it real bad. I really wasn't supposed to come back racing when I did, but I tried to push it, and ended up getting hurt again, breaking my heel in Seattle. I just needed to take the time to let everything heal up. For a while, too, I didn't have any feeling in my clutch fingers. Getting all that stuff taken care of has made a huge difference.
