Todd Potter definitely earned the hard charger award this weekend. After taking a huge tumble in his first Moto X Freestyle run—not only did Todd come back and ride his second run, he came back and crushed Best Whip—sans his shirt. I snagged Todd away from the international media frenzy to get a quick interview, but it didn't come easy as I had to bribe the man with an ice cold Modelo Light.
Dave Lehl
This whip is big, but not one of Potter's biggest. How do you like the shirtless style? Potter took off his shirt and the rest of the riders quickly followed his lead, but Brian "Bubbs" Foster took it a little too far as you can tell by the photo below.
You are by far the gnarliest dude of the weekend. What went wrong on your first jump in the Freestyle final?
Potter: I was all set up to do a KOD flip on my first jump; just to get it out of the way. The elevation makes the bikes run really bad and it's hard to get good rotation off the ramps. Last night, my bike hiccupped off the lip during Best Trick and so I wasn't able to pull my KOD flip like I would have liked, so I just wanted to get it out of the way tonight and get it as big as possible. Right before my run, Myles Richmond's bike bogged of the ramp and I heard his bike make the same noise mine did the night before, so that kind of messed my head up. So, as I went for my first jump, my bike bogged off the ramp and it felt like my bike lost all its power. I just froze up off the ramp after I pulled for the flip and I just pulled a huge floater. That's what all the freestyle guys call them. Or Lusk and I call them the "Oh No". (laughs)
EXPN: After your body slammed into the ground, did you know that you were okay or did you think you were screwed?
Potter: I either bruised my heel really bad, or else I broke it—it might be cracked, but it just feels really really bruised at this second. My shoulder also hurts and I just kinda hit my head a little bit and I really knocked the wind out of myself. But, I really wanted to do good in Best Whip, so I got back up, went out and tried not to get last place. I just went out for the Mexico City fans and tried to put on a good show.
Best Whip medalists:
Todd Potter - Gold
Ronnie Renner - Silver
Jeremy Lusk - Bronze
Leyba
Bubbs instantly made mucho woman fans after he practically stripped naked after Best Whip.
All I can say is HOLY CRAP, judging is the most stressful thing I have ever done. I have to rip out to watch Best Whip right now, but let me give you a quick rundown of the top three.
1st - Jeremy Lusk—Lusk killed it again, showing that the altitude and slick course is not affecting him as much as the rest of the field. Lusk put in a very solid run, pulling out a massive ruler flip, hart attack flip and solid upright tricks as well. Lusk was able to pull a one hand flip off the awkward dirt hit and was the only one to do so. Lusk was on top of his game and clearly deserved the win.
2nd - Adam Jones—After having a good first run, minus a failed attempt at a cliff hanger flip, Jones stepped it up in his second run coming in super close to Lusk. Jones pulled out a massive stripper flip, cliff hanger flip and shaolin flip as well as all his other solid tricks like ruler, double grab hart attack and so on. Jones really put a good run together, minus the dirt hits.
3rd - Mike Mason—Mase fell early into his run, screwing him up and putting the pressure on him to pull off a smooth second run—which he did. Mason did all his tricks and hucked them huge and clean. Mase was able to pull out off eight hits, which all top three guys did, and flip the awkward side ramp. Props to Mase on a good run.
Dave Lehl
Lusk was on top of his game all night—this is one of his many massively extended tricks.
I've gotta give props to Ronnie Faisst for putting in a solid run. It was extremely tough deciding who rode better between him and Mase, but as a judge, I had to look at the fact that Mason was able to knock out 8 hits and Faisst only pulled out 7. Faisst rode really well though and I wanna give him props for that—he seems to be very on top of his game as of late.
Unfortunately, Myles Richmond pulled off an amazing run, but on his last hit his bike bogged off the ramp causing him to under-rotate a flip. It was super nasty and I'm surprised he was able to bounce back up—however, he didn't ride his second run.
Potter also crashed on a failed flip attempt, but he didn't even get to start his rotation before completely jumping off and abandoning his bike. Potter is an animal—he got back up and went out for his second run and even though it was a flipless run, the dude is definitely hard to the core.
Freestyle Moto X Final Results:
Jeremy Lusk
Adam Jones
Mike Mason
Ronnie Faisst
Brian Foster
Myles Richmond
Todd Potter
