03.25.02
Freeride Moto-X

At Detroitıs Cobo Arena an extraordinary field of the best in the sport Freestyle Motocross gathered this past weekend for the second of the three WFA-sanctioned qualifying events to determine who will earn coveted spots at this Summer's X games. It turned into a no-holds-barred showdown between the "Original Gangstas" of moto-x versus the New Kids on The Dirt.

The Tomcat makes it look easy...

At Friday night's comp, the oldest of the big dogs, "Mad" Mike Jones showed that this is one "OG" who still has it, busting big and slipping past another familiar name, Tommy Clowers, to notch his first win in over a year. But rumblings of the future were heard as the one of the kids leading the new pack, Drake McElroy, put in a slick run that definitively had fans noticing this emerging star appearing at his first "big league" ESPN moto-x event.

Leading the WFA overall point battle is young charger, Nate Adams, and along with compadres McElroy and other young chargers like Ronnie Renner and Doug Parsons, they went into Saturday night's main event in front of the ESPN cameras looking for the top spots against a field that included newly-minted X Games gold medallist Brian Deegan, multiple-X Games medallist Tommy Clowers,Mike "The Godfather" Metzger, Trevor Vines and Vans Triple Crown Champion Clifford Adoptante.

Ronnie Renner, goin' huge.

But before that battle could be enjoined in freestyle, there were two other X Games disciplines that had to be sorted out, Step Up and Big Air. In Step Up, the new school got schooled - the Tom Cat looked untouchable as he easily won his second step up comp in as many nights. (Things might have been different had Jeremy Stenberg not crashed in practice and have to head to the hospital with banged up ribs and a very bruised liver after he overjumped the 85 foot hit, flatlanded, and ended up in a retaining wall; he is expected to be out riding again in three weeks, and was heard to have said "Clowers was lucky I wasn't there cause I would have kicked his Alley Cat butt!"). In Big Air, Deegan proved Winter X was no fluke, pulling a slick "Mandatory Suicide" to take the victory.

New kid on the block, Hall shows his Aussie style.

Step Up is way cool and Big Air is sick, but it's in Freestyle where cojones are mandatory and careers are made or crushed. Well, yes, the New Kids can quit their day jobs (yeah, like they had jobs), but it's not time yet to schedule their appearance on MTV cribs. The old dawgs got the bone of fame and fortune and a passle of X Games medals firmly in their jaws, and they ain't letting go. But if Saturday night's Freestyle comp got any closer, someone will need to bring in the French figure skating judge to figure things out. On first count, there was a FOUR WAY tie for first. On countback, however, there was a winner and a three-way tie for second between Nate Adams, McElroy and Clifford Adoptante, which is how those three eventually landed (though many, including this reporter, thought Clifford might have gotten the short end of that shuffle.). Which left the wiley veteran Tom Cat, Tommy Clowers, sitting on top of the heap with his trademark Cheshire grin. Yup, the old dogs were the top dogs - but look closely, the top 4 was a pair of new comers and they're not about to be satisfied until things are reversed.

NOTE: This event started out - but didn't finish -- with a cloud over it. At the first practice, the dirt was soggy and for at least one rider, Dustin Miller, too difficult to deal with. Course builder Dane Herron assured all that by the time the comp got underway all would be fine, and it turned out that the dirtmeister extraordinaire, 'ol Dirty Dane, was entirely correct. When it came time for final practice and the event the course was world class and entirely safe to ride (underscored by the fact not a single rider fell throughout the two days of cutting-edge competition), and the riding totally sick and cutting edge. Unfortunately, the very talented but sometimes temperamental Miller, didn't wait around to find out that all would turn out fine, and he hightailed it to Virginia to compete in an IFMA event where he's in contention for that title, though this eliminates him from qualifying for the X Games.

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