After nearly a week of fall-like weather, the hazy days of summer returned to crank up the heat for this year's X Games Downhill BMX Supercross at Woodward Camp. By high noon's anticipated start time the combination of sun, crowd, and track had Woodward Camp boiling over. In an attempt to upstage last year's event, Nate Wessel and the boys went back to the books and came up with a few new twists and turns to make the track even crazier than before. I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that not since the movie "RAD" has BMX seen a track like this. After watching time trials the day before and practice Sunday morning, everyone was chomping at the bit to see the track in full blown race action.

Look hard and notice in the blur of action a pair of upturned wheels as another rider gets pummeled by the new starting gate.

The trouble(if you're a racer)/excitement(if you're a spectator) began right from the start with the new "drop in" style starting gate. Basically the riders were locked and loaded looking straight down from a platform almost five feet above an unusually steep and transitioned starting hill. When the gate dropped they jumped out of the starting gate, landed in the starting hill, and almost immediately hit the first jump. This produced the effect of riders falling from the sky straight into the action, and in almost every round it provided the crowd with a good crash right out of the gate. To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been done in BMX racing, and it made for a exciting day of racing.

The crowd watches on as Robbie Miranda takes flight and lets the kickstand fly in preparation for a hard landing and his second straight X Games Gold Medal.

For those who survived the start, the track ahead lay fraught with perilous gaps and high speed berms which kept the fevered pitch of the start alive until after the riders crossed the finish line. The first few straights were tight, packed with jumps, and split up with three nearly 180 degree berms. This was a good place to do some passing and get the order sorted before the 40 foot stepdown which was made even steeper for this year's race. When the riders landed off of the stepdown they were hauling. You could see their tires slide as they tried to hold a line though the next big sweeping berm, and if there were two side by side it was a hairy ride. From there it was more rhythm and more opportunity to pass before the huge jumps of the last straight away, which dwarfed the riders and made it look as if they were jumping over mountains.

I present to you the gladiators of Dowhnill Supercross: first place - Robbie Miranda; second place - Kyle Bennett; and third place - Robert Dewilde.

The racing in every heat was amazing. Robbie Miranda, the eventual winner, looked strong all day long, as did Randy Stumpfhouser, Bubba Harris, Jamie Staff, and Brian Foster. Unfortunately Foster got shut down and didn't make it past the second round, as did John Purse and last year's Gold Medalist Brandon Meadows. Another favorite who went out early in a blaze of "RAD" inspired glory was Todd Lyons. After falling early in the first round the "Wildman" got back up, finished the track, and went for a backflip over the huge final jump.

For the finals, I took a seat by the finish line to get a good view of the final moments. From this vantage point I couldn't see the top third of the track, and by the time the riders came into view heading for the stepdown, Miranda was already in the lead. Robbie held the lead for the remainder of the race, but the fight for second through fourth was a close one. By the final straight Robbie lengthened his lead to several bike lenghts, and all he had to do was hang on to win the gold medal. The race for second and third remained close. Kyle Bennett hung on to second with Robert Dewilde and Wade Bootes nipping at his heels. Heading for the final jump Robbie was still comfortably in the lead. He pulled up on the last jump, probably thinking of throwing a trick or just getting stylish as he crossed the finish line, but balance betrayed him and he threw off one foot shortly after take off. He sailed this way, one foot off, across the great chasm with Kyle and Robert still fighting for second, only to come crashing down upon the landing, a battered, bruised and dirty X-Games Gold Medalst. I'm sure he had a grander ending in mind, but really, what better way to win the biggest race of the year, and hey, he's the one wearing the gold medal.

As I said before, every round was action packed, and there was no one place on the track to see it all go down. That's why you shouldn't miss this one when it airs on TV. It's going to be a great show.

"Now that's how you finish the X-Games!" -Random spectator reaction to Robbie Miranda plowing into the earth to take the win as this year's X Games Downhill Champion.