Heavy Metal, exhaust fumes, blazing tattoos and a single landing ramp can mean only one thing, it is time for the Moto X Big Air competition! Closing out the X Games as it should be, the Huckfest finals featured the OG riders taking the top three places.
Everyone knew that Metzger had the flip dialed in and was looking for his second gold of the Games, but the story of the night was
Carey Hart. Back from a brutal crash after attempting the flip in this event last year, Hart was looking for redemption. Healed up and skipping his first two runs Carey was ready to give it another shot this year in the third round.
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| Carey Hart, about to stick the sickest trick today. |
There was a buzz all night in the pits and as Carey sat atop the drop-in ramp, the capacity crowd of 15,000 were on their feet giving it up for him. In the pits Carey's girlfriend Pink, Sal Masekela,
Travis Pastrana, Metzger and everyone in the Moto industry were waiting for it to go down, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year.
Hart hit the ramp and the entire stadium lit up with flashbulbs as Carey nailed the rotation and stuck the trick. He rode out and pumped his fist as he rode to the top of the landing ramp with the arena almost shaking from the applause. The demon had been exorcised.
Carey was mobbed by his friends and family as he hopped around. No word yet, but he put his foot down a bit after the landing and it looked like he had tweaked his ankle. The trick not only took a load off, but it locked up the silver medal for him as well.
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| The Godfather flips and is about to go no-footed. |
Metzger had grabbed gold in the first round with a no-footed backflip. After that it was a chase for the rest of the hardware. Guys were throwing it out there with plenty of combinations and some no-handed and side saddle landings.
Outside of the flip contest, it was a four-way deadlock for third place at 90.33.
Young combo master Dayne Kinnaird started things off early with a Double McMetz then Deegan stepped up and tied him with slight variation on the Mandatory Suicide. In the second round
Dan Pastor made it a three way tie with a Starfish to McMetz. When the final jump came it was
Nate Adams who threw a Rock Solid to no-hander lander to make a four way lock for third. With the scoring system, the tiebreaker goes to the person with second best score. That put Mulisha frontman
Brian Deegan on the podium for bronze after his second round Ninja Nac score.
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| Mulisha man Brian Deegan lets it go on his way to third. |
The man of the X Games
Mike Metzger stepped to the top of it all after backflipping on all three attempts. He went with a no-footed flip on his first two tries and then a flip to no-handed landing during his final run, sketching out a bit on the runout. It didn't matter though as he was stormed by his fellow Mulisha troops and the celebration was on.
Metz was pumped with the win, claiming his third medal of the X Games. On top of the dirt landing, between Deegan and Hart he summed it up simply: "I'm hanging with the craziest motherf**kers in the the world."
Related Photos:
Motocross Big Air Gallery
