Red Bull X-Fighters — BrandWiki

Red Bull X-Fighters

title	Red Bull X-Fighters
sport	Freestyle Motocross
founded	2001
folded	2017
owner	Red Bull GmbH
inaugural	2001
singles	12
country	Spain
venue	Las Ventas
confed	Europe
champion	Levi Sherwood (9th title)
most champs	Levi Sherwood (9 titles)
sponsor	Red Bull GmbH
website	RedBullX-Fighters.com

Red Bull X-Fighters was a freestyle motocross stunt competition organized by Red Bull from 2001 to 2017. During its years of operation, it staged 50 events on six continents in bullrings, famous locations, and sites.

Competing riders went head-to-head in a series of knockout rounds. Their jumps and routines were judged by a panel that awarded points based on eight criteria: execution, energy, excitement and entertainment, among others.

History

X-Fighters: 2001–2006

X-Fighters was founded in 2001, with the Plaza de Toros de Valencia in Spain being the first venue to host the competition. A 12,000 person crowd was recorded with American Mike Jones taking the win in the inaugural event, Spaniard Edgar Torronteras coming second and French rider Xavier Fabre coming third.[1] Red Bull X-Fighters returned for a second time in 2002 at Madrid's Las Ventas, with about 20,000 people in attendance.[2]

World Tour: 2007–2015

In 2007, X-Fighters started their World Tour series as they moved into exclusive bullring locations in new arenas. The tenth competition took place in Mexico City.[6] For the next stop of the World Tour, X-Fighters built a custom arena near Slane Castle in Ireland. Travis Pastrana came first in the event after tackling a wet course due to rainfall.[7] After Ireland, the world tour returned to Madrid. Pastrana rode to his second consecutive win that season.[8]

2008 increased the lineup of stops from three in 2007 to six. The first event took place in Mexico, after which the tour traveled to the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro before taking place in Texas. The European Leg of the tour included events in Spain, Germany and Poland.[9] The first event was in Plaza de Toros México. A 17-year-old from New Zealand, Levi Sherwood, made his debut.[10] After a closely fought contest in Calgary, Canada, the tour returned to Texas. The course built in Fort Worth was one of the biggest courses created. Cam Sinclair successfully performed the double back flip, becoming the first rider to perform it in a competition.[11] Moving on to the next event in Madrid, Sinclair again attempted the double back flip, but suffered a crash and sustained severe injuries along with extensive internal bleeding.[12] With Sinclair in recovery, the 2009 tour ended with Red Bull X-Fighters twenty-third event and a first for London with the finale at Battersea Power Station.

In 2010, Red Bull X-Fighters were granted permission to stage an event in Moscow's Red Square right beside the Kremlin, using it as their backdrop.[13] Along with this another event took place in the Giza Plateau in Egypt with the Great Sphinx of Giza in the background. Red Bull X-Fighters then returned to Madrid, with Australian Robbie Maddison pulling off a body varial.[14] A first ever seen trick in the competition, Maddison went on to win the event of the year. At the next event in London, Maddison bailed in an attempt at the volt badly, ending his season. After the UK stop, X-Fighters wrapped up its twenty-ninth event by rounding off the 2010 tour in Italy where Nate Adams achieved another first to add to his Red Bull X-Fighters career. Being the first rider to claim a second title for a second consecutive year.[15]

2011 brought up its 30th event on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. The tour then staged round two of the championship in front of the Monumental Axis in the Brazilian capital, Brasília.[16] In front of a crowd of over 100,000 people, was the biggest FMX attended event in the history of the sport.[5] Following the events in Rome, Madrid, and Poznań, the tour ended in a grand finale on Cockatoo Island in the heart of Sydney Harbour, Australia. Competing in front of his home crowd for the first time was Australia's Josh Sheehan. He secured the last win of 2011. But the tour title that year belonged to Dany Torres.[17] In 2012, the Red Bull X-Fighters tour started in Dubai. In Glen Helen, Red Bull created the biggest course ever constructed.[5] After the huge course, the tour moved to Europe in Madrid where New Zealander Levi Sherwood secured victory and extended his lead in the overall standings. Next up was Munich's Olympic Stadium. The leading man was Tom Pagès

Format

Event

Each event consists of multiple days, with riders having opportunities to train. The first day includes a briefing, followed by qualification on the second day and competition on the third day. During qualification, riders complete a single 90-second qualifying run in their designated start order. Any rider who misses the qualifying session is assigned the last-place position. If multiple riders miss the session, their placement is determined by the previous year's Tour ranking, with the lowest-ranked rider placed last. In the absence of a Tour ranking, a draw is held to determine the riders' ranks for qualifying purposes. The results of the qualification will define the three groups of four riders that will compete in the Cuadrillas Elimination.[23]

The Cuadrillas Elimination is where each group of four riders will spin a roulette of tricks one time (old-school tricks that are barely shown in competition). All riders have to pull out this trick within their 50-second run. The best two riders of each group qualify for the semi-final. At the completion of each rider's run, the judges award a score. When all riders in this round have completed a scored run, the scores are announced and the top scored rider advances through to the semi-final. Six riders are then qualified in pairs and battle head-to-head in the semi-final, in which there is no mandatory trick. Each rider takes his own run with a predetermined time limit (75 seconds). The lower seeded rider in each pair rides first. Time starts when the rider takes his first jump. After each run, the rider goes to a predesignated position to watch his replays on the big screen. The second rider in the pair, who is not riding, will wait at the Hot Spot, remove his helmet and watch the other rider's run. After the second rider's run, both wait at a predesignated position for the judges' decision of which of the two will proceed to the final round. The winner from each battle would advance to the final.[23]

The final consists of three winners from the semi-final that meet in a head-to-head run-off. Each rider takes his own run with a predetermined time limit (75 seconds). The rider from the semi-final A will ride first followed by the winner of the semi-final B and C. Time will start when the rider takes his first jump. After the 75 seconds, each rider can perform a Bonus Trick which is not affected by the time limit. After each run, the rider goes to a predesignated position to watch his replay on the big screen. The second and third riders, who are not riding, will wait at the Hot Spot, remove their helmet and watch the other riders run. After the third rider's run, all three wait at a predesignated position for the judges' decision of whom of the three will be celebrated as the winner of the Red Bull X-Fighters competition. Overall the riders can win five helmets. If there is a tie (e.g. two riders win two helmets and one rider 1 helmet) the Bonus Tricks decides on the winner.[23]

Judging

Judging in all rounds consists of five judges, each one judging the overall impression based on the following criteria:

There are two separate judging systems for the Red Bull X-Fighters competition. Round one judging panel comprises five judges, plus one Head Judge. These judges award each rider a score from 1-100 points. The final score is represented as a number from 0–100 based on an average of all five judges' scores (From a total of 0 - 500 ÷ 5 judges). In the semi-finals and final, each judge awards each of the riders in the heat a score on a scale of 1–100 points. The rider with the highest score from a single judge wins that judge's vote. The rider who gets three or more judges' votes out of five wins the match-up. The Head Judge is solely responsible for indicating when time expires on a run. If, in the mind of the Head Judge, a rider is considered to be 'on approach' to a jump when the time clock reaches zero, then that jump (or series of jumps in a double-double or 6-pack) is counted in the rider's final score. The Head Judge also has the ability to change any single score or group of scores and makes the final decision in any tiebreaker situations. Should two or more riders in Round one have a scoring tie out of 100 points, then the high and low scores for each rider are eliminated and the remaining three scores averaged to give a score of 100 points. Should this method still result in a tie then the highest single score breaks the tie(s). In the event that none of these methods breaks the tie(s), then the Head Judge breaks the tie(s).[23]

Variety
Execution

Results and statistics

Records

Dany Torres of Spain is the all-time top points holder on the World Tour, with 7 wins and 1 title. Torres also holds the following records; Most starts, Most head to heads, Most head to heads won, Most head to heads lost, Most quarterfinals, Most semi-finals, Most top three appearances and Most World Tour top three appearances. He is the most successful rider to hold a total of 9 X-Fighters records. New Zealander Levi Sherwood holds two (Most finals and Most wins), with Nate Adams and Mat Rebeaud both holding one each.

World Tour champions

In all, 86 top riders have competed in at least one X-Fighters event. Of these, eight riders have won the World Tour. With two titles, American Nate Adams is the most successful World Tour rider. Adams (2009 and 2010) is also the only rider to have won two consecutive titles.

Wall of Fame

Red Bull X-Fighters released their very own Wall of Fame in a video about the history of the competition.[5] There also is a Hall of Fame. There are only 9 Freestyle Motocross riders in the sport's most exclusive club. It is reserved only for the winners of Madrid, the most important FMX stop each year since the inaugural event in 2002. The Hall of Fame in Madrid features plaques hanging on the walls with the names, Spanish nicknames, and portraits of each year's winner, framed in the style of famous bullfighters who have also graced the grounds of the Las Ventas bullring. The Hall of Fame starts with Edgar Torronteras (2002, "E.T."), Kenny Bartram (2003, "El Cowboy"), Travis Pastrana (2004/06/07, "El Prodigioso"), Nate Adams (2005, "El Destroyer"), Mat Rebeaud (2008, "Air Mat"), Dany Torres (2009/11, "El Pajarillo"), Robbie Maddison (2010, "Mad Dog"), Levi Sherwood (2012/17 "El Chico de Goma") and Thomas Pagès (2013/14/15/16, "Mr Flair").[24]

1 🇺🇸 Mike Jones
2 🇺🇸 Nate Adams
3 🇺🇸 Travis Pastrana
4 Mat Rebeaud
5 🇦🇺 Robbie Maddison
6 🇪🇸 Dany Torres
7 🇳🇿 Levi Sherwood
8 🇯🇵 Eigo Satō
9 🇫🇷 Thomas Pagès
10 🇦🇺 Josh Sheehan

Red Bull X-Fighters

History

X-Fighters: 2001–2006

World Tour: 2007–2015

Grand Slam: 2016–present

Format

Event

Judging

Venues

Results and statistics

Records

World Tour champions

Wall of Fame

Race results

World Tours

Medal table

Advertiser

External links

References