ACTION SPORTS: No stopping Murray in Moto X competition
By SCOTT BAIR - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- Scott Murray got held up by security. He wasn't credentialed to enter the awards paddock, and guards refused to let him pass without one.
Murray pleaded his case for admittance, claiming to be an athlete with a Moto X World Championships medal awaiting him on the podium.
The guards weren't buying it. This guy didn't have the requisite tattoos or energy drink accoutrements, looking more like a roadie for Lynard Skynard than the second freestyle motocross rider ever to perform a double backflip on dirt.
Several witnesses finally convinced security to stand down, allowing Murray to claim his just reward. This unknown from Helps, Mich., won the Best Trick competition of the inaugural Moto X World Championships with a double backflip first accomplished by Travis Pastrana in 2006.
The judges rewarded the effort with 95.80 points, more than enough to secure gold on Saturday afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium.
"I wasn't sure exactly how it would be received," Murray said. "Everybody's bringing such big tricks that I was just waiting for something else to come out and top it. But I kept my fingers crossed because I really wanted this thing. The double backflip is still a huge deal, and I came here to stick it and show everybody in America that I could do it."
The maneuver has been devalued slightly since Pastrana first did the unthinkable, as Murray was awarded 2.8 points less than the first go-round. Murray's main competition came from Kyle Loza, who just missed on a highly anticipated trick called "Electric Death," in which he performs an unprecedented backflip varial before remounting the bike in time to land.
Loza fell on both allotted attempts, giving this establishment-bucking newcomer who rides in work gloves and a hockey jersey some national recognition.
"I'm happy to have it over with," Murray said. "I've been thinking about this contest for months, and it's great to nail it on this stage."
The television audience was likely large, but the in-house crowd was surprisingly small for such a motocross-crazy region. An announced crowd of 10,100 attended the first day of this two-day event that continues on Sunday, but Qualcomm Stadium's enormity made it look much smaller than that.
Those on hand saw Mark Burkhart win the Supermoto final, a race involving street and dirt sections. They also witnessed the inception of Moto X Speed and Style, a combination of supercross and freestyle motocross in which riders alternate between racing laps and freestyle tricks.
Temecula resident Nate Adams took gold in a head-to-head final with Fallbrook's Ronnie Renner.
"I'm a freestyler and I love racing," Adams said. "If we have this event again, I'd definitely sign up. There is a reputation that freestylers are outcast from racing, but I'd like to bridge that gap, ride this event at X Games and show that I can take freestyle ideas back to racing."
Adams will compete on Sunday in the Freestyle Moto X event ---- the world championships' signature event ---- along with Renner, Winchester's Jeremy Stenberg and Temecula's Todd Potter, who took bronze in Best Trick.
Contact staff writer Scott Bair at (760) 739-6642 or sbair@nctimes.com
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