Danny Torres clinches victory in the first round: 2011 Red Bull X-Fighter World Tour
The first round of the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour wrapped up on Friday, 15 April, in Dubai. There was no shortage of thrilling action as some of the best Freestyle motocross athletes exhibited their skills and talent in the battle that took place
on the beach in front of the lavish Metropolis on the Arabian Golf. Once the dust settled, it was the Spaniard, Danny Torres, who stood victorious. His fifth Red Bull X-Fighters' win since its inauguration in 2001.
Norway’s Andre Villa had to settle for the runner-up spot on the podium. The two-time Red Bull X-Fighter tour champion from America, Nate Adams, rounded out the podium after unexpectedly faltering in the semi-final.
A crowd of nearly 15,000 people were in attendance on the beach to catch the exciting athletes in action. The spectators included the Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The showdown
was indeed worth witnessing as the fearless athletes defied gravity to leap up to 15 meters high in the sky, while travelling a distance of 30 metres and throwing down amazing tricks.
Norway’s Villa entered the main event as the favourite after an impressive performance in the qualifying rounds and the semi-finals. On the other hand, Torres had barely made it through the qualifying rounds and seemed to be a relatively a weak contender
initially. However, he contradicted the early speculations after pulling himself together at the semi-final stage and knocking Adams out of the contest, who had entered the first round of the X-Fighter as a favourite. This semi-final eviction of the American
was hands down the biggest upset of the day. Responding to a journalist’s question about his semi-final defeat, Adams said, “It sucks. I messed up on a stripper flip and that was enough to take me out of contention for the win. It's disappointing, but I'm
still definitely aiming for that third title. This will just have to be my throwaway round.”
The win over Adams filled the 23-year-old Torres with a lot of confidence as he made his way into the main-event.
As expected, the final turned out to be real intense. Both the athletes put down flawless runs. However, Torres’ amplitude, flip-tricks and their variety, which included a seat-grab Indian air flip, a lazy boy flip, a cliff-hanger flip and a super-can flip,
were deemed to be more impressive by the judges. They awarded him 100 points against Villa’s 85.
“I'm very happy to take the first win of the season here in Dubai,” said an elated Torres. “It feels really good because the level of riding was so high tonight, so it makes this win that much better.”
With the first round of the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighter at Dubai wrapped, the tour will now head to Brasilia for the second round on 28 May. After the Brasilia stop, the tour will be left with four more rounds. These will be taking place in Rome on 24 June,
Madrid on 15 July, Warsaw on 6 August and Sydney on 17 September.
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