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Friday 12 APRIL, 8PM

D O W N T O W N - D U B A I

WEEKLY DIRT #3

2013

Cal

enda

r:

8-3 Mexico City, MEX

12-4 Dubai, UAE

11-5 Glen Helen, USA

1-6 Osaka, JPN

19-7 Madrid, ESP

7-9 Pretoria, RSA

Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai

2013 will be held on April

12 under the patronage

of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan

bin Mohammed bin Rashid

Al Maktoum, crown prince

of Dubai and chairman of

the Dubai sports council.

RED

BULL

X-FIG

HTER

S 20

13 RI

DERS

Levi Sherwood shares his experiences from

competing at the X-Fighters World Tours

#1 Double Backflip BY JOSH SHEEHAN

RUBBER KID RECORDS:

LEVI SHERWOOD AT RED BULL X-FIGHTERS

Red Bull X-Fighters 2012 World Tour

Champion Levi Sherwood Set to Defend his

Title in Downtown Dubai Supported by du.

CLICK TO PLAY

Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council

Red Bull X-Fighters 2013 will return to the UAE on April 12 at the Mohammed Bin Rashid

Boulevard, Downtown Dubai, supported by du under its live entertainment platform “du Live!” and

in association with Emaar and Ford.

Levi Sherwood; Red Bull X-Fighters 2012 tour winner before the age of 20, is busy rewriting the

rules of FMX, it’s anyone’s guess how far he can take the sport. “Rubber Kid” as he is nicknamed,

won the opening stop in Dubai before �nishing 2012 as the world champion, and will return to

Downtown Dubai determined to defend his title in the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour by jumping

into history! Back in 2009, Levi Sherwood got a call that would shape both the next few years of

his life and the sport of freestyle motocross. With Jeremy ‘Twitch’ Stenberg injured, a gap appeared

in the rider roster for the opening round of that year’s Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour in Mexico City.

Sherwood got the call; it was a pivotal moment in the then 17-year-old’s life. The year before he’d

left high school in his home town of Palmerston North, New Zealand and was contemplating an

engineering apprenticeship, untill his father intervened. Dave Sherwood had been a successful

speedway rider and father and son had shared a passion for motorcycles since Levi had been old

enough to clamber aboard a bike, after moving to Australia, he called to put Levi’s apprenticeship

on hold. “He asked me if I wanted to ride full time, he told me ‘have a crack at it while you’re

young’” Sherwood told New Zealand’s Fairfax news agency in 2011. The youngster’s progress

was astonishing and his riding attracted the attention of FMX insiders who quickly set him on a

fast-track to an FMX career.

“This is one event I’ve always wanted to ride and hopefully I’ll do good” he said in the run-up to his

Mexico debut. He needn’t have worried, the 17-year old rookie took the competition by storm,

astounding the judges and his rivals with a stunning range of perfectly executed tricks, all from the

top drawer of FMX moves. He won the round and in an echo of rock critic Jon Landau’s famous

assessment of a young Bruce Springsteen as “the future of rock ‘n’ roll”, Red Bull X-Fighters’ Sporting

Director Tes Sewell proclaimed Sherwood as „the bright future of FMX“. The years since haven’t

proved Sewell wrong; In four seasons on the World Tour, Sherwood has racked up six event wins,

a record for the tour he shares with Dany Torres. The Spaniard, however, has been involved in the

Tour for �ve years longer and his win total has been amassed over 31 starts. Sherwood’s winning

total comes from just half that number of starts. Sherwood proved his worth again in 2010, taking

victories at the Moscow and London rounds of the world tour.

After spending a year recovering from his injuries, Sherwood pulled off an impresive comeback

competition clinching second place behind Aussie rider Josh Sheehan in Sydney’s 2011 �nale.

More importantly, Sherwood �nished the season intact, and after a winter of injury-free downtime

appeared at the �rst event of 2012 �t healthy and raring to go. He blitzed the Dubai round,

defeating Australia’s Rob Adelberg in the �nal. It set Sherwood up for a thrilling 2012 season and

the eventual Tour title. “The biggest moment was in Dubai” he said, “winning that �rst one, I wasn’t

sure whether I’d missed my shot or not, or I could still do it, I was always trying to get the whole

season down, then have a crack at it.“

“We can’t get enough of the action that Red Bull X-Fighters brings to Dubai, which is why we’re so

excited to support the event for the third year in a row. du is associated with the �nest in live

entertinment, and as far as live action goes it really doesn’t get much better than this! To give our

customers and Red Bull X-Fighters fans a chance to experience this breathtaking event in true du Live!

style, we will shortly announce a series of competitions with prizes that no thrill-seeker can afford to

miss,“ said Hala Badri, Executive Vice President, Brand and Communications, du.

Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai 2013 is supported by du and organized in collaboration with Emaar,

Ford, Swatch as well as Bridgestone, Dubai Sports Council, The Dubai Mall and MBC Action.

For more information on tickets, visit www.redbullx�ghters.com, www.timeouttickets.com. They can

also be found across all Virgin Megastore branches in the UAE.

The �rst Double Back�ip in an FMX competition run was performed by Australian Cameron

Sinclair at the Red Bull X-Fighters round in Texas back in 2009. The following year he

attempted to repeat the feat at Madrid’s Plaza de Toros de las Ventas and crashed badly

when he under-rotated. Though the trick can trace its origins back to the middle of the last

decade it’s still an elusive beast, requiring huge amounts of skill and no shortage of

bravery. Sinclair’s countryman Josh Sheehan possesses both those attributes in spades. In

Sydney in 2011, he threw down two doubles to claim victory on the day and unleashed it

again when the series headed for his homeland last year. If he’s riding tonight, you should

be in for a rare treat as this awesome trick has almost become his signature move.

* Levi is the Tour’s joint most frequent event

winner with six wins, a total he shares with

Spain’s Dany Torres.

* Sherwood has contested 29 head-to-head

rounds and won an astounding 20 of them, for

a win percentage of 69%.

* The Rubber Kid has appeared in seven final

rounds and has only lost one – to Josh Shee-

han in Sydney 2011.

* Sherwood famously won his first ever Red

Bull X-Fighters competition in Mexico in 2009,

to win he had to beat Andre Villa and 2008

Tour champion Mat Rebeaud.

* It’s alWAYS win or bust for Levi in Red Bull

X-Fighters, while he has six wins, he only has

two second-place finishes and no third-place

results. His most common placings after

first are fifth (three times) and seventh

(three times).

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