The second annual AFMXA Awards will be presented this Saturday, December 4 at 7 p.m. at the Pala Casino in Pala, Calif., but we got ahead of ourselves and decided to make some predictions of our own. Here's a look at the nominees in the final three categories (don't miss our picks for Best Viral Media Piece, Best Spread In a Magazine, and Unsung Hero, posted yesterday.)
jQuery(window).load(function() {jQuery('#video5429256').html('');});BIGGEST SLAM
Last year's winner: Cam Sinclair
As much as we love a good slam now and again, the stakes are awfully high in freestyle motocross, which, let's face it, is why the AFMXA exists in the first place and why AFMXA membership perks include safety training courses and Medivac coverage. Here's a look at some of this year's grisliest slams:
Josh Hill put his AMA Supercross season on ice this year when his second backflip attempt at Nate Adams' house while training for the X Games Speed & Style competition shattered his right femur, broke his right pelvis, shattered his humerus, and left him with compartment syndrome in his left leg (check out BJ Smith's recovery report interview with Hill. The good news? He landed the first one.
Filmmaker Jay Schweitzer didn't get a good shot of Mike Metzger's crash in Reche Canyon this spring during filming for "On the Pipe 6," so we asked him for his eyewitness account: "He'd already done like ten or twelve flips off of this 120-foot step-up to natural terrain landing, so I didn't even have a decent angle on it when he went down," Schweitzer says. "Myles Richmond went off in front of him, did a whip and looked back at him, and then the next thing I remember Metz is coming up a little bit short on his rotation. He totally cased it, went over the handlebars, broke his femur, and banged up his elbow and hand real bad. It's always gnarliest when you least expect it."
Steve DensmoreRobbie Adelberg's nasty get-off at Dew Tour in Salt Lake City is up for Biggest Slam.After a brief hiatus, the Dew Tour brought full-fledged FMX competition back into the mix for the Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City in September. Alas, it wasn't televised, which means we're relying on photographer Steve Densmore's shot and Robbie Adelberg's agent Lucas Mirtl to break down Robbie Adelberg's big crash for us: "Robbie came into the double-double section kind of hard and hit neutral, so basically he had nowhere to go after he landed off the first one," Mirtl says. "He went off the next lip with no power and broke both ankles, his left tib and fib, and his right wrist. The good news is he's made a full recovery and the doctors just cleared him to ride next week to start getting ready for 2011."
We're putting our money on Paris Rosen: His huck in the Best Trick comp at X Games 16 was half a front flip short of a gold medal, but it just might win him Biggest Slam of the year honors (check out Ryan Leyba's post-slam interview with Rosen for assurance that he will be at it again soon).
jQuery(window).load(function() {jQuery('#video5068606').html('');});MUCHOS COJONES
Last year's winner: Robbie Maddison
FMX riders sack up every time they get on a bike, but these nominees brought bit just a little bit more than everybody else in 2010:
Robbie Maddison's always thinking of something crazy to jump and could very well repeat his win in this category. This year he sent it over the Corinth Canal in Greece, a 278-foot leap with a sketchy approach, as a warm-up before the Red Bull X-Fighters series kicked off. They call him Maddo for a reason.
A handful of daredevils have been pushing the ramp-to-ramp distance records into insane territory, Evel Knievel-style. But how many of them are hucking it on Harleys? In March Seth Enslow shoved the Harley distance-jumping record to 183.7 feet in Sydney, Australia on an XR 1200. It turns out hogs can fly.
Aaron "Wheels" Frotheringham doesn't ride FMX, but the things he's doing in his wheelchair have been inspiring everyone in action sports, and he's apparently got some fans in the AFMXA. This year he backflipped the megaramp gap at Camp Woodward and landed the first-ever double backflip in a wheelchair. He's got spina bifida, but don't dare call him "disabled."
Our pick for this year's award wasn't the first to land the FMX double backflip and he won't be the last, but after Cam Sinclair's 2009 attempt put him in a coma for seven days (and won him Biggest Slam honors at the inaugural AFMXA Awards in 2009) we've got to hand it to him for bringing back the double back in his grab for gold at this year's X Games Best Trick contest. ?Cojones? Si. Muchos.
Chris Tedesco/Red Bull PhotofilesTravis Pastrana puts the nail in the coffin, throwing down a double backflip in his Freestyle Moto X run at X Games 16. Lusk Legacy Rider of the Year? We just want to know where Levi Sherwood's name is on this list ...LUSK LEGACY RIDER OF THE YEAR
Last year's winner: Blake "Bilko" Williams
Cam Sinclair won the Best Trick comp at X Games 16 with his double backflip (see above), rocked the Nitro Circus Live tour Down Under, and held his own with top ten finishes at most of the X-Fighters tour stops, giving new meaning to the word "fighter." Why? After his slam at X Games 15 in 2009, most people figured he'd never ride again. Go figure.
Nate Adams won the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour in 2010 without winning a single event, proving that consistency is king in the long run. He made the podium in almost every event he entered this year, taking home silver in Speed & Style and bronze in Freestyle Moto X at X Games 16, silver at the ASA FMX World Championship in Pomona, Calif., and enough X-Fighters metal to start his own mint (silver in Mexico, bronze in Egypt, silver in Russia, silver in England, and bronze in Italy).
Takayuki Higashino picked up a nod for Breakout FMX Rider of the Year at the TransWorld Motocross Awards this year, won the Dew Tour Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City and the 2010 Red Bull XRAY in Picton, Australia, and took home Best Trick bronze at X Games 16 with a double grab backflip Indian air. He's also the reason all the Metal Mulisha guys are starting to be able to speak some halfway decent Japanese.
Can a guy who spent most of the year behind the wheel of a rally car and is now fixated on dominating NASCAR be considered for Rider of the Year at the AFMXA Awards? Well, what if he's done more for FMX than anyone ever, picked up Rider of the Year at the TransWorld Motocross Awards, nailed down Speed and Style gold, won Freestyle Moto X gold at X Games 16 after taking a couple years off and landed a double backflip just for kicks in the middle of his run? Yeah, we think so, too. Travis Pastrana, we salute you.
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