FMF Cup Final
1. Nick Brocha
2. Luke Emmons
3. Bill Dixon
K&N Circle Challenge
1. Ernie Vigil
Speed & Strength Sickest Trick
1. Luke Emmons
Sartso Women's Cup
1. Dena Sodano
2. Brandy Valdez
3. Leah Peterson
Freestyle Burnout
1. Brian Bubash
Somewhere in all that smoke...
Somewhere in all that smoke is Brian Bubash, winner of the best burnout contest.
Aaron Colton brings his Ducati...
Aaron Colton brings his Ducati Monster 696 waaaay back.
Bill Dixon takes his second...
Bill Dixon takes his second FMF Cup Championship in a row.
Comic relief came from Team...
Comic relief came from Team Road Hazard who took the win in the Team Battle. Chris McNeil, Dan Jackson, Bill Dixon and Brian Bubash combined for a four-up "mandem" and executed stoppies, wheelies and circles before jumping onto their own bikes for a synchronized routine.
Nick Apex levitates his Kawasaki....
Nick Apex levitates his Kawasaki. Surely he learned this move in his hometown of Las Vegas.
Aaron Colton brings his Ducati...
Aaron Colton brings his Ducati Monster 696 waaaay back.
The setting for the XDL Finals was the Indiana War Memorial in downtown Indy. XDL has managed to dial in the layout, and for the second year in a row, Saturday night was a sell out. The competitions got under way on Friday with the K&N Circle Challenge, which saw Icon rider Ernie Vigil take the top spot for the first time in 2010. Unlike past seasons, 2010 saw a different winner of the K&N Circle Challenge at each stop.
Dena Sodano in control en...
Dena Sodano in control en route to the Sartso Women's Cup championship.
Adding to the Friday night program were the finals for the first-ever Sartso Women's Cup. The finals saw five women go head-to-head, with Racing 905's Dena Sodano crowned as the 2010 champion. In the seven months since the season opener, the women have made such rapid progress and the riding has become so good that they have established a firm foothold within XDL and amongst the fans.
Capping off the night was the Speed & Strength Sickest Trick. This competition is judged by other riders, so even though there was plenty of fire, acrobatics and mayhem, the top three runs were all very difficult and technical maneuvers. Racing 905 rider Luke Emmons impressed the judges with a "50/50 stoppie to wall park" for his first Speed & Strength Sickest Trick win of the season.
Saturday offered up the premier event, the FMF Cup, which was the most intense of the season. Riders were battling fatigue and dehydration with temperatures hovering around 95 degrees. Nearly every rider experienced difficulties, and in the third round it started to show as Shin Kinoshita, Bill Dixon and Chris McNeil all crashed.
The podium ended up featuring familiar names and was almost a carbon copy of the LA round. Icon rider Nick Brocha took the win, which was all the more bittersweet since he lost the championship by a mere point to Bill Dixon. Brocha vowed to return even stronger next year, Dixon pledged to be the first three-peat champion and Emmons said he will do what it takes in the off-season to win the title in 2011.
Record-breaking Irishman,...
Record-breaking Irishman, Shaun Egan, on his GSX-R1000 at 181.5 mph through the timing lights at the end of his run. Four riders, including Egan, broke last year's best time of 172.9 mph.