Good-natured Australian rider Blake Williams—“Bilko” to anyone following freestyle motocross—threw in a variety of rare 360-degree variations to set himself apart in the new three-run finals format.
He needed his best stuff to hold off a pair of Riverside County-based veterans for his first gold medal.
After taking second in Friday’s Moto X Best Trick contest at Staples Center, Williams’ Freestyle score of 87 on Saturday was one point better than Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg’s tally and five points better than Nate Adams’.
“I thought (the gold) was gonna come last night and it didn’t, so I set hopes on tonight,” said Williams, a 24-year-old from Baxter, Victoria. “And I got it!”
“I’m super-stoked. Everyone out there is a great competitor, and to come out on top by one point, incredible. A dream come true.” Press-Enterprise
“It has been a long couple of weeks and to be honest I actually didn’t have the preparation I would have liked.
“I want to dedicate the medal to the late Jeremy Lusk and Bronte Holland and also my mate Cam Sinclair who I should have been competing against tonight.”
The next event on Bilko’s schedule is the Wendy’s Invititional at Portland, the first of three FMX stops on the 2009 Dew Tour. Fullnoise
Williams secured the silver in the Moto X Best Trick for his Flying Dutchman, and he landed the trick again during his runs to establish himself as the frontrunner.
It was a pesky heel clicker 360 that brought Williams to his knees, literally, on his second run.
Williams landed a no-handed flip and was attempting to do a nac-nac 360, but changed his mind mid-flight and crashed a heel-clicker 360. But he kept going and nailed a heel clicker 360 later in the same run.
“I like this format. You can crash, but can still make up for it,” Williams said. “That’s pretty sweet.
“I landed as tight as I could. I just wanted to keep going and keep the clock moving. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good score, but if I ended in a tie, they look at that third score.”
Williams started strong with 44 points out of a possible 50 with an inverted cliffhanger, a superman seat grab and can-can variations.
After the crash, he needed to make up 12 points on his final run to overcome Stenberg, who was just happy to finish this season. Last year with one run left, his bike stopped working, and he angrily kicked and punched advertisements as he left the stadium. Los Angeles Daily News
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