Nate Adams (USA) flew to victory in front of 18,000 fans at the fifth stop of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2009 in London on Saturday night. A heavy fall on the course in front of the city’s legendary Battersea Power Station forced defending champion Mat Rebeaud (SUI) to abandon any chance of defending his crown.
In front of a sell-out crowd, the twelve best FMX athletes in the world electrified the former coal-fired power station once responsible for providing the bustling metropolis with energy. Going into the event no fewer than four riders – Nate Adams (USA), Robbie Maddison (AUS), Eigo Sato (JPN) and Mat Rebeaud (SUI) – were in with a chance of riding off with the overall title at the end of the night.
“This is the greatest achievement of my career. Whoever wins this Tour goes down in the history books. The pressure was huge; it’s a great feeling to win against the best riders in the world,” beamed 25 year-old Adams from Phoenix (USA) after defeating 17 year-old New Zealand rookie Levi “Rubber Kid” Sherwood in the Final.
Swiss ruler and 2008 champion Mat Rebeaud was lucky to get away with bruises, a few stitches and a flat tyre after over-rotating on the Superkicker and crashing into the up-slope opposite in his Quarter-Final.
Handicapped by a fall in Qualification on Friday, Eigo Sato was also forced out at the Quarter-Final stage as Australia’s Tower Brige Conqueror, Robbie Maddison, made it one steo further to the Semi-Finals, where he was eliminated by eventual winner of the event Nate Adams.
This year’s Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour took the sport to the next level with the first ever Double-Backflip in FMX history by Cameron Sinclair (AUS) as a total of 200,000 fans packed the stands in Mexico City (MEX), Calgary (CAN), Fort Worth (USA), Madrid (ESP) and London.
Final result London:
1. Nate Adams (USA), 2. Levi Sherwood (NZL), 3. Dany Torres (ESP), 4. Robbie Maddison (AUS), 5. Jeremy Stenberg (USA), 6. Mat Rebeaud (SUI), 7. Eigo Sato (JPN), 8. Mike Mason (USA), 9. Andre Villa (NOR), 10. Thomas Pages (FRA), 11. Adam Jones (USA), 12. Chris Birch (GBR)
Final overall championship standings World Tour 2009:
1. Nate Adams (USA), 2. Robbie Maddison (AUS), 3. Eigo Sato (JPN), 4. Mat Rebeaud (SUI), 5. Dany Torres (ESP), 6. Levi Sherwood (NZL), 7. Jeremy Stenberg (USA), 8. Cameron Sinclair (AUS), 9. Thomas Pages (FRA), 10. Andre Villa (NOR)
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