This Best Trick Contest changed Freestyle Motocross Forever

And Josh is Mr. Double Backflip, Double Backflip Superman in all mode! Freestyle Moto, best trick coming up. What, I mean, what's the big trick? What are we looking for here? There's only two tricks in this entire contest that have ever been done before. So you're going to start out with Taco, you've got Harry Bink doing front flip variations, and then it goes to a new ramp, one that we've been designing for the last three years. I mean, a lot of help from Josh Sheehan, who worked on the Triple Backflip. These guys are going to be going 55, 60 feet in the air. It's the first time that any of them are going to be trying these tricks to an actual landing. Tony, thoughts? I'm frightened, excited, and anxious. I saw some double front flips in practice from the ramp with the ejector seat. I don't know how to explain it. To the bag jump. But now these guys, everything that they thought they had on lock, the nerves are going to come because it is real. All right, well, the safety net is out. We are going to send it over to Cam and Andy with the call. Let's get it on. Freestyle best trick. We hear you, Todd, and I'll tell you, I'm right there with Tony with the sweaty palms and a little bit of stress up here. Andy, the forward thinking, the movement of Freestyle Motocross, taking a look at these eight riders, some of which we don't even know. It's going to be incredible. Well, yes, I mean, these guys have been, some of them have been flying over staying with Travis Pastrana at his house and training every day for this event right here. This is Travis's brainchild. I'm just as scared as you and Tony right now. I mean, even Travis is nervous right now. The biggest stuff we've ever seen go down on dirt bikes is about to happen right now. And the reason why we're stressed is, you know, we're dirt bike riders. These guys are our friends. We know they're pushing it. Taka heading into his first of two possible hits. Oh! That's a 120-foot rock-solid backflip that he holds well upside down, holding onto nothing of the motorcycle. And the sad, the crazy thing about that is that is an 8.8 on the degree of difficulty scale. This is the lowest degree of difficulty we're going to see tonight. 120-foot rock-solid, perfectly executed backflip. And as Travis led to, there are a couple tricks we have seen before. That is one of them with the degree of difficulty at 8.8. We're going to wait to see what the judges come up with. And he'll set the bar, but there are eight riders and so many different creative items, an 85.36 for Taka. Now, the riders can take two runs if they want to. We suspect some of them will only take one as Harry Bing from Australia now takes the floor here in Salt Lake. And now let's remember that Harry, we talked about earlier, he dislocated his shoulder earlier today stretching. And he said he's really fighting the bike to come back. And he's got, I mean, we're looking at an 8.7 on the degree of difficulty. Check it out, he gets a little pump. But execution, that's a 10 in my book, Cam Steele. Yeah, the layout, the way he laid it out was so beautiful. And watch as he pops, holds the extension, total commitment. And then the landing, spots it, feels it. That's the scary thing about the front clip is you never see the landing until right at the last minute. You can't see the landing. And in talking to Travis Pastrana earlier, he said there's only six feet of sweet spot on that landing. It is so steep. So you don't want to knuckle it. But if you go too far, you're in huge trouble. So it's only six feet of sweet. And Harry, 84. 84.91 is going to put him in second position. So the judges favoring what they saw from Taka. And the degree of difficulty for Taka's chip was a little bit higher by a point of one. And this, a new rider we're not familiar with, William Vanderpoot. And this is going right into it. And that's the first time he's ever done it without the airbag. The last three days they've been practicing with a three-foot airbag on top of that landing. We were a little stressed about it because he kept knuckling and he kept knuckling right up top. Even Travis said, I'm not sure he's going to make it. Look at this, though. He goes way, way back. Suicide style on that no-handed front flip. And he just absolutely nailed the landing. And look at that extension away from the motorcycle cam. He gets a bit off axis, but is able to pull it in. You can see he has to reel it in just a bit. But that is what we're talking about. The progression taking it to another level. Something different, something you haven't seen before. And his first time ever putting it onto a landing. Could you imagine the feeling these guys have on some of these tricks? Of never having done it to a landing and then doing it here. And he goes to first place as you saw the score come in. Wow, he just edges out Taka by .2 of a point. And he is stoked right now. So right now we're in the gate from Spain. Marc Pignol. And we're going to bring Travis in. Because Travis, well, this is your baby. And I've got to tell you, so far you've been spot on with the creation and what we've seen progression-wise. I'm so proud for Vandenpoot. He's been struggling with that trick. He's been at my house just working his butt off, and it paid off. Now we've got Marc. He's about to go do this. This is the opposite of a special flip. It is a Superman C-grab go into a front flip. The wind is a little bit here. If it blows him sideways at all, his foot catches it on the way back down. He comes in 100% blind. He's doing it off the 85-foot jump, which is bigger than he's ever done it before. This is a scary, scary trick, guys. Travis, you just stressed me out listening to that explanation right now. Here we go with Marc. He's coming over, looking at the 85-foot ramp, like Travis said. I'm not even sure. I know he can do it, but this is something that has really never been seen in contests. This is the biggest stage that Marc has ever been on, and he's coming at the ramp right now. Perfect! Absolutely could not be better. Wow! You called it, Travis. I mean, he came around. I don't know how he got around those bars at the last second. That is such a technical trick. It's a Superman C-grab, and as he flips forward, there's just no way to see anything. This is something that is going to have a very, very high degree of difficulty. It looks simpler than some of the front flips, but that was awesome. Really good execution as well. 9.2, the degree of difficulty. Travis is spot on with the possibility of a huge score coming. I think execution looks beautiful, and I agree with you, Bell. How does he get his leg up into the bar? You've got to have so much presence of mind and know where you're at in the air to spin that around. Wow! 88.14. Wow. So what we've been seeing so far has not been disappointing. What I love the most is that they've been stomping it and bringing the progression. When we return, more riders here at Monster Energy Best Trick. Nitro World Games brought to you by Monster Energy. Dynacraft, where technology, innovation, and fashion collide. Welcome back to the Nitro World Games. Your leader, Mark Pinot, from Spain, and does the inside front roll, which simply is insane. It's never been done. It's never even been talked about. It's the first time any of us have even heard about this trick that he's been practicing down at Travis'. He's in the lead, very strong, but speaking of strong, Mr. Jacko is strong right now. Jacko is a beast. He's one of those riders that has that original style of freestyle, kind of the brute style, but he goes so big and is so committed. Now we're going to see him go into that 12-foot-tall takeoff ramp. And he just recently started doing this double backflip, and we're not sure which one he's going to do here. One, went for the knack-knack, and... Oh, and he sticks it. I thought he was over-rotating. He was going pretty deep on that landing, but perfect stick for Jacko. And correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like that might be the first one he's done without the airbag ever. Confirmed. Taking another look at it, Andy. I agree with you. It really looked like he was going to come nose high. He looked for the knack-knack, did not get it. And he definitely nails the double back, comes around here, starting to come a little nose high. Watch the pop as he goes off the jump. It really set that rotation. He's going something like Travis said earlier, 55-plus feet high on that trick. Another look as he comes in for the landing. Big and strong. And you're not going to rip those bars out of his hands easily. No, I mean, a lot of guys would have probably lost the bars on that slapdown. The only thing we can pick apart there, he did get the full knack-knack, but the judges reward him very well. We would have made a second place with 87.23. And that's going to bring up Josh Sheehan, definitely one of the favorites when you talk about going huge from Australia. We saw him a bit earlier in the freestyle comp. I'm sensing a double backflip variation here. He has a number of them listed on his possibilities. And Josh, it's Mr. Double Backflip, Double Backflip Superman, and oh! And he loses it. That's the first double I've actually seen Josh crash on in over a year. This guy does it consistently on the Nitro Circus Tour. And look at that. Way off the motorcycle with the Superman. Comes back to it and just gets a little too much height, a little bit too much rotation, and comes around. And the really cool thing Travis has done with this event is there's a little bit of an airbag under that landing. So that would have been a catastrophic crash on just hardwood. Thankfully for Josh, he's a strong dude. Hopefully he'll be able to come back and give us another run. This is Pat Bowd and from Australia as well. Double frontflip? We are Flip K.O.D. Oh, sorry. He is our frontflip K.O.D. He's been over at Travis's house. He called Travis and said, look, maybe in the past I've been kind of a punk around this sport. I've been, you know, I haven't given respect where it's due. I'm here. I'm ready to work. Been up at 4 a.m., Travis told me, working out, training, getting ready for this trick, which I saw on Travis's Instagram the other day absolutely blew my mind. And we know Travis is down there. This is near and dear to his heart. I get a little precursor there to the possible double frontflip later from Greg Duffy. But right now, Pat has the course. And he's looking right now at the highest degree of difficulty of anything we've seen so far tonight at 9.6. So if he got a perfect 10, we're talking about a score of 96 possible, which could put him way in the lead. As he takes his last look at the ramp. And rolling in, the course is his, and we'll see. Salutes the crowd. See this trick from the side angle. Everybody, I know that came in. You're looking at it from the front. It's hard to see exactly what went down. Wait until you see this extension of what he just had. Pat Bowden salutes the crowd here at Salt Lake City. And first guy to congratulate him. Look at that. Hits the mechanical kicker, and he gets out. Look at the extension. That is ridiculous. And he holds it. Half of the trick he holds it comes around. Looked like he wanted to throw him over the front of the landing. But he's a strong kid. All that work in Travis' gym downstairs at Travis' house has really paid off. He hung on to that thing. And we wait for the score. A 94.08. That's going to put him right on the top. And Travis is pumped up. Travis, that's a great moment for sure. And it looks like we're not waiting on this. Double front flip. Pastrana on scene, of course, excited. Everybody's fired up. Travis, what an amazing moment. Finishing what Bruce Cook started a few years ago. Greg Duffy. We didn't even get time to say his name before he started. He wanted to get that thing done. Travis. I can't even talk right now. He's one of the best racers. He's the only rider from America in this final. He has put his heart. He has put his soul. His family, his little girl are here watching, man. I tell you what, this guy deserves every bit. If he over-rotated, he's going to die. Literally the most insane thing I've ever thought. Smile for BC. Bruce Cook, I know you're watching at home, man. Love you guys. The excitement here is unbelievable. Palpable for sure. Travis excited. Greg Duffy bringing the heat here in Utah at the Nitro World Games. More when we return to Salt Lake City. Nitro World Games brought to you by Hasbro Gaming. Get your family game on. Dollar Shave Club. Look, smell, and feel like a million bucks. Without paying. Nitro World Games brought to you by Monster Energy. Be the match. Save a life. Well, our minds have been absolutely blown here at FMX Best Trick presented by Monster Energy. And it is not over. We still have riders taking the course. Greg Duffy, a 96.60 and holds the lead. But Harry Fink is not giving up. He's bringing it on right now. As he gets the front flip Indian Air. And lands it. That was a big step up from what we saw him do earlier. Even though he stabbed a foot. Front flip Indian Air. Oh, look at that. And then he gets so far off the motorcycle. I mean, look at the extension. Part of the excitement and the just the feeling here is because these are rotations and moves. Meaning the body and the bike going the way they are is something that we could have never imagined it. Not that long ago in the sport. No, I still have not imagined it. I'm watching it live on NBC right now. Right in front of us here. And Van Der Poof coming out. And he is going to send the same trick. Comes around. And more extension. Let's take a look at our leader right now. Pat, extremely excited. Greg Duffy with the double front. Unbelievable. Greg Duffy, your leader here at the Nitro World Games. Versus the best trick presented by Monster Energy. Josh Sheehan with another run. He's going to go for it. He's got to go for it. He crashed, very uncharacteristic crash for Josh. Even though he was throwing in a massive combination into his double backflip. He's out there actually banging the front tire of his bike. Trying to straighten things out. Which, as if a double backflip combination isn't hard enough. Not having 100% confidence in your bike. He's throwing a whole other level of mess in his mind right now. Come on Josh. Sheehan headed for the double back. Oh, massive extension. And he rides out of it perfectly. Josh Sheehan. And that was like a kiss of death. Backflip, kiss of death. To backflip again. Double backflip with a kiss of death right in the middle of it. Watch this extension. Look at that. Kiss of death. Brings it around. Perfectly sticks the landing. And that has to be a 10. He has to get a 10 there for execution. Absolutely looking for the rebate from his first run. He's able to put that together. And if he were to score a perfect 10 on execution. He could win right now because it's a 9.7 on the list. He's going to finish third with a 91.45 for Sheehan. So epic competition. Let's send it right down to Todd Richards. Todd, what an amazing event. Oh my gosh. I cannot believe what I've been seeing. Tony? Any make is a first time ever. Wow. Of these tricks being completed. It's been unbelievable. Travis, I mean, everyone's been asking you all night long. Is this fulfilling your wishes? It is so far. It's a success, man. Every single person up there in Bicycle Big Air was pumped. They were excited. No injuries. And then you come to where I thought there was a chance that people were literally going to die. Double front flip from Greg Duffy. I mean, a double back flip kiss of death gets a third. Nitro World Games is just awesome. All right, guys. Well, that does it for the first ever Nitro World Games. We'll see you next year here for Nitro World Games 2. For Tony Hawk and Travis Pastrana, I'm Todd Richards. It's been an honor to host the first ever Nitro World Games.