Freestyle bull battle in Madrid – home victory for Torres
Story by Red Bull | Pictures Credit: Joerg Mitter, Andreas Schaad and Predrag Vuckovic for Red Bull X-Fighters
Dany Torres (ESP) grabbed the bull by the horns with a brilliant victory on Friday night against the world's best freestyle motocross riders in a gala event in Madrid marking the sport's 10th anniversary at the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas. Spain's local hero forced his rival Blake Williams (AUS) to his knees in the bullring in front of 25,000 delighted Spanish fans.
MADRID (Spain) – Torres got a perfect five-for-five from the duly impressed jury members and sent the giant crowd watching in Spain's biggest bullfighting arena (62 meters diameter) into fits of euphoria with his scintillating jumps of up to 15 meters high and 32 meters distance. "It's the best day of my life," the 24-year-old beamed after his second victory in the bullring in Madrid, built in 1931, after what was the 10th time the Red Bull X-Fighters performed in Spain.
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The tens of thousands of fans had packed the famous bullring, which had been converted into an FMX course with a gigantic pile of dirt in the center, and repeatedly held their breath watching the daring performances. Backflips, no-hand landings or 360-degree turns on ordinary motocross bikes sent shivers through the crowd and led to a series of spontaneous waves around the stadium. David Rinaldo of France and Chile's Javier Villegas pressed a bit too hard and saw their hopes of greater glory crushed in spectacular crashes – with fortunately neither seriously hurt. "You've got to push to the boundaries of physics go do these jumps," said Blake Williams of Australia, who took second place.
After placing 3rd in Rome, Josh Sheehan repeated this with another 3rd place
Norway's Andre Villa moved into the overall lead - just five points ahead of Nate Adams (USA, 265 points), who was sidelined with an injury. The Norwegian ace squandered a golden opportunity to move further ahead after a blunder-filled performance in the quarterfinals. Torres collected 100 points with his second victory this year and raised his season total to 245 points (3rd place overall).
Dany Torres showed the Madrid crowd that he is one of the best global FMX riders
First held in 2001 in Valencia, the global FMX Tour has now been held 33 times around the world. The next event with the two-stroke engines takes place in three weeks in Poznan (POL). The season finale will take place in the home of Australian FMX superstar Robbie Maddison (Sydney/17 September).
The winners: Sheehan 3rd, Torres 1st and Williams (2nd)
Final results Madrid
4. Maikel Melero (ESP)
6. Adam Jones (USA)
9. Alastair Sayer (BOT)
10. David Rinaldo (FRA)
11. Nick Franklin (NZL)
12. Eigo Sato (JPN)
Overall results (after 4 of 6 events):
1. Villa (NOR/270 points)
2. Adams (USA/265)
3. Torres (ESP/245)
4. Williams (AUS/215)
6. Josh Sheehan (AUS/130)