Levi Sherwood Aims for 3 in a Row
X-Fighters 2014
Madrid will host the Red Bull X-Fighters for the
13th straight year on June 27 when the world's best freestyle motocross riders
let it all hang at the battle in the famous bullfighting ring.
Red-hot Levi Sherwood of New Zealand will be
looking for his third straight victory in 2014 when Red Bull X-Fighters returns
to the Las Ventas bullfighting ring in the Spanish capital city for the most
eagerly awaited stop of the season and the 2012 champion could equal a
six-year-old record if he can make it three in a row.
But defending champion Thomas Pagès of France, who won the iconic stop in Madrid with a scintillating
performance here a year ago, and 2011 champion Dany Torres, who has won in
Madrid twice, will do everything they can to beat Sherwood.
Sherwood has been unbeatable this season with
emphatic victories in the season opener in Mexico City and a spectacular
triumph in Osaka, Japan in May, where France's Rémi Bizouard took a strong second place to move into second overall ahead of Josh Sheehan of Australia in third in this year's world tour with five stops on four
continents.
The New Zealander's smooth and confident style
this season has taken him to the top and he will be trying to equal the record
of three straight wins that was set by Mat Rebeaud of Switzerland in 2008 when he won in Wuppertal (GER), Madrid (ESP), and
Fort Worth (USA) en route to the overall championship. Sherwood, who won three
of five rounds in 2012 on the way to the title that year, won in Madrid in 2012
as well.
The riders will face new challenges and features
on the compact Madrid track this year with six different kickers and two
quarter pipes introduced. A total of 3,200 cubic meters of dirt will be brought
in to build the course in just three days and will then be removed from the
arena in just 16 hours after the event.
Las Ventas is Spain's biggest and most important
bullfighting arena - it holds 23,000 spectators and the stops in Madrid that
have been held every year since 2002 have turned into Europe's greatest and
most prestigious FMX events.
The remaining stops are in Munich, Germany, and
Pretoria, South Africa.
Top Image: Levi Sherwood Aimes For Three In a Row At Madrid
X-Fighters
