Carson, Calif. – Whether it’s big air skateboarding or a new format in surfing competition, the X Games have been known for putting their personal stamp on sports since their inception 11 years ago. And motorsports are no exception.
Winter X brought viewers freestyle motocross on the ice ramps of Aspen, and the summer version invented the discipline of “step up” – essentially high-jumping on a dirt bike. Most recently, the X Games brand brought in its own version of supermoto, an event that combines the speed of road racing with the big air flair of motocross.
“This is just a great race,” motocross legend Jeremy McGrath said Sunday after the second running of the event at X Games 11. “We’re stoked.”
Supermoto is not a new discipline to bike racing. But the X Games version is. With a 45-lap race lasting almost an hour and a course divided equally between dirt and asphalt, the X Games supermoto race demanded that every rider took a pit stop sometime after the fifth lap.
“Most of the time the course is 70 percent asphalt and 30 percent dirt. We decided we wanted more dirt,” X Games general manager Chris Stiepock said. “And by doubling the length of the course, we had to add the pit stop.”
According to winner Doug Henry of Torrington, Conn., the race was closer to three times the length of a traditional supermoto event. He’s used to sitting in the saddle for no more than 20 minutes at a time.
Henry, who crashed on the first turn of the inaugural X Games supermoto race a year ago, redeemed himself with a convincing victory at The Home Depot Center. The veteran led 33 of 45 laps and had the fastest effort in the pits to win his first X Games medal in a time of 53 minutes, 18 seconds.
“I’ve never ridden a supermoto bike this long, so I didn’t know how I was going to do,” said Henry, 35.
While Henry managed to keep his bike upright, this year it was McGrath’s turn to take a tumble. The seven-time AMA supercross champion from Encinitas, Calif., got off line early trying to keep pace with the leaders and dropped his bike in the loose dirt. He recovered nicely, however, picking off riders one by one until passing third-place finisher Chad Reed of Dade County, Fla., on a jump with less than 5 laps to go to finish second, 11.35 seconds behind Henry.
“The track started to come to me around lap 10,” McGrath said. “I got stronger as the race went on, but I could see some of the guys in front of me getting tired.”
With such a long race, stamina played a major role.
“My endurance was good,” said Reed, who finished 18 seconds off the pace. “I had to hold my body in an awkward position the whole race and I had to get used to the 450cc from the beginning.”
Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
