Adams%20Wins

Greg Weatherall © Lat34

Adams Wins Orlando Prelims

Nov 01 2006 / Orlando, FL
Twenty of the most exciting FMX riders in the world were invited to the PlayStation Pro in Orlando, FL, the grand finale to the five-stop Dew Acton Sports Tour. And while FMX gods Nate Adams and Travis Pastrana have the 1st and 2nd overall positions essentially in the bag, there is still a lot of money up for grabs this weekend. Mike Mason, Beau Bamberg, Adam Jones, Jeremy Lusk, Ronnie Renner and others all came out ready to rumble in Friday’s FMX Prelims. 

With Travis Pastrana off pursuing a career in Rally Car racing, things looked good for yet another Nate Adams victory. “I wouldn’t say that it’s going to be easy to win just because Travis is out. But, let’s just say that now I can ride smarter.” Adams went on to say, “The Dew Tour’s a 5-stop series and you need to be consistent. I tried to stay healthy this season. And with the competition you’ve got to play your cards right, play it smart.” If by “smart” he means placing 1st, then Adams is a freaking genius.

Adams won Friday’s Prelims and looks indestructible going into Sunday’s FMX Finals. Beau Bamberg threw down a spectacular run that qualified him in 2nd place with a crazy back flip seat grab Indian air and a picture-perfect back flip cordova followed by a super tweaked out kiss of death. Adam Jones qualified in 3rd place with a sweet back flip heel clicker and a ridiculously stretched out stripper that would make the club girls down in Miami proud. Mike Mason, Jeremy Lusk, Matt Buyten and Wiley Fullmer rounded out the top seven riders.

The 20-rider field competed in two heats. The top seven riders of Heat 1 automatically moved on to the money round of the Finals to be held Sunday. With only a total of 12 riders allowed in the Finals, that meant the remaining riders had to step up their game plans to win one of the last five spots.

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FMX Prelims

  • Check out photos of Beau Bamberg and Nate Adams in the Orlando Dew Tour FMX Prelims.
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Brian Foster pulled out all his big tricks to win one of the remaining spots in Heat 2. Robbie Maddison, who crashed badly yesterday in practice, rode Friday with a hurt hand. The relatively minor injury held him back a bit and led to another crash on his first run in the Prelims. But, he cranked it up enough in Heat 2 to win a qualifying spot in Sunday’s Finals. Dustin Miller, Drake McElroy and Myles Richmond beat out the rest of the competition to stay afloat for one more day.

Florida native and crowd favorite Ronnie Renner didn’t make it into the Finals despite nailing a commendable run. And two more Florida locals showed up as wild cards to represent the sunshine state. Javier Villegas and younger brother Gabriel Villegas of Weston, FL, held their own and threw out some of their best crowd-pleasing tricks, but in the end failed to make the top 12.

 
-Steve Lemig