Travis Pulls the Trifecta

Aug 07 2006 / Los Angeles, CA

Travis Pastrana is on a roll.  First it was Best Trick.  Next it was Rally Car.  Then, in the final day of X Games competition, Pastrana did the impossible by winning his third Gold medal of X Games 12 after an absolutely flawless performance in the electric FMX Finals.  Going up against freestyle madmen Mat Rebaud, Adam Jones, Jim McNeil and the one and only Mike Mason, the stage was set with the best of the best and what ensued during the remaining hour and a half was nothing short of magical. 
 

VIDEO What made Pastrana the talk of the X Games? Watch the video.  VIEW CLIP>

Matt Rebaud started things off and unfortunately had the same fate as Kenny Bartram earlier in the week.  Starting off with insane amount of speed and clearly determined to go big, Rebaud tried a sick 360 nac nac and bailed on the landing; slamming down hard and forced out of the competition right after it began.  With Rebaud out, Jim McNeil immediately picked up the pace and had his game dialed with moves like kiss of death backflips and a HUGE backflip cordova that earned him a score of 89.00 for his first run set the bar for Jones, Mason and Pastrana. 
 
Not wanting to be upstaged, Adam Jones busted tons of sickness with backflip saran wraps, styley Indian air seat grabs and loads of amplitude which set him up with the lead and a 91.40 for Mason and Pastrana to deal with.  Mason answered this with no-handed seat grabs, no-handed backflips and tons of style that the FMX powerhouse is known for.  However, it was not enough for the lead and his 90.00 kept him locked in second. 
 
And then the hammer dropped and it all went down.  Travis Pastrana was up next and for the following 60 seconds time totally stood still.  Lazy boy backflips, one-footed backflips to one-handed landers; he did it all and unloaded on the Home Depot Center with insane energy and crystal clear focus.  His runs were so perfect it looked like he wasn’t even trying and even the easy moves could have been done in his sleep.  The crowd was ignited and his insane score of 94.20 proved impossible for any of the other riders to match in Round 2. 
 
Skipping his second run, Pastrana knew he had his third gold medal at X Games 12 in the bag from the start.  From the first-ever double backflip to the first-ever X Games Rally Car victory, he has been on fire throughout the entire four-day mega event and today was just a continuation of it all.  Simply put, in the world of FMX, Travis Pastrana is the man.  And now, after three gold medals, everyone surely knows it.  

-Glen Braunsdorf