With Thursday providing the first opportunity for the riders to hit the course, there was an excited air of anticipation on the island. The riders quickly suited up, double checked bikes and took to the dirt. There was plenty of talk of the super-tight double-double spine jump that is the course centrepiece, but most seemed to get it dialled pretty early.
The riders sessioned the course in pairs, working off of each other to get things sorted and figure out the best lines. The other major challenge on the course was the epic, six-metre curved wall ride, a first for any Red Bull X-Fighters event. After a bit of mucking about, the guys had a one-hour practice and all soon were riding high on the curved wall. It’s a sight definitely worth seeing!
To find out a little bit more about the wall ride and the rest of the course, we talked to West Aussie, Josh Sheehan.
RB: First practice today Sheeny, how’d everything go?
JS: Yeah, well, today went great. The course looks awesome and was fun to ride. There was one superkicker ramp that was in the middle of two landings, which a few people weren’t happy with, so we had that moved and we actually had a little bit of wind today too, which kinda limited the tricks. I got used to course though and jumped all the gaps, so I’m happy with that.
RB: The curved wall ride is something unique to this event, how was it?
JS: That was a first for me and it was sooo fun. It was basically straight out of a berm and you could either hit the berm a bit faster and higher or jump in. Once you’re in there, it’s curved, so the bike grips really well and you can go right up high and back down. Man, it’s so much fun!
RB: What do you think the key will be to you taking the win in front of the home country crowd?
JS: I think the spine jump in the middle of the course if going to play a lot of the role. You really have to land neat after the first jump to be able to jump the next one, so staying smooth will be crucial to getting a good run. Smooth and safe.
RB: Have you flipped the spine yet? Is it doable?
JS: Yeah, I did. I flipped it all three ways. One of the ways had a few tyre marks that gave it a bit of a kick, but it was OK. Two of the upramps feel really nice and are great to flip. I can’t wait for qualifying and competition.
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