XDL Irwindale results and videos

[Stuntride Archive]

Here are the competition results and press release from XDL Los Angeles:

XDL Championship Series

Round 4: Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

XDL PRODUCES A THRILLER, BILL DIXON CLINCHES 2010 TITLE

By Randy Grube

Photos By David Avila

Los Angeles, CA – June 18 & 19

After a rain-soaked Round 3 in Nashville, the LA round offered plenty of sunshine all around. Under clear skies, with a solid crowd in attendance and a buzzing vendor area in the background, Yamaha’s Bill Dixon managed to close the door on the 2010 FMF Cup championship hunt by finishing second to 2008 champion Nick Brocha. Brocha did what he had to do, which was win, but Dixon’s point total was high enough to secure the title by one marker, even if Brocha were to win Indy as well. This crucial point came from the bonus point earned by Dixon’s number one qualifying spot, proving how important it has become to qualify well in FMF Cup.

K&N Filters stepped up their contingency program for the LA round quite significantly, which generated a whole new level of enthusiasm amongst the athletes. The K&N Circle Challenge was won by veteran Lin Eshalom, but the stand-out performer was Tony Carbajal, who in only his third XDL appearance managed to beat Ernie Vigil, Nick Brocha and Bill Dixon on his way to second place and some K&N bonus money.

Scorpion rider Eric Pettit may have sealed the Aprilia All Star Challenge championship by earning his third win of the season and finally winning in the dry. And he did it in an amazing 22.69 seconds, the fastest time of the year. Dan Jackson still has a mathematical chance of taking the title, but things are sure looking good for Pettit.

The Sartso Women’s Cup saw the largest field of the year with no less than 4 riders competing. Brandy Valdez from Texas took the win over Daytona winner Dena Sodano from Pennsylvania.

XDL LA closed out as it always does with the Speed & Strength Sickest Trick competition, which delivered an amazing final trick, as well as a fair amount of controversy. Factory Aprilia-HJC rider Joe Dryden had gone without a win or place in any competition and was looking at a long drive back to Florida with no money to show for his efforts. In a bid to try to pull a rabbit out of a hat, Dryden decided to go for a “hail mary” by attempting a high-speed, no handed wheelie scrape. While this may not sound that difficult, one needs to remember that his Aprilia doesn’t run a traditional 12-bar, so he doesn’t benefit from the additional six to eight inches of length in the bike. For Dryden to scrape the tail of his bike he’d have to lean the bike back past the balance point, essentially riding “upside down.” With a failure rate of over 90%, prospects of Joe crashing on to his head at 35-40mph were fairly high. Speed & Strength Sickest Trick rules state that a rider has two attempts to complete his trick. Dryden’s first run wasn’t event close. On his second run the trick started to develop. This should have been the end but the judges and crowd felt that there was enough progress to see this one through, or see Joe crash. On his fourth run Dryden pulled off this never before attempted trick and took the win. Other riders immediately protested the rules infraction but the win was upheld on the grounds that even if other riders had been given additional attempts and completed their tricks, Dryden’s feat was simply the most stunning trick of the day. It was a fitting end to a day full of spectacular riding and showmanship.

Now it is on to the XDL Finals in Indianapolis as part of MotoGP weekend on August 27 & 28 in Indianapolis, IN. XDL can be followed on www.xdlshow.com.

FMF Cup Final

1. Nick Brocha (155.5); 2. Bill Dixon(147.5); 3. Luke Emmons (139.0); 4. Chris McNeil (134.0); 5. Shinsuke Kinoshita (131.5)

Aprilia All Star Challenge

1. Eric Pettit (22.69 sec.); 2. Bill Dixon (24.88 sec.); 3. Joe Dryden (29.37)

K&N Circle Challenge

1. Lin Eshalom; 2. Tony Carbajal; 3. Eric Pettit

Speed & Strength Sickest Trick

1. Joe Dryden; 2. Darius Khashabi; 3. Rick Hart

Sartso Women’s Cup

1. Brandy Valdez (66.5); 2. Dena Sodano (61); 3. Alicia Speck (49); 4. Leah Peterson (49)

Freestyle Burnout

1. Alex Flores; 2. Nick Brocha; 3. Randy Callicoat

Team Battle

1. Cali Alliance (Alex Flores, Guru Khalsa, Rick Hart, John Michael O’Leary)(24); 2. Death Squad (Nick Brocha, Ernie Vigil, Shin Kinoshita, Lin Eshalom)(23); 3. LA to the Bay (Nick Hernandez, Billy Wynn, Tony Carbajal, Darius Khashabi)(18)

Check out this thread on our forums for links to info and videos from Stunt Bums- http://stuntride.com/vbstunt/showthread.php?t=15718