Nicky Hayden won’t compete at this weekend’s Czech MotoGP after damaging his ankle during the recent X-Games. Hayden injured his right heel after landing heavily following a jump during practice for the Supermoto event.
The American rider, a former MotoGP world champ, had been given special permission from his Honda bosses to take part in the event - bet they wish they’d turned down his request.
“I just wanted to do some riding during the break, have some fun and I thought that maybe it’d give me a little spark for the rest of the season, but it backfired on me,” Hayden said, more sheepishly than a sheepish sheep.
Travis Pastrana won the first ever X-Games rally event, in 2006, beating the late Colin McRae after the latter rolled his car with two corners to go. This year Pastrana was back to defend his title, against the likes of BMX legend Dave Mirra (watch him in action here).
So did Travis win gold again? You’ll have to watch the clip to find out.
Dave Mirra is arguably the greatest BMX rider in history. He’s won more X Games medals than anyone else, because he can do amazing stuff on a BMX (like this).
Now Mirra is trying his hand at rallying. He competed in the rally event at this year’s X Games, finishing third - not a bad result for a guy who drove in his first event last year. The event was won by Travis Pastrana, another extreme sportsman who has traded two wheels for four - Pastrana is best-known as the motocross rider who completed an impossible double back-flip at the 2006 Games.
Watch Mirra take third place below. It’s some wild action:
Staples Center, LA: Here’s US rider Jim DeChamp, attempting the first-ever front flip on a dirt bike. He almost made it. Almost.
DeChamp bailed on the trick mid-air and landed on his back. He suffered a broken vertebra but still managed to walk out of the arena - although what the audience didn’t see was DeChamp collapsing backstage. Tough guy.
