X Games LA 2012: Day 1 Recap

Posted on June 29, 2012 by ChuckTaylor

Day one is done and we’ve seen the start of what promises to be a sick X Games weekend this year.

It started off quietly with Park, Street and Big Air practice for BMX and Skate in the afternoon while in between sessions fans and media alike got to enjoy X Fest in full swing.

X Fest was a pretty sweet distraction from the action. From Red Bull tents with arcade video games and free Red Bull to mini skate parks and live bands playing. Plus even more free crap like bracelets, zooper doopers, sunnies and even underwear. Yes, I copped some. Oh and the Hooters girls were there too. Plenty of HCASH material. The world’s largest skateboard (36 feet 7 inches) was in the house but George Muhresan was probably the only guy that could actually ride that thing.

The two important events of the day were the Skateboard Big Air Eliminations and the Moto X Freestyle Final. First up was the Big Air which was outdoors on the sun-soaked Chick Hearn court and it pitted the top 16 skaters against each other in a battle for 12 positions in the final. It was sick. Big Air is my favourite type of air. It’s better than regular air. For anyone to pull off these monster tricks is absolutely amazing let alone the fact that there’s a crop of barely-teen (not to be confused with barely-legal) riders that don’t even have drivers licenses yet. Mitchie Brusco (age 15) and Tom Schaar (age 12) pulled off two ridiculous 900′s, Brusco’s being the first ever to land one in competition. There were just as much spills as there were thrills though, with Lincoln Ueda and Italo Penarrubia taking about 45 minutes to land their first trick but doing enough to make the 12. Some really great action, can’t wait for what they’ve all got in store for the final.

Over at the Staples Center, Blake Williams and Rob Adelberg were our two Aussie lads representing in the Moto X Freestyle final. Another X Games activity that just baffles me as to how these guys do any of these tricks, so naturally I got a massive kick out of it. So did the crowd and the early favourite, Taka Higashino, juiced up the crowd with a 93.33 in his first run which he kicked of with a Rock Solid backflip. Another X Games first as it hadn’t been landed before in competition. Our boys finished 5th (Williams), 7th (Adelberg) and our neighbour from NZ, Levi Sherwood came in with the silver to the eventual winner and first gold medal of this years X Games, Taka Higashino, with his first run score. Trick of the night goes to Javier Villegas though with the Superman Indian air backflip, just because of the name.

Competition heats up tomorrow with the BMX Street Final, Skateboard Big Air Final and Moto X Best Whip, Step Up and Best Trick Finals. I’ll be live tweeting and instagramming on the @primomagazine twitter handle if you’re keen to follow the action.

In the mean time, check out video of Mitchie Brusco’s 900, Taka’s first run and a GoPro highlights video of day 1.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgCKVC2eVLA&w=640&h=400]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4RazU0WkU&w=640&h=400]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2o1y9-FrE&&w=640&h=400]