Red Bull X-Fighters: 'The best day of my life!'

Red Bull X-Fighters: 'The best day of my life!'

April 03, 2006

Mat Rebeaud wins the Red Bull X-Fighters in Mexico City

    MEXICO CITY, April 3 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- 42,000
enthusiastic fans in the world's largest bull fighting
arena, Live-TV transmissions in Mexico, Guatemala and
Venezuela: Mexico City celebrated at the Red Bull
X-Fighters an exhilarating Freestyle Motocross night. The
end of the evening came shortly before midnight, when the
jury passed their final judgment after three rounds and
altogether 18 fantastic rides: The 23-year-old Swiss rider,
Mat Rebeaud, is the winner of the Red Bull X-Fighters 2006
in the Mexican 20-million-metropolis.

    The first surprise that the fans experienced in the
Monumental Plaza de Toros, which had already been sold-out
for weeks, was at the start: Not as previously announced,
there were not nine but rather ten riders at the start -
Andre Villa, the Norwegian, who was originally planned as
the substitute rider, rode so convincingly in the final
days of training that he was hastily called up as a
permanent starter.

    How correct the decision was, the 23-year-old, who
lives in Spain, was already able to prove in round one: He
crammed breath-taking difficulties into his first ride;
only Travis Pastrana was awarded more points from the
five-member jury, which included Mexico's most popular bull
fighter, Eulalio Lopez Zotoluco. This was the matador's jury
debut at an FMX event, where he was given the responsibility
of rating the "Voice of spectators", that is, the
enthusiasm of the public, by scoring this into points. The
later winner Rebeaud had just barely slid his way into
round two, by the way: With 70 points, he had placed fifth
-- the sixth-place Australian, Robbie Maddison, was
eliminated with 69 points.

    In the semi-finals with the five best riders, Travis
Pastrana also made his mark in the opening run: The
American "Wunderkind" inspired the crowd and jury
with a great ride accompanied by Jerry Lee Lewis'
"Great Balls Fire". Andre Villa had bad luck: The
Norwegian who was promoted as Pastrana's big challenger fell
in his last jump and thereby missed the seemingly secured
entry into the finals.  For him, the workday ended just as
it did for the Spaniard, Dani Torres, who remained 1.5
points behind Ronnie Renner with 74.5 points.

    In the third and final round, the crowd cheered as the
Freestyle Motocross show got unleashed -- first by public
favorite and last year's winner, Renner, then by Rebeaud.
The Swiss KTM pilot laid down a brilliant and unbelievably
precise run, riddled with tall-order difficulties. He thus
forced Pastrana to take greater risks - and the best FMX
rider of the world then risked too much this time. Just
after halfway through his 120-second run, he had a heavy
crash, but thankfully was able to leave the arena however
on his own two legs.       

    "That is what our sport is all about", said
Rebeaud after the victory which he celebrated with a
Mexican Sombrero on his head. "I risked it and won. 
This is an unbelievable victory.  It is probably the best
day of my life."

    RESULTS

    Red Bull X-Fighters Mexico City 2006

    1. Mat Rebeaud (SUI)

    2. Ronnie Renner (USA)

    3. Travis Pastrana (USA)

    4. Dani Torres (ESP)

    5. Andre Villa (NOR)

    6. Robbie Maddison (AUS)

    7. Nate Adams (USA)

    8. Eigo Sato (JPN)

    9. Sebastian Mejia (COL)

    10. Johan Nungaray (MEX)

    More Information: http://www.redbullxfighters.com
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    For more information, please contact:

     Red Bull Office USA
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Red Bull X-Fighters