What a great time to be a Pittsburgh fan. And not just because
the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the Super Bowl: Just last weekend,
Pittsburgh native Adam Jones swept both nights of the IFMA event during
its annual stop in the Steel City. Adam has won six consecutive IFMA
events now and is well on his way to his first IFMA Freestyle
Championship. Be sure to show Adam and his sponsors some support by
clicking on the links at the bottom of the page.
 | | Adam is on a roll, having won the first three IFMA events of 2006 | |
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Racer X:
Adam, you’re coming off a pretty darn good weekend at the IFMA in
Pittsburgh, where you convincingly won both nights. Is that a first for
you?
Adam Jones: No, actually that was the third weekend of IFMAs I’ve done, and I’ve won all six of them this year.
Wow, that’s pretty impressive. You must be eating your Wheaties!
No, I’ve just been practicing a lot. There is still a lot of
competition, but Nate and Twitch and guys like that aren’t at these
events. I’ve been practicing hard, but I still have a lot of room to
improve.
Well, I was in attendance over that weekend, and the competition was
the best that I’ve seen with Mike Jones, Beau Bamburg, Jake Windham....
Yeah, it’s pretty good. Everybody has been riding really well lately.
It’s good competition, but I’ve been feeling really good lately.
Now, you’re not related to “Mad” Mike Jones, but it had to be pretty
cool to be competing against one of the legends of freestyle.
Yeah, for sure. I’ve known Mike for years, so I never really think of
him as being a legend, but it was definitely cool that he was there.
Not only is Mad Mike a local Pittsburgher, but you also grew up
right up the road in Warrendale, PA. How did it feel to come back home
and win in front of all your friends and family?
Oh, it’s the best feeling in the world to ride at home. And to win on top of that is awesome—I love it!
 | | Adam represented the Terrible Towel in front of his hometown crowd | |
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Was that your first win in Pittsburgh?
Actually, three years ago I won both nights, but it’s been a while
since I was winning. The first event this year was back in January, but
before that I hadn’t won anything in over two years, so it was good to
get my first win in the beginning of the year, but to keep my streak
going at home was pretty awesome, too.
Did you have a feeling that you could win coming into the season?
I knew I could win if I rode well, but you can't count out guys like
Bamburg. He always rides good. I haven’t seen him make a mistake all
year, and I’ve always been known to make some small mistakes, but so
far so good. I shouldn’t have said that because I have another weekend
of IFMAs and I’ll probably choke it up this weekend in Tacoma.
What’s the key to winning these days, Adam?
I don’t really know!
Do you have to just nail the backflip or does it take more than that?
In the big contests it seems like it’s just the backflip. I don’t ever
want to just focus on the backflip. I think it’s cool to have a big
variety with a couple grab tricks, a couple bar tricks, a couple flip
tricks – just a little bit of everything, and that’s what I try and do
and hopefully the judges like it. I don’t want people to watch my run
and get bored just seeing me upside down the whole time. Because as
much as people like the backflip, if you see 10 backflips in one run
you’re going to get bored with it.
Speaking of judges, do you know any of them?
Yeah, I know some of them and it’s not an easy job, that’s for sure.
They catch a lot of grief and sometimes they deserve it, but at the
same time it’s really hard to look at a run and decide where to put
who. Sometimes you can tell that it’s way off and there are people that
are winning and who shouldn’t be. Most of the time they do a pretty
good job, though.
 | | Adam credits his recent success to his rigorous practice routine | |
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Unfortunately,
it seems every year Winter X falls on the same weekend as this
Pittsburgh IFMA, so did you have to choose between Winter X and this?
[Laughs] I wish. I didn’t even get invited to Winter X. I don’t
know what the deal is because I’ve rode pretty good at X Games the past
couple years, but I didn’t even get a phone call for an alternate spot
or anything!
Wow, that’s unfortunate. Speaking of X Games, how important was it to you when you won the Bronze at the 2004 Summer X Games?
Yeah, that was awesome. First of all, it was my first experience at X
Games, and most of the time I was the first rider to go. So I was
looking at the jumbotron the whole time and I was seeing my name at the
top pretty much the whole time. And then Nate and Travis had to go, so
I knew I was going to get knocked off. I knew I didn’t have a chance at
first or second, but I knew third could’ve been a reality.
Well, you’re currently leading the IFMA points, so could this be the year you put it all together for the championship?
I’d like to say yes, but Dallas is the last event and I’m not going to be at that event.
So you’re hoping to build up a big enough lead that it won’t matter missing that event?
I’m trying, but I don’t think it’s really possible. Beau is there and
has been in second at every event, so I think I only have like 12
points on him and you get 50 points an event.
Why are you missing Dallas?
I’m going over to Austria to ride some overseas shows. I don’t want to
miss opportunities like that. But if the IFMA has any events later in
the year it’ll give me a chance to catch back up.
What does the rest of 2006 have in store for you?
I’m going to Austria for three weeks and after I get back from that I
leave for Australia for the Crusty Demons Tour for three months. And
when I get back the Dew Action Sports Tour starts up from there. I want
to ride all of those and I’d really like to get a top three overall in
the Dew AST, and then hopefully I get in for the Red Bull X-Fighters. I
know my manager talked about that a little bit, but I’m not sure. And
then hopefully I’ll get invited back to X Games, but the way that
situation always works out I’m not counting on that.
Who’s your manager, Adam?
Jimmy Button. It’s pretty cool, I was kind of starstruck the first time he called me!
Definitely! So, do you have any new tricks up your sleeve?
Not anything that nobody has done before, but I was riding at Nate’s
house yesterday and I learned flip-nac to heelclickers. But it’s kind
of scary though because every time I come up to the ramp I see Nate’s
crash in my mind from Spain, where he foot slipped off.
Well, keep your feet on the pegs and keep doing what you’re doing, because it seems to be working. Any parting words?
Yeah, I just want to thank my family, friends and sponsors for all of their support. And go Steelers!
