Pro Taper Riders Dominate X Games 16

Corona, CA – X-Games 16 is in the books and Pro Taper has once again solidified themselves as the most dominant handlebar and sprocket brand in extreme sports. Pro Taper athletes claimed 9 of the 15 possible overall medals. Just as impressive is the fact that 60% of all the riders entered in these events chose Pro Taper products to give them the confidence needed while competing on the sport’s biggest stage.

MotoX Freestyle kicked off the week’s festivities and youngster Levi Sherwood came out swinging. The 18-year-old New Zealand native fell a mere one point short of gold, but cemented his name as a top contender in route to his first ever X-Games silver medal. Pro Taper veteran Nate Adams matched his 2009 bronze medal performance and amazed the crowd all evening with his super smooth 360’s and technician like consistency.

The Pro Taper domination moved over to the Staples Center on Friday night for MotoX Step-up, Best Whip and Best Trick competitions. Pro Taper’s Matt Buyten was the only rider capable of clearing the bar at 33’6", thus taking home the third Step-up gold medal of his career. Fellow PT rider Todd Potter was eliminated at a respectable 30’6" and given a bronze medal for his efforts.

Next up was best whip, where Todd Potter crushed the competition garnering 54% of the fan votes on the way to successfully defend his gold medal. PT’s Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg threw down impressive enough whips to get voted in to the bronze medal position, despite riding with an injury sustained the day before in Freestyle eliminations.

Rounding out Friday night’s events was the ever-popular Best Trick competition. An injured Robbie "Maddo" Maddison was barely able to hold on to his Pro Taper bars, but still managed to pull the first ever body varial to side saddle landing. Maddo’s gutsy performance landed him a silver medal and quite a few more fans to his already enormous following. Speaking of gutsy performances, Pro Taper’s Paris Rosen is the definition of committed. Rosen went down hard going for a front flip and had to be transported to a local hospital for evaluation. He was treated and released with a grade two concussion, but don’t expect him to give up that easily.

Sunday’s Speed & Style was held inside the Staples center for the first time and was a big hit with the fans. After qualifying for the night show at the Salt Lake City Supercross earlier this season, Pro Taper’s Nate Adams was one of the odds on favorites to win. Nate didn’t disappoint as he fought tooth and nail with former AMA Champion Travis Pastrana in the gold medal round. Nate had a clear freestyle advantage, but couldn’t overcome Travis’ speed and eventually had to settle for silver. However, the race of the week had to be for the bronze, where Metal Mulisha veterans Twitch and Ronnie "Kung Fu" Faisst were forced to face off for the last medal of the event. In what could have been the most dramatic finish in X-Games MotoX history, it appeared Stenberg knocked off Faisst to take the bronze medal, but due to numerous mishaps during the race the judges awarded both Faisst & Twitch bronze medals.

Freestyle Motocross is dangerous enough without having to worry about your equipment holding up to the abuse. Actions speak louder than words and the riders at X-Games 16 spoke when they chose to put their trust in Pro Taper.

Pro Taper Overall Medals:

MotoX Freestyle
Silver – Levi Sherwood
Bronze – Nate Adams

MotoX Step-up
Gold – Matt Buyten
Bronze – Todd Potter

MotoX Best Whip
Gold – Todd Potter
Bronze – Jeremy Stenberg

MotoX Best Trick
Silver – Robbie Maddison

MotoX Speed & Style
Silver – Nate Adams
Bronze – Jeremy Stenberg
Bronze – Ronnie Faisst

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