Travis Pastrana Remembers Erik Roner
On September 28, Erik Roner, a member of Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus Crew, tragically lost his life during a three-man parachute jump at the 4th Annual Squaw Valley Institute Celebrity Golf Classic in Squaw Valley, California. He was 39. Roner, well known in the ski industry, and as an innovator in BASE ski jumping, was survived by his wife and two children.
A few weeks ago, Pastrana sat down with The Inertia to remember the life of Roner in a touching video.
Road 2 Recovery has set up a donation page here.
Red Bull Battle Cams
Red Bull Straight Rhythm is a 12-year-old, ADHD kid's paradise: sick whips, gnarly scrubs, and the entire thing only lasts forty-something seconds. The event also makes for some great videos. While you may be a bit drained on footage, I suggest you take the time to check out the POV battle cams. They are sick. So, all you do is hit B and it will change from one rider to the next. Ken versus James versus Ryan all at the click of a button.
Vice Meets Maddo
Robbie Maddison, a certified mad-man, released his latest project Pipe Dreams in August, gaining mainstream attention for riding killer waves in Tahiti on a motorcycle. As of this posting, the video has close to 20 million views on YouTube alone. Recently, Vice Sports caught up with Maddison to talk about the project and much more. The interview contains some cool nuggets on Maddison, like how he got knocked out three days before the Pipe Dreams premiere riding BMX and woke up in ICU, and that he is actually afraid of something—snakes!
[Warning: The video does contain some graphic language.]
SI Covers James Stewart’s Return
Sports Illustrated, long the golden standard in sports journalism, also has a fitness, performance, action sports, and adventure site called SI Edge, which has long covered Monster Energy Supercross and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. Ahead of James Stewart's comeback at Red Bull Straight Rhythm and his second race this weekend at the Monster Energy Cup, SI Edge teamed up with Stewart for a video and a gallery of his comeback. Check out the video below and the full gallery here.
LaneSplitter Covers Supercross
Lanesplitter, a site under the Gawker media umbrella, which includes sites like Deadspin and Jalopnik, is a cool street bike orientated website that we frequently link to in the column. Earlier this week, this article was forwarded to me and caught me a little off-guard, in a good way: "I'm Going To Spend All Fall Trying To Get You To Love Supercross." Previously, I had never seen anything regarding supercross or motocross coverage on the site, so I was a little drawn back by it. The author of the post, Sean MacDonald, admits he didn't get into supercross until two years ago, and is by no means an expert. Judging by his previous posts on the site, MacDonalds' expertise is in road racing. Anyway, he wrote a cool little preview on why everyone should love the sport, and hits a lot of the major talking points heading into the 2016 season—piece of advice, Sean, don’t forget about a guy named Chad Reed—and does a great job of explaining the major highlights to an audience that may not lean that direction. One thing I thought was interesting was how close road racing people think the racing is in supercross, when sometimes, we think the exact opposite.
(Almost) every race has a close battle. The qualifying races are often better than the main event, because the battle for fourth place is often by guys much closer than the guys in the first and second spot. So often in road races, a rider will get out in front and stay there. In SX, there is rarely a race where the qualifying spots or main race winner is decided until the very end.
Check it out his full piece here.
KFC Backflip
I stumbled upon the video below of X Games gold medalist Bryce Hudson throwing down a backflip while snacking on some tasty (?) KFC Extra Crispy Boneless chicken (?) on Vurb Moto. It's a rad video, and should make you appreciate the level of skill in talent it takes to pull off this feat.
A little bit of background on the video. In January of 2014, KFC added a new version of its Boneless chicken—the Extra Crispy Boneless. Coinciding with the introduction, the brand launched the "How Do You KFC?" promotion. The campaign was basically consumers taking photos eating KFC, blah, blah, and spreading across social media with the hashtag #HowDoYouKFC. KFC also created a series of #HowDoYouKFC films, including the one above. So, while this video may be old, I've never seen it and it's rad—so enjoy. Here are a few others they created that I found on their YouTube page.
Crowd Funding a Pro Racer
From what I know—admittedly, not much—trying to become a professional race car driver takes truck loads of money. Maybe, Mr. NASCAR Jason Weigandt can elaborate. Road and Track recently ran a cool profile on Tom O'Gorman, a 23-year-old from Mason, Ohio, who, in short, crowd-funded his way to the final round of the Pirelli World Challenge at Laguna Seca (he raced one race prior) and finished second!! That's akin to John Doe crowd funding a bike on Monday, driving to RedBud, and finishing second in the 450 Class behind Ryan Dungey. THAT. DOESN'T. HAPPEN.
The last Pirelli World Challenge race weekend of the year was at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. O'Gorman wanted one more chance. But he had a busted car, dwindling funds, and didn't live even remotely close to the track. Could he do it?
"I crunched the numbers, and given that the crowdfunding campaign had gone so well, I discovered I could actually afford to fix the car and do the Laguna race, albeit on a shoestring budget," he says. "I felt a sense of obligation to do everything I could to fix the car because so many people had supported me to get to this point."
With Laguna less than a month after Mid-Ohio, he had to move fast. The car needed a new rear beam axle, so he bought one and replaced it himself. After registering for the race, he began crafting his strategy for what would be the most daunting challenge yet—hauling his car across the country on an open trailer to race at one of the world's most hallowed circuits. By himself.
The plan: drive the 2400 miles in three days, sleep in his truck every night, and then win. Or something like that.
Read the entire story here.
Banned in the UK
Hoverboards are becoming a thing. Don't try and stop it—it's too late. Unless you live in the UK. According to Mashable, hoverboards are illegal to ride on public roads or pavements due to a 1835 law. Ha! That's awesome. From Mashable:
"You can only ride an unregistered self-balancing scooter on land which is private property and with the landowner's permission," they say. The Department for Transport also advises "that appropriate safety clothing should be worn at all times" if you do ride one in private.
However, one hoverboard distributor, Simon Benson of Ghetto Gadgets, reckons the police force's reminder of the of law could help boost sales.
“If the authorities give any impression that the use of hoverboards in some circumstances is unlawful, then I expect sales to soar," he told The Guardian.
Speaking of hoverboards, here is a compilation of people falling while trying to ride them.
Golf Prank
That's dirty, bro! But funny.
[h/t: For the Win]
Go Inside Fiji Barrels with GoPro
Surfing is hard. Like, really hard. I've already decided I'll never be able to surf well, so I will live vicariously through others that can. Case in point: this GoPro video below of Bruno Santos killing a double overhead barrel in Fiji. Yeah, that's dope.
FI Crash
There have been some heavy crashes in Formula 1 this season. Another one took place last weekend at the Russian Grand Prix when Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. hit a wall and was sent under the barriers. Sainz, somehow, was perfectly fine after the crash and was cleared to race the following day.
Check out some of the crazy photos on Jalopnik.
Bathurst Crash
During the Bathurst 1000 last weekend in Australia, a huge crash from Damien Flack, which was caused when his brother Adrian nudged him, left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. It was a massive crash, in which Damien hit the wall roof first and flipped over the protective barrier.
Fox Sports has more.
Drifting in a Tub
It's a motor in a bath tub, man! A fing motor in a tub. This is utterly brilliant.
[h/t: Esquire]
BMW, Honda and Yamaha are Teaming Up
No, a new two-stroke is not being released. Sorry to ruin your day. According to Jalopnik, BMW announced this week that "they were working with Honda and Yamaha to form something called the Connected Motorcycle Consortium (CMC) so brands could work together to standardize the intelligent systems they're developing—much like what has happened with cars." This is quite interesting.
Mr Takaaki Kimura, Chief General Manager of Technology Center and Executive Vice President and Representative Director of Yamaha Motor Co.Ltd. adds: “Our companies are already active members of the Car2Car Communication Consortium, in which we work with car and truck makers and other stakeholders on common specifications and standards. We came to realize that the specific requirements of motorcycles are beyond the scope of this consortium, however. The next logical step is to enter into a cooperation dedicated solely to the challenges relating to powered two-wheelers.”
It’s worth reading more here.
Ryder D and Jimmy J
In August, Team Green’s Ryder DiFrancesco signed with KHI Management, which was founded by NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick. DiFrancesco, an up-and-coming star from Bakersfield, already has three Loretta Lynn titles on his resume, including one in the 65cc (7-9) Limited class this year. Today, Jimmy John's announced on their Twitter account that they have agreed to a "major sponsorship deal" with the 10-year-old. Jimmy John's is currently a title sponsor for RCH Racing and of Kevin Harvick's NASCAR. Below are quotes from a press releases on the announcement.
"Having primary sponsors like Jimmy John's is so cool because it means they believe in me and are always cheering for me every weekend,” DiFrancesco says. "Jimmy John's food is awesome, and they're fast, and I hope to be just as fast on the track as they are in their restaurants. I can't thank them and all my sponsors enough for their help."
"We are thrilled to sponsor Ryder DiFrancesco in 2016," says Jimmy John, Founder of Jimmy John's. "He is a full-blown rock star in a 10-year-old's body. We're so stoked to add him to the Jimmy John's family. We aim to sponsor the best athletes competing today and Ryder is our newest addition!"
Jimmy John's signed a major sponsorship deal with @DiFrancesco199, 2015 Loretta Lynn's National Motocross Champion! pic.twitter.com/rjOXLlXbVh
— Jimmy John's (@jimmyjohns) October 14, 2015