Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Death-defying leaps and breath-taking stunts kick-started F1 Fever’s engines in Bahrain at the weekend.
The Red Bull X-Fighters Jams Freestyle Motorcross (FMX) event lit up the sky – quite literally – as adrenaline levels hit unprecedented heights during the kingdom’s first show of its kind staged at Amwaj Islands.
For two hours on Friday and Saturday, riders Nick de Wit from South Africa, Chris Brock from England and Martin Koren from the Czech Republic revved up a treat for petrol-heads in a specialised Red Bull-ring, with illuminating commentary provided by Australian announcer Steve Sommerfield.
Hurriedly re-organised a day later than planned after the vicious sandstorm which pummelled the country last week, the dust was cleared and the sand shovelled away just in time for the riders to burst into the arena amidst a cacophony of noise from an excited crowd on the opening night.
Warming up with a series of basic (to the riders anyway!) stunts, mouths were agape and cameras were flashing as the daredevils soared as high as 20-metres in the air, twisting their bikes and bodies into a series of shapes.
While the announcer exclaimed that the riders were ‘going big’ much earlier than usual in the practice run and were treating the Bahrain fans ‘extra-special’ (a line repeated at every event, I’m sure), it was clear the best was yet to come.
Rabid fans were made to wait, however, as local band The Relocators performed a series of covers in the arena while the riders geared up for their much tougher runs.
When they emerged for the ‘audience participation’ segment, Sommerfield picked his way through the crowd and asked gleeful kids to select a ‘trick’ for one of the riders to perform.
Things started off fairly easily with stunts like the Indie, Double Grab, Whip and Heel Clicker, before the difficulty was ramped up with dangerous and scarcely believable tricks like the Superman (which involved the riders grabbing the handlebars and letting their bodies leave the bike so they are completely horizontal in the manner of the eponymous superhero), the Hart Attack (a handstand on the bike in mid-air) and of course, the stunt everyone came to see, the Backflip!
What made the stunts so unbelievable was how short the run up to the ramp appeared. These bikes pack a lot of power into their two-stroke engines and they are stripped down to be incredibly light, but even still, it looked like they’d never be able to land their jumps from so far away. Little did we know how easily these professionals could make it look!
During a break in proceedings, I caught a word with local bike enthusiast Hassan Abdulla, from Saar, who was witnessing his first motorcross event.
The 22 year-old said: “This show is absolutely incredible. I’ve been a huge fan of bikes since I was a kid and owned one as soon as I was old enough. I remember I used to do little jumps off speed bumps imagining in my head that I was like these guys, but when you see them in the flesh, it completely blows away your expectations.
“I don’t think I could ever fancy doing this myself, but I have such huge admiration for these guys. I have absolutely no idea what goes through their heads to even try this, but you have to give them a huge amount of respect no matter how crazy they are!”
For the final act of the evening, the three riders held a mini-competition where they each performed four stunts of increasing difficulty, with crowd cheers being the sole adjudicator. After a cat-and-mouse game of one-upmanship, Koren emerged the victor after pulling off a frankly ridiculous Backflip Hart Attack (think about that for a second, a mid-air handstand…while upside down) and the threesome left with astounded applause ringing in their ears.
The show had certainly left its impression on young Fawaz Hussein, eight, who ran around the grandstand proclaiming he would himself be performing in a few years’ time.
With a beaming smile, he said: “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen. I want to do it myself, I wish they’d let me sit on the back while they did the tricks! Hopefully, my dad will let me get a bike when I’m old enough so I can practice.”
Judging by dad Ali’s wide-eyed head shaking behind his back, it appears that this is a dream that won’t come true, but still, it was nice to see high-octane action inspiring spectators in the run up to the biggest motorsport event of the year.
