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X Games 15: Day 2 from Staples Center

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, August 03, 2009, at 12:55PM

Big Air Rail Jam Eric Richardson [Flickr]

Bob Burnquist comes off his board above the quarter pipe after landing a practice run for the Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam at Staples Center on Friday.

ESPN X Games 15 wrapped up action at Staples Center on Friday night, with events continuing at the Home Depot Center through Sunday. The arena hosted another trio of events on day two, with Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam, BMX Big Air and Moto X Best Trick.

Big Air Rail Jam requires competitors to hit a curved rail installed on the apex of the gap between the Big Air launch and the landing area. In practice runs the athletes were routinely sailing over the rail, but when it came down to show time their results were much better. Despite being hurt coming into the competition and displaying obvious pain while getting up after each run, Danny Way took the gold medal after dropping in switch and landing a jump nearly 23 minutes into the half hour jam session.

While Kevin Robinson's combined performance on the ramp and quarter pipe landed him the gold medal in the BMX Big Air event, it was Anthony Napolitan's double front-flip that brought the biggest reaction of the night. Napolitan landed the trick twice, but a lingering injury left him unable to do much off the quarter pipe.

Kyle Loza took gold in Moto X Best Trick, landing the same “Electric Doom to Kiss of Death” that got him the medal last year. The final competition of the evening also saw some of the night's biggest spills. Travis Pastrana's planned trick was the talk of the event coming in, but a crash on his first attempt left him unable to continue.

Fans leaving the event got a little extra surprise, as ESPN host Stan Verrett and soccer star David Beckham were filming a Sportscenter promo on Nokia Plaza.

A crowd quickly formed around the shoot, after which Beckham signed autographs (including at least one skateboard signing) before heading inside ESPN's studios to co-host the show.

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Conversation

 

stompandflow on August 07, 2009, at 07:25PM – #1

Something mysterious happened at the end of the Big Air Rail Jam. A varial boardslide or a kickflip indy to 50/50 were not good enough to medal?

http://www.stompandflow.com/2009/07/31/2009-x-games-15-skateboard-big-air-rail-jam-results/



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