Josh Sheehan wins and is crowned Red Bull X-Fighters champion in Pretoria

The 14th season of the Red Bull X-Fighters Freestyle Motocross World Tour ended in style with the first event in history held in Africa. In a battle to the death, Dany Torres and Maikel Melero went all out, despite not having fully recovered from their injuries.

By Gloria25 August 2014 · 3 min read

sheehan

The 14th season of the Red Bull X-Fighters Freestyle Motocross World Tour ended in style with the first event in history held in Africa. In a battle to the death, Dany Torres and Maikel Melero went all out, despite not having fully recovered from their injuries.

In the end, Torres put on an incredible performance, which earned him second place, behind Josh Sheehan, the event winner and new world champion. This 28-year-old Australian dominated the event and clearly outclassed his rivals, winning all his rounds 5-0 and claiming his first title. In second place finished a reborn Dany Torres, still suffering from discomfort in his right ankle, while third place went to American Adam Jones.

Sheehan had already given the first signs that he was in great form this year by achieving two second-place finishes in Mexico and Japan. His progress continued as he repeated the result in Madrid and won in Germany. That left him five points behind the leader, Levi Sherwood, winner of the first two events, as well as third place in Las Ventas and Munich. The New Zealander seemed able to contain his rival in South Africa, but a fall in qualifying left him with a damaged ankle and the obligation to get through the first round of the main event, but he was unable to and Sherwood was eliminated in the very first round.

Sheehan did not let up and decided to go all out in each and every one of his rounds. The Australian clearly beat all his opponents and earned all the judges’ votes in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, thanks to combinations that included his classic Double Backflip and the Flair. The extreme level of parity that is always talked about in Red Bull X-Fighters is reflected in the final overall standings, with Sheehan, Sherwood, Torres and Pagès each holding one world title to their name.

For their part, our riders had an interesting day, with Dany Torres finishing second after overcoming the discomfort in his right ankle he had experienced in Friday’s qualifying. Meanwhile, Maikel Melero won the first round and advanced to the semifinals, where he faced the new champion. The eighth place achieved in South Africa leaves the Albacete rider in a commendable tenth place overall in 2014.