BIKE STUNT VERT: HOFFMAN FALLS SHORT AGAIN BACK INJURY CLAIMS 10-TIME CHAMPION.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer Last year, Mat Hoffman's bike let him down. This year, it was his back. Hoffman, a 10-time BMX BMX abbr. bicycle motocross BMX Noun 1. bicycle motocross: stunt riding over an obstacle course on a bicycle 2. world champion who landed the first no-handed 900 in the Bike Stunt Vert finals at last year's X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. only to lose out on the gold when his bike malfunctioned in the middle of the run, was a late scratch from Friday night's Bike Stunt Vert preliminary and will miss Sunday's final with a back injury. ``I was really excited about riding here but now I'm just trying to accept it,'' said Hoffman, the first Bike Stunt Vert gold medalist, in 1995. ``I'm used to riding with injuries but this time, with my back, I'm kind of at its mercy. ... Gravity wins sometimes.'' Hoffman was expected to contend with Dave Mirra Dave Mirra (born April 4, 1974 in Chittenango, New York) is an American BMX athlete and business owner. Dave Mirra is known as BMX's most dominant athlete and arguably the most dominant extreme athlete of all-time. and Jamie Bestwick for the gold medal in Sunday's 4 p.m. final, the first action-sports final to air live in prime time on network television. Bestwick was injured the past two years and is competing in his first X Games since he won the event in 2000. The time away didn't affect him, as he scored a 92.60 on his first run after landing multiple 540s, two corkscrew corkscrew a deformity in which the affected part is spiraled like a corkscrew. corkscrew claw a probably heritable defect of the lateral claw, usually of the front feet, of cattle causing serious lameness. flairs and launching himself higher out of the world's biggest halfpipe half·pipe or half pipe n. A smooth-surfaced structure shaped like a trough and used for stunts in sports such as in-line skating and snowboarding. than any of the other skaters. < ``To be generous, that was about 60 percent (of what he can do),'' Bestwick said. ``I didn't really do too much tonight. ... The finals are going to be night and day from tonight. There'll be fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to .'' But when asked whether he planned to unveil a new trick in the final, Bestwick coyly remarked: ``If you pull something like that off, you want it to be a surprise.'' Mirra, who won the gold at last year's X Games after Hoffman's bike failed him, had the second highest qualifying score of the night on his first run, 90.8. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Morgan Wade of Tyler, Tex., whipsnaps his bike from under him Friday during warmups for the X Games Bike Stunt Park event at Staples Center. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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