MY CAROLLA CAROTHERS HOPES TO DEFEND HIS TITLE AS X GAMES 11 KICKS OFF.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

The cheers inside Staples Center are often long and furious.

Roars for a spectacular Kobe Bryant dunk or a Shaquille O'Neal and the NBA titles they produced.

Perhaps none of those can rival the ovation Moto X rider Chuck Carothers received at last year's X Games. The 27-year-old, who had to plead with game organizers to give him one of the 10 berths into the Moto X Best Trick competition, won the event's gold medal with a first-time move, a Carolla.

The move is a body varial. With the motorcycle some 25 feet in the air, Carothers let go and rotated 360 degrees while horizontal to his bike. The Cleveland, Texas resident had never successfully completed the trick - until X Games.

``Hearing how loud they got, I had never heard that before,'' Carothers recalled. ``I had never heard anyone cheer that loud for any other rider. The feeling was indescribable. It was an awesome, awesome feeling.''

The trick propelled Carothers from unknown to one of the top freestyle riders in the world and enabled him to move back to his Houston-area roots and afford a foam pit to practice his tricks. He was nominated for an ESPY award as one of the four best plays of 2004, and earned a spot in ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. He returns to X Games, which begin today, in hopes of defending his title.

``When I got to the X Games, there was nothing like it at the event,'' he said. ``That made it even more awesome. I have another varial idea. I don't want to do the same thing. At last year's X Games, I landed with one hand and one foot on the peg. Cleaning up the landing would be a great improvement, but I want to improve it even more.''

Besides winning, X Games are about the progression of action sports.

``It's everything,'' BMX competitor Ryan Nyquist said of coming up with new tricks. ``It's why I keep going. If not, I would get bored.''

Skateboarder Sandro Dias proved he could continually stick the 900 at last year's X Games. The mega-ramp became part of the regular skateboard mainstream, and led to Danny Way's jump of the Great Wall of China. Ben Bostrom showed Supermoto could be more than an AMA sideshow by winning the inaugural event at the Home Depot Center last year.

So what's next?

``The most important thing to the athletes are the progression of the tricks, and because the X Games are their largest exposure vehicle, these guys carry tricks that they have not introduced,'' X Games general manager Chris Stiepock said. ``They're pulling tricks that have never been pulled before, to give them a better chance of medaling. Look at Chuck Carothers; the body varial and the exposure he has received from that has definitely helped him this past year for sponsors and general exposure.''

One competitor who missed all the practice sessions last year sent his publicist to scout the competition, to see what was being done.

``These kids, while they have great affiliation and essence of their fellow competitors, and they want them to do well, they know what tricks somebody nails all the time, and they know they have to do better than that,'' X Games executive director Jack Weinert said. ``Call it progression, but it's striving for something personal, The bottom line, they don't want to wish anything bad on anyone else, but they want to win.''

Carothers says his major concern in tonight's motocross best trick competition is Travis Pastrana.

``Everyone else is going to have variations of backflips and 360s and I feel like I can beat all the variations,'' he said. ``But Travis is the guy that comes out with crazy things. Who knows with that guy.''

Pastrana's agent, Steve Astephen, says his client - who, despite rumors, will not attempt a double backflip - has some moves planned that will surprise people.

``He's got other stuff up his sleeve,'' Astephen said. ``He's making technical advances with his bike.''

One move, Astephen suggests, will be a barspin backflip, which has never been done on a motorcycle.

``A lot of gamesmanship goes on,'' Stiepock said. ``Take (Moto X). There are only a certain amount of foam pits around, so various guys gravitate toward certain pits. There is a secrecy to who is working on what at each foam pit. The rumors circulate. Who's got what. Actually, athletes practice specific tricks when no one else is around, or wait until the night of the competition to surprise people and not tell them what they have.''

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

X GAMES

When: Today-Sunday

Where:Staples Center and Home Depot Center

Tickets: $5-$20

Today: Practice begins at 10 a.m., Skateboard Street Men's finals at 1:30 p.m., BMX Freestyle Vert finals at 5:30 p.m., Moto X Best Trick finals at 7 p.m.

TV: ESPN, 6 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Chuck Carothers shocked the crowd and competition by successfully completing a body varial at X Games last year.

Ezra Zuccareno/Shazamm

(2 -- color) no caption (man on motorcycle)

Box:

X GAMES (see text)