X GAMES: STEAMER SLIDES TO VICTORY SHE COMES FROM BEHIND IN STREET SKATEBOARD EVENT.

Byline: KEITH LAIR Staff Writer

CARSON -- X Games skateboard Street competitions always seem to be about rail jams. No matter how the other jam sessions go, sometimes it's as if they do not count.

Take Saturday afternoon's women's event in X Games 12 at The Home Depot Center's velodrome.

San Francisco's Elissa Steamer did a variety of slides and jumps down the stairs and ramps to leap ahead of Covina's Lacey Baker and Huntington Beach's Lauren Perkins and win the competition. Perkins finished second and Baker third.

``I was floaty,'' said Steamer, who has won all three women's Street X Games events. ``I was like, OK, I didn't think I was going to pull it off.''

Each girl received a one-minute run and then there were three five-minute jam sessions: over a hip, along a box and ledge and finally over the stairs and rails.

Baker hit a kickflip over the stairs early on, an ollie frontside board slide over the rail and then landed the hard kickflip as time expired, to a huge cheer from the nearly 2,000 people in the indoor cycling arena.

But Steamer, who started sixth in the competition, caught the judges eyes with her rail tricks.

She did an ollie over the rail, a 5-0 backslide, a tailslide off the ledge and a nolli kickflip of the stairs..

No scoring was kept by the judges, and the competitors were scored by rankings in each session.

Steamer received $15,000, Perkins $10,000 and Baker $5,000.

Pastrana rolls through competition: Travis Pastrana, the first motocross rider to do a double backflip in a competition, won the inaugural rally event when another competitor rolled his car.

Pastrana won the final 1.04-mile Super Stage around and through The Home Depot Center when retired World Rally Champion Colin McRae rolled his Subaru WRX STI on the lone jump inside the stadium, with only three turns to go.

McRae was leading the timed competition going into the ninth and final stage.

Pastrana and navigator Christian Edstrom won by 0.52 seconds.

Other events: Matt Buyten of Carson City, Nev. won the motocross Step Up competition at 23 feet when Jeremy McGrath and Brian Deegan missed on their two attempts at the height. ... Pastrana survived an elimination round in freestyle motocross in which three riders, including one of the favorites, Nate Adams, were knocked out of today's final competition because of spills. ... Scott Cranmer did a tailwhip before dropping in on the 40-foot drop-in to become the first rider not named Dave Mirra or Ryan Nyquist to win the BMX Park title in five years. Cranmer's first run of 91.00 stood up, despite falling on a last-second frontflip flair. ... Bob Burnquist had the top qualifying score -- 88.00 -- in skateboard Big Air.

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Photo:

(color) Elissa Steamer jumps a rail during the women's skateboard Street finals at the X Games on Saturday at Home Depot Center. Steamer won the event.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

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X GAMES: LOS ANGELES

- Roman Veytsman