FMX
Freestyle motocross goes off the leash as Red Bull Imagination returns
A brand-new format pushed the progression at Red Bull Imagination 4.0 to levels never seen before. Relive the best of the FMX action right here.
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A massive 185-foot hit, a backflip over trees, a brand-new format, the first draft in Red Bull Imagination history and an all-new course. The action in Fort Scott, Kansas, site of Red Bull Imagination 4.0, featured massive storylines before the competition even began. Watch the best of the action that went down at Fort Scott in the player above!
With a truckload of Red Bull Imagination dirt to start unpacking let's dig in...
01
A brand-new format
8 minuta
Red Bull Imagination
Practice goes off as the world’s top freeriders prepare for a new competition format.
Four years ago, Tyler Bereman had a dream: to create the biggest and first-ever freeride competition. Since 2020, nestled in the rolling hills of Fort Scott, Kansas, Dream Traxx’s Jason Baker has brought to life Bereman’s vision of creating a custom-built, life-sized “playground” course not to be found anywhere else in the world.
Over the last three years, the world’s best freeride athletes competed in a judged event with each rider getting two runs to showcase their style and creativity to impress the judges in order to determine the winner. This year in 2023, the format was completely changed.
For the first time in Red Bull Imagination history, the format was broken down into two teams competing in five different categories. Three judges had the job of determining the winner of each category, culminating in an overall team win based on the most category wins.
The five categories contested...
Best Whip – three riders from each team judged on four jumps. A coin flip to determine which teams start in the knockout-style format. Six riders, three per team, do one run each and then one rider from each team is dropped until the final two riders take a run to determine the winner.
Big Dawg – one rider per team score on the biggest hits they can land.
Creative Line – one rider per team judged on the most creative line they can find through the course.
Speed and Style – one rider per team takes a timed run through a predetermined course to decide a winner based on a combination of speed and style.
Team Line – think synchronised swimming on dirt bikes. Each team coordinate their 'best team line' during a three-minute run to determine a category winner between Team Twitch and Team Maddo.
02
Team Maddo and Team Twitch pick their rosters
11 minuta
MX Freeride team battle
Watch two freeride MX legends draft teams and plot a path to victory at Red Bull Imagination.
In typical freeride fashion there was a bit of chaos to begin the draft. A coin flip decided the draft order with picks alternating between captains and head judge Steve Haughelstine accidentally awarded the first selection to Team Maddo when the pick should have gone to Team Twitch, who won the coin toss. After some back and forth it was decided a second coin flip would take place which went to Team Maddo.
Final roster and categories
Team Maddo
- Patrick Evans – speed and style and best whip
- Tom Parsons – best whip
- Kohl Denney – creative line
- Tyler Bereman – big dawg and best whip
Team Twitch
- Josh Hill – speed and style
- Julien Vanstippen – big dawg and best whip
- Vicki Golden – creative line
- Guillem Navas – best whip
- Christian Dresser – best whip
Red Bull Imagination 2023 roster
© Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool
Team Maddo were down a rider after an injury to Brian McCarty during practice so would only feature four riders.
03
Creative Line winner: Vicki Golden
Kohl Denney (Team Maddo) vs Vicki Golden (Team Twitch)
In a tightly contested battle, Golden took on Denney in Creative Line. Golden hit a bunch of transfers and then went through the woods to hit the tree jump. Denney was feeling it early on and nailed his custom container set-up and then landed his only backflip of the week. His run was perfect until he cased a jump at the bottom of the course and crashed hard which helped Golden get Team Twitch on the board.
Vicki Golden hits a jump at Red Bull Imagination 2023 in Fort Scott, Kansas
© Christian Pondella / Red Bull Content Pool
04
Speed and Style winner: Patrick Evans
Patrick Evans (Team Maddo) vs Josh Hill (Team Twitch)
Josh Hill had the speed, but Patrick Evans had the style. Hill had his speed advantage and used it. He was certainly quicker than Evans but didn’t quite bring the same style as Evans landed a big backflip in his run which gave him the advantage.
Patrick Evans hits a jump at Red Bull Imagination 2023 in Fort Scott
© Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool
05
Big Dawg winner: Tyler Bereman
Tyler Bereman (Team Maddo) vs Julien Vanstippen (Team Twitch)
One for the ages. Bereman and Vanstippen traded off massive hits in a battle of titans. Bereman tied together three massive jumps which included a big whip over the 185-footer. Vanstippen responded by throwing out a double grab Superman on the 185-footer and a backflip over the 90-footer. In the end, Bereman took a slight win for Team Maddo.
Tyler Bereman hits a jump at Red Bull Imagination 2023 in Fort Scott
© Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool
06
Best Whip winner: Patrick Evans
Tyler Bereman, Tom Parsons, Patrick Evans (Team Maddo) vs Julien Vanstippen, Guillem Navas and Christian Dresser (Team Twitch)
Evans was the first rider to go and absolutely threw down with every style of whip in massive fashion. In an upset, Bereman was eliminated in the first round. Tom Parsons was throwing upside-down whips for the fans, but it wasn’t enough to get him into the finals. The win would come down to Evans and Vanstippen. Vanstippen was getting backwards on his whips and throwing down some massive hits. But Evans was too strong, throwing every whip in his arsenal to take the win.
Tyler Bereman, Julian Vanstippen and Patrick Evans
© Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool
07
Team Line winner: Team Twitch
Team Maddo vs Team Twitch
Team Maddo was down to only three riders for this one with Evans, Bereman and Parsons. Both Bereman and Evans hit some big dog jumps with Bereman finishing it off on the 185-footer. But Team Twitch was moving all over the course hitting different lines and captured the win.
Josh Hill hits a jump at Red Bull Imagination 2023 in Fort Scott, Kansas
© Christian Pondella / Red Bull Content Pool
08
Overall Team winner: Team Maddo 3-2
In the first ever team format, it was Team Maddo taking the win 3-2 over Team Twitch.
“Today was the best year yet by far,” said Bereman. “We made a lot of changes to this whole thing, and everyone stepped up to the plate for their team. The vibe was really high today and the energy was through the roof.”
Julien Vanstippen & Tyler Bereman at Red Bull Imagination in Fort Scott
© Christian Pondella / Red Bull Content Pool
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