Dany Torres was crowned the overall champion of the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour in Sydney, the world’s most prestigious FMX tour. Local hero Josh Sheehan won the event on his home soil on Cockatoo Island in front of a sell-out crowd of 11,000.
Sydney will go down in the 11-year-history of the Red Bull X-Fighters as the most spectacular event ever where Sheehan as well as his compatriot Cameron Sinclair aced a total of three double backflips.
“I was confident I could do it and just went out and did it,” says Sheehan who defeated New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood in the final. “It was what won it for me.”
For Torres, getting third place was enough to clinch the overall title at the final stop of the year in front of Sydney’s impressive skyline, wrestling the crown away from Nate Adams (USA) who had taken top honours in 2009 and 2010. Adams took part despite a broken shoulder but ended up in 11th place. The 24-year-old Spaniard, the newly crowned champion, won the season-opener in Dubai (UAE) and in the bullfighting ring of Madrid (ESP). Adams had the best tricks to win the events in Brasilia (BRA), Rome (ITA) and Poznan (POL).
The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour enthralled more than 230,000 fans at six events on four continents in 2011 and proved to be quite literally a knock-out contest. Both Torres (Brasilia) and Adams (Madrid) were sidelined at events because of injuries. Top favourite Andre Villa, who ended up in third place overall, suffered a broken thigh in Poznan and was forced to put his FMX bike in the garage before the end of the season.
