A few weeks ago, I was in Indianapolis for the MSF IRETS conference and to watch the MotoGP race on Sunday. Besides the main event on Sunday, there are lots of other things going on in the infield throughout the weekend. One of them was a stunt show from XDL.
XDL is the stunt riding championship of the world much the same way MotoGP is the premier racing series for motorcycles. I’ve seen lots of stunt shows, and these guys were quite good. It wasn’t a competition, so the two riders (Aaron Twite and Kyle Sliger) just had fun showing off various freestyle moves.
They ran three shows a day over the weekend. I enjoyed watching them a couple times. It was quite the scene with them stunting and in the background race bikes flying by at high-speed on the back straight.
Enjoy some of my favorite photos from the weekend stunt shows.
Full Flickr Album here: 63 photos.
This is likely one of those events where they always forget to tell you that you shouldn't try this at home, and people end up on youtube with their attempts...
ReplyDeleteIs unfortunately common, but I still enjoyed watching the show.
DeleteSimilar to SonjaM's comment, I see so much of this crap on the road that seeing it anywhere makes me cringe. About 10 years ago, I filmed some "stuntmasters" from WI at the Bob's Cycle hooligan event and was pretty entertained by it all. A decade later and I'm about as likely to watch stunting as I am to spend good money and time at a strip club or talking to drunks in a bar. It's one of those things that makes me want to look away because I'm embarrassed for the people doing the clown act and for how it reflects on me as a motorcyclist.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen stunting on the road in a while, but it does happen entirely too often. Most often I see riders tailgating a car dead center rear bumper...
DeleteGreat shots Chris. I can only imagine how many times they've fallen in order to be that good at stunting. We've seen a few stunting shows at the IMS in Seattle, but these guys might be a step above.
ReplyDeleteMust have been hard for them to concentrate with the race bikes zipping by.
You're right. These guys were some of the best I have seen. They didn't seem to mind the race bikes flying by. I found it a tad distracting though. :)
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