A night many thought would belong to Travis Pastrana, during the X Games' marquee Moto X Best-Trick competition on Thursday, instead belonged to event rookie Jackson Strong, who became the first freestyle motocross rider to land a front-flip at a major competition and easily won with a score of 95.66. As for Pastrana, it was all bad news. The action sports icon crash-landed (see first video) while attempting a 720 Toilet Paper Roll, which is sort of a flipping 720-degree spin and seemingly impossible to land.



Pastrana got up, climbed back on his 125-cc motorbike and tried the same trick again, out of turn, and landed sideways again, on his right leg, and had to be helped off the dirt. He suffered a broken foot and ankle, bringing to an abrupt end the much-hyped "Pastranathon," which was supposed to have him compete in four events in four days -- one of them his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in Indianapolis on Saturday.

"I am sorry this happened and will be back in action as soon as I can," Pastrana told ESPN, after his release from the hospital.

But for Strong, 19, a Metal Mulisha team rider known as "Jacko," there was lots of reason to celebrate. His front-flip (see video), which was completed during the first of two rounds,defeated two double back-flips, including one by superstar Cam Sinclair, who even added a variation for his trick.


"I was going to be pumped whether I took first or last place, it was just my goal to do a front-flip at X Games," Strong said. "I think everyone saw how deep I had to dig. I had to hang on tight for that landing for sure."

Double back-flips were once considered next-to impossible, but a front-flip seems to defy the laws of physics. The rider must get the motorcycle spinning forward after launching from a steep dirt ramp that is designed to allow for backward rotations.

It was a huge night for Jacko but also his fellow Australians: Sinclair finished second (94.66) and Josh Sheehan, who also stuck a double back-flip, finished third (93.33).

-- Travis Pastrana photo (top) by Harry How / Getty Images

Not long ago, performing a 900-degree spin on a skateboard seemed impossible. Then Tony Hawk landed one at X Games 5 in 1999. A back-flip on a motorcycle, likewise, was but a scary idea. Fast forward to X Games 17, which begin Thursday in Los Angeles, and fans will witness multiple spins and flips, and see how remarkably far the core action sports have progressed, with icons such as Travis Pastrana, Cam Sinclair and Bob Burnquist attempting stunts that make those of yesteryear almost seem like child's play (see video for a sampling).


Pastrana, who in 2006 became the first freestyle motocross rider to nail a double back-flip, is focusing on what he calls a 720 Toilet Paper roll, which unraveled when he first tried it two years ago, as he fell rump-first from about 30 feet. He thinks he has finally mastered the trick and fans probably will find out during Thursday night's popular Moto X Best-Trick competition.

Sinclair, an Australian who was severely injured two years ago when he under-rotated a double back-flip, is said to have another double planned, but with a no-handed element to increase the degree of difficulty.

Interestingly, Sinclair's longtime mechanic also has become a medal hopeful. Mark Monea attained sudden stardom during an exhibition last spring when he became the first FMX rider to land a front-flip 360, called the Carry On. (That's a forward flip while also spinning a heavy motorcycle in a 360-degree sideways rotation.)

On the lighter-bike side, BMX star James Foster will bring the crowd to its feet -- and likely strike gold -- if he can become the first BMXer to land a triple back-flip during, Thursday night's BMX Freestyle Big-Air competition. BMXers in general have really stepped up their stunts and fans will witness an array of flips and tail-whips during the Big-Air event and Friday's Vert Final.

Another marquee, big-trick event is Skateboarding Big Air on the MegaRamp, which features a 70-foot roll-in, a jump over a 70-foot gap, and a 27-foot quarteripe wall. Athletes perform tricks as the soar across the gap and above the quarterpipe, more than 40 feet above a hardwood floor.

Burnquist, who has a MegaRamp in his backyard, became the first skateboarder to perform a backflip Christ-air (full body extension, arms outstretched) over the gap. He did this recently on the Nitro Circus Tour, and if he can nail that trick and add something special above the quarterpipe, he's likely to reclaim a Big-Air title won for the past two years by Jake Brown.

However, there's a new Big-Air kid on the block named Mitchie Brusco, 14, who while practicing for an event recently in Brazil became the second person to perform a 900 above the quarterpipe and stick the landing. Burnquist had previously accomplished this during a filming project.

So the 900, as a major trick, is back in the X Games spotlight. Only this time it's being referred to, fittingly, as the Mega 900.

Action sports athletes and fans might still be wondering if what happened Saturday night in Las Vegas really happened, were it not for video evidence released Monday, showing innovative stunts that included the first-ever synchronized double back-flip by freestyle motocross stars Travis Pastrana and Cam Sinclair (photo).

Some might argue, convincingly, that the Nitro Circus Live event at the MGM Grand was the craziest single-day exhibition in action sports history, in terms of difficult and sometimes zany performances.

Pastrana fans, of course, remember vividly the night he brought an X Games crowd to a fearful hush in 2006, when he pioneered the double back-flip. It remains one of the heaviest tricks in action sports, in terms of consequences, and nearly claimed Sinclair's life after he endured a wicked crash in 2009. "I have always dreamed of doing this trick side-by-side with Travis and tonight that dream came true," Sinclair said from Las Vegas.


Another marquee performance belonged to skateboarder Bob Burnquist, a big-air specialist who nailed the first-ever "Christ Air" back flip after launching from the "Giganta ramp." For a visual description of the seemingly impossible maneuver, watch the video.

Also noteworthy was the effort of BMX star Andy Buckworth, who stuck what's called a Superman double front flip; and that of local wheelchair athlete Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham, who stuck a wheelchair front flip before his hometown fans.

Then there were the many athletes who fell just short while trying to progress their sports. Perhaps most notable in this group was BMX star James Foster, who spun a nearly perfect triple back flip, but fell upon landing.

The most touching moment, of course, involved Pastrana, who kicked off the night by falling to one knee and proposing to pro skateboarder Lyn-z Adams Hawkins in front of an electrified audience.

"I wasn't supposed to do this until the end of the show, but I was so nervous I couldn't wait," Pastrana said. "This is a night of world-first stunts, and this stunt involves the rest of my life."

Pastrana, of course, stars in MTV's Nitro Circus television series. The Nitro Circus Live event marked the North American debut of a new tour that also features stops in Europe. Footage from tour events will be used to produce a 3D movie.

The traveling action sports show is not a new concept, we've seen it before with tours such as Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam and more recently with Nuclear Cowboyz. We've even become accustom to the occasional fmx or bmx demo at halftimes of major sporting events. Not everyone lives by a beach, or owns a dirt bike, or has a skatepark in their town, so the point of these tours is to bring the action to them.

There's nothing like the feeling you get when you first witness a backflip on a motorcycle, or stand staring up at the enormous mega ramp, thinking to yourself, would I have the balls to slide down the ramp on my butt nevertheless do a double backflip on a bike.

Point being, there's good reason why these traveling tour's have done so well, there's nothing like seeing something for the first time. That's exactly what the Nitro Circus crew has been doing down under for the past month. Backed by Red Bull and the craziest athlete in action sports, Travis Pastrana, the Nitro Circus pride themselves on innovating every show.

Travis himself has been blown away with what the crew has accomplished while performing down under. In a recent journal entry from the tour Travis had this to say, "I'm really proud of the crew we have down here and a lot of new tricks have gone down. Our goal every Nitro show is to have someone attempt a top-level trick that has never been tried before."

So far on the tour, Clinton Moore landed the first ever body varial to heel clicker combination, while fmx rider Mark "Monz" Monea landed what people are calling the first ever 360 front flip, a trick he calls the "carry on". Even though some are claiming the trick is a variation of a front flip the Pages brothers landed 2 years ago, it was still an impressive corked out variation that has generated plenty of Internet buzz.



BMX rider Andy Buckworth has invented a new variation of the double front flip pretty much every time he jumps the mega ramp, but the real highlight for Buckworth came when he almost landed the triple front flip. It's not long ago that the first ever double flip was landed by Anthony Napolitan but it looks like Buckworth could pull the triple front at this years X Games.



And then there's Jay Toohey, who somehow landed the first ever triple tail whip back flip during a show in New Zealand. This trick didn't seem possible a few years back.



The 2011 Nitro Circus Tour has officially been dubbed as the "The Progression Tour" for the amount of new and impossible tricks that have been landed.

Pushing the limits has also come at a cost, there have been several injuries while down under, most recently Pastrana and Cam Sinclair were hospitalized. Cam Sinclair under-rotated his double backflip resulting in a serious concussion. The details of Pastrana's injury are less known, but according to ESPN, "Travis experienced severe pain in his leg before the show...it was a suspected blood clot, or blood rushing to a muscle around his knee area."

As details develop it will be interesting to see how this effects his recent Nascar experiment.

Don't miss your chance to witness the progression tour first hand when the Nitro Circus is bringing their show to North America soon.

Photos courtesy of Nitro Circus

Mark Monea, the longtime mechanic for freestyle motocross superstar Cam Sinclair, has kick-started his own career in a profound way by becoming the first FMX rider to land a 360 front flip. An ESPN video crew was on hand (see below) as Monea nailed the seemingly impossible trick at Sinclair's FMX park near Melbourne, Australia.


Part of what makes Monea's feat remarkable is that not many experienced FMX riders will attempt even a basic front flip because they're too difficult. Kicker ramps used in jumps point skyward for a near-vertical launch that's better suited for flipping backward, so to persuade a motorcycle to flip forward en route to the landing ramp is requires a perfectly timed forward push upon liftoff, and just the right amount of brake and throttle control.

Negotiating in a 360-degree spin during the forward flip? Well, that just doesn't seem plausible.

Monea, 27, a veteran motocross racer who's just getting into freestyle riding, first learned the basic front flip on a BMX bicycle, then on a motorized mini-bike -- both with the benefit of a foam-filled pit for soft landings. But when he tried it on a full-sized motorcycle, the motorcycle seemed to spin the 360 on its own.

"I was more confused than pumped when I did the first one into the foam pit," Monea says in the video. "When I'm on the bike, it feels like a dead-straight front flip, but when I look at the footage it seems to flatten out and do all types of weird things."

He nailed the trick on his first try without the foam pit, on a dirt landing ramp. It was cause for jubilation and relief because FMX crash landings often carry heavy consequences. Interestingly, Monea has not even learned a basic back flip, which is an integral part of every top FMX rider's repertoire.

Will fans get to see Monea in the FMX best-trick competition at this summer's X Games? Stay tuned.