X Games Skateboard Big Air wrapped up Thursday night at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA with the name Jake Brown once again at the top of the leader board. Brown had stiff competition from Bob Burnquist and Rob Lorifice, but was able to edge them out with a backflip on the first hit, and an Indy 540 that measured 21' 8" on the quarter pipe.

All night, the talk on and around the mega ramp was whether or not a 900 was going to go down on the quarter pipe. Word on the street is Burnquist and Brown have one in their pockets. Brown never attempted one and Burnquist threw up two, one he even set down onto the ramp, but couldn't hang on.

The 15 year-old Brazilian sensation Pedro Barros was able to stomp a run landing a backside 360 on the first hit and a melon 540 on the quarter pipe. It wouldn't give him an X Games medal, but it was quite a feat for the eighth grader.

Burnquist looked a bit displeased when Brown's score was posted, which was .33 points higher than his. He had landed a switch backside 540 on the first hit, and an Indy 540 on the quarter pipe. A very difficult run, "dropping into the mega ramp switch is a trick in itself," said mega ramp legend and commentator, Danny Way.

In the end though, it was the exact medal finish as last year. On a side note, Burnquist would not give up on the 900, and attempted more than handful more after the contest ended, to the cheers of the crowd and the chagrin of his wife.

Here are the Results:

1. Jake Brown - 93.66
2. Bob Burnquist - 90.00
3. Rob Lorifice

Jake Brown mid backflip. Photo: Harry How via Getty Images.

One of the defining moments in X Games history was in 1999, when Tony Hawk became the first skateboarder to successfully land a 900-degree rotation above the lip of a vert ramp.

That's 2 1/2 spins while airborne, and Hawk nailed the landing on his 12th try.

Fast forward to 2010 and to a relatively new contraption called the Mega Ramp, which has delivered vert skating to daunting new heights.

Skateboarders must speed 70 feet down one ramp, soar and perform a trick across a 70-foot gap to another downslope, which leads to a quarterpipe wall that sends them more than 45 feet above ground, where they perform a second trick.

Few people are brave enough to ride the Mega Ramp, let alone try a 900 above the quarterpipe wall, but that's the expected theme during tonight's Skateboard Big-Air final on the first day of X Games competition in Los Angeles.

"Obviously with Jake trying it last year he kind of opened the box a little bit," said Bob Burnquist, two-time Big-Air gold medalist, in reference to a failed 900 attempt by Jake Brown during last year's final.

"But at the same time it's pretty high. It's a whole different ballgame. It's different than regular vert skating -- it's straight hairball. You have to just go for it and try to keep yourself controlled and get out of it safely."

Burnquist has a Mega Ramp in the backyard of his home in Vista, Calif., and top riders have been practicing there, including Brown, who won the gold medal last year on a different run with a different trick.

Burnquist and Brown have spun 900s above the quarterpipe wall, but have always had to bail free of their boards and slide down the wall. The trick is that scary and difficult, and slamming awkwardly onto the lip and breaking bones, or free-falling to the flat surface below the ramp are among the consequences of holding on too long without being in perfect position.

Nobody is as painfully aware of Mega Ramp consequences as Brown, who in 2007 fell to the flat from 47 feet and was hospitalized with serious injuries after losing control before he could even begin a trick above the quarterpipe wall.

His landing was so violent that both shoes flew from his feet.

Brown and Burnquist, though, feel relatively comfortable performing 720s above the quarterpipe, so the next step level of progression, in terms of spinning, is the 900.

"It has not happened yet, not even in practice," Burnquist said. "I've been spinning them but I haven't really put one down because I haven't really wanted it yet, deep down. I've kind of been waiting for the right time and the right moment, and I know that Jake has been taking about the same thing so we'll see how it goes.

"It's possible, but the risks are pretty high."

Photo of Bob Burnquist competing in the X Games Big Air by Getty Images/Christian Pondella

The ESPN X Games 16 are upon us. The courses have been built, the rider list has been released and practice has already started. This is one of the most complicated skate contests out there because of all the different divisions, 11 to be exact. Not to mention all the skateboarders that are invited, and all the different little side stories that are guaranteed to ensue each year.

We'll be breaking down each division, and help you with what to look for all week. To get it started, here's 5 Q's of X...Skateboarding.

1. Will the flakes show? It's no secret that skateboarders tend to be unpredictable, and rich and famous skateboarders, with management, are even are even more prone to be MIA when the contest starts. Now, Shaun White is no flake when it comes to snowboarding, but in skateboarding he has been known to play hooky. Just recently emails were sent out that stated White was confirmed to be skating the vert ramp at the Dew Tour Boston. When the tour rolled into Beantown White was there, but claimed he wasn't going to skate due to injury. It has been over a month since then, has healed enough to skate? We'll see. How about Ryan Sheckler? How about a confirmation he's going to skate Maloof NYC followed by a no show at Maloof NYC. Then there's guys like: Brian Anderson, Mark Appleyard, Leo Romero, Nick Trepasso, Johnny Layton, Sean Malto and Alex Olson. These are not your typical contest guys, and are the most likely to not show. Take the last two on the list Malto and Olson. Malto was invited and didn't show up last year, he opted to film with his sponsors for an upcoming video. Then there's Olson. He has to be the biggest liability on the whole list. Anybody who knows the guy knows he does what he wants, and the X Games are not a big deal in his life. He drives his sponsors nuts by not using their products, and contest directors are even lower on the list of his cares. He would much prefer to be at a photography show in Williamsburg Brooklyn rubbing shoulders with the more artsy A list celebrities of the world, than at an X Games event getting his shoulders covered in D list dust by one of the girls from The Hills.

2. How will the young guys do? As in X Games first timers, Curren Caples and Pedro Barros. Caples who at 14 years-old is the youngest competitor in the games, and will be skating in the Skate Park division. This being a relatively new event to the X Games and has only one winner, Rune Glifberg, who has won both years it has existed. The Park may just be the most popular event in the skateboarding portion of the games amongst actual skateboarders. It is a course built for creating a line, maintaining your speed and just killing transition. And if there's one thing Caples can do it's skate tranny. Pedro Barros is Bob Burnquist's little creation. He also kills transition, but what makes this kid not your typical young skateboarder is he will be competing on the Mega Ramp in Skate Big Air. When it comes to anything Mega, there aren't that many guys in the world who can compete at an X Games level. There will be only 10 participants in the Big Air contest, and at 15 years-old Barros is almost half of all their ages. He will also be competing in Skate Park, and is an alternate in Men's Vert. Will this be the year he becomes the household name that he is destined to be?

3. Will Ryan Sheckler get revenge on the X Games Street course. It was at last year's X Games that he broke his foot, which sidelined him for months. He was forced to pull out of a handful of contests that he has been a regular contender in, and only recently has gotten back to his competitive form with a 2^nd place finish at the Dew Tour Boston. He was a no show at Maloof NYC (see Question 1), and hasn't won a major contests in over a year. That said, you can never count this guy out, he has everything in his bag of tricks, and we all know he can go huge. Plus, the reality television star will have his usual cheering section of teenage girls when Sheckler Mania rolls into LA.

4. What will go down on the infamous Mega Ramp? This section of the X Games is almost cartoonish to most skateboarders. It is something, that when you pick up a skateboard for the first time, you can pretty much be guaranteed you will never do. More so than really anything in the X Games; Freestyle Motorcross is crazy and everything, but people who start dirt biking always have that option to floor it and start attempting flips and what not. Mega Ramps on the other hand, are so rare that you really have to go out of your way to find one. That said, when Danny Way, Bob Bournquist, Jake Brown and the rest of the mega field start hucking themselves off of that creation of epic proportions, headlines are bound to happen. We've had huge falls like the legendary spills of Brown and Way, that have brought silence to the Staples Center. To epic performances, like that of you've guessed it, Brown and Way, who put those falls behind them and gave us two amazing performances at last year's event. What will be the skateboarding mega story be this year?

5. Will Bastein Salabanzi shock the world? He made his first real debut to the skateboarding world as that amazing teenage sensation in Flip's Extemly Sorry, where he opened his part by kickflipping a set of stairs and landing cross-footed, then proceeded to technically dismantled rails, ledges and stair sets around the world. Since then he just about disappeared. The Parisian was on a bit of a self-induced sabbatical in his home country of France. Recently though, he showed up out of the blue, and decided to skate the Maloof NYC. He had more of the actual skateboarders in the contest pulling for him than anyone, because as we all know "real recognizes real," and he managed to place forth. Then, he really freaked skateboarding out when he showed up at this year's Dew Tour Boston. He skated through the trials and into the main event, and once again finished forth. According to the list of skaters who are going to compete in Skate Street, Salabanzi's event, there is no name of Cole, Rodriguez, Lutzka or Pudwill listed. Translation; there are only the two skateboarders who have finished ahead of Salabanzi in the past two major contests (Maloof NYC and Dew Tour Boston), Ryan Sheckler and Chaz Ortiz. Will the X Games Street celebration consist of banquettes and wine?

Photo: CHRISTIAN PONDELLA/Shazamm ESPN Media

Expect non-stop action as Monster Energy athletes hit events across Moto, BMX, Skate and Rally at X Games 16, beginning this Thursday, July 29 through Sunday, August 1. It's all going down center stage in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and in and around STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA.

A total of eight Monster riders are competing in Moto events. In Best Trick, Kyle Loza will be defending as the three-time Moto X Best Trick Gold medalist--after a recent wrist surgery, could we see the bike flip and the first-ever four-peat in the event? He'll face Monster Energy Teammate Blake "Bilko" Williams, an always-exciting rider with loads of swagger.

Hitting the track as defending 2008-2009 Super X Gold Medalist will be Josh Hansen, who's playing triple duty as a competitor in Super X, Speed & Style, and Best Whip--it should be a great show. Also lining up in Super X is Nick Wey, a rider with speed and perseverance that's always a force on the track.

A methodical trick machine, Nate Adams will hit the Speed & Style course as the event returns to the X line-up. He'll also do work in Freestyle Motocross, joined by the defending gold-medalist "Bilko" and serious threat Adam Jones, who's already won at X Fighters this year.

Sara Price will battle as she combines speed and rhythm on July 29 in Super X Women, a semi-new event that's gaining more interest, fans, and excitement constantly--these girls are powerhouses!

In BMX Vert the number one threat will be Monster's Jamie Bestwick, who's often called the best BMX Vert rider ever and is a five-time X Games Vert gold medalist.

In BMX Park two time X Games gold medalist and four-time medalist Scotty Cranmer will be back for more hardware, but he'll have to contend with the legendary Dave Mirra, a medal-collector who's been practicing hard lately and contest-mainstay Ryan Guettler. Andy Buckworth, a young buck from Australia with loads of flip variations like the double front, will battle in BMX Big Air.

Mirra and Ken Block are playing double duty behind the wheel as they both compete in Rally Racing and the all-new Super Rally, which sees four cars on the track at the same time. Mirra, known for his legendary BMX career, has become a threat as he pushed a different pedal to the metal. And Block, now a WRC driver, will be hot off the line and nimble through the turns as he seeks redemption and his first-ever Gold in the event he's medaled in every single year.

Expect more major action as Skate Big Air and Skate Big Air Rail Jam competitors take to the MegaRamp inside the iconic Coliseum. Jake Brown will come in with big plans after the memorable gold medal last year and perhaps more-memorable slam two years ago, while his Monster teammate Pierre Luc Gagnon (PLG) will translate his vert skills and smoothness to the Big Air ramp. The Quebec tech-wizard will also compete in Skate Vert Trick (as the defending Gold medalist) and also Skate vert alongside Alex Perelson, a young force on the ramp with a proven 900. Perelson will also look to make a big impression as he competes in Skate Park.