Snowmobile Freestyle made its debut at Winter X Games Thursday night with massive air, stunning feats, and some seriously gnarly crashes. Between big wrecks and bigger tricks, the snowmobiling boys showed the X Games what they've been missing.
"I think it's going to open a lot of people's eyes to what we've been doing behind the scenes," said Chris Burandt, who qualified for the finals in first place. Burandt--known as the one to beat--had the two best runs and two highest scores (87 and 89.33) of all the competitors in the elimination round.
Close on Burandt's heels was Norwegian snowmobiler and X Games newbie Aleksander Nordgaard, who nabbed second place after throwing back-to-back backflips on his first run.
There is no question that backflips were the trick of choice Thursday night, and competitors were not shy about getting inverted. Jumping over gaps ranging from 45 to 115 feet on a machine that weighs nearly 500 lbs., there's little wonder why injury played a factor in the evening's event.
Kourtney Hungerford and Justin Hoyer were unable to compete after getting hurt in practice runs, opening spots for Nate Haag and Daniel Bodin to show their skills (Bodin ended up taking third).
Jimmy Fejes was also not expected to compete due to an injured back that kept him from participating in Thursday morning's practice session. "I'd rather sit in the hospital for weeks on end than sit out this just because I have a little pain," said Fejes. But Fejes' bad luck continued when he wrecked during his second run in the elimination round, nearly getting toppled by his sled.
The bar has officially been set--carnage and all--and Snowmobile Freestyle has proven itself X worthy. Get ready to smell the exhaust as Burandt, Nordgaard, Bodin, and Heath Frisby compete for a slice of history at the first X Game Snowmobile Freestyle Finals Sunday night at 6:30 p.m.
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