Freestyle motocross riders at X Games to compete while mourning the loss of one of their own

X Games’ motocross riders face their mortality

CARSON, Calif. — In a sport that uses dark images, freestyle motocross riders are having to deal with reality.

Saturday night’s Freestyle Moto X final at the X Games will be missing its defending champion, Jeremy Lusk, who died of severe head injuries in February after failing to fully rotate on a back flip in a similar contest in Costa Rica.

He is believed to be the first freestyle motocross rider to die from injuries suffered during competition.

Lusk, nicknamed “The Pit Bull” for his toughness and work ethic, was a member of a riding crew known as the Metal Mulisha, whose skull logo is plastered on the hats, T-shirts, motorcycles and tattoos of both team members and teenagers around the country.

Now Lusk’s name can be seen on dirt bikes, shirts and skin all around the grounds of the X Games.

“Pretty much my whole bike and my whole week are about Jeremy Lusk,” said Metal Mulisha member Todd Potter after winning the Best Whip event Thursday night.

Lusk will be the subject of a tribute on Saturday night before the event at Home Depot Center that will feature a fighter jet fly-by, words from teammates and a “moment of cheer,” instead of a moment of silence, at the request of Lusk’s family.

Also, X Games gold medals in every event will feature the letters of his last name surrounding a scrawled cross.

“It’s a huge loss. He was one of our top guys and he was my best friend,” said Brian Deegan, founder of the Temecula, Calif.-based Metal Mulisha, who raced to Costa Rica to be by Lusk’s side before his death. “I wish it never happened but it did. In the end we have to deal with it as a team, and go out there and stick together and be strong.”

Since Lusk’s death, Deegan and others have helped create the American Freestyle Motocross Association.

The group was formed to advocate for safety among professional and amateur riders, and to sanction competitions that follow its safety guidelines.

The idea that riders are cheating death is used to market the sport by both the X Games, sponsors and the riders themselves.

Last year, Lusk was second in Moto X Best Trick to Kyle Loza, who won with a stunt Loza had invented and dubbed “The Electric Death.” He later made it “The Electric Doom.”

Riders are under constant pressure to push boundaries and move toward dangerous innovations, but they may be showing a bit more caution for now.

“I think the guys at this point, if someone’s trying to pressure them into something, they probably put up a little more defense,” Deegan said. “In the end, we’re the one who has to sit in the hospitals, we’re the one who has to make these recoveries while everyone else moves on with their life.”

Contenders in the event include Potter, last year’s silver medalist Mat Rebaud of Switzerland, and last year’s bronze winner Mike Mason.

Saturday will also bring the delayed X Games debut of motocross racer Ashley Fiolek.

The teenage girl, deaf since birth, was heavily promoted as the newest X Games star last year, but a late injury brought a last-minute withdrawal.

“I was really bummed, I wanted to come out here the first year and try to win it,” Fiolek said through her father and sign-language translator Jim. “I worked hard, but had a few mishaps.”

Fiolek, now 18 and a high school graduate, is the favorite for this year’s Moto X Super X Women’s final. The event, a shorter, leaner version of supercross, has a prime-time television spot on ESPN, the highest billing a women’s competition has received at X Games.

“I’ve got a lot more experience, I had a lot better plan this year, and found out a lot earlier I was going to be here,” Fiolek said. “So this year I’m a lot more excited to come out here and race this race.”