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EXPN Winter X Games VI Mota X Big Air Buttermilk Mountain The Metal Mulisha's Brian Deegan pulled off a huge win at the Winter X Games with a huge trick that he called the "Mandatory Suicide," after a Slayer song. The trick is a Double Can, right hand off the bike, that he landed sidesaddle· over a 100-foot gap! Fi cide", which is a variation of a few tricks, while landing sidesaddle on the bike. The other nine riders witnessed STORY AND PHOTOS BY RAYMOND GUNDY ASPEN,CO,JAN.19,2oo2 he EXPN Winter X Games VI Moto X Big Air Competition came to Aspen, Colorado, where it was the old-school boys taking all three medals without any problems. Metal Mulisha/Hansen's Energy /FMF/Yon Zipper rider Brian Deegan got his first gold medal in the X games; he's won many bronze medals in the years past, but never the gold. The trick that got him the winning score of a 94.33 was called the "Mandatory Sui- Deegan execute this jump when they still had two more jumps to pull something off that would amaze the judges and maybe knock Deegan off of the top. Though they came close, no one ended up beating Deegan's score. After holding on to the gold medal and taking the win, Deegan said, "My day was a killer, I did my homework and had my trick ready when I came here. I knew it was going to take something new to win. That is what I T (Leftllt was rumored that Kris Rourke was going to try a backflip In the event, and a Jump was built to accommodate that trick, but a practice crash damaged his motorcycle too badly to compete. (Right) Mike Jones finished second after somewhat copying Deegan's winning trick, landing his sidesaddle as well. Here, Jones pulls his signature Kiss of Death on an earlier run. 32 FEBRUARY 6, 2002' eye I e n e _ s practiced at home and came here confident and pulled it off. The new trick I did was the Mandatory SUicide, it is a Super Can to landing side-saddle. Doing it over a 100-foot jump was pretty crazy. I have been training at home on a 75-foot jump. You just need to have something before you get here. I am not one that shows up and just try a new trick for the first time to win. That is not my style. "The top guys today - Jones, Clowers and myself - the old-school guys do better on the big jumps," Deegan added. "This is my first X-Game gold medal. The Big Air is my style; I am not into putting on a run with a lot of combos and small jumps. I like doing one big trick and shutting everyone down. There is a new crew of guys that are coming up, but the old-school guys will still step up and try to be on top. The old-school guys did it. I started as a dark evil side of the sport; it is great to win finally, seeing that everyone would like the good guys to win. Metal Mulisha is just people being themselves. I quit supercross, because it was lame." Second place and the silver medal went to AST/Answer/Red Bull rider Mike Jones, last year's gold-medal winner. Jones had a chance of knocking Deegan off. As Jones came to the line, it looked like he was going to try to repeat Deegan's trick, as he practiced sitting sidesaddle on his idling bike. As he charged to the jump, the crowd was silent, and Jones pulled somewhat of the same trick that Deegan did, as they both ended the trick with a sidesaddle landing. As his score showed up, it was a 94.00, only .33 from the gold. After it was all over, Jones said: "It went well this weekend. I got the silver medal and ~ I am happy with that - I would've