VOL. 50 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 6, 2013
nal turn by forcing him wide and
slowing down enough that Reed
nearly fell trying to cut under him
for the final medal position. Reed
left dejected without even a medal to show for his efforts. Such is
the cruel mistress that X Games
is for many competitors.
Women's Moto X Racing
Vicki Golden is the poster child
for what can happen when the
women race with the men on
a regular basis. Instead of setting her sights just on WMX titles
like most female MX competitors
seem to do, Golden has been
spending her time racing Arenacross against the boys. The
result has been her absolute
domination of Women's Moto X
Josh Hill had to be
satisfied with a silver
medal after coming
so close of winning.
Racing in X Games over the past
few years, even though the sport
was left in the X Games over the
past few years (when even the
Men's Moto X Racing wasn't)
more or less as a vehicle for the
very popular Ashley Fiolek.
At this year's X Games, though,
it seemed as if Golden had met
her match in young Australian
Meghan Rutledge.
Italian Kiara Fontanesi got the
holeshot, but Rutledge went
quickly by and started putting
time on the field immediately,
while Golden suffered a terrible start and had to spend the
first part of the race trying to get
cleanly past WMX legend Jessica Patterson, among others. By
the time Golden got into second,
P75
she was catching Rutledge, but
much too slowly to make a run at
her by the end of the 12-lap main
event.
However, it's better to be lucky
than good, as the saying goes,
and on the final lap over the track's
big ramp jump, Rutledge threw a
one-hander in celebration, and
inexplicably the front end dived
forward. She had to struggle not
to go over the bars, and she slid
to the ground on the entrance to
the final turn. Still, her lead was
so big that she was remounting
her bike when Golden went by
and attempted to blitz through the
final whoop section and retake
the top spot, but it wasn't to be.
Golden celebrated the Women's
Moto X Gold yet again, while Rut-
