VOL. 52 ISSUE 23 JUNE 9, 2015 P79
section, was all it took for Brown
to move into the lead, where he
remained to the finish.
"It feels great to get another X
Games gold," Brown said after
taking his third Enduro X gold
medal. "The track was tricky af-
ter that rain so I had to be patient
in the beginning but then it got
tacky so it was good."
"The race was fun, the top
three guys were battling the
whole time so it was a lot of
fun" said Robert after taking
the silver. "We went straight
into the rock pile off the start,
which is the most technical part
of the track and everybody just
jammed in there ripping plastic
off, it was crazy."
"I had the lead and I knew the
track was going to tack up and
those guys had a big advantage
jumping over the huge tire and
that section just killed me all
day," said Webb. "I hesitated
going into the rocks and made
a mental lapse and tucked the
front end and stalled it. The bike
was awesome, but I just didn't
man up tonight so I got the
bronze."
Haaker said, "Things were
looking easy on the track but
then it rained and the track
ended up being really good. I
got a good start but got passed
by Brownie coming out of the
first turn and I kind of freaked out
and threw away the race in the
second turn. I went from wide
open to crash to wide open to
crash and I let the pressure get
to me and I folded, but I still have
Briefly...
Maria Forsberg, the three-time X
Games gold medal winner and for-
mer GNCC and EnduroCross Cham-
pion, took over a year and a half off
from racing to start a family, and she
had her seven-month-old daughter
with her as she returned to the track.
Forsberg ultimately finished fifth de-
spite a crash in qualifying, forcing
her to start on the back row. "I am re-
ally excited with fifth," Forsberg said.
"I felt like I rode fast and never got
stuck and had a lot of fun. It was re-
ally great to be back at the track and
see a lot of my friends as well."
Mike Brown had an interesting
week leading into the X Games as
his nine-year-old son broke his femur
playing basketball. So Brown had
a long night in the hospital before
heading to Austin but was happy to
report that his son was a tough kid
and doing well.
Speaking of Brown, he had a new
mechanic at X Games and it was his
first ever event as a race mechanic,
which ended nicely with a gold med-
al. Willie Rodriquez was working
in a local bicycle shop in Temecula,
California, near Husqvarna's race
shop prior to taking the job. He met
Timmy Weigand, the team manager,
who along with Brown is an avid cy-
clist, and was offered the job just a
few weeks before Austin.
Tarah Gieger was among the first
riders to complete a tricky double-to-
triple rhythm section during practice,
which, as you might expect, caused
some of the male competitors to feel
obligated to attempt the section.
The rock turn claims another victim.
continued on next page
