Higashino Wins X Games Gold
Cycle News Staff | June 29, 2012
Monster Energy-backed Taka Higashino won his first-ever X Games gold medal last night at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, the Japanese rider taking Moto X Freestyle with his “Rock Solid Backflip.”
Higashino posted a 93.33 for his first two runs and the score held as he beat out Kiwi Levi Sherwood and Javier Villegas, the Chilean rider beating topping Nate Adams in a tiebreaker.
“It’s too exciting,” Higashino said. “It’s like a dream; it’s like it’s not true. This is my dream. It’s crazy! I’ve been working hard every day for five years, thinking, ‘I wish, I wish, I wish’ and I’ve spent all of my life working on this X Games dream. It was all about that Rock Solid for me. After landing that I don’t even remember anything else from my run.”
Higashino will also compete in tonight’s Best Trick competition.
Moto X Freestyle Results
1. Taka Higashino
2. Levi Sherwood
3. Javier Villegas
4. Nate Adams
5. Blake “Bilko” Williams
6. Adam Jones
7. Rob Adelberg
8. Dany Torres
9. Todd Potter
10. Andre Villa
