Unable to keep their temper, the ten Red Bull X-Fighters participants literally took off at the last of three tour stops in 2007. After all, the bullfighting arena of Las Ventas in Madrid was the event‰Ûªs home turf and the riders knew what they owed to the enthusiastic 23,000 spectator crowd with their chainsaws, white bandanas and air horns.
But what counted just as much as a good show for the fans was that this was the final chance to win the event or even become the Red Bull X-Fighters tour champion 2007. Coming off as a winner of the contest AND the tour was legendary Travis Pastrana (USA)!
The audience had gone totally crazy hours before the start of the show but when a shiny (and loud!) Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula1 racing car driven by famous Formula1 pilot Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) finally entered the arena madness was on at Las Ventas! The first head-to-head round in the re-vamped freestyle motocross set-up (a quarterpipe was added as a technical feature) saw the ten rider line-up being reduced to eight. Germany‰Ûªs Busty Wolter failed against Aussie boy Matt Schubring while Libor Podmol (CZE) excelled against Ronnie Renner (USA).
In the second head-to-head round Andr̬ Villa (NOR) put on a super smooth and powerful run but couldn‰Ûªt come near his opponent, Swiss Mat Rebeaud. Although Rebeaud was riding with a broken hand he never seemed to be fitter. His huge whips, airs and flips earned him a position in the semi-final. ‰ÛÏUnlucky‰Û
