May Issue 2012

Your adrenaline is pumping and you’re amped up on Red Bull; there’s a biker going full speed, aiming for a frightening-looking ramp. He hits the ramp and is propelled into the air. For a few brief seconds his body slides off the bike, he’s not even holding on to the handles and you think he’s going to fall. The crowd goes wild and your heart skips a beat. But lo-and-behold, he lands back on the seat and skillfully maneuvers his bike onto a second ramp, from which he descends on to the ground all in one piece. You’re still reeling from what you just witnessed, but the audience breaks into applause.

This gravity-defying stunt is known as a ‘no hander’ in motocross-speak. Another neat trick is the ‘superman’ in which the rider grips the handle, raises his feet off the foot pegs, and extends them outwards, parallel to the bike. On April 7 riders showed off several such aerial acrobatic tricks for an enthusiastic Pakistani audience at the jam-packed Moin Khan Stadium as part of the Red Bull X-Fighters Jams tour that has previously taken place in several countries across the globe.

The motocross show included the world’s top riders from New Zealand, USA and South Africa. The daring and exciting stunts were followed by an edgy rock and roll concert by none other than Pakistan’s leading rock icon, Ali Azmat.

The event also comprised a cultural performance which included musicians who played traditional instruments such as the dhol while experts juggled fire-lit props.

This article was originally published in the May issue under the headline “In the Fast Lane”