Aspen, Colo. – Monster Energy congratulates team rider Brett Turcotte on a strong silver medal finish in Sunday’s Snow Bike Best Trick competition at X Games Aspen 2019. In front of a pumped-up crowd at Buttermilk Mountain, the 30-year-old from Clearwater, Canada, claimed his second silver medal of the weekend after already finishing second in Snowmobile Freestyle on Friday.
Snow Bike Best Trick returned for the second time to X Games Aspen. In the relatively young discipline, riders perform aerial stunts on a custom freestyle track featuring a choice of two Super Kicker Ramps—similar to motocross jumps—over a 40-foot long gap onto a 12-foot tall snow landing.
With its emphasis on spectacular spins and acrobatics similar to freestyle motocross, Snow Bike Best Trick attracts an eclectic mix of snowmobile freestylists and motocross innovators. But it’s still mostly uncharted territory: On one hand, there are no standardized snow bikes. Riders design their own custom conversion kits to transform motocross machines into freestyle-ready snow bikes with rear-mounted track drives. And what’s more, athletes are still exploring the boundaries of what kind of maneuvers are humanly possible on a snow bike.
Turcotte came into Sunday’s final session with confidence after spending weeks in the saddle of his snow bike, while fine-tuning his ride with mechanic Nick Itzke. Plus, he wanted a medal after having to settle for fifth place at the inaugural event last year. On his first attempt, the seasoned snowmobile rider posted a fully extended Tsunami flip, hanging upside-down from the handlebar while rotating a backflip, for 89.66 points and the lead.
Ultimately, Turcotte was bumped to second place when last year’s gold medalist, Australian motocross icon Rob Adelberg, pulled a California Roll body varial for the win. Nevertheless, Turcotte’s medal has been a long time coming: He has supported the new sport from day one and made history as the first rider to land a backflip on a snow bike in February 2016.
Sunday’s silver medal finish brings Turcotte’s X Games medal count to seven (two gold, four silver and one bronze). A regular competitor at X Games since making his debut in Aspen back in 2007, the Canadian claimed both of his gold medals at X Games Aspen 2018 with back-to-back wins in Snowmobile Freestyle and Speed & Style. The versatile rider also competed in Snow BikeCross this weekend and spent the past weeks practicing at Kyle Demelo’s place for a snow bike training camp.
On that note, newly minted Monster Energy rider Demelo from Canada put it all on the line in Sunday’s final by attempting a never-been-done front flip on a snow bike. After crashing his bike on the first try, he received help from teammate Turcotte who volunteered his machine.
Cheered on by the enthusiastic crowd, Demelo completed the full rotation—on a strange bike(!)—but could not hold on to landing what would have been a history-making trick. Definitely to be continued, as this young sport keeps evolving.
This wraps up an epic winter X Games in Aspen, one of the largest of all time. With a total on-site crowd of 117,000 spectators across four days at Buttermilk Mountain, attendance tied X Games Tignes 2013 as the largest crowd at any X Games winter event. Sunday’s attendance of 43,000 spectators also sets a new record for the largest Sunday crowd at a Winter X Games.
For X Games fans in the United States who missed the action at X Games Aspen 2019, watch highlights on ABC in a two-piece anthology: X Games Sydney Aspen, Anthology Part 1 will air on Feb. 2, 3 p.m. ET followed by Part 2 on Feb. 9, 1 p.m. ET. ABC will also air The Best of X Games Aspen 2019 on March 17, 1 p.m. ET. Fans can also follow the latest news and highlights across ESPN digital platforms, including XGames.com and X Games pages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and more.
Score all the exclusive updates from X Games Aspen 2019 including photos, videos and contest results http://www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter for exclusive behind-the-scenes looks in Aspen.