Nitro Circus Photo Report by Virgil Knapp: Part 2 – Motocross Performance Magazine

Although it’s been years since Travis Pastrana competed in FMX full time, he clearly hasn’t lost any of the skills that propelled him to the top of the sport.

The Nitro Circus Live show kicked off its North American tour at Copps
Coliseum in Hamilton on Friday, January 4th.

10 years ago a standard backflip would win you a gold medal in any competition. Fast forward to 2014; a three-man flip is the norm.

Pastrana assembled 40 of the most talented action sports athletes for this tour.

A BMX rider catches full extension off the 50 foot high Nitro Gigantic-A-Ramp

This looks a lot worse than it actually is. The landing ramp has a layer of resin on top to cushion the fall. Numerous riders bailed off mid-air and showed no sign of injury.

The Nitro Circus athletes would literally jump anything from shopping carts to toy horses.

Nitro Circus proves that horses do fly.

No snow? No problem! Skis and snowboards worked fine off the ramps. If you look closely, you can see small skateboard wheels installed on the board and skis.

I was surprised to see a few four-strokes in the night’s show. Although 250cc two-strokes are dinosaurs in moto, they still reign supreme in freestyle. Obviously, he has no problem with the extra weight.

Bright lights, big extension.

Two of the sports’ OGs from the 2000s getting lazy on the job; Cowboy Kenny Bartram and Pastrana execute a synced up lazy boy.

Beau Bamburg throws one of the many flip combos in his arsenal.

Modern day freestyle is unreal.

I’ve never been a big fan of any pedal power two wheel bikes but the riders on The Nitro Circus Tour opened my eyes. These guys go just as big as the moto boys and they have no suspension!

One trick isn’t enough anymore, if you can’t do multiple tricks you might as well stay home.

One of the most shocking things of the evening was watching paraplegic wheel chair athlete Aaron Fotheringham hit the same ramps all the able bodied riders were using. What a badass dude!

Cowboy Kenny and Pastrana lead one of the many ten bike long back flip ‘trains’.

The capacity crowd loved the Nitro Circus show.

Cameron Sinclair sticking his double backflip (The first to ever be performed on Canadian soil).

Hometown hero Jolene Van Vugt had a solid performance including a ramp-to-ramp backflip on a purple chromed out RMZ 250.

What show would be complete without launching a Lazy Boy recliner chair skyward?

Jolene went one for two on successful landings. Fortunately, the one she didn’t make was in the toy car on the resin ramp. Still looks pretty painful though.

Nitro Circus truly lived up to the Circus part of its name. I never thought I’d see so many ridiculous household items jumped across a 75’ gap. Thank God for the mind of Travis Pastrana!

Chris Pomeroy

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