XDL and SBFC Round One at Road Atlanta

XDL Championship Series Round One at Road Atlanta Final Results

Atlanta, GA (April 30th) – XDL Championship Series held its first event of the 2017 season in conjunction with America’s premier road racing series, MotoAmerica. Nestled in the hills of Atlanta, GA, the world class facility, Road Atlanta, hosted the combined XDL and the Street Bike Freestyle Championship (SBFC) series, attracting America’s top amateur and professional athletes along with well-known competitors from as far away as Poland and Japan.

Qualifying

Four-Time XDL defending Champion Bill Dixon picked up where he left off by winning qualifying with a dominating display of switchback scrapes, bunny hops and 180 shuffles. Following Bill Dixon was first-time XDL athlete, Marcin “Korzen” Glowacki, from Poland along with Japanese athlete, Dai Yabiku.  Chris “Teach” McNeil and Aaron Twite rounded out the top 5 with solid runs.

Round One

The tables flipped in round one, with Marcin Glowacki taking the win over Bill Dixon in a tiebreaker based upon the difficulty category, and earning an important bonus point toward the Championship.  Dai Yabiku put in another terrific run, earning third place. while Kyle Sliger found his groove and moved up just outside a podium position.  Aaron Twite followed while Japanese rider Ogawa Hiroyuki moved up into 6th.

Round Two

Round Two saw a lot of action as riders fought for the final four spots in order to advance to the Battle Round. Marcin again put himself in the top spot with a great run, covering all the disciplines of Street Freestyle. Dai rode well and landed a huge, nearly-360 shuffle after having just landed a banger of a kangaroo to advance in second place. Dixon had a couple of bobbles that saw him slip down to third place still good enough to advance to the all-important Battle Round. Hiroyuki Ogawa continued to come to grips with his bike, improving enough to earn himself a spot in the night at 4th place.

Battle Round

The stage was set for an epic first-ever XDL Battle Round. The top four riders faced off bracket style, head to head, to find out who was going to go home the 2017 Round One XDL Winner. A winner is chosen in each category of judging, and the rider who wins 3 categories first moves on.  First-seeded Marcin faced fourth-seeded Oga, and second-seeded Dai faced-third seeded Dixon, with the higher seed being given the choice of laying down their run first or sitting back and seeing what their opponent has to offer.

Battle Round One

Marcin vs. OGA – Marcin came out with his textbook kangaroos and aggressive style, throwing down a near perfect run; and was able to squeeze past a hard-charging OGA who put together his best run of the day.

DAI vs. Dixon – Dai came out swinging in an attempt to set the bar high against Dixon, but a handful of small mistakes slowed his run down enough to give Dixon the win with a typical Bill D run filled with aggression and risk, nearly sweeping the judging categories.

3rd Place Battle

Dai vs. Ogawa – This all-Japanese third place battle was controlled by Oga right from the jump. He came out of the box hard with a good mix of tricks, flow and aggression, knocking out crowd favorite, Dai, and earning the final spot on the podium.

Championship Battle Round

Marcin vs. Dixon – The stage was set for an epic showdown between two of the best in the world – would one of the hottest riders in the world have what it takes to upset the American Champion? The crowd waited eagerly to find out how the top two riders of the day would fair in a head to head battle. Marcin chose to ride first, and he executed a run straight off of YouTube, hitting all of his biggest tricks and letting Dixon know that he was a clear and present danger to his repeat hopes. Never one to be afraid, Bill Dixon accepted the challenge and sent it; but in the end too many mistakes gave Marcin the win in 4 out of the 5 categories, and more importantly, the lead in the 2017 XDL National Championship.

Round One XDL Championship Series Results – 04/29/2017

MotoAmerica – Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA.

2017 XDL Championship Series Season Standings

XDL Facebook Live Feed of the Championship Round