Cam Sinclair Countdown to X GAMES 15

The third person in history to land the double backflip and the first person to land it in a freestyle competition, Australia’s Cameron Sinclair, 25, has the double backflip on lockdown. Once deemed the most difficult trick in freestyle motocross, Sinclair lobs the trick up in the air and rides it out so seamlessly that he makes it look like a walk in the park.

A former demo rider with little competition experience, Sinclair grew up racing until he was 19. In 2002, he started “mucking around” doing freestyle with best mate and X Games competitor Blake “Bilko” Williams. In December 2008, at an event in San Sebastian, Spain, Sinclair became the third person to land the double backflip to dirt. He went on to land the trick another 19 times (to protective thin mats) on the Crusty Tour in Australia and New Zealand from February-June 2009. On June 27, at 12:30 a.m., Sinclair landed the trick in qualifying at the Red Bull X-Fighters event in Fort Worth, Texas, becoming the first athlete to land the trick during a freestyle run. He landed it two more times in the final before finishing third at the event, a career best.

So how will Sinclair stack up in his first trip to XG? He is slated to compete in Best Trick in which he, along with Scott Murray (the second person to land the double backflip), will be bringing the double. Travis Pastrana was the first person to land the trick; he won gold for it in the Best Trick competition in 2006, but the stunt hasn’t been landed successfully at XG since. (Murray did stick it for the gold helmet at the Moto X World Championships in April 2008, but he crashed attempting it at both XG ‘07 and ‘08.)

Sinclair is the first rider to land the double backflip in a freestyle contest run.

While the difficulty of the double backflip cannot be underrated, it is unlikely that the trick will earn gold without a variation added to it. Innovation is awarded above all else in Best Trick, and with newer tricks such as the frontflip (never landed in a comp) or a new body varial lurking on the horizon, the double backflip could be trumped. Sinclair knows this, and he is likely to up the ante of the trick when we see him in Los Angeles.

Sinclair is also on the Freestyle roster as an alternate. If he gets into the field, the double could add the extra “wow” factor needed for the rookie to earn a medal. While Freestyle rewards the best overall rider, a trick like the double backflip will no doubt help to distinguish Sinclair from a talented field of riders. Watch out for this Metal Mulisha, Rockstar, rider.