X Games: Speed and style explained

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For anyone wondering what exactly “speed & style” means in the X Games’ Moto X Speed and Style competition, let’s take the quarterfinal race between Ronnie Faisst and Matt Buyten as our example:

Faisst finished the four-lap race first, but he was not assured to advance simply because he took the checkered flag. Each of the racers is required to perform one trick per lap, excluding the first lap when the course does not include the largest dirt-jump.

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Based off those tricks, the judges assign the racers a score for style. In this instance, Buyten tallied 86 style points, while Faisst recorded 84. Hence, the uncertainty as to who would advance.

But since Faisst won by 4.40 seconds, his final score was 88.80, edging Buyten’s 86.

Hopefully now it makes a bit more sense.

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-- Douglas Farmer