Two Global Wild Card Entries Open To Kiwi Riders At Red Bull X-Fighters 2016 In Madrid!

The world's greatest Freestyle Motocross riders will converge on the immortal Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid for a spectacular Red Bull X-Fighters event on June 24 that will mark the 15th anniversary of the competition being staged in the Spanish capital.

With a special new format, the event will also give two aspiring young "Novilleros" their first taste of the ring. The "Novilleros" can win a spot in the competition by sending in a video of their best tricks. The public will have the chance to select by popular vote the first "Novillero" and the X-Fighters sport committee will select the second newcomer. Candidates can submit their tricks starting on April 14 and voting begins immediately.

With only one Red Bull X-Fighters event in 2016, New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood has been enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation at home. In April he completes the Nitro Circus tour in Australia and at the start of June his focus will be on winning that elusive gold at X-Games.

“It’s good to have a break but I’m ready to go and ride overseas again. I missed the last two rounds of X-Fighters in 2015 because I aggravated an old ankle injury I suffered in South Africa in 2014. I broke my ankle and got a screw in there but it never quite came right. I had an operation to take the screw out last year and while it’s still not 100 percent, it’s much better than it was.”

Australia's Clinton Moore, the 2015 world champion, will be back in the air battling bullring against three-time Madrid winner Tom Pagès of France as well as a field packed with former champions and legends of the sport, hungry to win the one and only Red Bull X-Fighters event in 2016.

The Red Bull X-Fighters stop in Madrid has long been celebrated as the world's premier FMX event as enthusiastic crowds cheering the riders on to even greater new tricks each year. Their stunning performances have set the trend for the sport around the world. The first-ever backflip, for example, was performed in Madrid. Las Ventas is also always one of the world's most formidable FMX tracks with riders shooting out of the bullfighting ring's labyrinth of tunnels into the packed stadium and roars of the crowds.

Some of the greatest FMX riders the sport has ever known have tried to win over the knowledgeable Madrid crowds with their incredibly creative and daring jumps. Travis Pastrana (USA) has also won Madrid three times but not consecutively like Pagès, while Dany Torres (ESP) has won the most important stop of the year twice. Other winners in Madrid include Robbie Maddison (AUS), Levi Sherwood (NZL), Mat Rebeaud (SUI), Nate Adams (USA), Kenny Bartram (USA) and Edgar Torronteras (ESP). The event will be judged by legends of the sport. Former champions and Madrid winners competing include: Australia's Josh Sheehan (2014), Pagès (2013), Sherwood (2012) and Torres (2011).

The competition kicks off on Thursday, June 23 with a qualifying session, which will define three groups of four riders who will compete in a "Jam Session". An additional new feature at the "Jam Session" when riders perform their own series of tricks will be a roulette round. Each group will spin a roulette with the names of established tricks from the sport's rich history and all four riders in the ground will have to spontaneously perform that trick.

The best two riders of each of the three "Jam Sessions" will advance to the three Semi Final rounds. In the Semi Final, the top six riders will battle it out head to head against the winners of the three groups advancing to the Final 3.

The competitors: Clinton Moore (AUS), Tom Pagès (FRA), Dany Torres (ESP), Levi Sherwood (NZL), Maikel Melero (ESP), Rob Adelberg (AUS), Taka Higashino (JPN), David Rinaldo (FRA), Novillero 1, Novellero 2

Watch it live! Red Bull X-Fighters Madrid will broadcast live on redbullxfighters.com and Red Bull TV on June 24.