Not so fond of format

Moto X freestyle put on another good show. The only person carried away on a stretcher was that ESPN cameraman. Nate Adams, who came in second, wasn't a big fan of the new format, which consisted of two-man semifinals, followed by a two-man final.

"The only thing that's not good about it is the pairing up, it can be really lopsided,'' he said. "Someone who has the ability to win can go out in the first round.''

The last few years, there were four or five riders in the final and each took two rounds with the best score counting as their total. I can remember a couple times the last rider clinched the victory before he had to take his second run, so he took it easy and didn't risk injury. Travis Pastrana was in first place last year and didn't make his last run after claiming he slipped and hurt his knee (yeah, right).

Tonight's competition revealed a flaw in the format, however. Jeremy Lusk had a bad crash in his semifinal against eventual winner Adam Jones, landing on his front tire, going over the bars and then getting squashed by his Yamaha. He was too hurt to finish his round and so he got a very beatable score for Jones, who followed. Jones still did his planned run, he just wasn't under as much pressure.

-- Dan Arritt