FLIP YOU!
Flip off you flippin punx! Check it…
Its been a mangy monkey on my back that Ive been sweating before the legendary first flip on a quad John Guetter made back in ’04. I knew it could be done on a quad once I saw Travis Pastrana master it, and have thought that it is pretty much the raddest thing possible after Carey Hart stopped the world at the ’99 Gravity Games. Each character that Ive seen make a complete rotation has just fueled me to want to be a part of the upside down crew… Ive just never have had the opportunity or time to devote to this physics lab… until this year. I started talking to Caleb Moore about getting the job done and after pleading my case to the most hardcore quad flipper, he agreed to help me knock this off my bucket list the weekend before christmas so that I could add it to this year’s list of ridiculousness.
With the help of Skinny Paul, we loaded up the truck and headed to Texas on a nervous, delirious fly by night journey fueled by a couple BFCs BTW if your crib is under a rock and havent heard of Caleb, go pick up one of the newer Huevos Grande films from H-Bomb or just look at THIS dude is sick! We arrived at the Moore Compound and found one of my long time bros and fellow sicko Ben Bettis, realized then that this was going to be another unforgettable one! After prepping the pit they pretty much threw me to the dogs… “The new rider is up first! Get your gear on Willett!” Realize that Ive never even seen a quad backflip in person before and they tell me I have to earn my ghetto pass by stepping up and going for it right off the bat. I talked a lot of trash and was standing at the base of the ramp… nothing left to do except to sack up… Anyone who hasn’t seen a super kicker ramp can’t comprehend how gnarly of a trajectory that it is designed to thow you – way intimidating. I planned on hitting the ramp a few times with a few dead sailors (or just plain straight jumps) Caleb says that I get ONE safety jump and its time to get to work. He is serious about making riders step up and calling them out on what they are saying… I agreed… no sense in wasting time and spending more time being a chump. After a few attempts I have to give freestylers mad props these days… Especially Quad Freestyle. Flipping a 350 pound Quad is gnarly WAY GNARLY! I didn’t get it clean as I had hoped but will definitely be heading back down to finish my science class. I was hoping to knock this one out on a one time attempt but will be requiring work just like any other physics course. Ill let the pics do the rest of the talking…
On a side note: A motocross quad will NOT fit in a standard door way for your motel room (in any direction) nor do Arabic Inn keepers appreciate you trying to do so.
*Bonus: See if you can identify what’s happening in the bottom photo…. (a preview of what is to come!! A DEFINITE world record)
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