Steve Mini, one of the core members of ‘action sports collective’ Nitro Circus and local Mudgee-born rider, has qualified for the world games in Salt Lake City.
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Considered by many in the freestyle motocross scene as the ‘Olympics of action sports’, the Nitro World Games are the pinnacle of the sport.
Competing against world favourites like Gregg Duffy and Levi Sherwood, the latter of whom has already collected with X Games medals, Mini is excited to take his experiences to the global stage.
“I’ve ridden with all of these guys over the last few years and they’re the best riders in the world,” Mini said.
“The guys that had been there already had been practicing for over a month and we’d been on the Nitro Circus tour since January.
“I’ve done a lot of shows with Levi Sherwood and Taka Higashino but I’ve never competed against them so I’m excited to see how I go.”
For Mini, and his traveling partner and fellow Australian representative Blake Williams, optimising practice time is the key to a good result in the World Games.
“The guys that do the competition stuff full time are spending all their time preparing for this comp,” Mini said.
“We have a lot less time because we are on tour all the time, and me and [Williams] both have to make the most out of the time that we do get to practice.
“Both of us only really decided to enter the World Games a month ago, and when I’m not at the shows I’m here in Mudgee so we have had limited practice leading to the qualifiers and it will be the same leading up to the actual competition.”
The high-place finish in the American qualifiers has boosted Mini’s confidence that he can translate his Nitro Circus experience into competitive results.
“I think that with the result that I got in the qualifiers I have proved that I can do well in the comp,” he said.
“If I can get third with the limited practice that I had, there’s no reason that I can’t get a place in the actual competition now that my focus is on that.”
Local support means the world to Steve Mini, who was born and raised in Mudgee, and alongside the international sponsors his bike will have Ross Granata Motors and Fit Food’s logos emblazoned across the side.
“It's so great to be able to have home-town support at massive events like these,” he added.
The riders that qualified last week will join the three returning podium finishers, two pre-qualified semifinalists, and two yet to be determined wildcard athletes to vie for slots in the finals
The finals will take place on June 24 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, with information about broadcasting or streaming of the event in Australia to be released in the coming weeks.