Round four of the six-event Red Bull X-Fighters freestyle motocross season took the intrepid riders to Osaka in Japan on Saturday, and a quality field showed off all their moves in front of an enthusiastic 11,000-strong crowd with the majestic Osaka Castle as the backdrop.
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Round four of the six-event Red Bull X-Fighters freestyle motocross season took the intrepid riders to Osaka in Japan on Saturday, and a quality field showed off all their moves in front of an enthusiastic 11,000-strong crowd with the majestic Osaka Castle as the backdrop.


The three events completed so far this season had produced three different winners, and this time it was the turn of 28-year-old Japanese ace Taka Higashino, who rose - or rather flew - to the occasion on home soil.


Standings leader Thomas Pages had dominated qualifying on Friday and went into the main event as the hot favourite.


Pages looked set to pick up the lion's share of the points here after he won the 'Best Move' award for his crowd-pleasing Double Nac Indian Whip.


He also aced the Flair, the Volt and the Special Flip, but it would not prove to be enough on the night.


Higashino produced the run of his life at a venue just 15 minutes away from where he grew up and first experimented with motocross.


Now based in the FMX hotbed of California, Higashino became an instant legend among X-Fighters fans in Japan on Saturday with his first major victory.


Higashino took an unexpected first place from Pages in the final reckoning, with Adam Jones of the United States grabbing a first podium place of the season in third.


Pages still leads the overall standings with 325 points with four of the six events of the season completed, 60 points ahead of Australia's Adelberg, with Torres a further 20 points back.


With his win, Higashino moves up to fifth in the rankings on 165 points, 25 behind New Zealander Levi Sherwood in fourth.


The fifth and penultimate show of the X-Fighters season takes place at the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas in Madrid on July 19th.