LB700
01-26-2004, 11:30 AM
Congrats Mike!
Following is a copy of a press release from Brett Lee of the CMRC:
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While all the attention was focused on the big guns of SnoCross—Blair Morgan and Tucker Hibbert—22-year-old Michael Island quietly took the hole shot in Sunday night's final and stormed away from the field to win the gold by a cool five seconds.
Island, from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, finished fourth at '03 Winter X. He arrived in Aspen relatively unheralded, hadn't won a race all year, and spent most of his time leading up to the Games hiding in the shadow of the Morgan-Hibbert hype.
Of course, that hype was well deserved. Morgan has won X Games gold the last three years, and every SnoCross report of the past week centered on whether Morgan could become the first X Games athlete to four-peat. The last rider other than Morgan to win? Hibbert, back in 2000, when he beat Morgan.
Hibbert spent the past year preparing for X by racing a motocross bike, and the '04 X Games were his first of the season. The Morgan vs. Hibbert showdown was the perfect story line, the perfect set-up, the perfect something ...
Until the gun sounded and Island, who had won only one race in his three years as a pro, punched the throttle at the gun, nosed into the instant lead, and never looked back.
"I came in with tons of confidence," said Island, hoisting a can of Bud Light into the air. "I just can't believe it happened. This is awesome."
And what happened to the Hibbert-Morgan showdown? That was the battle for the silver medal, and offered the most exciting racing of the night.
Levi LeVallee settled into second, trailed by Morgan and Hibbert. On lap four, Morgan tried twice to pass LeVallee on a corner. LeVallee blocked him once, and on the second try, the riders came to a T-bone standstill in the corner. Hibbert slipped past, jumping into second, and LeVallee emerged from the tangle in third. Half a lap later, LeVallee was bumped off his bike in the whoops, and the podium order was set.
"I pinched off at the start," Morgan said, shortly after the bronze medal was hung around his neck, a color that looked strangely out of place on the rider they call Superman. "It was hard to see because of the roost from the other guys' sleds," he says. " I wanted to win again, of course. But I rode well enough for third."
Following is a copy of a press release from Brett Lee of the CMRC:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While all the attention was focused on the big guns of SnoCross—Blair Morgan and Tucker Hibbert—22-year-old Michael Island quietly took the hole shot in Sunday night's final and stormed away from the field to win the gold by a cool five seconds.
Island, from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, finished fourth at '03 Winter X. He arrived in Aspen relatively unheralded, hadn't won a race all year, and spent most of his time leading up to the Games hiding in the shadow of the Morgan-Hibbert hype.
Of course, that hype was well deserved. Morgan has won X Games gold the last three years, and every SnoCross report of the past week centered on whether Morgan could become the first X Games athlete to four-peat. The last rider other than Morgan to win? Hibbert, back in 2000, when he beat Morgan.
Hibbert spent the past year preparing for X by racing a motocross bike, and the '04 X Games were his first of the season. The Morgan vs. Hibbert showdown was the perfect story line, the perfect set-up, the perfect something ...
Until the gun sounded and Island, who had won only one race in his three years as a pro, punched the throttle at the gun, nosed into the instant lead, and never looked back.
"I came in with tons of confidence," said Island, hoisting a can of Bud Light into the air. "I just can't believe it happened. This is awesome."
And what happened to the Hibbert-Morgan showdown? That was the battle for the silver medal, and offered the most exciting racing of the night.
Levi LeVallee settled into second, trailed by Morgan and Hibbert. On lap four, Morgan tried twice to pass LeVallee on a corner. LeVallee blocked him once, and on the second try, the riders came to a T-bone standstill in the corner. Hibbert slipped past, jumping into second, and LeVallee emerged from the tangle in third. Half a lap later, LeVallee was bumped off his bike in the whoops, and the podium order was set.
"I pinched off at the start," Morgan said, shortly after the bronze medal was hung around his neck, a color that looked strangely out of place on the rider they call Superman. "It was hard to see because of the roost from the other guys' sleds," he says. " I wanted to win again, of course. But I rode well enough for third."