Live: Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk makes X Games appearance

Thousands are converging on the X Games finals in Ventura to see some of the biggest names in skateboarding, BMX and Moto X compete over the next three days. First up, the seaside fairgrounds hosts BMX Dirt and Street, Women’s and Men’s Skateboard Street, Men’s Skateboard Vert and Moto X Best Trick on Friday.

Refresh for the latest news and photos.

• Athletes to watch: The field is expected to include some of the biggest names in extreme sports. Also on the list is Ventura native and two-time X Games gold medalist skateboarder Curren Caples.

• Avoid traffic jams: The strategy includes trains, buses, off-site parking, traffic text alerts and even roadside assistance on the 101 Freeway. Here are more tips to know before heading to Ventura.

• Women narrow the gap: Women skateboarders will go vertical at the X Games finals for the first time since 2010.

• What’s at stake: It's rare for cities to make money on big sporting events, but economists say Ventura could more than recover its $250,000 subsidy for the X Games.

BMXer with Thousand Oaks ties pushes closer to X Games dream

The dream may be coming to life.

Brady Baker, who sometimes practices at Sapwi Bike Park in Thousand Oaks, has wanted to become a professional BMXer and compete in the X games since he was in kindergarten. In his first X Games competition ever Friday morning, the 20-year-old Sacramento man pulled off a trick called a flip triple whip and won an elimination heat in BMX dirt.

His dad, Alex Baker, paced in the viewing area during competition, craning his neck to see every trick and thrusting a fist in the air at its success. Afterwards, father and son were beaming.

“I'm just excited for him," Alex Baker said. "This is all of his hard work for the past 15 years.”

To read more, go here.

– Tom Kisken

Tony Hawk makes appearance at X Games

Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk joined the commentary team for the Men's Skateboard Vert event on Friday.

Hawk has 16 X Games medals including 10 golds.

X Fest features bodyboards, obstacle course

Want to know what the interactive X Fest is like at the X Games? Check out 7-year-old Owen Youngs' experience.

Ventura X Games beer available on Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

Two local X Games-themed craft beers were available in the cafe car of Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner as it wound from Los Angeles to the Ventura County Fairgrounds Friday evening. Each 16 oz. can was going for $7.50.

The two beers — Rincon Brewery’s Rodeo Ripa and Ventura Coast Brew Co.’s Summer Shredding — were part of the eight-can lineup announced by the nonprofit Visit Ventura in the build-up to the games.

– Isaiah Murtaugh

Photo gallery: See X Games competitors head to next round

X Games athletes Brady Baker and Momiji Nishiya competed on Friday and won their respective elimination rounds.

Baker was first in the BMX Dirt Elimination and will compete on Saturday. Nishiya placed first in the Women's Skateboard Street Elimination and will also compete on Saturday.

Check out Juan Carlo's photo gallery here.

– Juan Carlo

Ventura native fails to get out of X Games elimination round

Ventura native Curren Caples failed to qualify for the finals of the Men's Skateboard Street Elimination on Friday afternoon.

Caples needed to be in the top eight to qualify for the men's event on Sunday. The top-ranked competitor in the event was reigning Olympic gold medalist Yuto Horigome.

– Wes Woods II

Security, television cameras in abundance at X Games

There was no shortage of television cameras and security guards at the X Games on Friday.

Both were abundant during the Men's Skateboarding Street event and at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

The event is being filmed for television stations ABC and ESPN. It is also being live-streamed on YouTube and Twitch.

– Tom Kisken

How to stream X Games

The X Games is being streamed on ABC, ESPN, YouTube and Twitch this weekend with links available on the X Games website.

Ventura native Curren Caples will compete at 2:30 p.m. today in the Men’s Skateboard Street Elimination. He can be watched live via YouTube or Twitch.

The YouTube and Twitch live streams began at 10:20 a.m. today with BMX dirt elimination and concludes at 7:30 p.m. with Moto X best trick. ESPN coverage begins at 6 p.m. today with the men's skateboard vert event.

– Wes Woods II

X Games athletes excited to see crowds

The first day of the 2023 X Games had a twinge of history to it.

Friday’s competition marked the first X Games competition in front of fans for four years.

“I’m very excited to compete in front of front of fans,” skateboarder Jagger Eaton said Thursday. “It feels like it’s been forever.

“X Games is the show. You go to X Games and all of us athletes are here to win. To do it in front of fans in SoCal is a dream.”

Fans hadn’t been part of the X Games since Minneapolis in 2019.

“Without the people, it isn’t a show,” BMX rider Kevin Peraza said. “We don’t get the same energy.”

The 2020 games were canceled due to COVID. The 2021 and 2022 games took place behind closed doors in facilities like Pat Casey’s Dreamyard, Axell Hodges’ Slayground, Elliot Sloan’s Sloanyard and the California Training Facility.

“It’s always great to be back in front of a crowd,” said motocross rider Josh Sheehan. “After all, it’s the … people that watch us, that support us and make it possible for us to do this.”

— Joe Curley

X Games medals designed with Ventura in mind

The medals handed out at the X Games this weekend will have a touch of Ventura in their design.

Colorado artist Lisa Issenberg, better known as Kiitellä, said she was given words used to describe Ventura to help design and fabricate the medals.

“The event is on the coast and the theme was water, wave, air, California,” Issenberg said.

Issenberg worked with X Games representatives Brian Kerr and Shawn Brunoli to incorporate a wave into the design, she said. She has worked with the X Games since 2019, she said.

The front of the medals is made from recycled materials including aluminum and blue glass to signify waves and the California coast, she said. The back of the medals is made from old aluminum stop and caution signs, she said.

“The wave itself is anything but static,” Issenberg said.

The medals are about 4.4 inches in diameter and the wave shape forms into a circle that showcases the X Games logo.

“Putting it all together is the inherent movement, translucence, a feeling of water and most importantly this is no ordinary wave. This is the X Games wave.”

– Wes Woods II

Baker wins first X event

Brady Baker, who has dreamed of the X Games forever, won his first X event ever — an elimination heat in BMX dirt. Baker, 20, of Sacramento, is known locally because he sometimes trains in Thousand Oaks.

– Tom Kisken

Skateboarders take on street course

An elimination round of the Men's skateboarding street competition is coming up at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Here is a video of the course during a Thursday practice.

X Games fare: Turkey legs, tacos, sweet corn

If you get hungry at the X Games, concession booths are selling fare including fresh sweet corn, tacos, hot dogs, turkey legs, curly fries, pulled pork sandwiches and Texas barbecue.

The booths are located in a courtyard between the main entrance and the competition grounds.

Drones buzz overhead

Wonder what it is like on the ground at the X Games? Here's a sneak peek at the BMX competition.

Saturday parking: Going, going, gone

Before the gates opened at the X Games, parking lot spaces had already sold out for Saturday. Organizers pushed people to use other options like Metrolink and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains that come to a stop just steps from the fairgrounds.

– Tom Kisken

Sacramento rookie competes

One of the first riders in an elimination round for BMX dirt – the first event – is Brady Baker, a Sacramento rookie who has dreamed of this moment since he was 5. His dad paced before the run.

Defying gravity in Ventura

At the X Games, fans are always looking up. Here's a video from a motocross practice Friday morning.

What to expect on Day 1

Fans line up

More than 300 people waited in line for the X Games in Ventura to open Friday. Gates open at 10 a.m. at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

X Games: A family thing

As athletes practiced, their mothers and fathers watched, sometimes offering advice, sometimes wringing their hands.

Maki Matsuoka, who is from Osaka, Japan, was in the latter category on Thursday. She nervously watched her 12-year-old daughter, Juno, warm up for her first X Games finals competition in the skateboard vert, worrying any mistake could trigger a fall.

As for Juno, who interpreted questions for her mother, she likes her mom being around. “It makes me feel more confident,” she said.

– Tom Kisken

Motocross star Adelberg injured

X Games Ventura appears to have lost one of the biggest names in freestyle motocross on the eve of the games.

Rob Adelberg, the 34-year-old Australian who won both the Moto X Freestyle and Best Trick competitions last year, posted a video of himself on Instagram in a neck brace from what appears to be a hospital bed early this morning.

“This isn’t the video I wanted to post from X Games,” Adelberg says in the video, “but unfortunately this is what happens sometimes. Silly crash. Kicking myself over it. My weekend is done. They’re keeping me in here overnight. My neck is in bits and I’m struggling. Yeah, it looks like this year is done for me.”

“I had a huge trick planned. I’m just going to have to save it for the next one. We’ll be back.”

– Joe Curley

Shuttles head to X Games

Women's vert returns

The women’s vert finals will return to the X Games for the first time since 2010.

What does that look like? Skaters launch themselves up a steep half-pipe that propels them high in the air. They rotate and twist and sometimes fall.

The men’s vert is at 6 p.m. Friday. Women’s vert is 4 p.m. Saturday.

– Tom Kisken

Saturday tickets sell out

On the eve of the finals, X Games officials announced tickets for Saturday, 3-day passes and Saturday parking had sold out. Limited quantities of Friday and Sunday tickets were still available.

Get information or buy tickets online at xgames.com/events/x-games-california-2023/tickets. General admission tickets start at $55. Children under 6 get in for free.

A high-flying practice

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Live: X Games zoom, spin and roll into action in Ventura