In the shadow of the Queen Mary, her ghosts and demons already pissed off after Team Empire disturbed their eternal haunting, the parking lot was once again filled with the sounds of revlimiters from some of the best stunt riders in the country and world. The 2012 XDL Long Beach went down Friday and Saturday night, with Luke “Duke” Emmons taking first in individual freestyle after an intense battle on a rather challenging surface.

Rookie Joel Figueroa, qualified strong at 5th and and still finished 9th even after grinding his knuckles to the bone in practice Saturday afternoon. Rafal “$tunter13” Pasierbek and Bill Dixon both rode impressively but had a handful of crashes that knocked them down in points, allowing the always rock-solid Luke Duke to push ahead in the points.  

Bill Dixon and Aaron Twite stole the “Motul Drift Battle” show with Dan Jackson also putting on a heart-warming performance with first-time XDL rider Anthony “The Kid” Santiago, giving him a head start on a few of the turns.

Over 20 riders from around the country, Japan and Poland came out to participate in various events. The local motorcycle clubs and stunt fans turned up to enjoy the riding and meet with their favorite riders. Also several news stations and ESPN were out capturing the action to report on stunt riding.