It's been more than a decade since freestyle motocross icon Travis Pastrana got together with some friends to film a few stunts but he still doesn’t know quite what to expect when his Nitro Circus team rolls into WIN Stadium on Saturday.
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Pastrana first started shooting DVDs from his garage in 2003. It grew into one of the most popular MTV series of all time, airing in more than 60 countries worldwide with live shows playing to sold out arenas all over the world. Saturday’s event is the first leg of a new Australian tour and will be the third time the world famous entertainment brand has come to Wollongong.
‘‘Nitro was just me and some friends having some fun trying some stuff in the backyard,’’ Pastrana said.
‘‘As we started filming it we realised there were more people around the world just like us.
‘‘It’s awesome to travel halfway around the world to Australia and put crowds on their feet.
‘‘It translates to any language. The guys are so fired up to be back [in Wollongong] and want to put on a show that just crushes the other two that we did here and hopefully the crowd will really be into it. I know Jolene Van Vught has a trick she’s never been able to land before and everyone feels that this is a show to really step it up and set a precedent for the rest of the series.’’
Pastrana has won 17 X-Games medals and was the first person to ever land a double-backflip..
‘‘I still refer to our shows as events,’’ Pastrana said.
‘‘For us it’s a competition. We’re always trying to one-up each other and I think as an athlete you have to always think of it as an event, something you’re trying to win. We throw it down every single day. But with the show aspect we don’t have to worry about conforming, we can do whatever makes the biggest stuff possible.’’
At 31 he’s far from finished in the business but the father of two says he has happily passed the baton on to Nitro’s growing list of emerging stars.
‘‘I have 16-year-old’s teaching me how to do tricks in my own sport,’’ Pastrana said. ‘‘I used to be the one who was really pushing it now my job is to find the new guys who are coming up. ‘‘I’m past the point where I’m trying to do a lot of new stuff. I’ll still do some one-off big tricks but these kids are willing to push themselves to absolute breaking point every night and that’s inspiring.’’
