Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. is fast approaching

RED BULL: NEW YEAR. NO LIMITS. THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN

Robbie Maddison and Levi LaVallee to attempt incredible side-by-side distance jump over 300-foot water gap on New Year’s Eve, live from San Diego on ESPN at 11 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT

Santa Monica, Calif. (December 26, 2011) - Testing is complete. The ramp installation has begun at the event site. The motorcycle and snowmobile are tuned and ready. Robbie Maddison and Levi LaVallee got to spend time at home with their families and enjoy the holidays. Now it's back to business and the task at hand - breaking the world record for motorcycle and snowmobile distance jumping at Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. The event will air live from San Diego, Calif., on Saturday, December 31 at approximately 11 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT on ESPN, ESPNHD and ESPN3, immediately following the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.



LaVallee, a 29-year-old native of Longville, Minn., will jump his snowmobile alongside Maddison, a 30-year-old Aussie now living in Temecula, Calif., who will pilot his motorcycle as both athletes simultaneously jump over 300 feet of water from the North park to the South park at the Embarcadero Marina Park in the downtown area of San Diego Bay. LaVallee will attempt to break his own record of 361 feet and Maddison will be aiming to eclipse the current record of 391 feet.

On-site viewing will be free to spectators at both parks. Gates will open to the public at 6 p.m. PT.

“The big one is right around the corner now,” said Maddison. “My bike has been totally dismantled and reassembled, Joe Gibbs Racing rebuilt my engine and all the final parts and adjustments are about done. I'm excited for Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. A new world record is the perfect way to start a new year!”

“I’m thrilled because we finished testing and everything went really well and ended on a positive note,” said LaVallee. “So I’m ready, a bit nervous, but extremely excited for Saturday night.”



WORLD-CLASS ATHLETES
Maddison boasts an accomplished freestyle motocross career, with an X Games silver medal in 2010 in Moto X Best Trick and two wins on the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour (Calgary 2009 and Madrid 2010). He also has a successful history of record-breaking achievements and globally captivating feats. Among them are backflipping across the Tower Bridge in London and clearing the Corinth Canal in Greece, to go with his previous New Year’s Eve successes, beginning in 2007 when he jumped his motorcycle 322 feet over a football field in Las Vegas and followed it up in 2008 by jumping onto – and off – the 96-foot-tall Arc De Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas.

LaVallee is a seven-time Winter X Games medalist (four golds) and champion snocross racer. He has fully recovered from a crash while training for the same event last year, just hours after shattering the world record with a leap of 361 feet on a snowmobile. He is widely known for becoming the first person to double backflip a snowmobile in 2009 at Winter X Games. Despite the temperate climate in San Diego, have no fear; LaVallee will use artificial turf on his run-up path, which will provide the necessary grip for his snowmobile’s track to ensure maximum speed as he hits the take-off ramp.

Red Bull’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration highlights extraordinary athletes pushing their physical, mental and technical limits to break boundaries and records. Leading up to their big night, LaVallee and Maddison have worked with Red Bull’s athlete performance experts, physicists and engineers, in addition to their core teams, in an effort to get the most out of their bodies and machines. Valuable information has been attained with the goal of integration into future technological development.

After last year’s unfortunate cancellation, this will be the fourth Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. event in the last five years. In 2008, the year Maddison went up and off the Arc de Triomphe, Rhys Millen backflipped an off-road truck. In 2009, Travis Pastrana jumped his rally car a staggering 269 feet over water, landing on a barge in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor.

Mystik Lubricants, title sponsor of LaVallee’s race team, is excited to partner with Red Bull in showing support for Levi during his quest to break his distance jump record in San Diego on New Year’s Eve.

For Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. event details and videos, visit www.redbullnewyearnolimits.com

Maddo and Levi take us through their jump machine:
View the latest the latest pre-event video.