Extreme Aussie motocross rider Robbie Maddison plans to do what Evel Knievel couldn’t do

Motocross legend Robbie Maddison, driven by the memory of his friend, sets out to conquer a daring feat that has eluded even the legendary Evel Knievel. SEE ALL THE DETAILS

Motocross

Motocross legend Robbie Maddison has revealed plans to break a world record just weeks after losing a friend who died while trying another feat.

Maddison headlined the Freestyle Kings motocross event at Gold Coast’s Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday, three weeks after Jayden Archer died while practising a triple backflip.

Archer lived on the Gold Coast and spent time as part of the Freestyle Kings team.

The death sent shockwaves through the sport and cruelly cut short Archer’s bid to become the first in the world to land a quadruple backflip.

Now Maddison, 42, has opened up on plans to do something his idol, Evel Knievel, couldn’t do by jumping Snake River Canyon, located in the US state of Idaho.

“My furthest jump is 494 feet, the official world record is 378 but that jump is 2500 feet,” Maddison said.

Stunt man Robbie Maddison and his two sons Kruz 13 (left) and Jagger 10,(right) looking forward to performing at the Freestyle Kings show at CBUS stadium on Friday. Picture Glenn Hampson

“He (Knievel) tried to do it on a rocket and I am working on making that jump successful in 2025.

“I just want to do it because it is what I dreamt about as a kid and as part of my career I thought I was going to stop when I had kids.

“I found myself not actively getting up and grinding everyday and I thought what sort of example am I setting for my kids you know. They are going to think you can just cruise all day and it’s not the way.

“So with the technology where it is now I think I have a great concept that I want to pull off and I want to get that done in 2025 and then just focus on my kids.”

Maddison has been a stunt performer for 20 years and gave an insight into what he believes cost Archer his life.

“I think he just got put in a position where he was rushing to prepare for an event,” Maddison said.

“He changed his material, changed his bike over, he changed a lot of things.

“He didn’t allow for how it might affect him in that trick and it is such an intense trick.”

Archer was just one of three people in the world who had successfully landed a triple backflip.

Maddison knows full well the risk he takes while riding. His extensive list of injuries includes breaking both collarbones twice, he has broken both legs, suffered collapsed lungs, had to get a pin put in his left wrist and has been “concussed hundreds of times”.

It’s why he tried to push his two children, Kruz, 13, and Jagger, 10, away from mirroring his career, but nothing could stop the young Maddisons, who both featured in Saturday’s event where the oldest of the brothers performed a backflip.

“Part of me didn’t want them going into this sport because we just lost one of our really good friends a couple of weeks ago and I have lost a lot of friends to this sport,” Maddison said.

“Pushing the sport to a whole new level comes with dangers and I have witnessed it myself while jumping football fields at 160km/hr and you know people have tried to break my record and passed away.”

Maddison showcased new airbag technology that provides a softer landing for riders when they come up short in jumps.

“For us, our landing is a lot bigger, we have a big flat footprint on the back of it so it allows for not 100 per cent (certainty),” Maddison said.

“You know if you snap a chain or have an engine failure on the ramp, it’s probably going to be a different situation.

“A lot of us have learnt that you stay with your bike because you already have a foot of suspension on that thing.

“But the airbags just allow for any miscalculations or if anything goes wrong.”

The Freestyle Kings tour will go to the Sunshine Coast, Mackay and Cairns following the Gold Coast event.