After an unfortunate turn of events this morning during a Moto X SuperMoto qualifying session, James injured his left shoulder and now finds himself out of X Games 15 before his two main events ever got started. “I was coming around a corner and kind of washed the front end,” James told us this afternoon. “The tire caught a little bit and I ended up slamming my shoulder against the wall pretty hard.”

After a visit to a physician, it was determined that James could risk additional serious injury should he continue riding. “Yeah, I’m hurting pretty bad right now. It is very, very painful, and I can’t lift my shoulder above my side at all. If I could ride the bike I would, but there’s just know way at this point.”

Before the accident, James had moved his Graves-backed factory Yamaha into the third qualifying position, and was continuing to pick up speed. “I was feeling really good on the bike and was having a ton of fun. I was really looking forward to tomorrow’s events, but I’d still like to thank all of my sponsors for making this happen and getting me this far. I also want to thank Graves Yamaha for hooking up the bike, ESPN for all of the coverage, and all of my fans for sticking by me!”

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James tested his skills against the best whippers in the business tonight during X Games 15’s Best Whip contest at Staples Center, and when all was said and done, he was voted into the runner-up position by the fans! That’s right, Best Whip gold is decided by the live television viewers, and for the second-straight year, Todd Potter took home the coveted medal. More of a free-flowing expression session than a hard-nosed head-to-head competition, James still had a blast despite coming up a tad short of the gold medal.

“That was a lot of fun,” James commented after the event. “This was obviously the first time I’ve hit a metal ramp in competition, so it took a little getting used to in the beginning. All these guys have great whips, though, so I was just happy to be a part of it!”

Every rider in the contest had a completely different variation of the classic whip—all of which were very impressive in their own right. In the end, however, it all came down to the vote, and Potter got the nod.

“I can’t believe I actually won with big names like James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael in the event,” Potter said in the pressroom. “James and I bet before the event that whoever lost would have to give the other guy his jersey,” Todd said while holding up James’ one-off Answer Racing X Games jersey. “I’m stoked to have it, and it’s a number one jersey, no less! I have a pretty good jersey collection at home, so this one’s a great addition.”

James’ next event [Moto X SuperMoto] takes place on Saturday at 1:30pm at the Home Depot Center. Stay tuned!

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