Sheep in Wolfs Clothing-By Ryan Leyba

18-year-old New Zealander Levi Sherwood is arguably the best dirt bike riders hitting ramps at this very moment. Coming off a Red Bull X-Fighters win in Moscow, Russia, a silver medal at X Games (a lot think it should be a gold), and another X-Fighters win in London, England, Sherwood is proving himself as FMX's new hot commodity. His tricks are undeniably spectacular, his extension is second-to-none, and his style is beyond smooth, yet the formidable hype surrounding this rookie in his sophomore year doesn't even come close to fazing the cheery Kiwi.

I hit up Sherwood to discuss his most recent win in London, as well as get to the root of what makes his riding so insane. If you're looking for some sort of miracle answer on how to pull tricks as big as his, you're sure to be let down. His answer as to what makes his so sick? "I just like to have fun." Well, I guess that IS what 18-year-olds are all about, right?

PHOTO: Red Bull--You'll never see an indy grab like this from any other rider. If you already have, I don't believe you.

Interview:

What's going on? Did you just get back from London?
Levi Sherwood: Yeah man. I'm taking my suspension in to get worked on so I can go trail riding tomorrow.

Nice. So, how did it feel to win this past weekend in London even though you guys didn't really get to ride a contest?
Well, I'm happy that I won because I got some points, but it didn't really feel like a win, you know? It was just like, I don't know, pretty bland. We all knew going into qualifying that the overall would probably go off of those results by default, so that's why I kind of pushed it so hard in qualifying. After Mexico I didn't want the same thing to happen again. [Referring to Andre Villa's win based off qualifyers due to the final being cancelled by a rainstorm.]

So even though you guys didn't ride the event, you went out and put on a show -- but you were still riding really good considering how wet and dangerous the course was. Was it because you didn't want to let the fans down?
Well, we all went out there as the show was about to start, but it was ridiculously wet. The double double line had mesh all the way to the corners and there were a couple of other ramps that were alright, so we could do kind of a triangle loop, but we couldn't really put down a real freestyle run. I was probably the only one that was taking it easy because I was happy that I had already taken the win and I knew it was pretty dodgy. Like you saw Andre [Villa] go out there because obviously he wanted to ride, but he tried proving a point that the course was fine and it really just backfired on him.

So, you're pretty much proving yourself as the best FMX rider in the world right now. Your tricks are getting bigger at each and every event and you're riding really consistent at the moment. What's the deal? How do continue to get better by the second?
Um, well when I ride I don't really focus on anything. I don't know. I just try to keep it fun so that it remains fresh for me. In the past when I've put a lot of pressure on myself and tried hard it's always just backfired on me. But I think what's really got me riding better this year is just a lot of bad finishes because that just pushes me to do better, you know? Like after X Games, I did a photo shoot three days after and I'm kind of bummed because out there it felt like I was riding ten times better than I was at X Games. I don't know, it just works out that way.

Sherwood celebrates his first 2010 Red Bull X-Fighters win in Moscow, Russia.

So there's no rhyme or reason why your tricks are so insane?
No man. [laughs]

You don't just think to yourself, "Alright, I'm going to pull this trick bigger than I ever have and hold it longer and extend it further than ever before?"
Well, obviously that's the goal to make it bigger and hold it as long as I can, but you can practice that all day long and you get to an event and there will be a crappy ramp or you get to an event and it will have the poppiest ramp you've ever jumped, so it all depends. But yeah, you know, I always try to focus on that.

Gotcha. Yeah, I seems like your tricks have been getting better every time I see you ride. Do you think switching from the four-stroke to the two-stroke has helped you out in that department?
Yeah. Yeah, I think that since I've started riding the two-stroke I've been actually riding a lot better and I can go ride a course without worrying about making all the jumps. It's allowed me to worry less about my riding and more about my tricks themselves. I feel a lot more confident on the bike and I'm a lot more happy riding it.

Since you're such a stylish rider, when you first started riding FMX was there a stylish rider that stuck out in your head; maybe someone you emulated?
Drake McElroy. There was just something about it that made him stand out. He just had soul without trying. You see people without soul trying to put soul into their riding and it never works out. Me and my brother -- because I started riding with my brother -- just always used to look up to him and liked his riding style.

You're riding at such a high level right now; do you feel like you're anywhere near your peak? Do you even know where your peak is?
Um, I've never really thought about that. I always feel that -- I'm not always peeking, but I can tell when I'm riding at my best that year and stuff like that. And I kind of peek, but then I take a break and take time off, and then new tricks will come out and you'll hit another peak. I feel like it goes in ups and downs rather than just peeking all at once.

I know that you've been busting out some new tricks lately. Is that something you consciously try to do -- as far inventing new tricks -- or do they just come to you? Like what's up with the cordova seatgrab?
I try to think of tricks all the time, but nothing ever comes to me. [laughs] It's hard. But I wasn't the first to do that trick [cordova seatgrab] -- Jack Rowe was the first to do that. It was a few years ago -- I think I was 15 at the time -- I had always thought about doing that trick and I saw online that he'd done it, so after seeing it was possible I landed a couple and then I only started doing it again this year. I've been doing a bunch of tricks this year that I learned when I was younger, like 15, and I kind of just forget about them. I try to throw tricks in my runs that not too many people do -- stuff that's kind of different.

And this is what you call a, uh ... ruler flip, KOD flip, scorpion flip ... whatever you call it, Sherwood does it like nobody else in the biz.

It seems like it's just so difficult to invent new tricks these days because everything is so gnarly. Are there any crazy new flip combos in your head that you want to try?
Um, there are a few. I don't know. I think a lot of the tricks I think of are like a new spin on a flip trick, and what seems to happen when I ride a foam pit is I can't say no to anything so I'll give it a few shots, but I won't get it straight away so I'll throw in the towel. I was working on a new trick every couple days in Switzerland when I was visiting with Mat [Rebeaud], but I just got tired of riding the foam pit. So I just really need to spend more time doing it, like when I'm in New Zealand during the off-season when I can actually put in the time. It's hard though, new tricks don't come as easy as maybe back in the day, because they're all body varials and stuff like that.
 

Have you thought about doing the whole body varial thing like we've seen Robbie Maddison do lately?
As far as that stuff goes, I've kind of thought about it, but at the same time I realize that stuff is for certain riders. I've always thought that stuff like that is for people trying to break into the scene -- obviously Maddo's not in that category because he's just nuts -- but I've always thought the gnarlier tricks are for people that need that extra boost breaking into the sport. I just try to focus on putting together an overall better run because what you kind of see is -- like Maddo -- you see him land it [the Volt] ten times, but it's such a difficult trick that one little slip up can end in a bad result, and I kind of don't like to ride on the edge like that.

And how about the 360, is that something you've thought of mastering?
Yeah, I've tried them a few times. I can do them in the foam pit, but back to the whole foam pit-riding-thing -- I don't really put in enough time to get them to where I want to do them on dirt. I really should, but I just don't like foam pits at all. [laughs] I just don't feel like I need to do it at this point.

Yeah, that makes total sense. Throughout the past year you've gained a lot more notoriety, yet you continue to stay level headed. I know that all the riders in the sport also like you for this reason. Is it hard to keep cool when you know that you're one of the sickest dudes on a dirt bike at this very moment?
Not really. I just try to do what I do and carry on like I always have. I don't really like cocky people and people like that, so I really want to avoid being like that, you know? And obviously people might think I'm the man to beat, but I always feel that they're always the ones I'm trying to beat. I've never gone to a competition and thought, "Yeah, I got this," you know? I always feel like I'm coming into the competition from behind, rather going in thinking I'm going to win.