Moto Step Up has always seemed to be a bit of a sideshow--a spectacle if you will. But when Ricky Carmichael soared some 35 feet high inside the Staples Center before crashing down on his rear wheel and getting violently bucked to the ground, lying for minutes without movement, no one in the audience was thinking this was any gimmick.

Fortunately Carmichael walked away, though his wreck prevented a last chance victory over leader and eventual Gold Medalist Ronnie Renner.

Step-Up surely is a spectacle, and a damn entertaining one at that. Beyond Carmichael and Renner, the finals featured previous place winners Matt Buyten, Jeremy McGrath, Kevin Windham and Brian Deegan.

Deegan, "the General" of the venerable Metal Mulisha surprising departed in the very early going. Missing twice on a relatively low 29 feet. From there it was a solid battle among the remaining competitors until the bar reached 31 feet where Windham missed and was out.

From there 33 feet took out McGrath. At that height things started to get critical with the short run-in requiring each rider to pin their gears and huck themselves while staying light on their feet.

Next to fall was Buyten, who couldn't overcome the 34-foot mark. Leaving just Carmichael and Renner.

At a huge 35 feet Renner missed both attempts, leaving the door open for an impressive Carmichael who had been sailing seemingly close to 40 feet on some. Yet the favored motocross star missed (barely) each time, just clipping his back wheel on the bar.

Given a final sudden death 3rd chance, Renner couldn't get close, plowing through the bar with his front tire. The stage was set for Ricky to take the glory and gold. He throttled it, soared and seemed to make it as he kept his bike near vertical over the bar. Alas a pesky nub on his rear tire again clipped the bar. The 150 lb. Carmichael, so nimble so often was badly out of position and dropped hard, unable to level his bike. The result was his rear end crash and an injury forfeit to Renner, as he could no longer compete.

The show was a good one with pro surfer Kelly Slater handing over the medals (didn't know Kelly was a moto fan). So ended Day 1 of X. Stick around for more coverage of X Games 15 throughout the weekend.