Three years. Two riders. One Day.
Robert Maddison is a stunt rider from Australia. He started out in motocross and supercross, but his development and skill in freestyle motorcross (FMX) led him to success in stunt competitions.
With his motto, Face your fears – Live your dreams and a suitable nickname (“Maddo”), success and world records began piling up. Film work also beckoned - Robbie was the stunt double for Daniel Craig in Skyfall.
Stunt riding is all about entertainment and there’s no place in the world more dedicated to entertainment than Las Vegas. On the last day of the year in 2007, Maddo attempting to mark the 40th anniversary of Evel Knievel’s famous leap over the fountains at Vegas’s Caesars Palace by recording the longest-ever jump on a motorcycle.
*Evel Knievel, 31st December 1967
Knievel himself reckoned 300 feet was impossible but Maddison, hitting the ramp at 94 mph on his Honda CR 500, soared 60 feet into the air and landed the machine at a distance of 322 feet 7.5 inches — a world record by more than 45 feet
But Robbie wasn’t done with Vegas.
On New Year’s Eve in 2008 he was back, attempting to jump on to the top of the 96-foot-high Arc de Triomphe replica that stands proudly in the Paris casino. And then leap off it again.
He made light of tearing the flesh between his thumb and forefinger on his thumping impact with the ground. "I’ve broken my neck, knocked my teeth out, broke my collar bone, punctured my lung, broke my left wrist twice…this is like a paper cut,” Maddo joked.
Still, he knew he had got a little lucky, conceding later: “I don’t care if you offered me $10 million — I wouldn’t do it again.”