Normally NBC Sports airs five of the six contests that make up each AST Dew Tour stop, with FMX being one of the more popular.  Last season, one of the FMX contests was also webcast live.

This year, everything changed with FMX — the tour announced that the event would be cut from two of the five stops (with Demos filling the gaps).  Blake Williams won the first stop in Baltimore in June, while Adam Jones won in Salt Lake City last month.

Jones leads the overall AST Dew Cup race with Williams a close second.  However, Williams was injured at the X Games Mexico contest last month and is expected to miss the final stop in Orlando — but these moto riders are pretty resilient, so anything’s possible.

For more about the AST Dew Tour, you can check out the official site.  Or keep an eye on us for the latest results.

Adam Jones in SLC ’08.  cr. AST

Bilko did not seek medical attention in Mexico, opting instead to go to San Diego the following day where he was diagnosed with broken toes and a torn anterior cruciate ligament and damaged meniscus tissue in his knee. The injury will require surgery and a full knee reconstruction, followed by months of rehabilitation.

The season so far was a good one for Bilko, starting with a win at the AST Dew Tour’s Panasonic Open.  He was la close second in the Dew Cup standings after two stops and was hoping to unseat Nate Adams as Dew Tour champ next month in Orlando.  He was also scheduled to take part in this weekend’s LG FMX World Championships in Pomona.  Bilko had been nursing a number of smaller injuries which hampered his performance at this month’s Toyota Challenge.

“I’ve had a busy schedule since December last year and have been run off my feet. Since relocating to the US I’ve injured my shoulder and knee, cracked my heal bone and now this.” Bilko said on Fullnoise.com.au.

“I’ve been nursing injury at almost every event and have not had the chance to practice mid-week which has hurt.”

Several FMX riders have suffered major injuries this season, including Greg Hartman, who suffered a head injury at a Dew Tour demo and Jim McNeil and Nixey Danielson, who crashed at this summer’s X Games.

Yes, the AST Dew Tour still has FMX and while a couple of major names missed the Toyota Challenge Saturday in Salt Lake City, the field left still represented most of the top riders in the sport.  Nate Adams and Blake “Bilko” Williams, who battled for first in Baltimore at the Panasonic Open, both had problems during their first runs.  Adams fell during a lazy boy backflip and was knocked out of the competition with two broken fingers.  Williams, who broke his ankles last year in Baltimore, was injured after crashing in practice on Friday and rode hurt.  He was unable to have a clean run and was obviously in pain after it finished.

That opened the door for the rest of the field, though former X Games gold medalist Adam Jones has proven his skill before and did it again scoring a 94.17 on his first run.  Robbie Maddison finished in second with a 92.13, followed by Metal Mulisha rider Jeremy Lusk in third with a 91.59.

Williams did come out for his second run but didn’t score high enough to break the top five, even though he landed three 360 variations.

Check out the full results below.

FMX Finals Results – Toyota Challenge
September 13, 2008 – Salt Lake City, UT

1st – Jones, Adam – 94.17
2nd – Maddison, Robbie – 92.13
3rd – Lusk, Jeremy – 91.50
4th – Bamburg, Beau – 89.9
5th – Mason, Mike – 87.43
6th – Faisst, Ronnie – 86.03
7th – Williams, Blake – 85.83
8th – Potter, Todd – 81.67
9th – Adams, Nate – 66.13
10th – Rebeaud, Mathieu —

AST Dew Tour: Dew Cup Current Standings
FMX Points

1. Adam Jones, 165
2. Blake Williams, 160
3. Robbie Maddison, 145
4. Nate Adams, 140
5. Jeremy Lusk, 140
6. Mat Rebeaud, 125
7. Beau Bamburg, 115
8. Mike Mason, 115
9. Ronnie Faisst, 83
10. Thomas Pages, 75

FMX Prelim Results – Toyota Challenge
September 11, 2008 – Salt Lake City, UT

1st – Jones, Adam – 90.03
2nd – Maddison, Robbie – 89.57
3rd – Potter, Todd – 88.97
4th – Lusk, Jeremy – 84.93
5th – Bamburg, Beau – 84.30
6th – Mason, Mike – 84.23
7th – Faisst, Ronnie – 82.77
8th – Kargola, Jeff – 81.87
9th – Richmond, Myles – 81.30
10th – Fehr, Jeff – 79.93
11th – Fullmer, Wiley – 79.53
12th – Garland, Derek – 79.4
13th – Nielson, Sean – 77.83

Bilko was up against a number of major competitors, but apparently had a huge following down under voting for him.

“This makes my win at Baltimore even sweeter,” he said. “It shows how passionate the Aussie fans are and shows what a close community of FMXers we have back home.”

For the win he takes home $5K and a PS3 pack.

Even though there’s only a demo going on this upcoming weekend at Cleveland’s Right Guard Open, Bilko plans to be there.

“This weekend the tour heads to Cleveland but we’re only there as exhibition riders,” he said.  “It’s still a great chance to get in some practice jumps and show the US fans how far the Aussie scene has come, I’m proud to be flying the flag.”

You can get more of an update on Bilko on the Crusty Demons site.

Blake Williams – cr. AST

Aussie Blake “Bilko” Williams took first place Sunday at the Panasonic Open in Baltimore, edging defending champ Nate Adams in a trick-stuffed final, scoring 90.33 to 89.33. Mathieu Rebeaud rounded out the top three close behind with an 89.00.

Bilko’s two runs were actually both higher-scoring than Adams (90.33, 89.83), and with Adams having the final run, Bilko couldn’t take it easy. Bilko’s tricks included Superman backflips, a backflip cordova and a flat spin 360 heel clicker while Adams threw his signature La-Z-Boy backflip.

The influx of new talent like Thomas Pagès (4th) and Nixey Danielson (9th) seemed to have an impact on some of the returning favorites, with Mike Mason (10th) and Adam Jones (6th) both performing under expectations. Of course, both men, along with Adams, received a bye going into the contest so this was their first look at the course outside of practice.

The success of Bilko is not really that surprising given he gave Adams a run for his money at Baltimore last year before crashing at the end of a run. That crash knocked him out for the rest of the season but before that, he was considered the rider to watch in ’07. Even with the crash, Bilko finished second in Baltimore and it was only a matter of time before he would prove himself ready.

For Adams, who went four of five in AST Dew Tour events last year, the pressure is on the three-peat as Dew Cup Champ. With the AST cutting the number of FMX events this season to just three, every win counts more than ever and fans will have to wait until September in Salt Lake City before the next competition (though Best Trick contests will be held in Cleveland and Portland).

Check out some video of the FMX finals below…

2008 Panasonic Open
FMX Finals
June 22, 2008 / Baltimore, MD

1st – Williams, Blake – 90.33
2nd – Adams, Nate – 89.33
3rd – Rebeaud, Mathieu – 89.00
4th – Pagès, Thomas – 86.83
5th – McNeil, Jim – 86.67
6th – Jones, Adam – 85.77
7th – Lusk, Jeremy – 84.67
8th – Maddison, Robbie – 83.73
9th – Danielson, Nixey – 83.50
10th – Mason, Mike – 82.97

The prelims were run later in the evening, helping make sure wind would be less of an issue. Still, some familiar faces missed the cut including Metal Mulisha riders Takayuki Higashino, Ronnie Faisst, Todd Potter and Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg. The Mulisha will still be represented by Maddison and Jeremy Lusk, who placed fourth in the prelims.

The FMX finals will take place on Sunday from 1-3 p.m. ET and will air on NBC.

Here’s the lineup for Sunday’s final (in order)

10. Thomas Pagès
9. Jim McNeil
8. Nixy Danielson
7. Jeremy Lusk
6. Blake Williams
5. Mathieu Rebeaud
4. Robbie Maddison
3. Mike Mason
2. Adam Jones
1. Nate Adams

FMX Prelim Results
June 19, 2008 – Top Seven Advance

1st — Maddison, Robbie — 88.67
2nd — Rebeaud, Mathieu — 88.33
3rd — Williams, Blake — 86.33
4th — Lusk, Jeremy — 85.5
5th — Danielson, Nixey — 86.37
6th — McNeil, Jim — 86.17
7th — Pagès, Thomas — 82.67
—————————————
8th — Bamburg, Beau — 80.67
9th — Fullmer, Wiley — 80
10th — Pages, Charles — 79.7
11th — Garland, Derek — 78.67
12th — Fehr, Jeff — 79.93
13th — Faisst, Ronnie — 76.83
14th — Higashino, Takayuki — 76.67
15th — Richmond, Myles — 76.67
16th — Potter, Todd — 69.33
17th — Stenberg, Jeremy — —