MasterCraft Signs X Games and Gravity Games Motocross Champion Pastrana

VONORE, TN - In a rather unconventional but appropriate athlete signing, MasterCraft has added two-time X Games freestyle motocross champion Travis Pastrana to its pro team.

Why dirt instead of water? Why bikes instead of boards? "While it might not make sense to sign a freestyle motocross rider to a wakeboard team, our plans with Travis are a bit different," says Rob May, marketing director. "Today's young athletes are becoming as much lifestyle-oriented as they are sport-oriented. The trend is psychographic more so than demographic. For example, a kid who likes to ride a wakeboard also spends time on a bike, a surfboard or a snowboard. Travis, only 17, is an icon in his sport, which has huge crossover to other action/lifestyle sports like wakeboarding. It's an odd fit, but a perfect one at the same time."

Just how big is Pastrana? How about the only gold medalist in the history of freestyle motocross at the X Games? Or a five-time national champion? The 1998 world freestyle champion, at age 14? He's on billboards, JumboTrons and jumping in front of tens of thousands every weekend on the moto X series.

"Travis is as big as it gets in this sport," says Malcom McCassey of No Fear, a longtime Pastrana sponsor. "He's already at the top of the sport at 17 years old, and he's constantly pushing the limits of what can be done on a bike. He is the Tiger Woods of motocross." He'll soon be working on his limits on a wakeboard. Pastrana took delivery of a black 2001 MasterCraft X-10 in his hometown of Annapolis, Maryland, last week, with delivery courtesy of Louis Alcamo of Bay Watersports.

"I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about my new MasterCraft!" said the boy who flew his Suzuki into San Francisco bay after his 1999 X-Games win. "I am honored to be a part of the team and can't wait to improve my wakeboarding skills."

While MasterCraft doesn't expect Pastrana to unseat Parks Bonifay as its top rider, it does expect an incredible amount of exposure for its X-Series brand that it simple couldn't get anywhere else.

"Signing Travis does two things for MasterCraft and the X-Series brand," said May. "First, it affixes a lifestyle to the brand that is consistent with today's riders - they do more than just ride. Second, it exposes the brand to hundreds of thousands of potential wakeboarders, and ultimately, buyers. Moto X is going off, and Travis is at the forefront of that movement."