X Games 15 starts Thursday

When X Games 15 opens in Los Angeles on Thursday, Carson Valley will have a decent contigent on hand to participate.

Minden residents Matt Buyten, 29, and Adam Jones, 25, will be competing in the Moto X Step Up and Moto X Freestyle respectively while Carson City's Mike Mason, 27, will compete in Moto X Freestyle.

Buyten is one of four riders invited to compete in Step Up, which is the motocross equivalent of track and field's high jump. Participants get a 25-foot start before vaulting up a 12-foot wall in an attempt to clear a bar which is set a varying heights.

Buyten has previous won Step Up gold in 2003 and 2006. He's also won gold medals at X Games Mexico and X Games Brazil.

The 1998 Douglas High grad comes into this year's Games with the most victories out of any of the invited riders.

The Step Up final is scheduled for 4 to 5 p.m. on Thursday on ESPN.

Jones and Mason are among 15 athletes invited to participate in the freestyle events. Jones won X Games gold in 2007 and was named the International Rider of the Year the same year. The freestyle final is set for 4 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 1. The preliminaries for the event will be on ABC from noon to 3 p.m. and the event finals will be on ESPN from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

Carson Valley resident Trevor Snowden is an alternate for the Moto X Super X Adaptive event, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Coverage will be on ESPN.

All four athletes were at the Nevada Motocross Park in Gardnerville last week to help celebrate the park's opening.

More than 250 athletes will compete in various action sports. New events like Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam and Skateboard Park Legends will debut this year as well.

X Games 15 will kick on at 5 p.m. Thursday and end on Aug. 2. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will air more than 20 hours of live coverage. In addition, 20 hours of coverage will be streamed online at ESPN360.com.