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The genesis of Nitro Circus took place in Draper, Utah, on the brink of the early 2000s.

Starting out as a modest DVD collection that was cut and edited 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, action sports extraordinaire Travis Pastrana and producer Gregg Godfrey — a native Utahn — set in motion a vision to push their sport out to the mass audience.

On Saturday, Nitro Circus, in conjunction with NBC, will nationally televise its first World Games at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Featuring the best in freestyle motocross (FMX), BMX, skate, inline and scooter, this weekend will mark the biggest event in the history of action sports.

"For this to come to Salt Lake … it's a crazy win," Salt Lake City native and X Games BMX gold medalist Colton Satterfield said. "It's impossible to understand how large this is. It's probably going to be the most progressive event in action sports we've ever seen."

Action sports icons such as Todd Richards and Tony Hawk will form part of the crew of hosts who will help call the wide-ranging set of events.

As part of a sport that continually pushes the limits of what is deemed humanly possible, the Nitro World Games aims to showcase tricks that have never been seen before.

According to Nitro Circus CEO and Creative Director Michael Porra, the World Games will introduce more than 60 originals on its unique layout of new ramps, all of which inspired by Pastrana's Panama Beach-based playground named "Nitro City."

"We can build that for these guys," Pastrana said, regarding offering riders a platform to perform innovative tricks. "That's why the best in the world have come on Nitro Circus … to be able to push themselves."

To extend its appeal to casual fans, Porra and Pastrana devised a straightforward scoring system that will allow little room for interpretation. The riders have the option to try new tricks (in accordance to the live flow of the competition), but the entire agenda has already been preset to the last televised second.

In May, Nitro Circus kicked off its live tour in front of 17,000 fans at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. There, Gregg's nephew, Gavin Godfrey attempted a triple backflip, but bailed and came up a little short.

This Saturday afternoon, the BMX rider will be competing at Rice-Eccles and he said he's ready to give it another try.

"I've grown up with Nitro Circus my whole life and seen it evolve," he said. "It's crazy to think about how this contest has come to Utah, back to birth grounds … this is the place to see the new innovation of sports. I don't think anybody is ready to see what's about to go down." —

Nitro World Games

P At Rice-Eccles Stadium, Saturday, 6 p.m. (Gates open 3:30 p.m.)

TV • Ch. 5