Bulletin staff report

Justin Homan is just glad to be in one piece.

The motocross rider from Redmond has returned to Central Oregon after placing eighth in the Motocross Big Air competition at the X Games in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Homan pulled off two back flips – his first in competition – and earned a high score of 86.67.

Homan suffered no injuries, but several of his peers were not as fortunate that night before a capacity crowd at Staples Center.

Mike Metzger and Travis Pastrana didn’t even enter the event due to injuries suffered during practice the week before, according to the EXPN.com Web site. Carey Hart, the defending silver medalist, was knocked out of the event when he crashed in the morning practice.

During the first round, Mike Jones attempted a barrel roll and dropped 20 feet to the dirt. He was carried off in a stretcher, but apparently was OK when he returned to watch. Beau Bamberg of Gresham crashed hard attempting a back flip sterilizer. He got up and was helped off the course, EXPN.com reported.

”A couple guys walked away that probably shouldn’t have,” Homan said on the Web site.

”It was nerve-racking, a lot of people got hurt,” Homan later said from his job at AmeriTitle in Prineville on Monday.

But Homan ignored his fear and was able to execute his back flips, which he had been practicing for only about two months on his property in Redmond.

”I’m ecstatic just because I pulled it (a back flip),” Homan said. ”It’s so new to me, I was counting on going down, really. I was just hoping for the best and it worked out.”

Homan didn’t even know he would compete in the Big Air event until Saturday morning when ESPN confirmed that he would participate as an alternate. He was able to get in one round of practice. Matt Buyten, who won the Step Up competition on Friday, also competed as an alternate.

”ESPN was really cool about it,” Homan said.

Brian Deegan of Temecula, Calif., Homan’s friend and partner in the Metal Mulisha – a group of motocross freestylers – won the gold medal by executing the first-ever 360 back flip in a Big Air competition. The trick – which he’s calling the ”Mulisha Twist” – earned him a score of 97.67 on a 100-point scale.

”It’s all about the Metal Mulisha taking over the town,” Deegan told EXPN.com.

Said Homan: ”It’s a big deal for both of us.”

Taped coverage of the Big Air final can be seen today through Thursday on ESPN2, between 6 and 8 p.m. each night.