Sheehan makes shaky start in return

Donnybrook daredevil Josh Sheehan made a lacklustre return to the Red Bull X-Fighters at the weekend, coming fifth in the second round in Greece.

The reigning champion was defeated by French rider Thomas Pages in the quarter final.

Pages was eventually defeated by Australian Clinton Moore in the final in front of a crowd of 10,000.

On the biggest track of the season, Australia's Rob Adelberg placed third, while David Rinaldo got a career-best fourth in front of a big and enthusiastic Athens crowd.

Reports from the event said the course, designed inside a quarry, was the biggest and most varied the X-Fighters would face all year and it provided the perfect stage for the riders to showcase their most progressive tricks.

The result means Sheehan faces an uphill battle to retain his championship, with a win in Madrid, Spain on July 10 a must.

Moore now leads the series on 100 points, closely followed by Pages and New Zealander Levi Sherwood (80 points), with Sheehan sitting in eighth on 45 points.

Sheehan had spent the past few months with the Nitro Circus, while also making international headlines when he completed the first-ever triple back flip at Travis Pastrana's "Pastranaland" complex.

The 2014 AJ "Tood" Buswell Sports Star of the Year also won bronze at the Moto X Quarterpipe at the June X Games in Austin, behind winner Pages and silver medallist Sherwood.

The Madrid leg of the tour is the third round in the five-stop championship, with the series to head to Pretoria, South Africa on September 12 followed by the United Arab Emirates on October 30.