Schedule Gets Upgrade Despite Venue Changes

Downtown construction has chewed up the parking lot at Staples Center, forcing X Games organizers to relocate several events to the Home Deport Center in Carson for this year’s games, which run today through Sunday.

The most prominent relocation is the seven-story tall mega ramp, which will be erected outside the Home Depot Center, which will also serve as home to the BMX park and the skateboard street courses.

The indoor vert ramp remains at Staples Center, and the BMX dirt course returns after two years at the Home Depot Center.

Chris Stiepock, general manager of the X Games, said any confusion by the moves should be alleviated by a more intuitive schedule: All Thursday and Friday events are at Staples Center and all Saturday and Sunday events are at the Home Depot Center.

The only exception is the men’s skateboard street final, which will be held Friday at the Home Depot Center.

In the past, events ran concurrently at the two venues, which are 20 miles apart, as well as at Long Beach Marine Stadium for wakeboarding.

“Last year we forced spectators to choose between two and, on Saturday, three locations,” Stiepock said. “We made a concerted effort this time to give fans only one option.”

The changes are not without drawbacks. When the mega ramp was stationed outside Staples Center, downtown Los Angeles served as a photogenic backdrop and the wall of the nearby Figueroa Hotel was decorated with X Games advertisements.

Now the ramp sits in a nondescript parking lot with only the sky as a backdrop. It’s also exposed to more variable winds than it was when downtown buildings surrounded it.

“The wind situation is a factor,” said skateboarder Bob Burnquist, who will compete in the big-air competition on the mega ramp. “They’re not consistent. [Monday] we had a tail wind and [Tuesday] there was a headwind.”

BMX riders also will compete on the mega ramp for the first time this year.

Practice sessions at the Home Depot Center today and Friday are open to the public. There is no admission charge today, but it will cost $5 on Friday. Parking is an additional $5 both days.

Times staff writer Pete Thomas contributed to this report.

*

Today’s events

A preview of today at the X Games:

SKATEBOARDING

* Today’s finals: Defending champion Cara Beth Burnside of Encinitas hopes to hold off a women’s vert finals field that includes last year’s bronze medalist, Mimi Knoop. Bucky Lasek, also of Encinitas, goes for his fifth gold in the men’s vert finals, but it won’t be easy against a loaded field that includes 2001 champion Bob Burnquist and Olympic snowboard hero Shaun White, last year’s runner-up. Last year’s winner, Pierre Luc-Gagnon, who also won in 2002, is out with a knee injury.

*

BMX

* Today’s finals: Australian Corey Bohan, the first back-to-back freestyle dirt winner, goes for his third consecutive gold medal. Last year’s runner-up, Chris Doyle, is also in the field, along with Ryan Nyquist, who has a record seven medals in dirt at the X Games but hasn’t won a gold since 2003.

MARTIN HENDERSON