Shaun White saves his best for last in Skateboard Vert

Stressed out, not skating the way he wanted, and with one run left and a gold medal on the line, Shaun White thought of his brother’s recent advice:

“You just have to stop thinking and do what you used to do.”

In the skateboard vert final Saturday at the X Games in Los Angeles, with the packed Nokia Theatre crowd cheering him on, White did exactly that.

His brilliant sixth and final run landed him a score of 93, which overtook his rival Pierre-Luc Gagnon’s score of 91.66.

“I put down probably the best run I’ve ever did in my career in skateboarding,” White said.

Gagnon fell on his final run, sealing White’s gold medal, his first in the event since 2007. Gagnon had won it the last three years.

“His run was amazing,” Gagnon said. “He definitely deserved to win.”

Bucky Lasek won bronze.

Huston hot in skateboard street

When the skateboarders say it’s hot, you know it is. But 16-year-old Nyjah Huston survived the heat of eight runs in two rounds of the Skateboard Street final to win his first X Games gold medal.

“One of the best feelings of my whole life,” Huston said.

Huston advanced from an elimination round earlier in the afternoon, and then took to the concrete plaza four times in the finals, all in the glaring sun.

Huston opened with a run worth 89.66 points, and followed that up with a run worth two points more.

Brazilian Luan Oliveira claimed silver with a 91.00, and defending gold medalist and San Clemente native Ryan Sheckler took bronze.

Rookie beats the “Bosse”

For the first time in X Games history, rally car racing took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

And Saturday’s rally car racing final featured two Europeans who also made their X Games debut.

But as soon as Liam Doran, 24, defeated the legendary European rallycross champion Marcus “Bosse” Gronholm, he was ready to go out on a high note.

“First X Games, gold medal, last X Games, I’m going home now,” the native of Kent, England, said, half kidding.

Doran beat Gronholm, 43, in a best-of-three final with each driver taking two laps around the 3,100-feet, six-turn course that also features a 52-foot jump.

Doran won the first race, which was fairly close, and the second, which wasn’t so close, to take gold. David Higgins won bronze over Tanner Foust.

Golden wins wire to wire in Women’s Moto X

With two of the sports’ top competitors out, Vicki Golden won her first X Games medal, leading the Women’s Moto X Racing Final at Staples Center from start to finish.

Two-time defending gold medalist Ashley Fiolek was held out after suffering a concussion during practice earlier in the day, and 2009 silver medalist Jessica Patterson crashed in the first round.

Doctors are evaluating Patterson’s right ribs, a spokeswoman said.

“It would have been nice to have everyone out there,” Golden said.

But by no means was Golden’s victory a fluke. The Menifee resident dominated winning her heat by more than nine seconds and the final by more than four.

Tarah Geiger chased Golden the whole race and finished second. Livia Lancelot won bronze.

Dhers wins BMX freestyle park

In his final run, Dennis Enarson led the group and seemed to make a victory pose in midair in an effort to land a trick. He didn’t.

Then his fellow San Diegan Daniel Dhers nailed a crazy aerial twist to post a 41 in his final run and tie Enarson for the lead.

In what was the equivalent of a game-winning shot at the buzzer, Dhers squeaked past Enarson for the gold in the BMX freestyle park final using his third-run score of 35 as the decisive tiebreaker.

“I don’t go in thinking tiebreaker,” Dhers added. “I’m just thinking two good runs.

Scotty Cranmer took bronze.

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