Scott Murray does backflip on motorcycle over pavement in Iron Mountain

IRON MOUNTAIN — March was reading month, and Iron Mountain students put in a combined total of over 165,000 minutes of reading time. To reward them for their performance, the schools brought in U.P. native and worldwide moto-cross competitor Scott Murray.

Excitement was in the air Thursday afternoon, as students from Iron Mountain gathered to see award winning stunt biker and X-Games national competitor Scott Murray perform in honor of the kids’ success during national reading month.

It’s a reward that the students have had to wait patiently for. Murray was originally supposed to be at the school on April 5. Unfortunately, high winds caused him to postpone his performance. To make up for the students’ disappointment, he went to every classroom and individually autographed all of their reading t-shirts.

Murray, who is a native of Helps, Michigan, takes pride in his U.P. ties and has a soft spot for the Iron Mountain schools.

“It’s funny because i went to this grade school in kindergarten and first grade,” Murray said about Central Elementary School. “I was part of a similar program with reading and everything like that and fundraising.”

Murray began his professional career in 2002 and is best known for his double-backflip–he is only the second cyclist in the world to ever be able to land it. Thursday, however, was all about fun and entertaining the crowd.

“If i can come in and do something for the community, I’m always about that, so it’s always a good time,” Murray said.

Murray hopes to be invited back to this year’s X-Games in August. Until then, he plans on sticking close to home and performing for his fellow Yoopers.

This video shows a few of his tricks including a back flip, he said he decided to do it at the last second.

Duration : 0:4:58

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