ABHA, 15 August 2003 — An event that has been drawing crowds of hundreds during the Asir Summer Festival is the Freestyle Monster Truck and Motorbike Show, performed by a group of young Saudis from Al-Qasim.
The show is part of the Abha Shopping Festival.
The month-long festival, which kicked off on July 23, is taking place at the Abha exhibition center near the airport.
The show is the work of five brothers, Saleh, Sulaiman, Mansoor, Badar and Metaib. Khalid Al-Samani joins them with his breathtaking control of the motorbike.
First seen in public three years ago, the group perform hair-raising stunts including show jumps and the crushing of smaller cars, all involving magnificent control of the unwieldy outsized trucks, which took 1,500 hours to assemble and make safe for the performance.
Al-Samani, meanwhile, is stunning the crowds with his skill as he performs a veritable dance on his motorbike.
There are three shows a day, seven days a week, starting at 4 p.m., and some 600 visitors a day have so far been holding their breath when, at the climax of the show, the brothers balance their monster trucks on two wheels and roar off into the sunset.
