Bike exhaust and rock music filled the Bryce Jordan Center Saturday night as an audience of about 4,500 people gazed at Chris Taylor soaring 35 feet above the hard cement floor, performing the Kiss of Death trick.

After two hours of competition at the Freestyle Motocross Ramp it Up tour, Taylor emerged as the winner for the night by throwing down such tricks as the Cliffhanger -- hooking his feet under the bars and raising his hands in the air -- and Superman --grabbing the back of the bike to extend his arms in a "flying" position -- during his two runs.

"I really felt the run tonight -- you guys are so awesome and I had such a blast," Taylor said to the audience after his final run.

The competition began with each of the nine riders performing tricks from the two ramps set up in the arena. The riders were given 60 seconds each to impress the judges by doing five or six different tricks and were scored on how long they held the stunt, degree of difficulty and height. The riders could earn up to 100 points per run.

One of the crowd's favorites was Greg Hartman, who won the first night of the competition on Friday. Although the rest of the riders performed with rock music, as Hartman rode onto the scene, strains of the popular country song "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" came over the speakers, which had the audience singing and clapping along.

"That run was so fun," Hartman said into the mic after his first run, which earned him a spot in the finalist round.

After the first round, the riders were narrowed down to the final four: Jason Rowe, Scott Hanlon, Hartman and Taylor.

In the finals, the riders were given 80 seconds to prove themselves to the judges. It was a close competition, but in the end, Taylor beat out Hartman with a score of 93 over Hartman's 92.5.

Throughout the competition, especially when the tricks began to be repetitive, the enthusiasm and noise level of the crowed waned, but at the end the fans were impressed.

"This was really fun," Christina Rider, a State College resident, said. "I've seen this stuff on TV before, you know, for the X Games, and it's really cool to be here in person to see all the awesome tricks."

Rider's sister also said she was having fun at the motocross event.

"We haven't seen our favorite trick, which is the backflip, but there have been some awesome things going on out there," Teresa Rider said. "I'm having a really good time."

Leah Singer (junior-telecommunications) said she came out because it was cheap, but she had an amazing time.

"It was a very good event," Singer said. "I thought it was cool how they left the floor cement, instead of making it dirt or something. I only wish there had been more college students who came, because I think that would have given the audience more energy; everyone would have been more hyped up."

One of Singer's favorite tricks was called the Stripper, which was when the rider brought one of his feet under the handlebars and stuck the other one up vertically, while flying through the air.

Another crowd pleaser was a trick called Rock Solid. For this, the rider jumped off the bike in midair and completely let go of the bike, soaring parallel to the ground. The first time this was performed, the crowd went wild all around the arena, clapping and yelling.

At the end of the competition, the audience was treated to an encore free-for-all. The riders came out shirtless, which got the crowd cheering loudly. The riders then threw down some of the biggest tricks of the night, with the host prompting the audience to "give them all you got," because the louder the crowd cheered, the longer the freestyle would continue.

"It was just awesome," Singer said. "It was really great."