That was evident during Saturday's preliminaries, when Vincent won all three of his heat races to earn the No. 1 seed in Sunday's semifinals.

"I think it's a lot of fun," Vincent said of the layout. "It's better than last year. I get tired of people complaining about this track or that track. It's the same track for everybody. We all have to race on it."

But some, of course, race on it better than others.

Vincent, who finished 10th at last year's X Games, was the only rider to win all three races Saturday, although Blair Morgan posted two firsts and a second to earn the No. 2 seed. Kurtis Crapo, Trevor John and Jesse Strege rounded out the top five.

The top 16 riders from Saturday advanced to Sunday's semifinals, two heats of eight riders each. The top four finishers from each semifinal earn berths in the final, while the other eight riders get one more opportunity -- the "last chance qualifier" -- to clain the two remaining finals berths.

Once the field has been narrowed to 10 finalists, it will be an all-out sprint for six laps around the icy, windy and bumpy course.

Among other notable qualifiers Saturday was '98 X Games gold medalist Toni Haikonen, who opened the preliminaries with a seventh-place finish but bounced back in his next two heats to place third and first and earn the No. 10 seed in the semifinals.

Also qualifying was '98 bronze medalist Per Berggren, who earned the No. 8 spot on the strength of two fourths and a second in the heats.

Shaun Palmer, the snowboarding star who entered events in four different sports at these X Games, qualified in the 15th spot, finishing eighth, fourth and first in his three heats.

Sunday's action gets under way with practice at 11 a.m. MT and competition beginning at 1 p.m. local time.