Red Bull X-Fighters will head to Turkey for the first time ever next weekend. Image: Red Bull.

The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour will make its first-ever stop in Turkey at the Yedikule Dungeons in Istanbul next weekend on 16 June.

American Todd Potter will be looking to extend his lead ahead of New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood at the top of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour standings at the third stop of the 2012 season.

The event marks the first-ever stop in Turkey that has for years been eagerly waiting to host a stage of the world’s most prestigious freestyle motocross tour.

Warming up for the event, more than 20,000 people watched a Red Bull X-Fighters jam on 30 May in Istanbul.

Potter was the surprise winner of the second stop in Glen Helen, California, picking up his first-ever victory with a stunning performance on the biggest course in the history of this sport.

But Sherwood and defending champion Dany Torres of Spain, who struggled on the big Californian hills and finished seventh and eighth respectively, are confident they can get their title hopes back on track on the more compact track in Turkey.

Potter – who chided Sherwood and Torres in California for not tackling the biggest jump, a 60-foot step-up – leads the overall standings with 135 points to 130 for Sherwood.