He didn't make it all the way around on a flip. The hard landing caused severe head trauma, and he died as a result. They did keep him in a medically induced coma for a while, and lowered his core body temp, and even did surgery, but it wasn't enough.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212206919.shtml
"The Temecula rider was transported to Calderon Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica, after he crashed his Yamaha YZ250 heavily -- failing to fully rotate a flip.

He was treated for brain trauma and required immediate surgery to treat a subdural hematoma on the brain.

Surgery lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes."
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I'm not even gonna watch the video, but he apparently stuck the first and hardest part of the trick and wasn't able to make it happen with the second smaller jump. His family was preparing to get him back to the U.S. for further treatment, but the "major brain trauma" was just too much.

Doesn't sound like he was in pain after having the coma induced, though, which is great, and great that his extended family was able to be with him when he passed away.

Sad, he'd just signed his contract with MSR a few days before...
Source(s):
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/action/2009-02-10-freestyle-death_N.htm
http://espn.go.com/action/fmx/blog?post=3855567

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