Redline Gets Bitter Taste of the “Third Main Jinx,” Give Props to Stumpy

No question that Denzel Stein was ablaze at the ABA Grands. He was way up in there every time BMXNEWS turned around. We also had our eye on Sam Willoughby, as it was really wierd (but quite excellent) to see him in a new uniform. And we always enjoy watching Alise sky over the hard stuff. Tory Nyhaug was also way in the mix in his A Pro debut. In fact, all four Redline Pros were getting impressive laps throughout the weekend. But, as Sunday evening rolled around, there were a few observers on the floor who noted that Redline’s pack of pros had some kind of black cloud in the air in the third round of Pro Mains. Call it “Malocchio,” or the old “hoo-dee-hoo,” the third main did not bode well for the Red, Black and White.

Today, we received the following release from gOrk over at Redline HQ, which summed it all up pretty well.

AA Pro: In what was by far the most “heavy” gate-of-eight this year, both DENZEL STEIN and new Redline pick-up SAM WILLOUGHBY found themselves in the AA-pro final. Despite not being in the ABA championship-chase, both would play a vital part in making all three mains exciting. Main number one saw Denzel display his incredible power with the holeshot and horsepower – hotly pursued by the Gold Medalist himself. Willoughby, in his first-ever race for Redline, was holding off the other two title-chasers in the third spot. Out of the final turn, Maris pulled up alongside Denzel and inches before the line, they both stretched to the line – with the Latvian SuperHero stealing the win away from Stein by sheer millimeters. Still, with Denzel second and Sam third, the Redline camp was definitely thrilled. But there were still two mains left before they could do any celebrating.

In AA main round two, it was Willoughby in the third position, this time following two of the title-chasers, and holding off a hard-charging Denzel and Strombergs. Sam’s third place and Denzel’s fourth would tie them up for second place overall, with six points apiece. Ironically, the nearly reverse finishes for title-chasers — Stumpy, Kyle and Maris, made the points pretty dang close going in to the third main. The ABA Pro title hadn’t been decided yet, and our two Redline pros were still playing a factor in the outcome.

Ladies Pro: ALISE POST was also looking strong in the first two mains. In the first round, she snapped hard from lane 1 and never looked back. Chalk up an easy win for The Beast. In the next round, Alise again ran a great lap, and wound up second behind Australia’s Caroline Buchanan. With a win and a second, for both Alise and Caroline, they’d go in to the third main tied up with 3 points.

Again… all was well in the Redline camp.

A-pro: As one of many new single-A-Pros, Redline’s 2010 Rookie TORY NYHAUG was also tied for the win going in to the third main. Tory had been looking strong all weekend, but he had Dennison Smith to deal with – who had the same six-point score going in to the final main.

As we said – things were definitely lookin’ good for all four Redline Pros … until the third mains.
Unconfirmed are the reports that someone was seen in a rvial factory trailer, sticking pins in a Redline voodoo doll. Or maybe it was a BMX dad giving them the famous “hoo-dee-hoo*.” Whatever the story is – suddenly, things were about to go from sweet to sour.

AA-pro Third Main: While title-contenders Bennett and Stumpy shot straight to the front, Denzel weaved his way in to the third spot but left the door wide open in turn two. In came the Latvian BMX machine, in a picture perfect swoop, to take away Stein’s line, riding him to the top of the berm, and on in to no-man’s land. As Denzel visited the softside of turn two, Redline’s wiley one zoomed in to give the Olympic Gold Medalist a race for the 3 spot. Willoughby gave it his all, but couldn’t catch Maris this time. Now Sam and Strombergs were tied with 11 points for their efforts and the 3rd rung of the podium would go to the better finish in the final main (Maris). Sam wound up with 4th overall and Denzel held on tightly for 5th place.

Ladies Pro Third Main: Even before the gate dropped, Alise had the odds stacked against her. Starting in lane 8, with Three-D in lane 7. The girls Post would have to beat – Buchanan, was lined in lane 3 with a clear shot to the first turn. Alise really had her work cut out for her. Receiving a stiff elbow straight out of the gate, our Redline lady was shoved to the back of the pack and tried her hardest to weave thru the traffic, to no avail. With 11 points for the day, Alise still had a low enough score to finish 3rd overall. Still on the podium – just not exactly the finish she had hoped for.

A-pro Third Main: Following with the rest of the team, new pro Tory Nyhaug got a poor start in round three, and was left with no room to get thru the congested A-pro traffic jam. Being stuck in mid-pack, he too, would wind up taking third place overall for the day. The dreams of his first Pro victory will have to wait until Reno in January.

Despite no wins, Redline’s Pros sure did know how to get out front and cause a stir in the Pro title chases. And we already can’t wait for next year.

gOrk, in his characteristically classy writing, also gave props to the 2009 ABA Pro Champ:

We would like to congratulate a good friend of Redline – Mr. Randy Stumpfhauser, on his incredible, long journey to becoming ABA’s newest No.1 Pro. Stumpy has done what no other Pro in his 30’s has ever done – proving to all in the BMX industry that double-A racing careers aren’t over at 30, and giving hope to many BMX racers out there to keep chasing the dream and to never give up. Way to go, Stumpy.

BMXNEWS had two favorite Redline shots from the weekend (click on the image for the mega-size version):