ABA WinterNats In Full Effect in PHX

SATURDAY

Day one at the 2011 ABA Winter Nationals pulled an impressive 273 motos, with 59 elite men and 13 Elite Women shooting down the new SX-scale starting ramp at Speedworld BMX in suburban Whittman.

Amped-Up Ams
Fly’n Felicia Stancil (above) scored a triple, winning Jr. Devo Girls, 15-16 Cruiser, and 15G, as did Ryan Pettigrew (13-14 Open, 13C, and 13X). Seeing Eric Rupe’s name in the Amateur section is something we haven’t seen in more than a quarter-century (since 1977, to be exact). Well, Big Daddy re-classified, and racked up the first win of his new amateur career in 46-50 Cruiser. He also made the main in 41-over Expert, riding like old times with the long-reclassified Eddy King. It’s getting to be like a BMX Action centerspread from 1984 out there–how awesome!

Rusty Nesvig is slummin in 17-18x between winning Jr. Men laps– taking home the win. The crystal ball looks rosy for Razzleberry. Speaking of bright stars of the future, Maliek Byndloss continues to Sshine, with wins in Jr. Devo boys, and 15C. Byndloss ended up with a sixth in 15x, but no video, so we’re not sure if that was a blow-up or a beat-down.

While the guys have Nesvig doing double duty in Expert and Jr. Men, the Females have Factory Speed slayer, Shelby Stacy workin it in class and Jr. Women. Shelby walked with the 16G win on Saturday (more on her Jr. Elite exploits below).

Wyatt Bell showed 8x that he was still the Sheriff when it came to his hometown track. Fellow Phoenician Leo Hile grabbed the third with Andres Papajohn (who got the Saturday win in Desoto) sandwiched between them in the two-slot.

Also, a little industry shoutout to Michael Gamstetter, the marketing maestro over at VSI Products (Intense BMX, Speed, T.H.E, Sinz). Michael pulled a 7th out of 11 riders in 41-over Inter. Way to go, brutha!

Elite’s Bringin’ the Heat

Brooke Crain continued her absolute command of the Jr. Women class, having not lost a lap all day. With nine riders in the class, the class had two gates, and the other 1-1-1 of the day was class contender Dani George. Shelby Stacy and Brooke’s bestie, Taylor Wolcott were the 2-2-2 to the aforementioned’s 1-1-1. The podium ended up Brooke, Dani, Shelby. Hoping for a speedy recovery for Redline’s Carly Dyar. Big wreck in the second round ended up with a carry-off. Word is a fractured pelvis, but otherwise she is OK and in good spirits. A big BMX News “GET WELL SOON!” for Carly.

We talked about Rusty Nesvig’s winning ways in Amateur. The final lap was a pretty tight pack down the first straight, but Rusty started to stretch it out by the set into the first turn. By the last turn, he and Tanner Sebesta had the 1-2 solidly in hand, and Wesley Gunn (who took the first round over Rusty) ended up with the tré. The class was stacked to the rafters with talent– so much so that tough hombres like Nate Padilla, Jordan Miranda and Nick Koehler found themselves on the ugly end of the semis, watching the main from the fenceline.

Elite Women had a baker’s dozen on the sheets, after many wondering how many would turn up for a haul down the SX hill. Alise Post was shakin a well-healed leg, making her 2011 debut. She ended up with a 2-2 in the first and second round, but got between Arielle and Rachel Bracken in the air over one of the sets at the end of the first straight, and ended up in a cloud of dust. No harm done, and she shook it off in time to gate up for the main. In the big lap, the pack was thick heading into the first turn, with Alise a tiny bit ahead, but on the outside of Mariana Pajon and Lauren Reynolds. Lauren landed with a lovely line into the turn, and had the lead on the exit, with Mariana and Alise on the chase. We did not see the balance of the race, but somewhere between the exit of the first turn, and the finish line, Pajon pilfered the lead, and topped the podium. Reynolds and Post were there for the two-three, respectively.

A total of 59 Elite Men, representing 16 countries showed up for the Winter Nationals. Going into the Winters, Marc Willers leads the AA pro points by over 200. He’s been on a tear lately, winning Oldsmar both days, then the Oceania Continental Championship last weekend in his native New Zealand.

David Herman joined Marc on the Oceania podium, with a second place, so the Hermanator had some good momentum going in to PHX.

Sam Willoughby started his season with Oldsmar, and has one win under his belt from Day one in Desoto.

All three had 1-1-1s out of the motos on Saturday, as did Corben Sharrah and Tory Nyhaug. Willoughby and Willers would extend those candlesticks through the quarters and semis.

In the main, David and Sam had a wheel apiece on the rest of the pack, and Marc was on the inside at the end of the first straight. That inside position gave Willers a little nudge, and he took over the two-slot, chasing Herman through the first turn. Down the second straight, it was still Herman, Willers, Willoughby–with Jelle Van Gorkom and Tory Nyhaug a bit farther back. That order did not change into, and out of turn two–but then…did you ever see, in a movie, where the guy flips up the red cover that says “NITROUS” and flips the switch and he is just…GONE? Well, that’s kind of what Sam did at the mid-point on the third straight. Dude went from a solid third, and owned the inside line down the rhythm section, then into the last turn, blowing past Willers and Herman in the process. Just then, Nyhaug gained enough momentum to pull even–and under Marc in the last turn, and pinched off his line, sending Marc cascading over the turn. Van Gorkom pivoted hard to shorten his time in the turn, and Khalen Young also breezed through the open door to get ahead of Tory. Final order was Willoughby, Herman, Van Gorkom, Young.

Javier Columbo made his Vet Pro debut at the WinterNats, still rockin the SE colors. A total of 19 in the class today, with plenty of strong dearly-departed AAs like Javi, Matt Pohlkamp and Derek Betcher to do battle with long-in-tooth class masters Kenth Fallen and Greg Romero. Points leader John Purse was MIA in PHX, and come main time, it would be Pohlkamp off to an early lead with Javi in close proximity. Kenth Fallen was there for third going into turn one, but by the stripe, local hero Jason Silva would take over the three slot for the final podium step.

Eddy King gets the Handicapper of the Day award for correctly calling the Elite Women, Elite Men and Vet Pro winners.

Sunday’s racing promises to be just as pulse-quickening, and BMX News will have a full report for you on Monday.

Meanwhile, Check out Johnny Little’s Saturday Photo Gallery.

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