Spreadin the B’s in Boulder
As part of a gigawatt weekend of adrenaline sports in the Las Vegas area, the ABA Redline Cup Finals/West was underway in nearby Boulder City. Closer to town, there was the Dew Tour Finals at the Hard Rock Hotel, and million-dollar Monster Energy Cup at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night (.
Out at Boulder City BMX, a who’s-who of the pro ranks showed up to add to their 2011 scores, and take in some of the non-bmx-racing action the town had in store.
Joey Bradford had been looking strong going back to the NBL Grands, hitting the Friday Podium with a third place. In Boulder, JB75 bumped it up a few notches to capture twin wins on the weekend. A top-step finish has been elusive in North America for Joey, and this should be a nice dose of confidence leading into the final few races of the season, and on to Tulsa. Sam Willoughby and Barry Nobles joined Joey on the Saturday Podium, and Marc Willers and Nic long were on the box, come Sunday.
Hometown hero, Connor Fields had 1-1-1s in the Saturday motos, but was fifth in the semis on day one. He made it in to the big lap on Sunday, finishing up with a fourth.
The Machine, Maris Strombergs had a jumbled-up Saturday with a 6-6-3 in the motos. He pulled a fourth in the Saturday Semi, and then a seventh in the main. Sunday started out better, with aces-across in the motos. But a fifth in the semi left him watching the main from the fenceline on day two.
A total of ten in the gate for the EW in Boulder…Caroline Buchanan took it to ‘em with an air and ground assault, and carted a pair of podium checks back to her Cali crib in the process. Dom Daniels was in the house (first time we noticed her “PUR” Puerto Rico UCI serial number on the results, though looking back, she’s had it for a while). 3D got in for a second on Saturday, but swapped steps with Brooke Crain on day two.
Rusty Nesvig is back after his worlds injury, and went immediately back to the top of the finishers. A second on Saturday to Aussie Bodi Turner. Turner didn’t turn up on the sheets for day two, so the battle would be between Rusty and Bodi’s pal Nick Koehler. Rusty got the win with Nick in next.
Next stop for this lot: Orlando for the three-day Disney Cup.
***SATURDAY RESULTS***
Elite Men
1 JOEY BRADFORD, PROPHECY, MONTEREY, CA
2 SAM WILLOUGHBY, REDLINE, SAN DIEGO, CA
3 BARRY “ALABAMA SLAMMA” NOBLES, SE RACING, WETUMPKA, AL
4 DONNY ROBINSON, HYPER BICYCLES, NAPA, CA
5 MARC WILLERS, FACTORY SPEED, MURRIETA, CA
6 KHALEN YOUNG, HARO ROCKSTAR, MURRIETA, CA
7 MARIS STROMBERGS, FREE AGENT-ROCKSTAR, MURRIETA, CA
8 NIC LONG, HARO ROCKSTAR, LAKESIDE, CA
Elite Women
1 CAROLINE BUCHANAN, INTENSE / UNIT, CANBERRA ACT, AU
2 (INSANE) BROOKE CRAIN, HARO ROCKSTAR, VISALIA, CA
3 DOMINIQUE (3D) DANIELS, DANCE FACTORY RACING-DFR, GILBERT, AZ
4 AUDREY “Z-GIRL” ZULOAGA, PPC RACING VRP, LAS VEGAS, NV
5 DANI (THE DANIMAL) GEORGE, FACTORY SUPERCROSS, PALMDALE, CA
6 ASHLEY VERHAGEN, FACTORY CRUPI/PRO-GATE, SIMI VALLEY, CA7 ASHLEY LYNCH, SSQUARED/TLD/ANSWER, JACKSONVILLE, FL
8 AFTON SCHRIMPF, SPEEDLINE PAR/SUPERCROSS, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA
***SUNDAY RESULTS***
Elite Men
1 JOEY BRADFORD, PROPHECY, MONTEREY, CA
2 MARC WILLERS, FACTORY SPEED, MURRIETA, CA
3 NIC LONG, HARO ROCKSTAR, LAKESIDE, CA
4 CONNOR FIELDS, CHASE BMX, HENDERSON, NV
5 SAM WILLOUGHBY, REDLINE, SAN DIEGO, CA
6 BARRY “ALABAMA SLAMMA” NOBLES, http://www.whoistic.com/seracing, WETUMPKA, AL
7 TONY HOFFMAN, JESUS/NAPA VALLEY CRUSH, CLOVIS, CA
8 DONNY ROBINSON, HYPER BICYCLES, NAPA, CA
Elite Women
1 CAROLINE BUCHANAN, INTENSE / UNIT, CANBERRA ACT, AU
2 (INSANE) BROOKE CRAIN, HARO ROCKSTAR, VISALIA, CA
3 DOMINIQUE (3D) DANIELS, DANCE FACTORY RACING-DFR, GILBERT, AZ
4 ASHLEY VERHAGEN, FACTORY CRUPI/PRO-GATE, SIMI VALLEY, CA
5 AFTON SCHRIMPF, SPEEDLINE PAR/SUPERCROSS, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA
6 AUDREY “Z-GIRL” ZULOAGA, PPC RACING VRP, LAS VEGAS, NV
7 ASHLEY LYNCH, SSQUARED/TLD/ANSWER, JACKSONVILLE, FL
8 DANI (THE DANIMAL) GEORGE, FACTORY SUPERCROSS, PALMDALE, CA
Epilogue: Also in town this weekend was the IndyCar World Championships out a Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in a massive 15-car pileup.
Naturally, our thoughts were all with Dan’s family on Sunday…it’s all racing, and whether at 35 MPH on a BMX bike or 235 in an Indy car, we can all respect the compulsion to get out there for just one more lap.
Big thanks to gOrk and ABA for the Boulder photos
