A great day of racing in Guthrie, Oklahoma today, as Day One of the USA BMX Sooner Nationals took the focus. An even 200 motos, run with high precision, and a track layout that was given the thumbs-up by top stars and novies alike.

Though this year’s installment is not a Pro Series race, we have some names in the house this weekend that will make an awesome AA main in a year or two.

A full race report will be coming your way on Monday, with the Sunday Photo Gallery. But before lights out tonight, we wanted to get you the Saturday photo gallery, which has some awesome shots inside, if we do say so ourselves.

Check Out the Saturday Gallery Now

Don’t forget to check back Monday afternoon for the weekend’s report, and our Sunday Gallery.

During our trip to the US Olympic Training Center/Chula Vista earlier this month, we were privileged to shoot individual headshots of all the riders taking part in the Elite Camp. We thought you’d enjoy seeing some of your favorite riders suited up in their Team USA Jerseys.

We are saving the goof-around outtakes for a more opportune time

Check Out The Photo Gallery Now

A major contingent of Elite “Team USA” BMX Supercross talent flew in to the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA last week for the first Elite Development camp of 2012. BMXNEWS.COM was granted exclusive access to shoot some action during one of the training sessions.

We clipped the set down to the 49 best shots of the session, and are bringing them to you as soon as we got them dialed in. It was an amazing day for shooting in San Diego, and the riders were definitely in the zone.

The camp included 19 athletes in all, but Joey Bradford and David Herman had other commitments for the photo session timeframe. And Nic Long, Felicia Stancil and Tyler Brown posted early injuries and could not ride. We wish them a speedy recovery!

Other stars out of orbit this camp; Connor Fields and Alise Post were out of the country and Mike Day and Corben Sharrah were out of town on GT biz. We vowed to catch them on-course next time.

Click Here to View the Gallery

A big thanks to: Mike King, Andrea Smith and James Herrera at USA Cycling for letting us peek into their day. Team USA is readying some amazing talent for London, and this glimpse into their routine gives us a special kind of pride as Americans. Equal thanks goes to Amanda Carr, Amanda Geving, Arielle Martin, Barry Nobles, Brooke Crain, Dani George, Donny Robinson, Jared Garcia, Jason Rogers, Josh Meyers, Kory Cook, Tyler Faoro and Weston Pope for their style and willingness to “do that again!”

—Mike Carruth

Above: Barry Nobles gets it done on the second straight aboard his new DK scoot.

Star Products, out of Wisconsin, has been making some moves into the market since their debut at the 2011 ABA Midwest Nationals in Rockford. A cool logo, and some US-Made product gave their industry profile a nice little push at the race. Recently, some chatter about a forthcoming frame has been on the BMX News radar scope.

Tonight, via Facebook, the company announced that they have purchased the inventory and frame design of Rockford-based RPM Products.

Company rep, Bryan Dickerson told News that they would be making both aluminum and chromoly versions of the new Star Products frame, and would be coming to market with the line before April. Here’s a peek at the sizes:

The chromoly line will be larger sizes, with a 20-inch in 21″, 21.5″ and 22″ top tube lengths and cruisers in 21.5″ and 22″ TT.

Their aluminum offerings will be broader, with a Mini (17.75″), Junior (18.75″), Expert (19.75″), Pro (20.75″), Pro XL (21.25″), Pro XXL (21.75″) and “King” at 22.25″ Top tube lengths in the 20-inch. They will also do aluminum cruisers in Junior (18.75″), Expert (19.75″), Pro (21.5″) and Pro XL in 22″ top tube length.

Target price point for the hardware (all US-made) will be around $400. The chromoly prototype will be at next week’s USA BMX Sooner Nationals in Guthrie, OK. Word is that the RPM inventory acquired in today’s transaction will be stickered with the Star Products graphics.

Dickerson noted that Star Products is rider-owned and operated with over 40 years of BMX experience. More info soon on their website at www.starproductsbmx.com. BMX News will update this story as new details arise.

As for RPM, we put out an inquiry to them today, but no word back before we posted. The Facebook announcement by Star Products said that RPM was going in a “different direction,” so we’ll update that part of the story as well.

USA BMX announced today, that they would host their first “summit” for track operators, volunteers and others interested in the USA BMX program. It is an event reminiscent of the NBL’s “Competition Congress” annual event, with breakout training sessions for tracks, social events, and vendor booths, but minus the voting component.

The event will be February 23-25 at the Marriott Downtown in Louisville, KY.

Download the PDF for more information

Who says spending time on Facebook softens your brain to the consistency of Holiday Inn Express breakfast gravy? News pulled this one of the USA BMX page–a snap of the newly-wrapped big rig on the road to Reno.

Looks like option #1 wins of the eight possible liveries (below) posted earlier in the week (just so happens it was one of the two we picked as our favorites. #7 was our other fave).

See it live, and in person, at this weekend’s USA BMX Silver Dollar Nationals.

Mid last month, a few whispers hit the Internet that Kyle Bennett might be moving to GHP for the 2012 season. Nothing was confirmed or final at that point, so that news dove back under the bed until today, when we sat down with Kyle and Greg to talk about the go-forward plan.

Listen to the Podcast Now
link
iPhone users, paste this URL into your browser:
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Here is the official press release:

Kyle Bennett has teamed up with GHP BMX/ Risen BMX to continue his success on the track, look for KB out front at a USA BMX National event near you! Kyle will be training with Greg Hill in preparation for a successful 2012 season, Kyle brings years of experience along with three UCI Pro World and 3 NBL Pro titles, KB has a lot of fuel in the tank and has his sights set on adding more titles to his resume in 2012 and 2013…”I am very excited to be working with the guy’s from GHP/Risen BMX and working with Greg will take me to the next level” KB
We want to welcome Kyle to our GHP and Risen BMX family, it’s on for 2012, watch the magic unfold this year as KB does work! I am very happy to be working with one of the sport’s most accomplished athletes. –GH

While Bennett will be fully equipped with the full range of GHP and RISEN BMX products. He will also be supported by Dan’s Comp, Tioga, Alienation and Crit Plates.

With not a lot to do the past week or so, we spent a lot of time sleazing around Facebook. Amid the “Happy New Year” status posts, and passive aggressive posts about Christmas gifts gone wrong, we plucked this little nugget off the Box Components page.

Behold, the first prototype of the first product, bolted up to Michael Gamstetter’s orange Speedco scoot. Some spiff styling, with what looks like a few points of adjustment to dial in your stoppage. Not much else to report, so we’ll let the picture do its thousand words.

Keep an eye on News for more from Toby and his crew.

We admit it, sometimes, we surf other BMX websites. Hard as it may be to believe, there are others beyond News, Vintage and siblings .

One of our readers tipped me off about an article Adam from thecomeupbmx posted, entitled “Why I Ride.” I thought it was a very good read.

While clicking around TCU, I noticed an article announcing that Jeremy Pavia from BMX Plus! had moved on from his post. Here’s some of what it said:

“I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that I will no longer be working for BMX Plus! Magazine. I moved across the country from New York to California over four and a half years ago to come on board at the magazine as a photographer and editor.”

Read the rest of it on TCU

We wish Jeremy the best of luck in his next gig, and hope he’ll still hit up some races. Good dude, indeed!

Check out Jeremy’s Blog

—Mike Carruth

Photo pinched from jeremypavia.com

Caught this on Facebook a few minutes ago…Toby Henderson’s Box Components moves ever-closer to market, with the first flash of their new logo for the brand.

Toby, Michael and Michelle are obviously spending their time this Santa season making their list and checkin it twice–with a major scroll of “to-dos” getting checked off before the initial rollout in Reno next month.

Stick with BMXNEWS.COM for all the latest on Box Components and BMX Industry News in general.

—Mike Carruth