Slammin Sooner Sunday
January 30, 2012 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
With six weeks off between the Grands and the first races of the year, it’s easy to forget how long a workday can be, when a 12-hour commute is tacked on to the end of it. The final gate dropped at 1:54PM today, and here it is 3:33AM, and we’re already home (after sampling the truck stop board of fare in three states).
Tales from the road notwithstanding, News used the time wisely–to edit and prep the photos from Sunday’s ABA Sooner Nationals. A total of 94 shots from today, adding to the 214 we posted yesterday, makes for a well-rounded weekend of gettin around.
KJ Romero (above) was the BMOC this weekend, acing all six A Pro motos, and both main event laps with carefree care (if that makes any sense at 3:40AM). OK, enough writing tonight…before we are tempted to go “all the way” and write the story in a language which tomorrow will reveal itself as a cross between Aramaic and Hood Latin.
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USA BMX Sooner Nats Day One Gallery
January 29, 2012 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
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.
Parlez vous Daudet?
January 30, 2011 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
The annual trek to Guthrie is always a story of sharp contrasts. The 13-Hour drive is grueling (even when you do it in 11.5), and you are quite certain you remember that clerk at the Love’s Truck Stop from the last time you came through–just two months ago en route to Tulsa.
Still, you know that after the 222nd song has shuffled through the iPod, and the final cone-top of Monster has been polished off, a great weekend of BMX Racing action lies ahead.
This year’s Sooner Nationals boasted a Saturday moto count of 194 (up 18 from last year), with 27 Elite Men on hand.
The track layout was essentially the same as in previous years, but the Pro Set was said to be the largest gap ever laid down at an ABA indoor build (larger, even, than the Grands berm jumps of 2009 and 2010). And it looked it. When those eight riders skyed over that puppy, it looks almost cartoon-like–with an Everest of red Oklahoma dirt, and these itty-bitty guys on bikes flying over.
Punching pause on Elite for a moment, A Pro had some grit goin on down in Guthrie. One-shy of two dozen made the trip, and the motos belonged to Dennison Smith, with the only 1-1-1 of the class. That is not to say the other 22 were just cruisin– Factory Speed-Mounted, Fernie Jacquez was hookin it up, as was Tommy Fernandez and “Double-A” Alex Anthony for Rennen-Intense. The main was a fence-grabber, as Big Daddy got out to an early lead. We thinks it was long about the second turn when the tables turned and Anthony took the lead. Dennison said he considered going for a last-turn Hail Mary (he was close enough to pull it off, with some help keeping it on the rails from the almighty), but decided to play it smart and live to fight on day 2. The glory is, at times, in cashing the check, not in what might have been, afterall.
Vet pro had two solid gates of eight, though we were light the National Number One vet, in Kenth Fallen. The yin to Fallen’s yang, The Jackal, John Purse, was in the house, and played landlord to the class, with a commanding 1-1-1 in the motos, and an authoritative win in the main. Dale Holmes got his Free Agent Limo out of the garage for Guthrie and was turning impressive laps with a trio of twos in the motos. But, come main time he got gummed up in the third straight, recovering in time for a fifth place at the stripe. Matt Pohlkamp is adjusting just fine to his new class, with a 1-1-5 in the motos, and a hearty second place in the main, a wheel or two off Purse’s pace. The final podium step went to Paul Caldwell, who powered up well for the big lap.
Elite Women/Jr. Women had a combined class of seven at the Sooners. Dominique Daniels was rockin some new colors on her head, with an awesome new proto-ala-moto THE helmet design, and the black & white of her new sponsor, Dance Factory Racing out of Chicago (same DFR who is behind Jackal and Dennison Smith, mentioned above, and also Danny C and Stephanie B). Their pro pen is stocked to the max. Dom handled the day with relative ease, choosing lane 7 for the main, but had some chainstay pressure from Junior Dani George and fellow Elite Arielle Martin. The podium went Daniels, Martin and George.
Junior Men’s class made on Saturday, with five fine freshmen in the gate. Tanner Sebesta is rockin Redman threads now, and was puttin together strong laps (being one of the only ams to take the pro set in the motos). The Jrs had to take the pro set for their laps, and it was a fricassee of finishes in the motos, with Jordan Miranda having an ace in the first round, and Sebesta besting the Missile in the other two. Justin Posey was also way in the mix, and looking strong on his red Ssquared mount. JP had some fizzle in the motos, with a 4-4-2, but turned it into sizzle in the main, when he took the (camera) left step next to Miranda. Third place juice went to Kyle Dodd. It was the battle that wasn’t in that main, as Sebesta got pushed to the way outside in turn one, and ended up in a close encounter with a rodeo fence.
As previously noted, the big boys had 27 hombres down in Guthrie. Still radio silence for the Reigning National Number One Pro, due to roll on 2011 in Oldsmar in a fortnight. The selection that showed up was about as heavy as you can get, however. All three 08 US Olympians back on two wheels and all the way back in the mix, with all three making the main. We had The People’s champ and Corben Sharrah, both with 1-1-1s in the motos, eliminated in the semis after dirt-surfing.
Barry Nobles is showing that he and his PK Ripper are getting along well, with a 2-3-3 in the motos, and a main slot locked in. Tory Nyhaug got his Redline into its first Elite main event, and Tyler Brown had some consistent laps, and positioned himself well on the track in the semis, steering clear of the Turn two carnage that took Corben and KY and out of the mix.
In the main, Willers had the inside, with Bennett, dR, Daudet, Nyhaug, Brown, Day and Barry fanned out next to him. Daudet got out to an early lead through the middle, though Marc was a half-wheel from the lead as of the first jump. As the pack disappeared behind turn one, it was Daudet, Willers and Bennett, with Nobles showing traffic-free on the outside, close enough to Kyle to move into the tré. Coming into the second-straight pro-set, Joris had stretched his lead out to about a bike on Marc, and Barry made use of the daylight in front of him in turn one to take that third slot…KB now in fourth. It stayed pretty much that way into turn two, and down the third straight. Marc had some nitrous left in the legs, and manualed his front wheel even with Daudet’s bottom bracket into the last turn. Meanwhile, Barry had his sights set on Marc’s second place podium step, and the last turn had proved a highly-effective passing zone for him in the Semis, when he zoomed past Gavin Lubbe for the final qualifying spot. But the order stayed as it had from the top of the second straight: Daudet, Willers, Nobles on the podium, with Bennett, dR, Nyhaug, Tyler Brown and Mike Day rounding out the field.
We’re outta OKC at oh-dark-thirty on Monday, hoping to beat the blizzard across the plains, so Sunday’s story will have to wait another 24. Same bat-time, same bat-channel, Tuesday morning.
But, there is still plenty to do till then. BOTH Guthrie galleries are live.
Saturday Photo Gallery
Graves Danger Descends on ABA Series and the Con-Man Hooks Up Jr. Men Win.
January 25, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
Jared Graves was the infield favorite for the Reno win, as of the third round on Saturday at the season opener. Of course, we now know that the infield swamis were incorrect that day. But it put Graves back on the radar coming out of Reno, and riding on in to a dusty town of cattle ranches and rodeo clowns, known as Guthrie, Oklahoma (cue “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” soundtrack).
Saturday, Graves got as close as one can get without being the top-stepper himself, with a second to Stumpy. Sunday was no day of rest for this Aussie, as he dispensed with the motos efficiently, and set his sites on the one-lap dash for the cash. In the main, the above photo foreshadows the finishing order from right-to-left…as early as the first jump. No dramatic turns in this main, but still plenty of action and RPMs being laid down by the fastest eight guys in BMX galaxy on January 25, 2010.
If the elite and pro classes were salsa, the AAs would have been be “zesty,” on Sunday, while the Jr. Men would be “muy caliente!” Guthrie must have been a bit of a bummer for Northerner Tory Nyhaug. Though he, himself, had plenty of caliente going on in his own right throughout the weekend, the tumble gods had his number in both Saturday and Sunday’s main events, making him less than the “way up in the mix” finisher he always is. In fact, two of the three smiling faces on Saturday’s Jr. Men podium returned for an encore on Sunday, with Elliot McGrath and Tommy Zula, for a second and third, respectively on Sunday (it was the other way on Saturday). The Con-Man, Connor Fields kept traction in the action in the first turn, and delivered another Jr. Men victory for the Free Agent faction (the first was on Saturday in Reno).
Keeping with the salsa analogy, the combined Jr. Women/ Elite Women class on Sunday would be the interesting mild. Six laps into her new Intense sponsorship, and anticipated comeback, Arielle Martin went down in the second straight, in the first round on Sunday. It looked pretty bad at first, as she was down for a good 10 mins while honest-to-goodness paramedics were called to the infield to make sure she was well tended to. A backboard ride off the infield did not calm the nerves of all her friends and fans, and she was soon taken to an area hospital for a scan of one stripe or another. By sundown, word came down that she received some stitches to close a gash on her chin, but all else was right down the middle with her condition. No word on how long she’ll be out, if at all…but we’ll check with her and bring you a follow-up in “Latest Dirt.”
Other than the hand-over-mouth concern we all had for Ari on SUnday, the racing was solid, but similar in flavor to Saturday, with Dom Daniels racking up another win. This time, it was Ashley Verhagen on the “Camera-Left” two-step and Alise Post staying consistently in one podium position or another for the third.
It has been a fairly long 72 hours, 23 of it having been spent in a car (as many of you can relate). The BMXNEWS alarm clock has been hammered into a fine example of urban recycling, but we will have more on Guthrie after the Tylenol PM wears off sometime Monday, so check back.
Meanwhile, we did put the time (and recently purchased MacBook car adaptor) to good use on the return trip, and got all photos edited and prepped by the time we hit Rolla, MO.
Thus, the Sunday Photo Gallery for your viewing pleasure.
Download the mega-size version of the above image
Gunnin in Guthrie
January 23, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
The 2010 Sooner Nationals mark the one year anniversary of ABA’s stewardship of the UCI BMX series. Anyone with a pulse (and an Internet connection) would agree that the job they have done to fill the gates and move the series forward has been remarkable. The Junior Development Program has been a byproduct of this effort and is becoming more popular with every running. The Lazy E Arena is the setting, once again, for the Sooners, and a cool, laidback buzz was in the air Friday night as practice wrapped up and the pre-race got underway. A total of 72 motos foretells a moto count of about 175 for Saturday. In Friday Night’s Pro main, it was Gavin Lubbe (who was rockin a South Africa team jersey and not his normal Morphine colors for the pre-race) who took it to the stripe, with Nic Long (above, also in a “Friday Night” uniform) and Tory Nyhaug in for place and show. Stay tuned to BMXNEWS for more from Guthrie throughout the weekend. Follow BMXNOW on Twitter for as-they-happen updates.
Meanwhile, Check out the Friday Photo Gallery
