Rockford Race Report II – Ams Amp Up the Action!

On Wednesday, we brought you the low-down on the pro/elite classes. No question those races were as flat-out as you can get and still be in this dimension. We decided to spit the amateur details in a separate report, because the action over there was just as hoppin as their paid-in-full heroes.

The Jr. Devo gates held what is sure to be some of Team USA’s most promising talent for the 2016 games in…(as a Chicagoan, still pains me to say it)…Rio.

Felicia Stancil owned the weekend in the girls class, with a matched set of 1-1-1-1s The real action was in the second-third battle, as semi-local gal Samantha Brown (above, middle) and the pride of Stompin Stu’s stomping grounds, Norco, CA’s own Shay Glynn (above, right), did a spirited 2-3, 3-2 back & forth on Saturday (with Shay getting the third round deuce, and Kansan Adrian Sanders getting the tre). Shay took twos across the board on Sunday, until the main when “Sam Wow” came back to stalk Shay to the final inches and grab the left step on the podium. Sam’s performance was especially noteworthy, considering she seemed to have a bit of trouble in the gate, just before the cadence started.

Saturday’s Jr. Devo Boys saw Rock & Roll Cole Tesar sittin with a 3-2-2 going into the main, but SHAZAM! flopped an ace on the river with a textbook trip, and bested the field by a two-second margin. Dylan Cooley cruised in for second and Jordan McMullen worked the mojo for a third. That was pretty much how the race came off the first jump, and finished at the line. On Sunday, Cole was out with a seized up neck, and local hero Tyler Whitfield joined the fray, leaving his cruiser in the trailer. The main was a fence-grabber, as Cooley took the early lead into the first turn, but Tyler crazy-glued his tires to the inside line to make the swoop and stretched out an impressive lead by the stripe. Final order: Whitfield, Cooley, and Luke Roarty out of Maryland.

GIRLS

In 11 Girls, first-round transfers Paige “The Pest” Norton and Shelby Fuller-Larsen put down a 1-2, respectively, and second round transfers Ashley Cooley and Tarah Wagner hooked up a good lap to capture third and fourth on Saturday. Norton was back on the top step for Sunday, with Awesome Ashley stepping it up for a second, and Mallory Otto improving her Saturday seventh to a third on day two. The Jr. Devo pace seemed to bode well for Adrian Sanders, as she topped 13G both days. Hard to question that the heavy comp with the fastest ladies in the land brings out a better showing in class.

True, as well for 14G, as Shay Glynn (above) topped the class both days. In Saturday’s 14G main, Samantha Brown entered the first turn in second, but tangled with Hannah Tavenner and neither would see turn two, after a fairly-dramatic pull of the ejector lever into the infield. Day one was Shay, Heather Collman and Mikenna Koth. On day two, all stayed on two wheels, and Shay put down a great lap, protecting her flank, against a hard-charging Brown. Koth was positioned well in third for most of the race, but ended up getting passed by Heather Collman for the third. Shay and Sam battled heavy to the stripe, but in the end, Glynn got her Profile jersey into the proverbial endzone ahead of the Young Guns-mounted Brown.

15G saw Fly’n Felicia handily dispense with the pack on Saturday, with Kristin Bob and Courtney Purcell rounding out the podium. Sunday saw a changeup, as Stancil and Bob battled down the first straight. Felicia was on the inside, and had a knobby on Bob, but the two got together midway down the first straight, and Felicia’s Phantom-OnTrac went off-track and took her out of the race (depriving Felicia of a “Double Triple” for the weekend). Kristen came unclipped in the clash, as Courtney Purcell took the lead, but Bob got back in the pedals and made it from fourth in the first turn to second at the stripe. Megan “The Major” Pritchard hooked up the third.

In other Girls-class highlights, Dani George and Victoria Hopperdietzel did a turnabout, with “The Grasshopper” Hopperdietzel getting the high-hardware on Saturday and George grabbing it on Sunday. 17-27G had Samantha Bretheim leveling a Napa Valley Crush on the class both days.

CRUISER

The cruiser clash was in full effect as early as the first gate-drop with the 8-Under main on Saturday, as the Smooth E, Corbin Essman took the lead. Local hotshoe “Super” Cooper Sheldon went into the first turn in fourth, and put on a clinic to work his way into the two slot by the exit of the second turn on Saturday. Final order on day one was Essman, Sheldon and Nathan Davids. Sunday’s main was the Smooth-show all over again with Essman grabbing the wire to wire win. Sheldon had the second from gate-to-stripe and it was Andres Papajohn in the three slot.

Action-wise, 12 Cruiser had not much in the way of high drama or back-n-forth battles. What IS significant is the substantial service visited upon the class by local zoomer, Justin Richmond. The Juice won every rack all weekend long, and went wholly unchallenged in both cruiser mains. Now that we’re talking about it, he scored a coveted “double-triple” at the Rock, taking home the top spot in 11-12 Open, 12C, and 12x both days. We saw Justin goofin in the pits on Saturday, not long after a first round transfer in three classes. Just another day at the office…next case!

The hometown Snap Factory team locked up 14,15,16 cruiser on Saturday, with wins by Brandon Ceslok, Tyler Whitfield and Alan Struna (above). As noted earlier, Tyler left the big bike parked for Sunday and raced Jr. Devo instead, but his aforementioned mates carried on the tradition, and took 14C and the combined 15-16C on day two.

36-40 Cruiser is always one to watch, and the Rockford installment was no different. Last we saw Rusty Dial, he was suited up all different like. At the Rock, he was decked in Free Agent threads head to toe, and goin WAY fast. Saturday’s main had him leading…well…pretty much from the “llll” in “watch the lights.” Still, MCS-mounted Raul Gomez was not giving him an easy time of it—until an apparent wardrobe malfunction/unclippage sent him into an abrupt and unfortunate (for Tae Thomas) left turn, taking out both himself and Thomas. Doran Bradshaw kept Rusty honest, and kept the Morphine flowing fast, right to the stripe for a Saturday second. Sunday shuffled the deck, with Gomez gettin gone from the get-go for a win (top). Robert Riofrio had a good hold on second… so the Three-abreast battle down the last straight was for third, between Dial (who came unclipped in turn two), Bradshaw (who battled back from seventh in the first turn) and Hoosier Billy Knies. Come to think of it, that’s how it ended up.

Todd Parry is a one-man “Monster of the Midway.” He’s rockin’ the true-blue SE factory duds, and keepin TL very happy, with double cruiser wins in Roseville and now bringing that stuff over to Rockford for a double-double (and not the kind you get at In-N-Out Burger, which we don’t have in Illinois anyway). George Goodall kept the Redline colors flying fast and in the front, with an early lead in both mains, but TP got the smooth inside line (turn one on Saturday, turn two on Sunday) and snatched the lead from the Gorgeous one. Parry and Goodall with the 1-2 both days. On Saturday, a down-to-the-wire throwdown for third between Randy Bitinaitis and John “CornFed” Noerenberg. It was Noerenberg upon review. In Sunday’s main, Noerenberg had the third by a margin, and the battle was for fourth between Bitinaitis and Hector Mendez (Randy got it).

14-16 Girl Cruiser came out with Felicia Stancil scoring the win both days. On Saturday, it was a battle to the stripe between Victoria Hopperdietzel and Crankin Carly Dyar. The grasshopper got it on Saturday, and Carly made tracks on Sunday for the deuce.

Always great to see mid-schooler, Melanie Cline doin her thing in the 31-35GC class. She served it up cold to a couple twentysomethings on Saturday for a win, but Sunday would see Megan “High Maintenance” Hughes switching places with Melanie. On the weekend, it was Cline and Hughes for the 1-2, 2-1 respectively.

Pro Cruiser was stuck in Xerox mode, with Barry Nobles, Danny C and Jason Carne$ racking up identical scores both days (in that order). You say there is not much excitement in Pro Cruiser? Wait til the grands. I think these guys are going to race for Pink Slips or something. In addition to that black number 1 plate, that is. Word round the campfire is that we may see Nic Long suit up for some big bike bar bangin as part of his Haro deal (though unconfirmed).

CLASS

Even the puniest of pedal pushers were puttin down the ponies in RFD. Saturday’s 6X main saw a hefty holeshot by Aiden “A Bomb” Leaks, which lasted him to the last turn when, after making up a ton of real estate in the rhythm, Ethan “The Bull” Moore gave Aiden the horns and stampeded by with a last straight pass to take the win. Not so bueno for “el Toro” on day two, as a tangle in the early part of the first straight put him out of the action. Leaks grabbed the Sunday win with Alex Thrasher in second.

7X gives us a precious chance to do some braggin. BMXNEWS Test Force Ace, Gavin “The G-Man” Freewalt had a supreme weekend with a pair of “three second lead,” wire-to-wire main wins. The first round of Sunday’s 7-8 Open was also a “News Pride” moment, as the G-Man put the melt on “Ice Trey” Maeker’s lead in the first turn and grabbed a moto win from the eventual 8x winner. Great job Gav! Those “News” colors look mighty fine up front! Back to 7X for a moment, it was Willie “Maze” Hayes and Kegan Perlberg for the second and third, respectively both days.

10X had some ooh and ah to it in Rockford, with a hearty tussle between Tyshawn Carr, Colin Whittington and John Jilbert. In Saturday’s main, Jilbert did the top tube tango in the first straight, and ended up fourth at the stripe. Carr handled all comp with poise and apparent ease. Kyle Rittenhouse with a second and Whittington for the third. On Sunday, it was Whittington with the holeshot, but Jilbert jammed on it and by the end of the first turn had it in the bag. Final order: Jilbert, Whittington and Daylen Pendley.

Walker Finch owned 13x, with an impressive pair of laps which were good enough that, even as long-winded as we tend to be, leave no further reason for comment. Props to his #2, Alden Volle for a 2-2 punch and Zachary Tossett for a 3-3.

We were, as-always, glad to see Justin and Momma Posey at the Rock. 16X is a hot class, with plenty of guys looking for the lead. Jon Jon Rapp is off Syndicate, and just built up a new Intense to rock along with his new Young Guns Jersey. Alan “The Big Kahuna” Struna who, as we reported earlier, took home a pair of cruiser wins at his home track, was also a major factor in the “salty 16″ class. These dudes are gunfighter serious and many have the Olympic rings screenprinted on their bedroom ceilings–and will long after the next Gold medal is awarded. This weekend the top step did the Saturday/Sunday swap between Posey and Struna, respectively, with each getting the respective second. Damian Cherepko got the Saturday third, and Dan Birmingham took the tre on Sunday.

To attempt a narrative on how thoroughly Connor Fields cleaned up in 17-18 Expert, we would need to invent new-improved words for massive, colossal and/or titanic. Guys like Austin Loebe and Jacob Sherbno are double-F-Fast, no doubt. But the ConMan (now “Bugsy??”) had a whole ‘nother gear this weekend and plucked a pair of plum wins from the ABA trophy tree (saver stamps probably, but it did’t flow as well). Saturday, it was Loebe for the second and Sherbno for the third, while Sunday saw Colby Landin out of AZ with the second, and Sherbno repeat in third. Sunday’s main is definitely worth watching on Go211, as the cameraman was having a tough time keeping Connor and Colby in the same shot.

Per usual, 19-27x was one of the biggest classes of the weekend, with 39 riders on Saturday and 35 on Sunday. That meant quarterfinals, and at least two additional opportunities to get squeezed off the track, or detonate in some remote stretch of the rhythm section.
Come main time, it was Josh Study with the pop, and a good lead into the first turn. Unsure if Josh’s front wheel broke loose as he railed through bermzilla, but the bottom line was that his bottom was on the ground in turn one. That got Olijuwan Davis a little off-kilter, and he made it back into the clips in time to avoid a major ball up just before turn two. In the end, it was always-on-the-radar Rennen/Intense flier Max Egdorf with the win on Saturday, with Ben Kubalak in second and OD in third. On Sunday, Study got the better of Bermzilla and escaped clean. Davis grabbed the second and Brandon Elmore scored an impressive third.

In the final race of the weekend, we already talked about how TP brought home a double-double for SE with a win in 41-45 Cruiser, and 41-Over Expert. But the main had some exciting moments both days. In the Saturday Main, Parry and Goodall got to it quick with the 1-2 lead. In the third slot, we had local oldschool hero, Frank Nuccio and an even higher-wattage star in the fourth spot, in the person of Hall of Famer, Eddy King. That was in turn two. It stayed that way until the last turn, where something must have popped King Edward’s bubble, as he ended up with a snowman. Final order on day one was Parry, Goodall, Nuccio and Bitinaitis. Same for Sunday, but a switcheroo in the 3-4.

Within 90 minutes of TP crossing the line, Searls Park was getting back to looking like a nature preserve again, rather than the BMX Woodstock it turns into during the Midwest nationals (meant in the most positive and affectionate way). BMXNEWS was back at the Rock the following morning at 8:30 for a photo shoot and, while you could still hear the faint echo of gate drops and Jim Riley’s PA horseplay, the circus had, most certainly, cleared out of town. A thousand clipped zip ties were scattered about, the droppings of what was, 24-hours before, a bustling vendor row. An abandoned EZ-up stood twisted in the distance, contorted in such a way that it could have easily been passed off as lawn sculpture. Track Operator Jake Karau motored around the grounds with purpose, working to get his baby back to its normal pristine condition. But still, as over as Rockford 2010 now was…it was an easy peck at the iPhone to set up the countdown for Rockford 2011. 357 days, and counting!

—Mike Carruth
June 25, 2010

If you have not checked out the full
Sunday Photo Gallery yet, go do that now.