Am Classes Stacked at Vegas National
July 20, 2011 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
Words and Photos by Cole Proctor
Coming into one of the most hyped nationals of the year, the summer circuit’s heavy hitter, The Las Vegas Nationals, VEGAS BABY!, and it sure didn’t disappoint..
Arriving on Friday was a little nerve-racking for people who did not go a few years back. It was kinda like a treasure hunt having to find your way around the hotel, to the arena, and where to put your bikes. “The blind were leading the blind,” for sure. Eventually, you’d find the track…and as you turned the corner into the locker room, you get smacked in the face by the super-long registration line. Judging from the size of the line…we know it was going to be the biggest race to date of 2011.
The race might have been big, but the track…not so much. Rumored to be around 700ft, it was likely one the shortest national tracks ever. During the first practices, you would hear around the stadium that he track wasn’t the normal standard super smooth indoor track… bumpy turns and kinked transitions. As the weekend went on, the riders learned how to get around it without risking an over-cooked blowup in a turn.
As Friday’s pre-race ended, “party night” began. The vibe at the Southpoint Hotel & Casino was one to remember, there were all kinds of people there. There was a skeptic’s convention, a karate tournament, and even a bowling competition. With all these BMXers in one place, the elevator lines were outrageous! And don’t get me started on the restaurant lines…out of control! But, you adapt, and go a little early, or a tad-bit late rather, that the normal dinner time. Overall, the nightlife was great fun! There was bowling, the movie theaters, an arcade, and an epic pool / spa to relax after a long day.
Waking up Saturday morning was a little easier than your normal national. Not having to drive to the track was refreshing– taking an elevator to the track, versus loading up the car? Any day! As the races got underway, the “lockers” (where bikes were required to stay when not in staging or on the track), could easily become a problem for the racers. I’m speaking from personal experience… my dad had the key to the locker and my moto was coming up. Uh Oh. I was forced to hop the 10 foot tall locker stall, and hand my bike over to one of my buddies a flagged down for some help. Not a very good feeling…going into your race with no bike… I confiscated the key from my dad and I had it the rest of the weekend. Problems solved! Saturday was a long one! A total of 317 motos, ending around 8:00PM, wow.
Security was tight! But there still was mischief. On Kevin Shankel’s PRO debut, his bike got stolen. One of his local buddies went out on the lookout and found it at the culprit’s house, only missing the seat post clamp.
Sundays races were crazy all out sprints to the line. With it being the last day of the national racers were letting it all hang out not worried if they crashed. Sean Gaian killed it for factory Intense, not losing a single lap, same with Redman Rockstar’s Gnarly Carlie Ferree on the girl’s side.
The photos tell the story of the on-the-track action, so here they are.
Check out the ABA Las Vegas National Photo Gallery
Results for the ABA Las Vegas Nationals
All Rockford Photos Posted!
June 23, 2011 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
Link to Friday Gallery
We’re reminded of that song “I ain’t gonna call Hank Williams Jr. ‘Junior’ Anymore.” Zach “Lil-T” Tossett tearin it up in Jr. Devo on Friday for Speedline. Zach took home 14x both days in the RFD. Nothin’ Lil about this hefty haul.
Link to Saturday Gallery
Josh Study “Bakin’ Those Cakes” for Felt/Alius/Dan’s Comp, down the second straight in Saturday’s main. A 4-2 for the weekend in 19-27x.
Link to Sunday Gallery
The President’s in residence. First Round action, Nathan “The President” Coyman boosts it big in the second straight for Rennen-Intense. Dude tucked away a pair of aces in 8-Under Cruiser at the Rock.
Lightning Round of BMX News
June 6, 2011 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
No, those are not the starting gate tones you’re hearing…they’re off-in-the-distance Wedding Bells for ESPN BMX Racing beat reporter Pat Nugent and his fiance Casey Multan. The weekend before last, Pat popped the question while the two were on a stroll through the Bronx Zoo. At the appropriate time and place–in front of Tiger Mountain, a silent shoutout to their “fine orange tiger” at home. Casey was floored, and say “yes” (natch!). The big day is likely to occur in the fall of 2012.
BMX News obtained the above spy photos of the actual moment the proposal took place, via a New York-based paparazzi with ties to the BMX scene.
No official word on where they’re registered, but we’d have to assume Bloomingales, Bed, Bath and Beyond, B&H Photo and Dan’s Comp. 
Congrats to the Happy Couple!
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Connor Fields tweeted that he “Cleaned (his) room, did laundry, emails, booked a few flights…” Could this mean we’ll see the Con-Man in the gate at a National or SX race near you. Anxious to see that Chase BMX ride out in the lead for the first time.
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After a seven-year pause on her Pro Card, Michelle Cairns is back among the Elites. She made her return to the stage at the recent ABA Music City Nationals in Nashville. Michelle says “at the age of 35, racing elite women BMX is pretty darn cool. I plan to put in the work to be competitive and see where it takes me.” She also added: “Rusty Dial has also had a big part of my return to the pro class. I had a lot of positive feedback in Nashville and that helps keep me going. My famliy and friends here in Florida are behind me 100 percent and most of all I believe in myself again for the first time in along time.”
Way to go, Michelle, we’ll be keepin an eye out for you in the viewfinder.
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Speaking of Rusty, You gotta check out this video clip he posted on You Tube last week. Offering a tongue-in-cheek response to some of the guys on Vintage calling him and Tony Hoffman “Jesus Freaks.” Good stuff!
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Work continues in earnest this week to finish the Greater Madison BMX Track in Wisconsin. Early photos of the in-progress build show some amazing potential, and News is ready to rock, Batman style, the second the NewsPhone rings with opening day details. Check out the photos
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Speaking of BMX Tracks we love and the people who love them, the “from-flat-ground” rebuild of Imagination Glen BMX in Portage, IN is also coming to completeness. ABA track maestro Billy Allen was on-scene to pilot the Cats, and Dexter “Dragon Wheels” Pritchard has been keeping us locals in the loop about how it’s going. And, like most things that are oh-so-Newsworthy, the IG rebuild has its own Vintage thread–so get on over there for the latest. Watch for the ABA Hoosier Nationals and Supercamp coming to the newly-reawesomed track!
Walmart goes Hyper with Donny Replica
February 3, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
BMX Racing has a rich history of “replica” bikes, dating back to the mid 1970s. The definition of a “replica” is, traditionally, a bike produced during the career of a famous rider or team, in the style and image of the bike that the rider is actually riding at the time. Hyper Bicycles has stayed graphically true to that tradition with the forthcoming release of a Donny Robinson Replica complete bike, out this March. The added bit of news on this project is that the bike will be marketed through Walmart stores nationwide. With millions of shoppers per day chain-wide, the dR Replica has a chance to put BMX Racing in front of a massive audience.
Though the initial rollout this March will be a market test to gauge consumer interest, it is still hitting 314 stores, which is bigger than most chains, in itself. Based on this test, Walmart will evaluate whether the bike gets a chain-wide rollout.
According to Donny, himself, on last week’s episode of our “Announcers Tower” Podcast, “This is the lightest bike on the (mass) market…I could easily run the frame—it’s an aluminum frame.”
It is clear that, by way of this model, Hyper hopes to sell some bikes. Commerce is a beautiful thing. But it goes beyond that. We see them making efforts to move merch, yes…but also to promote the sport of BMX Racing to a broad, general interest audience, who may not otherwise know about the sport.
And when promoting the sport is the topic of discussion, you know the ABA is never far off the lead. They have joined with Hyper to create a hangtag to go on all of the bikes on Walmart’s floor. The hangtag offers a free 30-day ABA membership with purchase of the bike—helping break down barriers to getting new wheels on the gate at the local track. Check out the hangtag.
For his part, Donny will be promoting the bike, and the sport in general through his “In Motion” Youth Mentoring talks at middle schools in places like Oldsmar, Phoenix, DeSoto, TX an other ABA National cities throughout 2010.
The bike will retail for $99—which makes it an irresistible starter bike for Joe and Jan Novice. On Vintage, over the past couple days, the forum has been alight with great ideas from people wanting to join in the fun. Tracks are talking about buying a few of them for loaner bikes, and some of the collector types have their eye on it as a “timecapsule” buy of BMX, circa 2010.
BMXNEWS will be keeping our eyes on the progress of the bike, and will show you first-photos when the time comes.
Meanwhile, here is the complete list of Walmart stores where the Donny Robinson Replica will be showing up next month.
“Wish We Thought of That” File: Cobra “No Tools” Tubes.
January 20, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
True Story: With literally two minutes til the A Pro main at the Christmas Classic in Louisville, Logan Collins comes over to the finish line with terror in his eyes. Dad Robert Campbell is standing around shooting the bull with a bunch of us. Logan says, with surprising calm “blew a tire!”
Suddenly, in a moment inspired by watching too much NASCAR, seven people spring into motion. One is finding a tube, one is unbolting Logan’s rear wheel and popping the brakes, one is finding a pump (and the other four of us are standing around looking at the bike—like a union road crew). It all came together, in time for Logan to get third in the main. But if he were just Joe Novice, who knows?
Well, all the drama could be averted next time with a few of these bad boys close at hand. Fly Bikes out of Spain has spent the past two years developing a “no-tools” innertube. This invention does not require removal of the wheel, and comes in one strip that can easily be looped around the sick wheel, and fastened into place using a loop into which the valve stem gets inserted (see above). You may need a couple tire levers, and you’ll definitely need a pump, but the rest is a cakewalk, as shown in the video on their site.
We called a couple popular mail order vendors to see if they had them in stock (or had ever heard of them, for that matter), and the answer was zero-in stock and one on the case to get them in soon. Rumored retail is USD$8.99, but the convenience far outweighs any added cost. They are available in 20″, 24″ and 26″ sizes.
BMXNEWS will try to get our hands on some and bring you a more complete product spotlight on them in the coming weeks. How many inner tubes does it take to buy a Ferrari? We think the guys at Fly Bikes are about to find out.
Interview: Founders of Ssquared Bicycles + 1
January 20, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
John Sawyer is a busy man these days. He recently became partners, with Geff Ssengoba, in the newest BMX enterprise to come out of the Sunshine State, Ssquared Bicycles…and in his spare time he has been rebuilding his baby—the Oldsmar BMX track, so it gets broken in just in time for the ABA Gator Nationals.
BMXNEWS met up with John, Geff and their main man Josh Meyers for a chat on the Ssquared product, how it differs from other frames on the market, and also some of the long-view vision for the company.
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Be sure to visit John and Josh in the Ssquared pits at the ABA Sooner nationals for a firsthand look at the goods.
ABA Announces First-Half 2010 Air Dates
January 15, 2010 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
ABA has released air dates for the first half of their 2010 Versus Network shows. Those of you without TiVo can rejoice, in that they will be re-running the many of the 2009 races. They will also be expanding their coverage per race to include more than just the pro classes (a total of two hours of programming per covered race). Here is the schedule:
| ABA BMX “Versus” Network Air Dates – First Half 2010 | |||
| February 03, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Tulsa, OK 2009 | (re-air) |
| February 10, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Guthrie, OK 2009 | (re-air) |
| February 17, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL 2009 | (re-air) |
| February 24, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #1 2010 | (new) |
| March 03, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Lake Perris, CA 2009 | (re-air) |
| March 10, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #2 2010 | (new) |
| March 17, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Desoto, TX #1 2009 | (re-air) |
| March 24, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #3 2010 | (new) |
| March 31, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Rockford, IL 2009 | (re-air) |
| April 07, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #4 2010 | (new) |
| April 14, 2010 | 4 or 4:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #1 2010 | (re-air) |
| April 21, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #1 2010 | (new) |
| April 28, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Desoto, TX #2 2009 | (re-air) |
| May 05, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #2 2010 | (new) |
| May 12, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #2 2010 | (re-air) |
| May 19, 2010 | 3:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #3 2010 | (new) |
| May 26, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Desoto, TX #3 2009 | (re-air) |
| June 02, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #4 2010 | (new) |
| June 09, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Milford, DE 2009 | (re-air) |
| June 16, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #3 2010 | (re-air) |
| June 23, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Reno, NV #4 2010 | (re-air) |
| June 30, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #1 2010 | (re-air) |
| July 07, 2010 | 4:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #2 2010 | (re-air) |
| July 14, 2010 | 4:30 PM EST | Rockford, IL 2009 | (re-air) |
| July 21, 2010 | 4:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #3 2010 | (re-air) |
| July 28, 2010 | 5:30 PM EST | Desoto, TX #3 2009 | (re-air) |
| August 04, 2010 | 4:30 PM EST | Oldsmar, FL #4 2010 | (re-air) |
Watch for more dates as the calendar gets thinner.
NBL Faithful Make Their Way To Louisville For Christmas Classic
December 23, 2009 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
With a paid pre-practice the week before, riders drove from as far away as Texas, some in the biggest Winter storm of the season, to get some laps on the Christmas Classic track in Louisville. Some were stranded on snowbound Interstates for as long as eight hours before turning back. Of the people who were in the house, the feedback was generally positive, with a lot of predictions that fortunes would rise and fall in the last turn.
There is more news and discussion about the X-Mas Classic on the VintageBMX.com forums. Check it out now.
Also, NBL announced today that they would be conducting some trials of a new RFID system that would automate registration and scoring. Check it out on the NBL Web site.
BMXNEWS will be covering the Christmas Classic, beginning Saturday, December 26. Keep an eye here for the lastes news, and our sister site, BMXNOW.COM for photos.
Above photo courtesy of VintageBMX.com user, Kevin Garrett
Young Guns Barrel Into Steel Wheels
December 13, 2009 by BMXNEWS.COM Editors · Comments Off
With 19 racks of riders ranging from six to 13 years in age, the second installment of the Answer BMX Young Guns Shootout went off with a bang today in Hobart, Indiana. Cars, cold cuts and coolers were loaded up from as far away as Dallas to make the trip to Steel Wheels Indoor BMX on a “warm” winter day (36 degrees at race time outside, about 60 inside—so similar to San Diego, trackside).
“The Juice” Justin Richmond and “Dirt Diva” Mikenna Koth took the top spots in the 11-13 “Elite” Boys and Girls classes, respectively. Justin won the 10 and under class at last years inaugural Young Guns Shootout, and ran the table today. Mikenna has her own unique story on her route to the top of the podium. That route, in this case, involved over a thousand miles of Interstates, US Highways and State Routes, as well as the Steel Wheels straightaways. Mikenna’s dad, Tim, rallied as only a BMX dad could after a full Friday of business, and set out for Hobart from Dallas, TX last night at 6PM. They arrived in the parking lot just in time for the opening of registration at 11AM. As we said, only in BMX Racing! The 100+ mile journey earned Tim and Mikenna the “longedst trip” honors, and a $25 gift card.
Full results are forthcoming, but BMXNEWS wanted to get the winners, and the photo gallery from today’s race posted (includes both the Young Guns Shootout racks, as well as the single pointer that ran as well).
2009 Answer BMX Young Guns Shootout Winners
7-Under Boys winner…..”The G-Man” Gavin Freewalt
10-Under Girls winner…..Mattie Pusateri
10-Under Boys winner…..John Jilbert
11-13 Girls winner…..Mikenna Koth
11-13 Boys winner….. “The Juice” Justin Richmond (11x)
