For fans attending the Saturday Night show at the 2011 ABA Grands, the $10 admission price delivered on its promise of being “not the kind of BMX racing you see every day.”

Early in the day, more than a few were scratching their heads, wondering how 603 motos, times two, would fit into the alloted 10ish-hours before the published schedule said the evening program would open its doors. Well, the ABA crew did not appear to spend a lot of time standing around wringing their hands, THINKING about it. They GOT about it, and the first hour saw nearly **200** gates. That is space shuttle speed. It throttled back after the first hour or so, and settled in at a ~110-120/hr pace that is comfortable for all concerned.

We are not saying a syllable about the Amateur racing that happened during the day. That will come after Sunday’s mains are in the books. But getting us to a cleared out house by 6:15PM so the paying crowd could be let back in, was a Modern Marvel in its own right.

Three titles would be decided Saturday Night (Vet, Women and AA Pro), with the program running the “classic” ABA Pro format of three mains (Hooray!).

THE WOMEN

Habit is a beautiful thing, and at the same time, very limiting. We are so accustomed to saying “Elite Women” now, that we really don’t know what to call it when it is not Elite Women. Girl Pro? Nah, that seems kind of condescending, and does not have a lofty enough ring to it. “Lady Pro?” Not sure, but that doesn’t seem exactly proper either. “FePro?” Hmmm. That could work. Whatever moniker you wish to attach to it, the gals/ladies/females/women brought the crowd to their feet with full-on title chase action, and some third main drama added to the mix.

For those just arriving from a vacation on Neptune, the Women’s title battle was between Dom Daniels and Brooke Crain this year. Brooke has been spending her time trotting the globe to SX races, gaining the essential seasoning she’ll need to take her career to its ultimate heights…and boy (er…girl?) does it show. We wrote a little about how much Brooke’s game has been stepped up as part of our Chula Vista SX coverage. When not hopping the Atlantic, or on a UCI startlist somewhere, you can find her training at the US Olympic Training Center/Chula Vista, establishing herself as a bright star on the present and future roster of Elite female athletes for Team USA.

For her part, Dom has three ABA #1 FePro cups on her mantle (see what we did just then? ), and a fourth would make a mighty fine matched set. She has been racing a lot here at home, doing clinics, training with a laser focus, and looking to take her Team Puerto Rico jersey to London next August. Dom’s program is a little unconventional, no doubt. She rides for Dance Factory Racing, and Grand Canyon University–so may be riding one jersey or the other…and sometimes runs her Team Puerto Rico jersey. Her riding style can be rough-around-the-edges but, and here’s where most people’s “Dom” argument tends to go off the rails, BMX Racing is not figure skating. There are no style points awarded. S/He who crosses the line first is the winner, with no asterisks to equivocate the point.

The first two mains were Dom’s all the way, with Brooke in second and Amanda Geving (who was also riding very well all weekend) in the third. With two Dom wins, there were a number of mathematic scenarios where Brooke could still get it back, but they all involved Dom finishing two places or more behind. If Dom got an 8th and Brooke got a sixth, the first place points would go to Brooke (it would be a tie in points, actually, but last lap finish is the tiebreaker), and then the tabulating to see who gets the title.

Third main got started same as the others–with Dom in the lead…but Brooke was pouring it on down the second straight. Turn two was the place where Brooke took the lead in Friday’s main event…so could it happen again? Into the turn, Brooke is on the outside…and when the riders dropped behind the mountain of the pro set, Brooke came out on the inside of Dom…setting it up for the pass into the lead. They were wheel-to-wheel coming out of the turn, and Brooke rode it to the right, obviously trying to pinch off Dom’s line…she needed Dom two places back to get the title shot back on track.

As the slope of the turn gave way to the flat of the third straight, they got wingtip-to-wingtip. Even after watching the video a dozen times, its tough to know if what happened next was just the side-to-side bike throw of elite racing, or if a little elbow english was introduced by Brooke, hoping to coax Dom further to the margin. Whatever it was, it upset the delicate on-the-edge balance of bar-to-bar racing, and both…BOTH…title contenders spun to the ground. The place went nuts as Amanda Geving scooted home for the third main win, and the two early leaders picked themselves up to finish the race. Dom got in for a seventh and Brooke for the eighth–not two spots apart…so you know what that meant? Dom puts cup #4 on her mantle.

Back in the hotel lobby, our team of officials and forum warriors huddled around the computer watching the vid, and scored it as a clean-but-aggressive move by Brooke. “That’s why they call it ‘all-or-nothing’,” said one T.O. “Sometimes, it comes up ‘nothing,’ but you left it all on the field, and that’s what Brooke did tonight…that’s pretty cool.”

Brooke ended the evening with a Facebook message to fans and friends, thanking them for their support, and congratulating Dom on her fourth title. A classy move, indeed! Dom was on her way out of town, banged up from the bail, but with another year of being the champ–the target having never moved from her back, and we’re fairly sure that’s just the way she likes it

This was part I of a three-part article on Saturday Night’s Pro Title Races. Please check back later for our AA Pro and Vet Pro reports, as well as photo galleries from the weekend.

By Larry Hamel and Mike Carruth, Photos by Jim Paiva

The weather was perfect in the Tampa Bay area this weekend and everyone was bringing their aces to the table. The track added a competitive element beyond the gate-to-stripe variety, in that there was a “too extreme…just right” tug-o-war, right out of a mid 90s TV commercial (“Tastes Great…Less Filling,” for those who may not have been born yet).

Oldsmar Track operator John Sawyer and crew rebuilt the track from the staging lanes to the shut down area, complete with what some lovingly called a “supercross lite” starting hill. For race day, the track was big, tough, and fast.

A Pro

The A Pro class saw some great action with the new kid on the block and the comeback kid this weekend. First place swapped with “AA” Alex Anthony and Dennison “Big Daddy” Smith taking the split wins, respectively. Freshman Tommy Zula looked fast but opted for the Pro Set each lap and was not rewarded for his efforts. Warren McDow has been around for a while but he was riding fast, hard and smooth bringing his signature power along with him. Look out for all four of the afore mentioned riders to be staring at the Elite Men on the gate very soon.

Vet Pro

Vet Pro Champ Kenth Fallen dominated the class both days. He looked great handling the big track and was challenged only a handful of times by John Purse and “O-show,” Percy Owens. Fallen, Jackal and Owens seem to be going faster and looking smoother every year, and it’ll be interesting to see where the class ends up, come Grands time with Matt Pohlkamp joining the class in Guthrie. The podium was a copy-paste from day one’s results on Sunday.

Dance Factory (DFR) seems to be treating Jackal well, and word is he is training some fast cats to revive the Puerto Rican BMX scene. He definitely has his hands full of BMX goodness.

Jr. Women

The Jr Women podium was another that had a case of the “familiars,” with Brooke Crain, Dani George and Taylor Wolcott guest starring both days. News talked to Brooke, who said “(Dani) has definitely stepped up her game…her first straight is awesome.” Brooke’s air skills on the second straight had everyone talking…higher and smoother than all the ladies, even the big sistas in Elite.

Jr. Men

Rusty Nesvig was on the gas all weekend in both class and Jr Men, taking double the wins and double the money home to the 619. Most of the heavy-hitters were there trying to best Razzleberry but he was just too strong and had the smooth low line through the Pro Set. Watching all these youngins going big and fast is great to watch, putting on a great show for the fans battling it out every lap and pushing their skills to the limit.

Elite Women

On Saturday, the stage was set for a great battle in the main, with Amanda Carr having a 1-1-1 in the motos and a first in the semi, while Dominique Daniels had a 1-2-1. In the main, Amanda came out of gate 4 and Dom out of 8. At the first jump, one was not a string of spaghetti ahead of the other. Down the second and third straights, it was a classic battle of the pumper vs. the jumper, as Dom maintained a healthy lead using the ground assault strategy, and Carr boosted a few sets trying to catch her. Dom got a little squirrely down the last straight, but not enough to upset the second-and-a-half (using the official “one-one-thousand” timing system) lead she had on the flying Amanda. Ashley Verhagen joined Dom and Amanda on the Podium.

On Sunday, Amanda Carr was not on the sheets, dropping the class from 17 to 16 ladies. It was Dom’s day, with a solid 1-1-1 in the motos. Home track heavy- hitter Ashley Lynch Ssquared-off well, catching a pair of aces for herself in the first two rounds. Arielle Martin was showing some solid laps with a 2-2-2, and Amanda Geving had a pair of deuces until she got the drop on Lynch in the third round and scored the win. In the Sunday Main, Dom was way out in eight again (by choice) and Lynch was laned up in four, where Carr had been the previous day. Cools was on the inside. Lynch seemed to get out of shape on the roller leading up to the first jump, and took a pretty serious digger, taking Arielle with her over the first jump. Exiting turn one, it was Daniels, Geving, Cools. Amanda G put some pressure on 3D down the third straight, with a few defiances of gravity, but it was Dom with the win, and another pair of top-spot vouchers for the VSI contingency cash.

Post-race injury report: Ashley Lynch would later post on her Facebook page “I’m fine, I appreciate everyone being concerned – I’ll be back on the bike soon.” A twitter photo from late Sunday had her right leg wrapped-and-strapped in a big ol velcro and metal thingy. Arielle, who also got the fuzzy end of the lollipop in the Ashley wreck ended up with a “Boxers Fracture” on her hand–not too serious (no pins, no surgery), but four-to-six weeks out of the action.

Elite Men

The big boys were another nuclear-ninjas-on-NoDoz class, with 40 on Saturday, and 39 on Sunday stepping up to sample John Sawyer’s handiwork. According to the results, Arnaud Dubois of Belgium DNS’d moto one and two on Saturday, won the third and then was MIA for Sunday, not appearing on the sheets. We’re not sure what the story was behind that, but that was an interesting standout.

The motos were slammin, and when we say that, we mean it literally as well as figuratively. Liam Phillips came across the pond and had a spot of bad luck, when he and Riley Stair tangled on-or-about the first jump, first round on the first day. The wreck was extreme enough that it cracked his helmet (@liamPHILLIPS65, via twitter: KO’d after crashing in first round. Another @FoxEurope lid that did it’s job properly. http://plixi.com/p/76823050).

On Saturday, only Marc Willers and Tory Nyhaug made it through motos with trip aces in eight AA racks. Hometown hero Josh Meyers had the next lowest points out of the motos with a 2-1-1. Joris Daudet, who won Saturday in Guthrie was on hand, and looking strong, with a 1-1-3.

Sunday had 1-1-1s for Willers and Daudet and a couple 3-1-1s for Sylvain Andre and Nic Long.

Looking at the results for the weekend, one might assume the ABA’s typewriter had a sticky “1″ key, because both days have Willers as 1 1 1 1 1 1. Ol 777 did not deuce a lap all weekend (including quarters and semis), and in this company, that is as close to absolute ownership as one can get. Marc hauled away $4200 in purse money for his stellar performance.

The 2010 ABA National Number One Pro, Sam Willoughby made his appearance on the 2011 stage, and ended up with a second and a seventh for Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Sam had one too many digits on that number plate, opting to rock his “91″ UCI permanent number over his ABA #1 (we will try to get the WUWT for a followup).

In Saturday’s Main, Willers was in gate one, with Sharrah and Willoughby in four and five; Sylvain Andre was on the far outside. Willoughby got the first call from the tower after the gate dropped, but as of the backside of the first jump, Willers was edging a slight lead. Corben jumped it, and seemed to lose a bit of ground to Daudet, at least for the moment. In turn one, Nyhaug rode Daudet WAY up high, and gave Corben the daylight he needed to dive for the inside, coming out in fourth behind Willers, Willoughby and Tory. That’s how it went through turn two and down the third straight. Corben got some good momentum out of the last turn and pulled even with Tory. At the line, it was Willers, Willoughby and Sharrah by a razor over Nyhaug for the final podium spot.

Sunday’s main consisted of (from the inside to outside) Willers, Daudet, Corey Reid, Willoughby, Sylvain Andre, Jeff Upshaw, Nic Long and Josh Meyers. Start was clean and pretty much even for all. Then, the pack started to break up at the first jump, but was still basically dead even between Willoughby, Daudet and Willers. Into turn one, Daudet and Willers had a slight edge on Sam, and Marc was on the inside. At this point in the race, Sylvain was in sixth, and Reid in seventh. Josh, who was way on the outside in eighth coming into turn one set up a bold pass which brought him from eighth to fifth. But, coming into the second straight, it appeared he traded paint with Sam, and by the time the riders emerged from behind “The Wall” (the affectionate name for the jump out of turn one), Josh was doing a no-footer-one-hander into the infield. The second turn had it Willers, Andre and Daudet, with Reid two and a half bikes back. By the last turn, a few very subtle losses in momentum in the big set cost Daudet all the edge he had in turn two, and Corey caught up, taking up the way-inside, and pinching off Andre’s line coming out into the final straight (with maybe a whiff of contact). Reid’s push kept USA on both podiums for the weekend.

Maturing Amateurs

Among the Ams, Maliek Byndloss was not to be robbed of a win, making a move in the first turn that would have made a geometry teacher check the math, coming from fifth to first, and not looking back on Saturday, same way, up top, on Sunday. Brandon Elmore rockin his Redman colors for the second time out took a 1st and 2nd, looking fast and doing the Tribe proud. Speaking of Redman, Walker Finch is a “man amongst boys,” muscling two aces in 13x.

Felicia Stancil is still a phenom, even though her and her new Speed had yet to be formally introduced in battle prior to wheels-down at TPA. She racked up four firsts and two seconds in Oldsmar (Jr. Devo on Day one and 15G on day two went to her BFF, Shay Glynn).

We always look forward to Oldsmar, and already have the hots for the trip out of the cold in 2012.

Now that you’ve read the syllables, check out the sights via Jim Paiva’s Saturday and Sunday photo galleries.

LINKS

View Saturday BMXNOW Photo Gallery

View Sunday BMXNOW Photo Gallery

Oldsmar Results Page, via ABABMX.COM

GO211 Oldsmar 2011 Page

BMXNEWS.COM broke the story back on January 10, when we interviewed Dominique Daniels on her then-upcoming feature in ESPN Rise Magazine. Well, just before the Winternationals the issue started pre-release promotion. But it was just last week that ESPN posted the story on its Rise website for all to see. Rise Magazine is not a newsstand publication, and is only distributed in schools (lots of schools, to be sure, but unless you have a child in Jr. High and/or High School, you may not have gotten a chance to read it). We thought we’d hold off on our post on the topic until we could route all of you to the story.

Here is the full cover:
© 2010 ESPN RISE LLC. Reprinted courtesy of ESPN RISE Magazine.

It’s a great story, which shows Dom’s deep determination for her racing career, and humble beginnings in the sport. We think you will agree that this is a tremendous PR coup for the sport of BMX Racing. A big congrats to Dom for a job well done!

Read the ESPN Rise Story Now.

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

Got an email from Tim Daniels (Dominique’s Dad) the other day. He wanted to set the record straight on a couple of points relating to Dom’s acceptance speech at the 2009 ABA Grands, where she directly addressed so-called “haters.” We felt that, rather than editorialize Tim’s comments, we would bring his statement to you directly.

This post is to provide a little background on Dominique’s acceptance speech at the ABA Grands. I have had more than a few people ask me what she meant by “Haters not being able to discourage her and that they would only make her stronger.” In previous years I had an idea of what she would say because we would talk about her speech and she would make notes for the podium. This year I had no idea of what she intended to say and I was very proud of her thoughtfulness toward Erin Shaefer. I also understood the “Haters” comment, based on certain circumstances which I would now like to let everyone in on.

Many people do not know that, for the past three Grands, she has had to race with the knowledge that someone has tampered with her bike. We have found loose chain rings, headsets, handlebars, cut tires, loose wheel nuts, and this year, spokes were literally cut-through on her front and rear wheels. These problems were found after her bike had been checked by myself and mechanics at the track, so there is no doubt what happened. We try to keep a close eye on her bike, but with her schedule, it is impossible to watch it 24/7.

I have asked her to take stuff like this in stride but, honestly, she shouldn’t have to. I know in my heart that it is probably one, or perhaps, a small group of individuals who may think they are helping someone else in her class by doing this. But, to the person(s) responsible, I can say with confidence, that the rider you think you are helping doesn’t want to win that way.

Back to the podium speech, Dom told me she was just angry and should have been in better control. She also said that many of the young riders she spoke to throughout the weekend asked her “how do you deal with people being mean or saying mean things in the staging area?” That added to her frustration. This is not meant to start a lot of discussion, but just to shed some light on the motivation behind her comments.

The BMX community is by far the most family-friendly group in sports, and this kind of action toward Dom is not the norm. We harbor no ill will or bad feelings. I hope it never happens again, though we will keep checking her bike diligently. I thank all those who have helped keep her safe, because the last thing I want is for her to be seriously injured because of actions like this.

Thank You,
Tim Daniels