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