New Pro Season Stepping Off In Oldsmar

BMX News is gearing up for the Elite Season Opener this weekend at the USA BMX Gator Nationals in Oldsmar, FL.

All signs point to a massive Elite turn out for the Gators, and as part of Saturday’s race, the UCI North American Continental Championships (Class 3…the most points outside the World Cup series or the World Championships).

We have been getting “we’ll be there” responses from teams and rider from as far North as Maine, and as far West as Washington State on the Amateur side, so we look forward to bringing you two days of rock-solid racing, with awesome action photos and a complete story on both days’ first straight pulls, and last-turn lead changes.

Keep it right here each night for how it all went down, and if you just can’t wait…follow @bmxnow on Twitter for as-they-happen updates from the infield.

USAC Elite Camp Brings The Best to Chula V

A major contingent of Elite “Team USA” BMX Supercross talent flew in to the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA last week for the first Elite Development camp of 2012. BMXNEWS.COM was granted exclusive access to shoot some action during one of the training sessions.

We clipped the set down to the 49 best shots of the session, and are bringing them to you as soon as we got them dialed in. It was an amazing day for shooting in San Diego, and the riders were definitely in the zone.

The camp included 19 athletes in all, but Joey Bradford and David Herman had other commitments for the photo session timeframe. And Nic Long, Felicia Stancil and Tyler Brown posted early injuries and could not ride. We wish them a speedy recovery!

Other stars out of orbit this camp; Connor Fields and Alise Post were out of the country and Mike Day and Corben Sharrah were out of town on GT biz. We vowed to catch them on-course next time.

Click Here to View the Gallery

A big thanks to: Mike King, Andrea Smith and James Herrera at USA Cycling for letting us peek into their day. Team USA is readying some amazing talent for London, and this glimpse into their routine gives us a special kind of pride as Americans. Equal thanks goes to Amanda Carr, Amanda Geving, Arielle Martin, Barry Nobles, Brooke Crain, Dani George, Donny Robinson, Jared Garcia, Jason Rogers, Josh Meyers, Kory Cook, Tyler Faoro and Weston Pope for their style and willingness to “do that again!”

—Mike Carruth

Above: Barry Nobles gets it done on the second straight aboard his new DK scoot.

BMX Timeline Updated

The last time we updated the “History of BMX Timeline” was just before the 2008 Olympics. Wow! A lot has happened in our sport since July 2008…so, at the prompting of a good friend in the industry, we decided to open up the history books and bring the timeline up to date.

The above photo from the 2011 NBL Grands this year is one that would have been deleted straightaway once we got back to the room and started editing out the bloopers. Except this image would prove historic in a small way. It’s a photo of Dalton Scales-Conklin of Kentucky, winning the The 14-15 Open Main Event. “What’s the big deal?” you ask? Well, it also happened to be the final rack of the 2011 NBL Grands, and with it, the final lap of the NBL’s 37-year history.

We added Dalton’s win to the History of BMX Timeline, along with Anne-Caroline Chausson and Maris Strombergs’ wins at the 2008 Olympics. And of course the full tick-tock on the ABA/NBL merger in 2011, and a bunch of other stuff in between.

Download the Timeline as a PDF, and feel free to share it with friends.

—Mike Carruth

Sweet 16 For Alise–Stronger Every Day

On July 24 of this year, BMX News reported that Factory Redline Elite Women ace, Alise Post would be sidelined for the balance of the 2011 season, due to an injury suffered during training for the UCI World Championships. One week later, Alise was in Vail, CO for knee surgery, and that would be the starting point by which her recovery would be measured.

Fast forward 16 weeks. Alise is well past the wheelchair, cleared the crutches, and is ambulating on her own two feet. She does a great job of keeping the fans up to date on her progress, and sent News the following update last night:

Today marks 16-weeks, post-op for my knee surgery. I am EXTREMELY excited about this, because 16 weeks is a very important point in the rehab process.

With a normal knee injury, say an ACL, or even if I had just torn my LCL, the rehab process would’ve progressed a lot more aggressively. However, due to my torn hamstring tendon having to be reattached on top of the LCL reconstruction graft, my rehab plan needed to be more conservative than others.

The combination of injuries is what made my case so rare to many of the people working with me. The fact that your hamstrings are so strong poses a problem in healing, once re-attached, because it is easy to rip-apart the work that was done in the surgery if a re-attached hamstring is engaged too soon. Needless to say, my therapists and I have had to be very creative on how to go about strengthening my leg and ligament without engaging too much of my hamstring. Today, this all changes!

16-weeks is a big corner to turn, in that now I can use my hamstring freely and starting lateral work on my ligament. These are key to my rehab process, because they allow me to actually start sport-specific rehab and put strength and agility back into my knee, which are obviously big stepping-stones back into regular training.

I am off to see the doctor in Vail again next week, the day before Thanksgiving. This will be the last visit, and hopefully I’ll get the “all clear” on everything I am writing about. My therapists and I have no doubts that Dr. LaPrade will be impressed with the stability and progression of my knee. Well, at least I sure hope so! It has been a long process, but we have all been on top of our game and doing absolutely everything possible to get me back healthy! I can’t thank everyone enough, because I truly believe I am exactly where I should be, if not ahead.

I also feel ready to start sharing a bit of more of my story. I know I haven’t been the best about video blogging or keeping everyone fully in the loop on my progress. The truth is, I needed to take some time for myself to be sure I was where I wanted to be. Now that I am happy with where I am at though, I feel I am ready to share some more of my internal thoughts and details about the process I have been going through. I will be doing this on my Redline Blog pretty regularly leading up to Grands next week. I have tickets, and will be there to support my friends, family, and Redline Squad for the “Greatest Race on Earth!!” Follow me on Twitter for daily updates @alisepost11

Thanks for reading and for your continued support. I cannot put into words how much it helps to know there are so many people backing me, through thick and thin. I hope you enjoy the blog updates…See ya’ll in Tulsa!

-Alise

A big BMX News congrats to Alise for making it swiftly and safely to this milestone. More with #11 from the fenceline at the 2011 ABA Grands next week.

Alise Post Redline Blog

Podcast: Toby Henderson From the “Box Office”

Pretty much from the moment we learned Toby Henderson would be starting a brand new company (as we were midway to the ABA Land O Lakes Nationals), we were on Toby’s call sheet for an interview. I was pretty much prepared to pull over and do the interview on my laptop at a truckstop, if I had to…it was big news that took the industry, more or less, by surprise.

Well, the truckstop wasn’t necessary, and it ended up being about three months, but today we got the interview. Toby, on the record, speaking candidly and openly about his plans for a new line of “Lamborghini-quality” BMX Racing components, and some later forays into “big wheel” stuff (MTB, Road, CX, etc). He even drop the name of the new brand here publicly, for the first time.

Toby’s trademark timing was helped along today by some news that broke on the Dale Holmes Podcast yesterday. TonyD dropped the big bomba that Marc Willers would be wearing Toby’s jersey in 2012 (012, 013 and 014, as it turns out).

In a 20-minute interview, Toby talks about the vision for his product line, the over-arching goal of bringing a higher degree of sizzle to BMX Racing, and what he sees 2012, with all its changes and big events, netting out to look like.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

iPhone users, paste this directly into the URL area of your phone’s browser

http://www.bmxnews.com/podcasts/at_045_toby_henderson.mp3

—Mike Carruth

VintageBMX.com Discussion on this Topic

USAC Nationals Returning to Chula in 2012

In a press release issued by USA Cycling today, it was announced that the USAC BMX National Championships will return to Chula Vista in 2012. The event was originally slated for Speedworld in the Phoenix area on March 3 (Reference: UCI 2012 Calendar), but it will now be on April 1 in Chula Vista (no foolin).

Here is an excerpt from the release:

For the second year in a row, the USA Cycling BMX National Championships will be held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The currently under construction London Olympic-replica Supercross track will host the elite and junior elite races while amateur racing will take place on an adjacent, traditional BMX track. This event is scheduled for April 1, 2012 and is expected to draw approximately 250 competitors.

The UCI calendar page also has the first UCI BMX Supercross World Cup race of calendar 2012 scheduled for March 30 and 31. So, if correct, it’s looking like a megawatt weekend in Chula with the SX on Friday-Saturday, and the National Championships on Sunday.

It is probably a safe bet that the stated ABA National/UCI Continental Series dates on the UCI calendar are fluid…as the posted calendar has the ABA rig in Desoto that weekend for the ABA Supernationals.

As noted in the release, The race is scheduled to be run on the “Chula 2.0″ track, a replica of the London 2012 Olympic venue, as opposed to the “Beijing” replica track (above), which hosted the 2011 National Championships.

Check back with BMXNEWS.COM for more on the 2012 schedules.

Connor Fields Wins Pan-Am Games

In what could easily be a dress rehearsal for Team USA’s 2012 Olympic effort, four athletes headed to Guadalajara, Mexico for the 16th Pan American games. Representing the United States were Connor Fields and Nic Long for the men, and Arielle Martin and Amanda Carr for the Women. All four advanced to Friday’s main event.

Media coverage was spotty, and no pool photos were readily available of the BMX event, but we do have the bare results.

Connor Fields took the gold medal, with Nic in second. Andres Jiminez of Columbia was third.

In Elite Women Mariana Pajon of Colombia (and current UCI world champ) took the gold medal, with Arielle Martin of Team USA in for the Silver. Maria Gabriela Diaz of Argentina claimed the bronze. American Amanda Carr was eighth, and Dominique Daniels, riding for Puerto Rico, was also in the main event and took fifth.

Updated: October 22, 8:AM, CDT
Click here for video of the two Main Events.

RESULTS – Pan American Games

Elite Women
1. Mariana Pajon (COL)
2. Arielle Martin (USA)
3. Maria Gabriela Diaz (ARG)
4. Mariana Diaz (ARG)
5. Dominique Daniels (PUR)
6. Naiara Silva (BRA)
7. Andrea Zuluaga (COL)
8. Amanda Carr (USA)

Elite Men
1. Connor Fields (USA)
2. Nic Long (USA)
3. Andres Jiminez (COL)
4. Fausto Endara (ECU)
5. Renato Rezende (BRA)
6. Ramiro Marino (ARG)
7. Carlos Oquendo (COL)
8. Jim Brown (CAN)

Links
More on the Pan American Games (wikipedia)

Above Photo Courtesy of Mike King, USA Cycling

USA Takes Four Podium Spots in Chula Vista

Story and Photos by Mike Carruth

Read that headline again…four of six podium spots to Team USA in Chula Vista. The other two were Mariana Pajon with the bronze in Elite Women, and Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands. Sorry to have delivered the punchline in the first 35 words.

Now, look at the date on which I am publishing this story–a full four days after the event–an eternity in this business of go-go-go instant-everything content.

It just took a day or two to sink in, is all. Now, Team USA is hardly an also-ran on the SX scene, but this level of success is something we have not yet enjoyed. And I am not too proud to admit I wanted to savor the flavor, before I got to writing about it.

I signed off my Friday Time Trial story by saying “More History to be Made Saturday Afternoon,” and that is pretty much what happened.

The Pro-Gate atop the Swatch start ramp at the US Olympic Training Center dropped a total of 46 times on Saturday, October 1. Each time would be either a triumph for one or a defeat for another, in 172 different flavors and a dozen or more languages. With stakes so high, it’s tough to do it justice with the written word. But, I’ll try.

A War Ready to Jump Off

To help in that, I’ll rewind the tape to Friday morning. It’s about 9AM, and I’m already at the OTC, down by the Director’s Office, which is kind of the hub of the whole BMX program there. I am a bit early to pick up my media credential for the race, and sitting on the ground, kind of taking it all in.

Every familiar face tied to the Team USA Olympic BMX effort is in view– from Jeff Glynn to Jerry Bradford, Brian Fell to Kenth Fallen, James Herrera and, of course, the Director himself, Mike King. There are also a half-dozen or so support staff that I do not recognize, but these are likely the unsung backstage heroes that help the aforementioned keep the program marching ever- forward.

Athletes have their tunes, and their seat posts cranked to maximum height as they loop around the soccer fields, down “the Olympic Path” on warmup routines. Some are doing plyo jumps on the soccer field. To the left is Brooke Crain…to the right, Arielle Martin…darting in and out of the athlete’s mechanic space we see Corben Sharrah, Tommy Zula, Josh Meyers, Amanda Carr, Felicia Stancil, David Herman, Nic Long, Barry Nobles and a host of other Americans getting ready to do what they train every day to do.

The mood is one that I have never experienced in BMX before. There’s a palpable energy in the air, but it is all VERY, VERY subdued–gunfighter serious, really.

I imagine it to be the kind of mood that might be present in a room where SEALs are readying their gear, painting eachother’s faces, just before launching on a midnight incursion behind enemy lines. There is a strong component of “let’s get it on!” and at the same time, one of “this is a very fragile situation.” Adrenaline has raised all senses to their peak, and laser-like focus is the only thing that keeps things in balance. Don’t look down.

As an onlooker, you picked up instantly, with no words being spoken, that this was not a time for idle chatter, or casual discourse. Levity was a million miles away from this place. “Good morning” greetings are exchanged politely, but with a quick grin and a nod, then on to wherever the job demands next.

THIS is the BMX Supercross that the fans don’t see, and it is the place where champions are built, bit by bit–with the precision and deliberation of a master building a house of cards or a ship inside a bottle. Fragile, yet in the most artful manner that dedication and passion for ones work can deliver.

All of the riders and USA Cycling crew deserve the credit and the glory for their efforts on behalf of the 312,358,340 of us, commonly known as The United States of America.

That’s how the Racing weekend started…and we covered how it closed out that day: Two USA jerseys on the Superfinal victory step: Brooke Crain and Connor Fields.

With the stage set for Saturday, it was time to hit up the ABA US Open Nationals “upstairs” at Future BMX. A healthy 199 motos on the menu for Day One, as an appetizer to the “Big Track” action that would start at 2:30PM.

14:30 – Race Time

The SX race would be run in daylight this year, saving a boatload of cash to bring in crane-mounted lights, and also removing some of the element of chance for the riders as the evening dew set in on the starting ramp–a big deal the past two years.

Four racks of Elite women and eight of Elite Men were the result of Friday Time Trials qualifying, where 32 and 64 riders, respectively, advanced to “the big show.”

Racing got underway on time, after a moving rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was sung by US Paralympian, Lex Gillette (whom we have written about and interviewed here on BMX News in the past). Lex delivered the opener from the top-step of the awards podium, wearing the silver medal he won at the 2008 Beijing Games.

For those joining the program, already in progress, the three qualifying rounds are not called “motos” in Supercross parlance, but Quarterfinals for the women, and Eighthfinals for the men, run three times, just like…well…motos.

Team USA jumped out to an early show of dominance, as Brooke Crain and Amanda Carr took 1-2 in the first rack of the day. Amanda would win round two, and Brooke round three. Junior Elite champ Melinda McLeod of Australia was a consistent 3-3-3 in the qualifying rounds, and the ever-so-cute, ever-so-fast, Teagan O’Keefe from “SuthAfriga” made the move to the semis with Brooke and Amanda.

The crowd was stoked to see the next gate, cheering on first-time-SXer, Felicia Stancil of Team USA as she took the fight to long-time globetrotters Sara Walker of new Zealand and Magalie Pottier of France. There is no doubt that Felicia is going to be a big name on the Supercross circuit in coming years, and she led all three laps at one point or another. It was awesome to see the new talent right up on the old pros. Sarah suffered a big thump to the California clay, over the first set, in the very last practice gate of the day. She was down for a while, but obviously not too shaken, because she came to the gate ready to rock, come race time. Magalie ended up with two aces in rounds one and two, to Sarah’s double-deuces. Sarah took round three, and Felicia got in for the two-spot, with Magalie in the three.

Speaking of New-ish talent, Dani George of Team Supercross was looking very strong in Chula. She was double-F-FFast down the hill–the whole first straight, really, and led the W1 of Mariana Pajon first round to the second turn, where experience stepped in, and she hugged a tight inside line to pass Dani and take the round one win. Mariana came back to claim round two, but Dani took round three, with some challenge by Amanda Geving. Pajon got gummed up over the first set when Lauren Reynolds crashed next to her, giving the World Champ (and eventual Elite Woman Rider of the year) a fifth that trip. Geving and Nederlander, Laura Smulders would join Dani and Mariana in the Semis.

In the fourth rack, Arielle Martin was nestled up next to Aussie pal, Caroline Buchanan, who took the first round win. After that, it was all Airborne in the final two laps, with Caroline in the deuce. The rest of the field jumbled up a bit from round to round, but France’s Manon Valentino and Jana Horakova of the Czech Republic had their tickets punched to the semis.

Men, Men, Men, Men…Men, Men, Men, Men

Among the men, it was cool to see youngins Justin Posey, Austin Hiatt, and Jordan Miranda in the gate, having made it from the 140-rider Time Trial field into the “special-sixty-four.” And while none cracked the top six in their respective groups, they were in with the heaviest of the heavies, and that puts some rock-solid seasoning in the books for future outings. I’m feelin’ pretty confident we’ll be seeing all three names in a coming-soon-Semi, and beyond.

All eight racks had the same rider acing all three laps. First was Time Trial Superfinal winner, Connor Fields rockin the fresh new Team USA/Chase BMX jersey. Any hotter, and the Con-Man would have needed a full-discharge blast from the nearest fire extinguisher as part of his cool down routine.

Next was Aussie Brian Kirkham, then The Machine, Maris Strombergs. Fellow Latvian Edzus Treimanis was tops in rack five x3, and Redline Great-Northerner, Tory Nyhaug and household-name RL teammate Sam Willoughby were next with across-the-board wins. The final two groups were dominated by Elite Mens World Champ, Joris Daudet of France, and San Diego’s own Nic Long for Team USA.

Below the top-tire-at-the-stripe level, the men had some solid standouts, who could definitely be in the mix, come main time. Americans David Herman, Tyler Brown and Barry Nobles were all looking very strong on the day, Barry fighting back from a first-round superman over the triple into the first turn to get his SE double threes in the next two rounds to move on.

Dutchies Jelle van Gorkom, Raymon van der Biezen and Twan van Gendt were always right there to put the orange crush on any mistake by the comp, however small.

Deep into the third round, all hearts and minds were on the first straight as Donny Robinson, who Hypered-out to a half-a-wheel lead on the pack over the first set, came tumbling down just after the landing. Donny has had a bad stretch of injuries the past year or so, and the crowd held its collective breath, waiting for dR to get up. He did, thankfully. And while he had low enough points to qualify for the quarters. he sat it out. The good news is that we saw him tooling around later in the day, so all hopes are that he’s his happy and healthy self come ABA Grands time.

The Elite Men Semis would be the ones to watch, and re-watch, and re-watch on bmx-videos.com–specifically, the second one. More on that in a few.

WOW! And that was just the qualifying rounds.

Into the quarters for the men, David Herman had the holeshot in the first rack and led the pack to the middle of the third straight. That was when Connor Fields kicked in and sopped-up any lead the Hermanator had on him. Meanwhile, about 10 bikes back from David, Twan van Gendt and Carlos Oquendo of Colombia were cinching up their qualifying spots to the Semis.

Second rack had some pulse-quickening action, as Mike Day found himself in sixth, exiting turn one. Obviously, the Chula Vista track is as familiar to him as an well-worn pair of Nikes, and he made up some serious ground on the second straight, passing Robert de Wilde and Tyler Brown as they came into the berm jump. Strombergs had a solid lead with Tremanis and Frenchman Sylvain Andre in the two-three. Afro Bob, the elder statesman of SX, came close on the last straight, but Mikey closed fast and got the final transfer spot.

Next rack, Willoughby had it well in hand, but the battle would be for the balance. In the first turn, it was three-abreast for the two-spot between Josh Meyers, Tory Nyhaug and Barry Nobles. Down the second straight, Tory opened up a bit of a lead on Barry and Josh, with Sam still way-out-front. Weston Pope was in fifth as they hit the berm jump. Barry had serious momentum, and rocketed past Tory and Josh in turn two and it was three-wide down the third straight with Meyers, Nyhaug and Jelle van Gorkom going for the remaining two spots to the semi.

In the final rack pack, Kurt Pickard had an early lead down the first straight, but Nic Long, on the inside and at the top of his game all day, closed the gap with every pedal and backside. By the triple entering the first turn, Nic was in the lead, and Pickard was fading fast with Joris Daudet and Raymon van der Biezen breathing down his neck. Daudet stayed low into turn one, and came out in second, with Raymon right there, and Khalen Young moving up to replace Pickard for the four spot. And that’s how it finished.

Some say Semm-eyes and some say semm-ees.

Four gate drops would decide the Chula Vista “savvy sixteen,” and it was the gals gettin’ about it first.

The whole pack came off the ramp clean, but by the midpoint on the first straight, only four would be on two wheels (well, any wheels, really). Sarah Walker was down first, and out clean, but in the middle lanes, Felicia Stancil did a stiff-legged rotation thingy, reminiscent of Maris at the ABA Grands last year (which took him out for six months with a broken wrist). Slightly ahead of her, Amanda Carr, Aneta Hladakova and Magalie Pottier all crashed to the ground, and it was tough to know how that chain of events got started. Felicia, for her part, was thankfully back on her feet, and snorting with anger/disappointment and probably a sliver of gratitude for coming out of it in one piece. Hladakova and Pottier picked themselves up and finished out the lap. But Amanda Carr was still down…and it took a few minutes for the ace medical team to make sure she could move off the track with the help of her coaches, rather than a backboard…but she did. The pain of no main probably was as sharp as that of any body part.

The second semi roared down the ramp, with Arielle Martin on the chosen-outside. Dani George was snapping out of the inside lane, and seemed to get a little out of shape over the first set, costing her some valuable sliver-seconds. Caroline Buchanan and Arielle would battle for the lead as the pack edged toward turn one, but AMV15 had it in the bag as they passed the triple. Amanda Geving was in third and Dani was on the bubble. Mariana Pajon was in fifth at this point, but diving for one of her trademark inside swoops…which paid off big time, as she exited the turn in third, but gave Geving back the tre and settled back into the bubble spot…which is how it closed out at the stripe.

On the guy side, the first group was a nail-biter for Connor Fields fans. David Herman had command well in hand as the pack raced to turn one. The freeze-frame at that stage had it as Herman, Strombergs, Treimanis and a neck and neck dual between Fields and Sylvain Andre. Mike Day was back in fifth. Day dove for the mega inside in turn one, and came out in a three-abreast battle for second with Maris and Treimanis, with Connor joining them for a four-wide frenzy for the two-spot. By the berm jump, David was still long-gone in the lead, and the Con-Man creeped into second…so the final two transfer spots were going in hot and heavy between Maris, Day and Treimanis. HOLY COW!, as Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray was famous for saying! Day went high in turn two and did not emerge, so it was Herman, Fields, Strombergs and Treimanis racing down the third straight. Connor overtook David about midway down and the finish was locked at that point…Fields, Herman, Strombergs and Treimanis as half of the Chula Vista Elite Men Main Event.

The second semi had nuclear power on the pedals, as Sam Willoughby, Joris Daudet, Nic Long, Khalen Young, Raymon van der Biezen, Barry Nobles and Josh Meyers and Jelle van Gorkom all were on high alert for one of four spots to the main. At this level, every semi is really a main, and it can be any man’s race, but for a trim here and an extra pedal there. The pack came down clean, and on the backside of the first set, it was Raymon van der Biezen with a spoke nipple lead on Nic Long on the inside and KY on the outside. By the time all riders had gotten onto the backside of the first-turn-triple, it was Long, van der Biezen, van Gorkom, Young, Nobles, with Meyers on the waaay outside, looking for some daylight to do a dive-in, possibly. Willoughby and Daudet were camping out on the back 40 of the pack in seventh and eighth at this point. Out of turn one, van Gorkom carved the inside in a major way, and came out even with Nic, ultimately overtaking him down the second straight. At the tail end of the second straight, it was Jelle-don’t-call-me-jelly, Nic, vd Biezen and KY. Sam got a massive backside off the double heading into the berm jump, and moved from sixth to fourth by the time the pack came out of turn two. Down the third straight they came, as van Gorkom/Long (take your pick), Young and Willoughby. Daudet had moved through the pack as well, passing Barry midway down…and was in striking position of a main event slot as the last turn came into view. Joris was even with Sam, and on the inside, as Jelle took the pack into the third turn. Nic, KY and Sam were in chase, and Joris saw some daylight on the inside, which he took every bit of, and then some. That was when he, Khalen and Sam all went down, and Barry and Raymon steered clear to make it in.

Definitely some stompin and snortin on the parts of Aussies Willoughby and Young vis a vis Daudet. “Heat of the moment” stuff, according to KY in a post on Vintage, following the race.

I don’t hold grudges, or think what he did was dirty.

Things get heated in the middle of the battle.

I apologized for what I said, we shook hands and that was that.

Go Time – The Main Events

After a few more songs from On-Site musical guest, Faduca, 16 riders were climbing the mountain for two main events.

Ladies first, as is the custom. Today, it would be a full house; Americans full of Aussies, and of course Kiwi Sarah Walker, Colombian Mariana Pajon and the lovely and talented Teagan O’Keeffe (whose boyfriend, World Champ Joris Daudet, would be watching from the fenceline today, as previously noted). From the inside, the placement went Buchanan, Walker, Crain, O’Keeffe, McLeod, Pajon, Geving and Martin. Arielle chose the outside, because in the middle and inside, there can be all kinds of traffic, bar-bangin, people casing and other drama. The gate dropped, and it was on like Donkey Kong. At the frontside peak of the first jump, it was a packed group with, perhaps, Walker showing potential for a lead–WAY too early to tell, because 40 feet later, on the backside, it was Arielle’s front triangle that was leading the way. Into the first turn, AMV15 was firmly in command of this mission, with Caroline and Sarah stalking. That was the point when Brooke carved up the inside and put the mega-swoop on the Southern Hemisphere duo.

That was also the point at which you could see how much Brooke’s training is paying off in a major way. A year ago, it is doubtful she could have out-horsepowered Sarah Walker out of that first turn. Today, that was exactly how it went. Arielle and Brooke, on rails, down the second straight, and past the BMXNEWS.COM camera position (POP!- great shot!, below) Pajon was a bike and a half behind the Americans. That could have just as easily been the finish line, because the race stayed that way to the stripe.

Team USA had its first UCI BMX Supercross World Cup win for the Women in a long time, in the person of Arielle Martin. Sweetening the experience further, we grabbed the silver too, with Brooke Crain. The World Champ, Mariana Pajon, joined Team USA on the podium for her native Colombia. Pandemonium at the finish line, as media jockey for position, back of the packers still crossing the line, and the world spinning for the winner.

With the interviews and craziness at the finish line cooked off, it was time for the Men’s main event. Today’s gate was missing some heavy hitters, with Willers out of the race in practice with a jacked-up shoulder, and Willoughby and Daudet still cooling off from their tussle in turn three of the Semi…but still, this rack was stacked to the rafters. From the inside, we had Connor Fields, Jelle van Gorkom, David Herman, Nic Long, Edzus Treimanis, Raymon van der Biezen, Maris Strombergs and Barry Nobles. Half the spots occupied by Americans–another rarity.

The Bottom-of-the-hill holeshot belonged to Maris Strombergs, but Nic Long was milliseconds from the lead, as the pack hit the first jump. It was more or less a tie for third at that point, between Nobles and Fields. Over the second set in the first straight, it was neck and neck between Nic and Maris, and Connor was gaining ground, about up to Nic’s bottom bracket, and on the inside. In case you missed it in the last sentence, “and on the inside” is pivotal positioning for Connor’s day.

In a freeze frame we shot just as the race was entering turn one, we see Nic leading it, with Connor setting up an inside move that would write the day’s story. Farther back, in fourth and fifth, Dutch riders van Gorkom and van der Biezen are preparing to enter the turn as well. Herman is in sixth about eight bikes back from Nic’s leading edge. As we could see from a mile away, Connor made his swoop into the lead at that very moment–and not a moment too soon. Just then, van Gorkom’s front wheel broke loose as he was carving hard to get under Nic and Maris, who went wider.

As Redman put it later, Jelle took Nic and Maris down like a 7/10 split in a bowling frame (unintentionally, though it was). Connor said he heard a lot of crunching and crashing behind him, but steamed on, for all it was worth. He was clear of the carnage, and had the still-upright vd Biezen and Herman, seemingly stunned, riding after him. It wasn’t much of a race after that, with Connor crossing the line five seconds before Raymon and 10 seconds ahead of David. Our camera position was perfectly-placed in the first turn, and we captured both the pack all on two wheels entering the apex of the turn, and Connor streaking ahead, just as Nic and Maris were about to hit Jelle’s bike (above). Maris came over the backside of the turn, and took a minute or two to shake off what just happened, but he seemed OK physically.

And that, my friends, is the story of how Team USA captured four podium spots on home turf, in the final SX event of calendar 2011.

According to the UCI schedule posted on their site, the first SX of calendar 2012 will be back in Chula Vista (possibly on a new track??) March 30 and 31. If that sticks, it’s an odd placement, because the same schedule also has a UCI Class 4 race happening in Desoto, TX during the ABA Supernationals the same day.

Heading out of the venue, it was right around the time that the first round would have been over the year prior. The San Diego sun was setting over the Pacific, and the place was mostly cleared out. Three kids, who couldn’t have been older than six, were racing around on scooters, each swooping the other and making an “aaaarrrrroooom!” kind of sound as they did it. As the bigger kid kicked his machine into motion, he shouted “I’m Connor Fields…. aaaarrrrroooom!” and swooped under his buddies–just as Connor, himself had done to HIS buddies, about an hour earlier. A new Elite hero was created today.

Check out the Photo Gallery from the Chula Vista Supercross

Going for 2012 Olympic Gold? Well, Here It Is.

Olympic energy is in the air this week, as 165 of the best BMX Racers in the world descend on London town for the BMX Supercross “Test Event.” Think of it as a sort of dress rehearsal for the organizers, the track operations folks and some of the hyper-dedicated riders who will be bedding down in the Olympic Village, 354 days and a wakeup from today.

Recently, the London 2012 Organizing Committee released this specimen of the 2012 Gold Medal.
The medals were designed by British artist David Watkins, with the Gold repping the London 2012 logo. The Silver and Bronze medals depict Nike, the shoe goddess Greek Goddess of Victory, “stepping out of the Parthenon to arrive in the host city.”

The medals will be made at the headquarters of the Royal Mint in Wales, with the engravings on the rim for the sport and discipline, as well as the athletes’ name. Approximately 700 gold medals will be awarded in London.

The London medals are larger and thicker than at previous games. They weigh 375-400g, well over Beijing’s medals at 200g, and the Barcelona 1992 medals at 231g

In fact, the “formal suits” of the athletes had to be adjusted, with pockets made larger to accommodate the beefier hardware.

BMXNews.com is on “Olympic Watch” from now til the games, so keep an eye right here for ongoing coverage.

Interesting fact: the “gold” medal is actually only 1.34 percent gold. The balance is 92.5 percent silver, and 6.16% copper.

Daudet and Pajon W1n It!

BMX News is in the process of putting together a more proper story for today’s racing…and there is a lot to tell. But as we’re tickling the ivories of the apple wireless keyboard, we thought we’d pause to let you know that we have four new UCI BMX World Champions.

In Elite Men, it was Joris Daudet of France, who rode an incredible lap, and came back from fourth in the first turn, to pass Marc Willers in Turn Two for the lead, and ultimate win. Maris Strombergs, last year’s champ, was .483 second off Daudet’s pace and in for a second. It should be noted that Joris is having an incredible year, with an undefeated sweep of the 12 European rounds, French National Champion, and now the Rainbow jersey.

With Shanaze Reade out in the Semi due to some trouble coming down the hill (she got two strong cranks out of the gate, then pulled it up and coasted down), Mariana Pajon was virtually unchallenged for the win in the Elite Women’s Final. Sarah Walker was riding great today as well, but Mariana was a notch or two faster than all of them, and led the EM main wire to wire. Walker was .474/sec off the pace, and Magalie Pottier of France was in for the bronze. Americans Arielle Martin (5th) and Amanda Geving (7th) had good laps today, but were not in position to make any moves on Mariana in the main event. Still, Arielle will get something beyond birthday cake for today’s efforts (HBD AMV15!), she will get coveted USA Cycling “Power Ranking” points to jump her a few more squares toward the London 2012 team.

Junior Men had American Rusty Nesvig riding well all day, but he pulled the eject handle in the semi, and ended up watching Team USA teammate Lain Van Ogle as the sole American in the main. Alfredo Campo of Ecuador led the big lap pretty-much wire to wire, but had some heat from Antonin Dupire of France and Trent Woodcock of New Zealand. Woodcock was on Campos outside into turn one, and Dupire was hugging the inside, back in fourth (Darryn Goodwin of Australia was in third). At the top of the second straight, Dupire edged a tire in front of Campo, but the challenge was quickly knocked down, and the Yellow, Red and Blue of Ecuador stayed in the lead. Into turn two is when Woodcock laid down the technique to get past Dipire and into the silver slot. That’s how it ended up, with Woodcock mounting a last moment charge that might have put him on top, if the last straight were another 20 feet longer.

Speaking of split-second last-feet-of-the-race change-ups, Junior Women had a doozy. Brooke Crain turned the fastest lap in the time trials yesterday (first round), but Melinda McLeod of Australia was a tad faster in the Superfinal, and took the Friday Gold. Today, Brooke was riding solid all day, with a 1-2-1 in the qualifying rounds. She was going faster today too, beating yesterday’s time of 39.796, with a 39.484 in today’s first round.

Honestly, we thought the main battle would be between Brooke and Laura Smulders of the Netherlands, as Melinda came out of the qualifying rounds with a 2-1-4 and lap times that were laggin a bit (first round 40.538, third round 41.858). But the boosters were burning hot in the main. Brooke was first to the timing strip on the ramp (1.124 seconds), but Melinda was gone by the transition. Into the first turn it was firmly in the hands of McLeod and Crain, with Abbie Taylor of the UK giving chase. Brooke put the mega-move on Melinda in turn two, and came out ahead. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived lead, and McLeod took the top spot back as the pack raced down the third straight. The last turn had it McLeod, Crain, Taylor– but as the finishline cam rolled, the second and third spots were swapped. On our video of the race, it’s hard to tell whether Brooke stopped pedaling too soon, or Abbie just lunged a millimeter to the good side. But the bottom line was that GBR snatched the silver from USA by .002/sec. To put it in perspective, .002 is 16x shorter than the blink of an eye.

More content as it becomes available. Meanwhile, check out some of the links below:

Kristoffer West’s Early Saturday Photo Set

Elite Finals Photo (Kristoffer West)

Elite Podiums (Kristoffer West)

Discussion: Worlds thread on VintageBMX.com

Photo: Split/seconds after taking the lead with a turn two swoop on Marc Willers, Joris Daudet of France heads down the third straight, toward his third title of 2011–UCI BMX Elite Mens World Champion. Photo: Kristoffer West/BMX Copenhagen

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