Sooner Nationals Race Report & Photo Gallery

Filed under General on January 24, 2014 | Comment(s)

If Reno is now referred to as R1 (with a return to Reno [R2] in September), then this weekend shall be known as T1 - as we'll be returning for T2 on Thanksgiving weekend for the season finale. 
It's Tulsa-time for the 2nd stop on the USA BMX national series and inside the warm and toasty Ford Truck Arena is a sweet Sooner National track. This year's course was  built with the same Grands dirt that is used in November, and with a slight dog-legged second straight and a small roller located 31 feet out of the gate, the USA BMX crew has mixed things up for this weekend's competition. 
Meanwhile, outside the building, riders will get a whole new meaning to "cool down lap" when they exit the confines - as temps are in the crisp 20's to 30's. 

SATURDAY: New for 2014, the girls (think of them now as "Expert Girls" go in a different order - right before Expert Boys. It's a welcome change, and puts the top amateur boys and girls together as a highlight for the mains. Thus, we began our Saturday coverage with the youngest of the girls classes...

GIRLS AM: The first big pack of girls came along in 11 girls and it was a tight battle all the way to the first turn. ORP's Sinclair fought off her Haro-Promax rival for a big win. Next up in 12 girls, Staats' top gal held off the hard charging Redman-Rockstar rider of Jordie Scott to snag the victory. But probably the best girls race of the day came in 15-16, where Lexi Jones held off Windholz to catch an early points lead for 2014. 

17-20 girls saw Mika Shaw - in her new Doublecross colors, win it from wire-to-wire. Same story in the next round, as Ashley hill - now doin' it for CCH Racing, took her flourescent orange CCH bike to the winner's circle for the first time.

BOYS AM: The Vendetta crew - wearing their Saturday "purple" uniforms, was looking good all day. in 7x, Gage Cooers snapped hard and never looked back.
In 9x, it was J&R's Backen making a nice move on Redline rider Ronero, to grab the come-from-behind win. 
ORP's Wood had been on fire all day in 10x, but found himself in the unusual position of 2nd place in the main. He tried every move in the book, including a nice high/low attempt in the last turn, but would have to settle for the 2 spot on day one. 

13x saw Redman's Bryce Batten take the win by about half a straightaway. This kid is just THAT good. We suppose that's why he's earned his share of NAG No.1 plates - and we're betting there'll be plenty more added to his wall before he's done. 

With Crupi's Collin Whittington in the lead, Hyoper's Bubba Gonzalez had to do some manuevering to take things over. Once he did down the third straight, it was the Hyper's World Champ for the first place saver stamps. 

The race we'd all been waiting for - 17-18x, saw Pelham sliding out in turn two, while S-squared's Tyler Whitfield held off the charge of the Mullett-militia man, Andrew Townsend, to score the win. It was a bummer for Hunter, who was looking strong all day in his new Redline gear. 

19-27x was going to be a good one - and Doublecross' Ken Gustufson shot to the lead but had Jones and Sills chasing him down to the line.

The man in black - Johnny Cash? No, "TNT" Tim Kniep - all decked out as if he'd just gotten back from a funeral, took the holeshot in his final, but couldn't hold on to the lead - and Minnesota's Adam Welter, proudly sporting his new NAG No.1 plate, got by Kniep to get the win. 

As the crowd was packing up there pits in the stands, Blaze rider Jason Miller snagged the holeshot and held off Robinson and Doran Bradshaw to get the 1-spot. 

Doublecross' Grieve wins 41-45x by a hefty 3-bike lengths, and even rubbed it in by loftin' some jive over the last jump. It seemed that every time you looked on the track, there was a Doublecross rider flyin' out front - which makes sense, as the orange & black team is based out of Oklahoma. 

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

As always, Sunday's action always heats up as riders only have this last chance to make it happen. Proof positive of this theory was in the girls main events - particularly 15-16 girls and 17-20. 
First up came 15-16 girls - where it was a battle of S-squared riders. Arizona's Lexa Jones went head to toe with Answer~S-squared's Windholz. Jamie had the lead going in to turn two, but Lena - who won it on Saturday, swooped in low to make the pass - but suddently, the two elbow-to-elbow leaders locked bars and went fly in' thru the rhythm (without their bikes). Lexa was down for the count while Windholz got back up quickly and finished out her lap. This was action that nearly rivals the Elmore/Nesvig action in Florida last October! And we would bet that it probably won't end here.