Derby City Nationals race report

Filed under General on September 04, 2015 | Comment(s)

Tune in here throughout the weekend as this story progresses - and be sure to listen to it LIVE as it happens, at:  www.usabmx.com/webcast 

Compared to the past couple of years, weather-wise, 2015 was a welcomed relief to the previous rain-slicked national ...or, is it? This year with the temps in the 90's humidity was high and we could see by the semi's and mains who'd been drinking their liquids and staying cool.

PRO-MOTION

FRIDAY: Being that there was a big race in Argentina, with those precious Olympic points on the line, we knew it'd be ineteresting to see who really wants the USA BMX No.1 Pro title and who is comfortable with their current position in the Team USA Olympic standings. It wound up that 13 AA-pros and 10 ladies came to Louisville to score some much-needed points. On the surprise list, BMX imigrants Sam Willoughby, Joris Daudet and Maris Strombergs made the decision to stay stateside.

In the main for AA, Willoughby went a tad too early and decided to save his energy for Saturday. Meanwhile, up front, Joris Daudet blasted to the lead with the 2-time Olympic medalist hot in his tail. Try as he might, the Latvian could not catch the flyin' Frenchie. StayStrong's Tanner Sebesta rounded out the box.

AA PRO - Friday

• 1 JORIS DAUDET, CHASE BMX - FRANCE, via SO CAL
• 2 MARIS STROMBERGS, FREE AGENT - LATVIA via SO CAL
• 3 TANNER SEBESTA, STAYSTRONG/ORP RACEPARTS - TX
• 4 DONNY ROBINSON, SE RACING - CA
• 5 RILEY STAIR, FACTORY RIFT/TANGENT - CA
• 6 BRYCE HOCKING, IDOL HAND GLOVES - CA
• 7 NICHOLAS FOX - NEW ZEALAND
• 8 SAM WILLOUGHBY, REDLINE - CA

We'd have to say that the "Man of the Day" Award for Saturday would have to go to the fastest Track Operator in BMX. After getting a good start, TB-316 dodged a few bullets in the first turn and followed Sam and Joris to the stripe. It's been waaaay too long since GT's Tyler Brown has been in a main, let alone - on the podium. It was awesome to see. For Sam, his Saturday win was redemption for Friday night's bad start and rare 8th place.

Sunday, we found a few new faces in the AA main; including 

Without the likes of Alise, Brooke or Flyin' Felicia, any one of the Women Pros was about to win their very first Pro main. In earlier rounds, the Kortman sisters were looking super strong, and Hyper's Shealen Reno was predicted by many to take it all - but once the gate slammed for the 1-lap, no-crap final, it was Texan Kristen Bob with the power & speed to nab the Answer Holeshot award and then held on for the victory. Earlier this year in DeSoto, Bob had stood on her first box for the first time and we knew it was only a matter of time before she became a regular fixture on the customized, fold-up minature alloy podium.

WOMEN PRO - Friday

• 1 KRISTEN BOB, ALL-STAR
  /ROCKET FIZZ - TX
• 2 SHEALEN RENO, HYPER - TX
• 3 RACHEL JONES, DK BICYCLES - BRISBANE, QLD
• 4 KEELY KORTMAN - CA
• 5 SHAYONA GLYNN, PROFILE  - CA
• 6 BAYLIE KORTMAN - CA
• 7 SHELBY STACY, DAN'S COMP-TANGENT-BOX - CA
• 8 CARLEY YOUNG, RIDE LIKE A GIRL - FL

By the end of the weekend, we had a different winner of Ladies pro all three days. On Saturday, up until about an inch before the finishline, it looks as if Kristen Bob was going to make it 2-in-a-row, but Aussie gal Rachel Jones and her DK had a different idea. With some extra Aussie momentum down the rhythm-filled last straight, Jones nipped Bob at the line to steal away her win. It was such a close finish, it went to video to verify the score. "If I'd sneezed or even lunged a little, I would've kept it" said Bob the next day. 
On Day 3, Bob was out to redeem herself but a bad start got her squeezed like a tube of toothpaste before the first jump, leaving Hyper's Shealen Reno to nab the Answer Holeshot bucks. Reno had a solid lead, and Jones worked her magic again down the last straight to move in to the 2-apot but the track just wansn't long enough for her to nab the win away again.  

Speaking of first-timers - Speedco employee, designer and factory ace in Vet Pro, Derek Betcher, also scored his first win in his new class. After waiting years to be able to move in to the Vet ranks, Betcher has been working hard to break up the usual Vet trio of Pohlkamp,
Becerine and Colombo. This weekend, he mostly just had to contend with the PoleCat from Dan's Comp - and it was a tight race to the first turn. If you ask DB-44, he might tell you that the stiffness from his new carbon-fiber Speedco frame gave him the holeshot advantage over the former No.1 champ Pohlkamp. If you haven't seen the new carbon Speedco's yet, be sure to stop by the J&R pits if you're in Louisville. 

On the podium, you've gotta love Dr. J-Rich holding up - not an energy drink, but his new book, titled "It's All BS."  Judging by Betcher's new found motivation and drive, we suspect that DB44 might have read a few chapters. 

VET PRO - Friday

• 1 DEREK BETCHER, SPEEDCO - CA
• 2 DR. JASON RICHARDSON, GT - CA
• 3 MATT POHLKAMP, DANS COMP - CA
• 4 DOMINGOS LAMMOGLIA, JRBICYCLES.COM - FL
• 5 TIM DINGER, SUPERCROSSBMX.COM - NC
• 6 BRYAN MEYER, GT BIKES - FL
• 7 ANDRES RUEDA, ODI GRIPS ONYX HUBS - FL
• 8 BYRON PATTERSON, FACTORY PICKLE JUICE - TX

AM ACTION

For a Friday, there was plenty of excitement all day long, and the intensity built to a crescendo as the mains lined up. On the 24's, one of the highlight cruiser mains was 17-20, where the Minnesota monster - Taylor Riedemann took on the East Coast tsunami Christopher Fisher, in an all-out battle to the stripe. Fisher and his C-Yaa 24"er conquered Derby City on day one to score his first win of the weekend.

17-20 CRUISER

• 1 CHRISTOPHER FISHER, C-YAA FACTORY - MA
• 2 TAYLOR RIEDEMANN, PRODIGY - MN
• 3 MICHAEL BONESSI, HYPER BODY ARMOUR - NC
• 4 ALEX TUCKER - IL
• 5 TYLER NORDICK - MN
• 6 TAYLER FICHTNER - NY
• 7 CHRISTOPHER PETERIE, MEYBO USA - OK
• 8 JOHN SCALES-CONKLIN - KY

All of the Expert Boys mains were just as awesome as we expected, with wins being scored by the following. Some are the usual suspects, being odds-on favorites, while some were impressive shockers. Al of them, though - were awesome and entertaining to watch: 

9X - CANNON WOOD ~ DOUBLECROSS
10X - PABLO LOPEZ ~ ANSWER/RENNEN
11X - SAMUEL NICHOLS ~ DOUBLECROSS
12X - GAVIN FREEWALT ~ HARO/PROMAX
13X - SPENCER COLE ~ DANS COMP
14X - HUNTER BROWN ~ EXTREME
15X  - TRISTON JUDD ~ ALL-STAR
16X - BUBBA GONZALES ~ HYPER
17-18X -  CAMERON MOORE ~ HARO/PROMAX
19-27X - CALEB ALONZO ~ FAST SIGNS 

With the future of his almost 15-year career with Redline in question, cross country trucker Jason Carne$ is making the best of his final roadtrips in the soon-to-be-retired Redline rig. Earlier in the day, he pushed USA BXM's Shannon Gillette aside and mumbled something about going 6-for-6 this weekend. In fact, he even made  apact with his RL squad that if everybody went on an All-Win streak that dinner Sunday night would be at Ruth Chris' steakhouse. (But after Elite Men, Sam W's poor start ended that bet all too soon.) The point is - Carne$ is gettin' serious! In 41-45 cruiser, the Horny Toad took win #1. Then, in the next-to-final heat of the night - Carne$ snapped like an emo teeenager and blasted straight to the front of the pack, with FullTilt's Raul Gomez in code-3 pursuit, and TNT's Diaz holding off the rest of the pack in the 3-spot. 
So far, Carne$ is 2-for-6 ..and just maybe, he'll get to treat himself to a nice, juicy sirloin on his drive up to Washington for the Lumberjack nats. 

41-45 EXPERT 

• 1 JASON CARNES, REDLINE - TX
• 2 RAUL GOMEZ, FULL TILT BIKE CO - FL
• 3 CHRISTOPHER DIAZ, TNT BICYCLES - NJ
• 4 JEREMY THOMPSON, POWERS BIKE SHOP/HARO - NC
• 5 CHRIS KENNEDY, FLY RACING / HRP DESIGNS - LA
• 6 DREW MOTLEY, MORPHINE INDUSTRIES - FL
• 7 MITCH BINGHAM, KNUCKLEBUSTERS SPEED SHOP - TN
• 8 BRIAN HENDRIX, KNUCKLEBUSTERS SPEED SHOP - TN