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More news >> 2002 July - December
28/06 BMX Victoria On The Move
There was a time way back in Australia BMX history where BMX Victoria
were the leaders in Australian BMX racing. Many of Australia's most memorable
old school pros like Jamie Hales, Leigh Egan, Glenn Rawson and Glen Stephens
were all from Victoria and off the track the Victorian BMX Association
as it was then known were the model association for Australia.
This dominance faded both on and off the track, don't get me wrong the
Victorian's give great BMX, but there are other states out there that
are doing it better at the moment, look at NSW for example.
Well it's the intention of BMX Victoria to put themselves back on the
top of the heap. There has been an incentive started by BMX Victoria to
build up the Victorian tracks to a national standard, and there are a
lot of track modifications going on right now...and a lot of dirt being
shifted at tracks like South Eastern, Knox, Frankston and Eastfield just
to name a few.
I did get to check out Eastfield last weekend, which has changed since
the start of the year, there are huge jumps there at the moment, I think
they still need a bit of shaping otherwise I think we'll see even the
pros pumping over the jumps for the first two straights.
With events like the "Track Attack" week of racing and the rounds
of the DK national pro series BMX Victoria are really out to prove that
Victoria is the place to race right now.
Rumour has it that Victoria will be nominating a track for a future Australian
Championship event.
26/06 BMXRacers.com Racing Forums
It was announced today that BMXRacers.com forums have opened at http://www.bmxracers.com.
Here's a bit of the message that we got from the guys at BMXRacers.com..."The forums have been created to fill what I saw as a rather large hole in the online BMX community. No matter how much I searched, I couldn't find a set of forums dedicated to BMX racing. Sure, there are some great individual racing forums out there, but a complete set with different forums dedicated to different areas of BMX racing didn't exist until now. That's what the BMXRacers.com forums are for."
So if you like discussing BMX racing and meeting other BMXers from all over the world BMXRacers.com is for you check it out now.
20/06 Aussie Titles Videos Are On The Way
If
you have ordered a 2002 Australian Championships video you'll be happy
to know they are on their way to your front door as we speak.
If you still haven't ordered the video because you are waiting to see how it came out, we'll be doing a review of the video very soon.
In the mean time here are some details from Fifthwall, producers of the video.
Experience the culture, pain, thrills and spills of this year's BMX Nationals
on video. Including 4 camera coverage, replays, highlights and finish
line interviews with all 42 Class finals winners. Profiles of Elite riders
such as Madill, Kamakazi, Fenwick & Bailey make this video a must
see for all.
Order your copy NOW !
Package 1 $40 - Races and finals for 1 class, OR
Package 2 $60 - Races and finals for 1 class PLUS semi finals
& finals for Elite Men, Elite Ladies, Junior Elite Men, Junior Elite
Cruiser & Elite Cruiser.
Both packages include interviews, highlights, opening and closing
ceremonies.
Add $30 for 1 additional class then $25 for subsequent classes. e.g 3 classes in package 1 would cost $40+$30+$25= $95
Add $6.50 for postage and handling.
Place your order NOW on: (03) 6278 9917 or 0413 139 599 E-mail: martinduffy@iprimus.com.au
Payment can be made by cheque or money order to:
Martin Duffy
Fifth Wall Productions
71 Pedder St
Newtown
TAS 7008, Australia
19/06 Simon Anderson Off Mongoose
Simon Anderson, current dual Elite Victorian (AUS) State champion and
former Australian Amature champion, has left Mongoose Australia and will
be "going solo".
If history is anything to go by it won't be long before someone else picks
him up, as Simon get's older he's getting faster.
For more information about Simon check out his website at http://www.geocities.com/fattboy84/
18/06 BMXPros.com BMX Race Report
NBL Speedway Nationals East Moline, IL
The NBL Held round 6 of its 8 race series this past weekend. With
the NBL race series, a smaller schedule means less chances for the riders
to gain points towards the overall title, and Randy Stumpfhauser, who
currently sits 2nd overall in the chase, knew it. This weekend was time
for him to gain some more points and the stumpdog did just that with 2
days of incredible AA pro racing. Here is how Randy's weekend went.
Randy Stumpfhauser went into this weekends race just 20 some points out of the lead for the NBL pro title chase and wanted to gain more points. Well, he did just that, with 2 huge wins in AA pro. Stumpy had his work cut out for him with some windy conditions on Saturday, but came through with a win. Sunday was no different for him, as he once again showed all the Pros there how to win AA pro. Randy also raced Pro Open both days and placed 6th and 8th, but with 2 wins in AA what more can you ask for? Randy's next weekend to gain more points will be over the Fourth of July weekend in South Park, PA. Randy's sponsors include Huffy, Fox, Smith Eye Wear, IRC Tires, AC Components, Vans, Marwi Ti Spokes, Powerbar, Head Lock, Revenge, CTI 2, Champion Nutrition, and BMXpros.com.
ABA Great Salt Lake Nationals SLC, Utah
Another round of the ABA 2002 Pro tour took place this past weekend,
and along with gaining points towards the overall ABA pro title, it was
a TV weekend, giving each of the riders in the main event a lot of air
time to show off their stuff and their sponsors products. With the Fox
Sports TV show, BMX has once again been getting the spotlight it so rightly
deserves. With Riders as Jamie Staff and Wade Bootes always mentioning
BMX racing as a key to their success in the other disciplines that they
are succeeding in, BMX is getting more and more attention. Here is how
the Double A Marketing Pros finished up this weekend.
Jamie Staff once again showed the world of what he is capable of on a bike. 2 weeks ago it was on a track bike in Russia, this week it was on his BMX bike to a win in AA pro and Pro Open on Saturday and a 2nd in AA Pro on Sunday. Jamie has made the decision to go after the ABA title only this year, and it looks like it was a good decision. Jaime's Sponsors include Haro, Adidas, No Fear, Lee Pipes, O'Neal Helmets, Tangent, AC Components, Smith Eye Wear, Revenge, Champion Nutrition, Answer Forks, Shimano, Powerbar, Kicker, Bob's Stores, BMXpros.com, and Headlock.
Warwick Stevenson has been on a streak of great finished in the past, but this weekend, he steeped it up as he placed 3rd in AA Pro and 2nd in Pro Open on Saturday and 1st in AA pro on Sunday. Podge has a stronghold on the ABA points lead, as he is doing a great job defending his 2001 ABA #1 Pro Title. Warwick's sponsors include Diamondback, Oakley, Thor, ATI, FSA Headsets, Answer Forks, AC Components, Marwi, IRC, Ballistic, Dope, Vans, Revenge/Champion Nutrition, Ballistic, Head Lock, and BMXpros.com.
Double A Marketing proudly represent Thomas Allier, Wade Bootes, Christophe Leveque, Robert MacPherson, John Parker, Jaime Staff, Randy Stumpfhauser, and Warwick Stevenson. For more information on any of the riders or sponsorship opportunities, please visit DOUBLE A MARKETING / BMX PROS or e-mail PeteD@BMXpros.com
16/06 Aussie Pros Bonding in USA
We just recieved an email with some news from Grant Turner of Elite Cycle
Imports that he wanted to share with us, it's about the Australian Pros
at the Atlanta ABA national last weekend. This is how it goes;
"The SunRingle tent looked like an Australian hospitality tent. They
had Warwick Stevenson (Diamondback), Sean Dwight(SunRingle/SeanDwight.com),
Tony Harvey (S&M/TotalBMX), Luke Madill (Norco),Natarsha Williams
(Wooden Wheels) and even Kamikazi (Redline) hanging out in the tent. Kyle
Bennett (Nirve) and Ryan Birk (SunRingle) were the only Americans sitting
there all weekend. Apparently Ryan said it was fun and his Australian
slang is getting better."
15/06 BMXTrainer Press Release
GRANT WHITE TRAINED BMX ATHLETES DOMINATE AUSTRALIAN SHORES OVER LONG
WEEKEND!! .......AND KAMAKAZI AND WADE BOOTES REPRESENT IN THE USA AND
EUROPE!
Two annual presitgious BMX events were conducted in Australia over the
recent June long weekend.......and four Grant White trained athletes swept
the field in dominating their respective pro classes.
Darren Hawkins headed to Mt. Gambier, SA for the 4th and 5th rounds
of the Pacific Oceana World Cup Series. Darren showed all weekend long
that his 2002 UCI BMX World Championships preparation is on track, by
going through the entire weekend undeafeted in the Elite Men's class......becoming
the 2002 UCI Pacific Oceana World Cup Series Champion in the process!
Tanya Bailey headed to Mt. Gambier, SA also to join her team-mate
D.Hawkins in action. Tanya must have been inspired by Darren's performance
as she too cleaned house in the Elite Women's class both days! Write Tanya
down for five perfect wins in the 2002 Oceana Series.........Tanya will
now focus on her final worlds preparations before jetting off to Brazil
with the Australian Team at the end of July.
Brian Kirkham decided to travel across to Tamworth, NSW and compete
in the Australia V's New Zealand event. Seems the country lad has been
getting the hard work done in training........Brian dominated the A Pro
class in Tamworth and took the big win. Brian too is nearing his preparations
end for the 2002 UCI World BMX Championships, where he'll be out to see
if he can improve on his World #2 result from the 2001 Worlds in the 15
year boys class.
Melissa Mankowski also travelled down to Tamworth to test her legs
in the Aust V NZ event. Melissa clean sheeted the weekend in the Pro Womens
class, despite being hampered by a niggling injury over recent weeks.
Seems all has healed for Melissa now as she finalises preparation before
travelling to Brazil to defend her UCI World Championship crown.
KAMAKAZI raced his second weekend on US soil for 2002 in Atlanta,
GA and he seems to be settling in well to the intense US Pro circuit.
Kama rode strongly all weekend and ended in the AA mains both days at
the ABA event. Kama took out 5th on Saturday and then stepped things up
a little on Sunday taking the 2nd place position on the podium. Kama heads
to East Moline, IL this weekend with the Redline crew for the next stop
on the NBL Pro Circuit.
WADE BOOTES is now in full mountain bike swing, with two rounds
of the UCI World Cup 4-cross event having been completed. Wade scored
a 2nd place finish in the first round in Scotland a couple of weeks back,
and was on track to improve on this result at the second round over the
past weekend in Slovenia. However a tyre rolled out from underneath Wade
whilst in a comfortable main event qualifying position. As a result Wade's
weekend was abruptly brought to a close........the end result an 8th place
finish and a little rehab work to be done prior to upcoming NORBA rounds.
Wade's 2002 MTB season started with a bang a few weeks back as he won
the 2002 NORBA Dual Slalom Title - CONGRATULATIONS WADE!!!!
If you too would like to give yourself and unfair advantage over your
competition, whether you're an amateur or professional rider, then drop
Grant a line at gwhite@bmxtrainer.com
and get the wheels rolling (a lot faster than they already are)!
15/06 UCI BMX NEWS Track construction begins at
the CMC
The
work to build a BMX track at the World Cycling Center in Aigle, Switzerland
has begun. Under 10 hectic days, the NBL (National Bicycle League, USA)
Track Crew members, Tom Ritzenthaler and Shawn Williams will construct
the high-level BMX track right outside of the CMC (Centre Mondial du Cyclisme).
The track will be 350 meters long, including a "Pro-Section"
and with asphalt in the 5 turns along the track.
"Since the track will mainly be used as a training facility, we've
asked the guys to draw and construct a technical track that will be a
challenge even for the best riders in the world" says Johan Lindström,
UCI BMX Coordinator.
"The actual area where the track will be situated is a bit tight,
so we need to be extra creative with the design to make it work"
says Tom Ritzenthaler from the NBL.
"For BMX in general, I think it's very important to have this track
situated here at the World Cycling Center. The BMX discipline has been
a part of the UCI for several years, but it's good to have this track
keep promoting BMX for visiting cycling federations from all around the
world, continues Johan Lindström.
"I hope we stay lucky with the weather during these ten days, we're
going to busy 24/7 even without any rain," says Tom Ritz while he
jumps into the loader to start shaping the jumps on the first straight.
Check out the UCI website for further updates regarding the CMC BMX track:
www.uci.ch
11/06 Mt Gambier Day 3 Results
We weren't able to stay for the final day of racing at Mt Gambier, so
as promised we caught up with someone who did, Norco TM Julian Millis.
Here's what he had to say about the days racing;
"Racing on Monday was cool, the weather was the same as the previous
two days. Danny Galea was still injured. He tried to give it another shot
in the first Moto but just had no power. Peter Godsmart (Australia's 19+
Amature Champion) was the top qualifier with three firsts, he whooped
Mike Fenwick in one of his motos and looked impressive all day!! Not sure
of the final placings after Khalen but Darren Hawkins won and Khalen Young
got second, Fenwick crashed on his own in third in the first turn and
took down Peter Godsmart and a couple of others, Richard Barker might
have got third (I can't remember!)."
While it's not a definitive report you get the idea of how it went down
at the final day of competition at Mt Gambier, Hawkins on top of his game
while he prepares for the world championships late next month.
10/06 Mt Gambier Day 1 Results
Saturday: The Australian Country Championships
Saturday's racing was a seperate event from the South Australia Vs Victoria
challenge, with $500 plus payback for Pro class and $300 up for grabs
in the 30+ Cruiser class aptly named "Bruiser Cruiser".
I hadn't been to Mt Gambier since the nationals were held there about
10 years ago and the track had changed considerably...well most of it
had...the back straight is the same as I remembered it only mellowed out
by the 10 years of weathering. But overall the track was fast, quite fair
and a lot of fun, however the volcanic ash surface did get very slippery
in the wet. The Queen's Birthday long weekend is the opening weekend of
Australia's Snow Skiing season, so you'd have to be crazy not to expect
cold and wet conditions over the three days of racing, the sun certainly
was a welcomed sight between patchy rain showers.
There were 28 riders in the combined A and AA pro mens class, the riders
standing out in the motos were youngster Mike Fenwick, Junior Elite riders
Khalen Young, Richard Barker and the more experienced Victorian pros Danny
Galea and Simon Anderson.
In the semis Galea put the power down over the rolling double out of the
third corner and looped out, abruptly ending a near perfect motos run
with 1st, 1st, and 2nd place finishes and putting him out of the main
and injuring his leg.
In the final Fenwick got an awesome lead and looked to pull ahead with
every pedal down the first straight, Young got a shocker of a start and
was way back in the field. By the second corner Barker had made up a lot
of ground to set up a move on Fenwick and he pounced on the next corner.
In the meantime young had also made his way through the field and was
pulling in on the leaders. Once Barker had the lead it was almost as if
Fenwick just slowed right down and Young had also passed him.
I tried to keep an eye on the womens pro class but there was only one
gate and it was hard to keep track of all of their motos Emma Franklin
looked to have the upper hand on the class but Kerry Lee Lucas was all
over her.
The Bruiser Cruiser class had 2 full gates, Norco's TM Julian Millis,
BMXUltra.com's Shane Jenkins and Glenn Suridge would all have been in
the running for line honours, but Millis was forced to withdraw after
the first moto with a nagging ankle injury he had received the night before.
In the main Jenkins and Suridge quickly pounced to a handy lead and settled
for first and second where they finished.
This is the second time I have heard of the "Bruiser Cruiser"
class being run in Australia at a major even, and I hear there will be
more towards the end of the year. As the class starts to take shape I
think it would be great if they could change the name to something like
Veteran Pro Cruiser to make it a more marketable class for potential sponsors.
Either way the class is a lot of fun and I'm sure that even the guys that
made the consolation final would vouch for that.
All in all a great day of racing that was over and done with in no time.
Saturday Unofficial Results
Pro Men
1. Richard Barker (Free Agent)
2. Khalen Young (Norco)
3. Mike Fenwick (Specialized)
Pro Women
1. Emma Franklin
2. Kerry Lee Lucas (Redline)
Bruiser Cruiser (30+ Pro cruiser)
1. Shane Jenkins (BMXUltra.com)
2. Glenn Suridge
Day 2 Results
Sunday: Vic V's SA / UCI ranking race
There wasn't much change in the weather or the intensity of racing but
this time around there was more on the line for the Pro classes, it was
a UCI ranking race. No matter how you look at it it was a very confusing
way to run a UCI points race. There were 5 gates of pro men, and 1 of
the women. The points were determined by overall finishes, for example,
the highest ranking Senior Elite rider would get top points for his class
whether or not he won on the day...he just had to beat all the other senior
elite riders. To add to the confusion the prize money was broken down
to spread across the top 16 riders, last time I looked there was no rule
for a 16 rider pro purse...but it would surprise me if there's a rule
book that magically appears at the wave of the rule fairies wand to prove
me wrong. With a number of 14, 15 and 16 year olds in the class it would
be very difficult to determine who actually got the UCI points in the
end.
All that aside, Cassap riders Hawkins and Bailey had arrived overnight
to take their share of the points and the money. Darren Hawkins was on
a Free Agent, it must be the first time that I have seen him on a different
brand frame for about 5 years.
In the pro womens class Bailey seemed to have the upper hand on Lucas
and Franklin in every moto, and Lucas had turned the tables on the day
before and kept Franklin at bay.
In the pro mens class there we a number of riders making it look easy
in the motos, Darren Hawkins, Mike Fenwick, Khalen Young and Simon Anderson.
Youngster Ken Babbington was looking fast on the day too, while Danny
Galea had to retire for the day not having recovered from the crash the
day before. BMXUltra.com's own Shane Jenkins was looking at making the
semi until he hit a slippery patch in the first corner while clearly in
third ending his campaign.
The only real surprises in the semi was when Khalen was winning and dropped
it in the first corner...putting himself out of the running for the big
money but into the second final which he won easily.
In the main for the top 8 it was Hawkins all the way with Fenwick hot
on his tail until the second last corner where Fenwick tried to push Hawkins
up high, but Hawkins came back on the inside of the following corner and
took the win. That's where we hit the road and headed back to Melbourne,
we'll see if we can get some results from Monday's racing.
Sunday Unoffical Results
Pro Men
1. Darren Hawkins (Cassap)
2. Mike Fenwick (Specialized)
Pro Women
1. Tanya Bailey (Cassap)
2. Kerry Lee Lucas (Redline)
3. Emma Franklin
Photos and videos available soon.
07/06 Dean Beerens off Redline Victoria Team.
Redline Victoria are sad to announce the departure of Dean Beerens from
the team.
While on Redline Dean won many titles including winning the #1 title in his age class in Victoria 2 years in a row and also winning #1 Australia in the 17Boys class and the 17-18Cruiser class.
Dean has picked up a sponsorship deal with Specialized bicycles/Top Gear Cycles.
We here at Redline Victoria are sorry to see Dean go but wish him the best of luck in the future.
Redline Victoria's sponsors are: Total BMX, Odyssey, BMXUltra.com, DIRT
Designs and Dragon Optics.
06/06 Clayborn's Cro-Mo Euro Vision
If you have read our interview
with Clayborn Bicycles President Richard Bunt you would see that Clayborn
have a lot going on at the moment, including a revamped race team, website
(which is still not quite finished) and new frames.
Clayborn bicycles have informed us that there is a crome-moly race frame
on the way, and it will be featuring the european bottom bracket, which
is becoming popular in the BMX racing community.
Apparently all Clayborn bicycles frames will be made with a european bottom
bracket from now on.
The cro-mo prototype is expected to come together in about a month, we'll
keep you up to date with the latest news out of Clayborn.
If you'd like to find out more you can email Clayborn at clayborn1@aol.com.
05/06 REDLINE VICTORIA PRESS RELEASE.
Redline Victoria would like to welcome Dragon Optical as our
newest team co-sponsor.
Dragon offer high quality and extremely cool sunglasses and goggles…
if that's not enough to make you run out and buy some right now….
They block out 100% of all UV-A and UV-B light and are designed with front
loaded channels and shatter proof lenses.
The team will be seen burning up tracks all over Australia wearing Dragon
MX Goggles and looking cool off the track between motos wearing Dragons
very slick sunglasses.
Dragon products can be purchased at all major sunglasses shops or online
at the website.
Do yourself a favor and check out www.dragonoptical.com
now.
Dragon now joins Total BMX, Odyssey, BMXUltra.com and Dirt Designs as
Redline Victoria's co-sponsors.
04/06 Dirt Designs Page Updated
Australia's favourite BMX number plate manufacturer Dirt Designs have
updated their website.
If you are wondering what the number plates look like, Sean Dwight (Sun
Ringle) used Dirt plates in the 2000 and 2001 seasons, the BMXUltra.com
team, Redline Victoria and Tony Harvey (S&M) also use them.
Although Dirt's most popular product is their number plate they also make
numbers, t-shirts, stickers, basically they do the full range of screen
printing and also do custom work.
For full details check out the website at bmxultra.com/dirt.
03/06 Khalen Young (Norco) on the move
Current Australian
junior elite champion Khalen Young (Norco) has move to Melbourne to
be closer to the BMX racing/dirt jumping action on Australia's east coast.
Since back
flipping his way into the limelight at the 2001 Australian BMX championships
Khalen has spent time on the east coast but headed back to Western Australia
shortly after.
From what we hear this is more long term while Khalen gears up for the
UCI world championships to be held later next month in Brazil.
With Khalen moving up into the senior ranks next year, the pro class will
get that little bit more interesting.
01/06 Exclusive photos of Malaysia's new BMX track
Yes you heard it right, there is a new track in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
and we were sent exclusive photos of the track throughout the building
stages right up to completion with thanks to Steven Leong.
Because of the weather in KL the tracks surface was cemented, otherwise
it would continually be washed away in heavy rains. The cement was coloured
brown to make it look like real soil.
Cement tracks are not new to BMX, apparently the 1989 European Championships
were run on a cement track in Holland. And there was a track on the outer
suburbs of Melbourne called Spring Valley which had cement corners, which
surprisingly were much faster that dirt corners and far less slippery.
Apparently the 1st race will be around August, although the track is now
fully completed. The KL track will be the host of some of the fastest
races in the world, with probably the fastest possible surface for BMX
racing.
Click here to check out the photos.
30/05 UCI BMX NEWS June- 2002
UCI BMX News Mailing
To increase the information flow of BMX news for the world cycling
governing body - International Cyclist Union, this newsletter will be
send out on a regular basis to all affiliated federations, BMX contacts,
media and others. (Editor: what a novel idea!)
UCI World Continental Ranking database launched!
The UCI recently introduced a new calculation and points table for the
UCI BMX Rankings. The new ranking system allows each of the four BMX Continents
to have their own rankings. Each continent will have a minimum of 5 and
a maximum of 8 races counting for the world continental ranking. The 5
best results for the actual rider will count for rankings. The riders
will then carry their continental ranking points to the World Championships,
where the actual World Ranking will be decided.
Please visit: http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/rankings/2002/indexV.htm
to see the latest ranking!
In the North American Ranking, Kyle Bennett (USA) has dominated
the NBL Pro series and therefore also is on the top of the UCI Ranking
with a perfect score of 48 points. Greg Romero (USA) is the runner up
with 38 points. In the Women's ranking, Jamie Lilly (USA) is almost as
perfect, with 46 points. Michelle Cairns (USA) is in a close second with
44 points.
After just two races in the European Ranking, Lukas Tamme (CZE)
is on the top of the ranking with 22 points, followed by World No.3 Ivo
Lakucs (LAT).
In the Latin American ranking, Christian Gaete (CHI) is ranked
no. 1 after 5 races with 51 points. Fernando Gomes Silveira (BRA) is in
2nd position with 32 points. Joyce Moretti (BRA) on the top of the Women's
ranking, with Debora Simas (BRA) as runner up.
Michael Robinson (AUS) is on the top of the Oceania Ranking, with
Kamakazi (AUS) right behind in 2nd position. Tanya Bailey (AUS) has a
perfect score with 3 wins ahead of Ammie McPherson (AUS) in 2nd place.
2002 UCI BMX World Championships in Paulinia, Brazil.
General information and pre-registration forms has been send out to all
federations.
PRE-REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 15TH JUNE 2002
The deadline of pre-registration is 15th June 2002 (see Section III, paragraph
D.1. of the 2002 UCI BMX Rule Book). Entries reaching the UCI office after
the deadline of June 15 will not be accepted (see Section III, paragraph
D.3. of the 2002 UCI BMX Rule Book). Please note that all riders must
enter through their national organization. Please visit the UCI website
for general information regarding the 2002 UCI BMX World Championships.
http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/worlds_mondiale/worlds_2002/index.htm
28/05 Australia's Online BMX Community
BMX Australia have a website www.bmxaustralia.com.au and an additional
project that is called the BMX Community Website bmxa.actbmx.com.au.
It would make sense if it was all rolled into the one website, however
it's my understanding that BMX Australia are able to reduce costs by using
an external site to host their information.
I have an idea that would increase the effectiveness of the BMX Community.
BMX Australia and it's members alike depend on the BMX Community for communications
of entry forms, registration confirmations and other official BMX Australia
information, but to date I don't think the BMX Community is quite as popular
as it could be.
Increase the audience
You know what they say about two heads being better than one, well in
the world of the internet there are thousands of BMX websites and the
likelyhood of someone finding the information they want from a website
is slim. It's simple maths, to place the information across a handful
of sites would increase the prospective audience by atleast 5 times.
Increase readership
Have you ever tried to find information on the web but had to give up
because you couldn't find what you were looking for and thought it was
a waste of time? Distributing the information amongst a number of websites
would mean that people would find the information far more quickly and
easily, increasing readership.
Increase membership
One of the biggest problems at the moment is the marketing of the sport
to both the internal (current members) and external audience (potential
members). If riders can get hold of entry forms it makes sense that there
will be more entries at race meetings, and if more people find out about
the races there will also be more on lookers who are considering racing.
I think it would be important to the development of BMX in Australia to
at least trial distributing the information amongst major Australian sites.
28/05 Penrith Supernationals Winners
Round 4 of the DK Series was "one of the biggest races this year"
according to Danny Galea (Iron Horse). "The race was dominated by
Norco's Luke Madill, and the only person who could get near him was youngster
Mike Fenwick (Specialized)." While Danny's best finish was 5th in
the semi in the Monster X he was hapy with his results.
Here are the winners
AA Women - Cloe MacPherson (Norco)
A Men - Todd Williams
AA Men - Luke Madill (Norco)
Monster X - Luke Madill (Norco)
27/05 BMXPros.com Race Report
ABA Spring Nationals Sacramento, CA May 25-26
The ABA held round 11 of the 2002 Pro tour this past weekend in Sacramento,
CA. The ABA had its work cut out for themeless as they showed up to build
up the track and found the area where it was to be built was 2 feet under
water. After a full day of pumping out the wetness, the ABA did their
best job to build up a good track, but soft dirt and BMX racing don't
go well together, On Saturday the track was bumpy and soft, but by Sunday,
it was dry and fast. The track was filled with ruts and bumps, but it
made for a new challenge for the riders. Once again it was one of the
biggest races of the season, and the BMXPros.com riders were atop the
podium at the race end. Here is how the riders finished up.
Warwick Stevenson was once again on top of his game, as he was
in the top 3 of AA Pro both days, with a 3rd on Saturday and a huge win
on Sunday. On Saturday, Warwick came back to win Pro Open as well. Then
when racing was over, he went out and helped the ABA work on the track
and get it in tip top shape for Sunday. What a nice guy. Warwick's sponsors
include Diamondback, Oakley, Thor, ATI, FSA Headsets, Answer Helmets and
Forks, AC Components, Marwi, IRC, Ballistic, Dope, Vans, Revenge/Champion
Nutrition, Head Lock, and BMXpros.com.
Thomas Allier has been scorching the BMX tracks this season, and
a huge win in AA pro on Saturday at the Spring Nationals was just another
showing of his speed and skills. Thomas also placed 3rd in Pro Open on
Saturday. On Sunday, Thomas crashed in the first main and that held him
back to 6th overall, but once again showed his fans what they wanted to
see. Thomas sponsors include Giant, THE, Troy Lee Designs, IRC Tires,
Sun Ringle, Oakley, Champion Nutrition, Powerbar, Redsand Clothing, ODI,
Jan Sport, Lava Soap, WD-40, Powerbar, Hot Wheels, and BMXpros.com.
Jamie Staff was the king of 2nd this weekend, as he placed 2nd
in Pro Open both days as well as 2nd in AA pro on Sunday. Jamie has been
flying at the BMX track, as well as the velodrome, as he is off to Russia
next week for the next UCI Velodrome World Cup event for Team Great Britain.
This guy flys on all kinds of bikes. Jaime's Sponsors include Haro, Adidas,
No Fear, Lee Pipes, O'Neal Helmets, Tangent, AC Components, Smith Eye
Wear, Energy, Champion Nutrition, Answer Forks, Shimano, Powerbar, Kicker,
Bob's Stores, BMXpros.com, and Headlock.
Randy Stumpfhauser was once again flying in the pro mains as on
Saturday he placed 2nd in AA pro. Randy was in the lead in the Pro Cruiser
main, but a bad crash held him to 8th and gave him a very sore back. On
Sunday, Stumpy showed up and was in the Pro Cruiser main, where he placed
5th overall. Randy's sponsors include Huffy, Fox, Smith Eye Wear, IRC
Tires, AC Components, Vans, Marwi Ti Spokes, Powerbar, Control Tech, Head
Lock, Revenge, CTI 2, Champion Nutrition, and BMXpros.com.
Robert MacPherson made a great return after a long break due to
a shoulder injury from last season. Robert had actually raced 2 other
nations this year, but this was the first one he felt ready to mix it
up in AA. On Saturday, Robert was flying in the moto's, but a broken pedal
cost him a spot in the main. On Sunday, Big Mac was in the AA semi, but
just missed out of being in the main event. Robert was happy with his
performance and looks forward to Salt Lake City in 2 weeks. Roberts sponsors
include Free Agent, O'Neal, Oakley, Rush Brakes, Marwi Spokes, Bombshell,
Sun Ringle, THE, Head Lock, Kore, ODI, IRC, Vans, Powerbar and BMXpros.com.
ABA Spring Nationals Sacramento, CA -AA Pro Results
AA PRO - Saturday
1 Thomas Allier - Giant Bicycles
2 Randy Stumpfhauser - Huffy
3 Warwick Stevenson - Diamondback
4 Danny Nelson
5 Alexis Vergara
6 Bubba Harris
7 Darrin Mitchell
8 Christian Becerine
AA PRO - Sunday
1 Warwick Stevenson- Diamondback
2 Jamie Staff - Haro Lee Pipes
3 John Smart
4 Alexis Vergara
5 Darrin Mitchell
6 Thomas Allier
7 Christian Becerine
8 Danny Nelson
26/05 Gul/Jung Press Release - New Sponsor
ABA's #1 Pro Girl Alice Jung and AA Pro "Maniac" Mike Gul have
hooked up Vision Street Wear to be their official shoe sponsor. You did
read that correct, Vision Street Wear from the 80s and early 90s is back
and bigger then ever with some hot new shoes and styles. Be sure to check
out the Vision web site for the latest. Or you can just check out Alice
and Mike's feet!
Mike and Alice's current sponsors include: MudslingersBMX.com, Answer, Sean Dwight.com, Enigma Bicycles, Dope BMX Products, AC Components, Spred Clothing, Sun/Ringle, BMXmania.com.
Find out more about Mike and Alice at www.mikegul.com.
24/05 To My Critics
I get a little annoyed with emails stating that I don't do anything
for the sport but complain, here's my response...
BMXUltra.com started in 1996 when there was no way to find out about
Australian BMX on the net or otherwise. There was very little promotion
external to the sport and the number of riders were dwindling slowly.
While I was on the board of BMXVictoria I suggested that we start a website
to help promote BMX in Victoria, but the time I got the green light BMXUltra.com
had already started and I was maintaining the BMXVictoria website as well,
along with Damien Walczuk.
At about the same time I was president of the Northern Rivers Region and
the Puckapuyal BMX Club while also competing as a Pro.
In the past I have been know to say what I feel about the state and national
bodies and it appears that a couple of people take my comments personally,
but fail to read the true sentiment of the articles.
I'm not here to sit on my bum and just bag those who are running the sport
but I know that no one will tell them "I think you are doing this
or that wrong", and it's probably because no one even takes the time.
I personally take the time to talk to the people who are running the sport
to keep in touch with what is going on, and I also offer to help out where
ever possible none of you would even know that the current webmaster of
BMXVictoria's website (www.bmx.org.au) has been in hospital having operations
and I offered to help him out where I can.
The comments I make are to improve the sport. I have been racing since
1981 and sometimes it just gets annoying to see people make the same decisions
that were made only a few years before that didn't work.
So if I am so pationate about the sport why don't I get back on a committe
and make a difference there? I know that I can make more of a difference
running BMXUltra.com. Everyone from the dirt jumpers down the road to
the top US pros read it, including members of the Board of BMX Australia
and BMXVictoria.
Life isn't always rosey, people don't skip through fields of flowers holding
hands like in the movies. And if people don't stop to question what's
wrong with BMX then people will think it's fine that they get 150 riders
to a Track Attack race that about 10-15 years ago would have pulled about
800.
Where I offer critisim, I (most of the time) offer solutions and help
but I have never been taken up on it.
23/05 Exclusive Audio file from the 2002 Aussies
Video
Fifthwall (www.fifthwall.com.au),
the video production house who are putting together the 2002 Aussie Titles,
have sent us another exclusive. This time it's a 9
minute MP3 audio file which includes interviews with Kamakazi
(Redline), Luke Madill (Norco), Tanya Bailey (Cassap), Mike
Fenwick (Specialized) and others. The audio track starts off with
a bit of wocka-wocka music, I'm wondering if the crew do some adult videos
on the side and got the audio mixed up...any how the download is only
1.6Mb so it shouldn't take long. Click
here to download the file, it's worth a listen.
23/05 Redline Victoria race report.
Once again it was off to Lalor Park BMX Club for yet another round
of the War of the Stars series.
Adam Robb and Craig "Wally" Walczuk were there
to make the Teams presence felt.
Both Adam and Wally were in the 14+ Money class, which had 2 gates.
Both guys rode well through qualifying with Adam qualifying 3rd and Wally
qualifying 5th.
In the final Adam and Wally got good starts and at the end of the first
straight it was Adam 2nd and Wal sitting in 4th, Adam held 2nd till the
last corner when he was able to pass Simon Anderson and hold him off for
the win while Wally made a passing move on Shane Jenkins in the last turn
but became tangled with Shane enabling Ken Babbington to sneak past leaving
Wally to finish 5th.
Results:
1st- Adam Robb ( REDLINE )
2nd Simon Anderson ( MONGOOSE )
3rd Ken Babbington
4th Shane Jenkins ( BMXUltra.com )
5th Craig 'Wally' Walczuk ( REDLINE )
Team news
Well, we all know how Luke Pretlove unfortunately broke his
hand at Portland a few weeks back… It gets worse, Luke has to have
an operation on his hand to heal properly which will most likely take
place next week some time, this will put Luke out for around another 5
weeks.
We hope it goes well for Luke and look forward to seeing him back on his
bike soon.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and
BMXUltra.com
22/05 What's with BMX Australia? (part 1)
There have been a number of things bugging me about BMX Australia and
it's about time I get them off my chest. This is not a personal attack
on anyone but rather a critisism of a system that's desperatly in need
of review.
It all started at the national championships where at the check-in hut
you had to present your licence or pay a "licence replacement"
fee. When BMXA receives a licence renewal or application they produce
a licence and update their database. If this is the case then licences
could have been checked at the same time an entry form was processed.
At any given time BMXA can tell if a rider is licenced or not, so it would
appear on the surface that the replacement fee was nothing more than a
fund raising exercise. If it was a legit replacement fee then where's
my replacement licence nearly 2 months later?
21/05 Lalor Race Results
The Lalor BMX Club hosted round 5 of the War of the Stars regional series
on Sunday.
It was encouraging to see more riders than usual at Lalor and that the
War of the Stars series is well supported.
The track was pretty fast and quite smooth thanks to the club throwing
some new surface over it on Saturday.
The day started off cold but sunny, but it didn't take long for it to
cloud over and eventually rain.
There were 2 gates of the "14 & Over" Pro men class, in
the motos Ken Babington was doing well to qualify first on his home track.
BMXUltra.com's own Shane Jenkins qualified second at his first race since
injuring his ankles at the Nationals, Adam Robb was also flying and qualified
3rd and Simon Anderson was doing it comfortably in the motos he qualified
4th. Craig Walczuk, the oldest guy in the field, was also mixing it up
in the motos and qualified 5th.
When the gate dropped in the main Robb and Anderson were coming out fast
on the outside, Jenkins and Walczuk on the inside, but the first corner
they sorted in to positions, Anderson in front with Robb in Second and
Jenkins in third. As the approached the finish line Robb got himself in
front of Anderson, in the last corner Walczuk pulled a kamakazi undercut
on Jenkins and they both lost speed allowing Babington to slip into third
and that's how they crossed the line.
Pro Men
1. Adam Robb (Redline)
2. Simon Anderson (Mongoose)
3. Ken Babington
4. Shane Jenkins (BMXUltra.com)
5. Craig Walczuk (Redline)
6. Ricky Muller
7. Grant Carra
8. Anthony Gray
Pro Women
1. Emma Franklin
2. Jackie Babington
3. Kylie Gray
4. Christine Kelly
17/05 Problems With Aussie Pro Class (Part 2)
We received this email in response to an article we ran a couple of
days back about the Problems with Australia Pro Classes. We hope it helps
to prove there are problems with the system. Here's what was said...
I'm just replying to the news you had on your site about "Problems
with Pro Class in Australia".
I'll give you a little background of what is happening in WA at the moment
with that situation. At our state round races over here we also run the
A and AA class. We also get the same problem of getting more A pros then
AA pros. Well usually there is 2 or 3 gates of A pro and normally 2 maybe
3 (riders) of AA. Both classes are very competitive within each other.
The one thing I think is wrong is A pros having to earn $1500 before moving
up to AA pro. I'm not sure what it's like at your races but over here
a winning A pro rider will take home roughly $175 at a fairly big event.
That means a rider will have win about 8 of these events to move up. This
could take a year or it could take 2,3 or maybe 4 years.
Recently over here both A and AA pro have been entering open class and
riding against each other which benefits everyone. It has the make up
of a Pro Open class but isn't called pro open just simply Open Men. I
think this is something Victoria should look at as it seems to be working
well here. Another thing is maybe there should be some kind of invitational
upgrade, where as if an A pro rider is being highly competitive in Pro
open they receive and invite to race up in AA pro for one event to see
how they go. As it stands now if you enter into AA pro in one race you
must remain there. I think this could be making some A Pros think twice
about making the move even though they might be good enough.
...Well it's nice to think that riders would enter pro to win money and
an amature class for competition, but there is a problem right there...AA
riders or pro riders in general shouldn't have the choice to ride Pro
or Am classes, you are either one or the other. How fair is it on the
beginner rider who's trying to get into the sport to be swamped by 2 gates
of pro riders in an amature class? Not only will it scare the hell out
of them, it could make them think twice about entering an open event in
the future...and it is growth and the future of the sport we should be
thinking of in Australia.
17/05 More Official Aussies Video News and Exclusive
Pictures
Fifthwall (www.fifthwall.com.au),
the video production house who are putting the 2002 Australian Championships
video, have sent us some exclusive screen captures from the soon to be
released video. The pictures are quite large so you will need to be patient
while they download.Click
here to start a seperate window so you can continue browsing while
the snapshots page downloads.
If you'd like to check out the different video packages available while
you are waiting click here.
For further information about the videos contact Martin Duffy via email
on martinduffy@iprimus.com.au
or phone on (03) 6278 9917 (for international callers the international
number is +61 3 6278 9917).
Don't forget to tell them that BMXUltra.com sent you.
Martin ensures us that while the video has taken a little bit longer to
compile than he first thought it's no too far away now.
16/05 BMXPros.com BMX Race Report
ABA Super Nationals DeSoto, TX May 11-12
The ABA held round 10 of the 2002 Pro tour this past weekend in DeSoto,
Texas. DeSoto is one of the nicest BMX facilities around, and what better
setting for the 3rd ABA Pro Race to be filmed for the TV. The TV Air Dates
are: June 3 @ 4:30 PM, June 17 @ 4:30 PM, and July 1 @ 4:30 PM On Fox
Sports. With a huge Pro turnout, this was one of the best ABA races of
the season, and once again it was the Double A Marketing riders standing
on the podium once the weekend was over. Here is how the riders finished
up.
Randy Stumpfhauser had yet another great weekend of Racing, this time in the ABA. Randy was in the AA Pro main and Pro Cruiser main events both days. On Saturday, it was a first in Pro Cruiser and a 3rd in AA pro. On the TV race day, Sunday, Stumpy stepped it up in AA and finished 2nd overall. In Pro Cruiser, he had some bad luck, but still pulled off a 5th. Randy seems to be in the best racing shape of his career and looks to add some more Pro titles this season. Randy's sponsors include Huffy, Fox, Smith Eye Wear, IRC Tires, AC Components, Vans, Marwi Ti Spokes, Powerbar, Control Tech, Head Lock, Revenge, CTI 2, Champion Nutrition, and BMXpros.com.
Warwick Stevenson also had another great weekend of Racing, Warwick was in AA and Pro Open both days and on Saturday he placed 2nd in AA, barley missing the win. He came back with a vengeance in Pro Open with a huge win. On Sunday, Podge was at it again, this time taking a 3rd in AA and a crash held him to 8th overall in Open. Warwick was actually knocked out in a crash and still posted up an impressive result in AA. Is this kid for real? Warwick's sponsors include Diamondback, Oakley, Thor, ATI, FSA Headsets, Answer, AC Components, Marwi, IRC, Ballistic, Dope, Vans, Revenge/Champion Nutrition, Ballistic, Head Lock, and BMXpros.com.
Jamie Staff has been turning heads all over the cycling community
lately, and this time it was at the BMX track. Jamie started things off
with a 3rd in Pro Open on Saturday, and then turned it up for the TV show,
as he was in Both the AA and Pro Open main events. Jamie dusted the class
in the Open with an impressive win and finished a brilliant 4th place
overall in AA. Jaime's Sponsors include Haro, Adidas, No Fear, Lee Pipes,
O'Neal Helmets, Tangent, AC Components, Smith Eye Wear, Revenge, Champion
Nutrition, Answer Forks, Shimano, Powerbar, Kicker, Bob's Stores, BMXpros.com,
and Headlock.
ABA Super Nationals DeSoto, Texas -AA Pro Results
AA PRO - Saturday
1 DANNY NELSON
2 WARWICK STEVENSON, DIAMONDBACK BIKES
3 RANDY STUMPFHAUSER, HUFFY BIKES
4 DALE HOLMES
5 JOHN PURSE
6 ROBERT DE WILDE
7 GREG ROMERO
8 LEVI-OVE NORDMARK
AA PRO - Sunday
1 DANNY NELSON
2 RANDY STUMPFHAUSER, HUFFY BIKES
3 WARWICK STEVENSON, DIAMONDBACK BIKES
4 JAMIE STAFF, HARO LEE PIPES
5 JASON DONNELL
6 DALE HOLMES
7 NEAL WOOD
8 GREG ROMERO
Double A Marketing proudly represents Thomas Allier, Wade Bootes, Christophe Leveque, Robert MacPherson, John Parker, Jamie Staff, Warwick Stevenson, and Randy Stumpfhauser. For more information please visit Bmxpros.com or e mail PeteD@BMXpros.com For More info on BMX racing, Check out ABABMX.com and NBL.org
15/05 NSW Supernats and Pre-titles Entry forms.
It's funny...while most other states in Australia back their racing
off to regional events during the colder months NSW just seem to keep
it going...you could assume that it's one of the reasons the NSW riders
are so competitive.
Anyway...here's what they have coming up in the next few weeks (click
the links for entry forms):
May 26th the 2002 DK Super Nationals at the Penrith track with a $5333
prize pool, check the
entry form for full details.
June 2nd the 2002 NSW Pre-titles are being held at the Liverpool track
with a $1000 prize pool, check
the entry form for full details.
15/05 Redline Victoria race report.
This week the team were off to the Bendigo BMX club for a round of
the Northern Rivers series.
Only 2 of our riders were able to make it due to the Mothers day festivities,
Shaun Craven and Adam Robb.
Shaun had a good day racing against the 15 boys and really giving them
a hard time, in the final he was off to a bad start but stuck with the
pack down the first straight. Through the first turn Shaun managed to
get himself into 3rd position and set him self up to take 2nd on the second
straight, by this time the leader was already too far in front for Shaun
to catch up. He finished 2nd, and 2nd in the 15-16 cruiser class for the
day. My apologies go to Shaun, last week I said that Shaun is 13 when
in fact he is still only 12.
Adam Robb raced in the 14+ Money class and arrived late so he was
unable to have any gate practice in the morning so the first race up was
a lot of fun. Adam managed to qualify 4th for the final. He came from
lane 8 and got a good start and was able to get into 3rd spot around the
first turn, coming down the second straight Adam was past Ken Babbington
on the inside and started to hunt down Brock Tuckerman, Brock held him
off to finish 1st with Adam 2nd.
Next week we are off to the Lalor Park Bmx club for another round of War
of the Stars.
Redline Victoria’s sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs
and BMXUltra.com
14/05 Dale Holmes to miss the UCI World Championships
Britian's BMX racing superstar Dale Holmes, the reigning UCI Elite
Men's World champion, will miss the World Championship in Brazil in late
July and the opportunity to defend his title.
Dale tell's us that it's due to the fact he doesn't currently have the
backing from a major sponsor and the English BMX federation are only sending
a junior team this year.
His fellow countrymen Neal Woods (S&M) and 2001 NBL champion Jamie
Staff (Haro) have also said they won't be travelling to the World championships
this year.
It will be interesting to see who else will be missing out on one of the
international calendars biggest race events.
Tomorrow Dale will be heading back to England for a month to do some BMX
and mountain bike races.
Check out his website for the latest in Pro gossip at www.DaleHolmes.com.
14/05 Problems With Aussie Pro Class
I started racing in 1981 at the boom of BMX in Australia, since then there
have been many different forms of Pro class, all of which were scrapped.
The most recent being a "new" set of rules enforced only since
late last year/early this year, and to put it in plain english the rules
just don't work.
Just so you understand the basics there are two levels of Pro class. There's
A pro, which is the entry level pro class, one step up from Amature classes,
and when you earn $1,500 in A Pro you step up into the AA Pro class -
the main event. There are quite a few AA pros in Australia but many of
them reside in either NSW or Queensland, so it would make sense that the
classes are working fine there because they have the number of riders
required to support it, but what about the other states in Australia?
I can only speak for Victoria, but this is what's happening down here.
At a regular race meeting you might get a handful of AA Pro riders and
around 2 or 3 gates of A Pro. The AA Pros ride against the same guys week
in week out and every now and then a new rider steps up into the class.
The A Pro class seems far more competitive as there are a bunch of guys
battling it out for the bigger share of the measly prize pools.
It would be natural to think that eventually things will sort themselves
out and more riders will progress to the AA Pro class. The theory is that
this would eventually lead to a healthy class with mains, but this will
take time, a lot of time. By then the clubs would be sick of putting up
big money for a handful of riders and stop putting up any prize pool at
all. I think it has become obvious that this system just simply doesn't
work for everyone.
I am all for A and AA pro classes, but in the case where there aren't
enough riders for the "Main Event" sponsors aren't getting value
for their money and riders just aren't getting the competition they need
to remain competitive at a national level.
Has the Pro Open class been completely over looked? What is wrong with
an overriding rule that combines the pro classes when the number of riders
for one of the classes are too small. This can only make it better for
everyone, the riders, spectators and sponsors? Heck why not pay the top
8 the AA Pool and the next 8 the A pool.
Now if this isn't complicated enough there are additional options in the
rule book for other variations of Pro classes; the 14 and over money class
and the UCI elite classes.
In the future I think it will be smart to discuss rule changes and consider
their impacts before implementing them.
If we run by UCI rules in Australia at the National and State levels,
then shouldn't we continue to use UCI rules all the time? Stop the confusion,
let's just keep it simple.
12/05 Aussie girls coaching clinic
A successful Girls Coaching Clinic was held in South Australia on
Saturday 27th April at the Happy Valley BMX Track. In total 16 girls attended
this clinic ranging from 4 years of age to 14 years of age. This was a
great turn out considering there is not many girls that race BMX in South
Australia. Eden Cooper who is only four years old travelled all the way
from Roxby Downs to attend. Apart from the regular faces seen at previous
girls coaching clinics it was also great to see some new faces attend
and these were Zoe, Ashleigh and Taylor from the Happy Valley BMX Club.
Participants received one on one coaching in a variety of areas from some
of the State’s leading female riders.
The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all involved and there are plans to
run more of these coaching days in the future.
Thanks to the senior female riders who were coaches for the day
Leonie Watson, Renee Junga, Sally Thomas, Sharon Watson, Laura Davies
and Mardi Katakasi. Thanks also to the Happy Valley BMX for lending us
their facilities and to Val Watson, Wendy Thomas and Greg Oberti for helping
out with gate starts, making lunch and organising equipment.
At the end of the day all girls received a goodie bag full of lots of
surprises. A big special thanks goes out to all the people who donated
goods for the bags and these people are: Chick Magazine, Supercycle, Trik
Racing, Redline, Specialized, Cassap, BMXUltra.com, Black Panther Security,
Boss Automotive, Sic Chics of BMX, Sunsmart,
Smart Choice, Anti-Cancer Foundation, Hamilton Sunscreen, Transport SA.
12/05 Gul/Jung Press Release
AA Pro "Maniac" Mike Gul and ABA Number 1 Pro Girl Alice Jung
have parted ways with long time bicycle sponsor Hyper. The duo felt it
was time to move on and have left under good terms with Hyper. Both Mike
and Alice will now be riding custom USA made Enigma frames as their bike
of choice. Their frames are made out of all Easton tubing, feature Euro
bottom brackets, flared and butted tubing, and the frame weighs in at
only 3.5 pounds for a Pro XL! All other info on their frames has been
undisclosed. You can check out Mikes bike on his web site www.mikegul.com
Enigma also makes custom frames for anyone looking for a frame to fit
their exact needs. If interested call Enigma Bicycles at (480) 969-1332
All other sponsors will remain the same for Mike and Alice and they include;
MudslingersBMX.com, Answer, Enigma, Dope BMX Products, Spred Clothing,
AC Components, Sun/Ringle, BMXmania.com, Dragon, True Precision, Marwi,
SDG, ODI, S&M, Exclusive One, Atom Lab
09/05 Shopping for a new cruiser.
At the '98 UCI World Championships in Melbourne I bought a cruiser
frame from Todd Lyons. It was Huffy,
custom made for him, which was a bit weird because he's 5'7" and
I'm around the 6'2" mark. Anyway the GT Speed Series I was riding
at the time was short...way short...and the bottom bracket was way too
high, it worked out that the Huffy cruiser was a longer frame and a low
bottom bracket.
The Lyons cruiser was a sweet ride and it lasted a good 4 years, even
after the Wildman was done with it. A couple of days before the Nationals
this year I was giving it a clean and found a crack...no big deal, racing
frames don't last forever, but I knew it would last one more race so I
didn't tell anyone. It was about time to look for a new frame.
After I returned from Tassie, the land of "road kill", I was
on the internet researching a bike that would be long enough. Something
that had a minimum top tube length of 22 inches...which pretty much rules
out all the major manufacturers.
I started to look at the smaller manufacturers...those that say "Made
in USA" and there are a few of them that do a 22+inch top tube frame.
After refining my search I was down to 3 manufacturers, so emailed them
all asking about prices and other information.
The only manufacturer to reply in the first week was Clayborn and it was
over night, so right away I was getting the information I was after from
them. Then one of the other 2 replied, when I asked them more questions
there was nothing even until now a month or so later. I will keep their
names to myself because the point of the story isn't to get anyone off-side...but
to hopefully help you save some time if you're searching for a new ride.
Anyway, given the response...or lack of...it looks like I'll be getting
a Clayborn frame in the near future. Which is cool with me, because if
you were reading BMXUltra.com back in 2000, when we did our USA road trip,
you will remember how impressed we were with the frames.
Since we had completed our research the Clayborn website had been pulled
off the air...temporarily. We have been told that very soon now there
will be a revamped version going up, so keep an eye out for that. In the
mean time if you want to contact Clayborn you can email them at clayborn1@aol.com.
Tell them that BMXUltra.com sent you.
07/05 Redline Victoria race report.
Sunday turned out to be a great day with the sun shining and the Knox
BMX track was looking fast for the 3rd round of the Metro Plate series.
Shaun Craven, Kylie Gray, Dean Beerans, Adam Robb and Craig "Wally"
Walczuk were on hand to put their Redline bikes through their paces.
Shaun Craven was riding up a couple of classes in the 15 boys,
he showed why he had # 1 on his plate by transferring to the final with
no worries at all. In the final Shaun showed most of the older guys how
it is done by jumping the big doubles in the first straight and finishing
3rd. He finished 8th in cruiser after and casing the Doubles this time
around. Not bad for a guy who has only just turned 13.
Kylie Gray continued to give the AA Ladies a hard time racing
with only one gate of riders making up the class.
Kylie did well all day picking up 3rd place in the end.
Dean Beerans and Adam Robb also had only one gate in their
class, the AA men, so they had to ride hard all day. Adam finished 3rd
with Dean finishing 4th.
Craig "Wally" Walczuk rode well all day and transferred
to the final of the 19+ men with no dramas. When the gate dropped it was
all Wally down the first straight and with his big ET over the big doubles
no one was going to catch him, he held on to it all the way to the line
finishing 1st for the day.
Other news around the camp.
Last week Kylie Gray and her older brother Anthony were lucky enough to
be there local Sports Star of the week, congratulations to both Kylie
and Anthony on that achievement.
Last weekend Dean Beerans attended the Mountain Bike School Boy Championships
at Thredbo and competed in the Quad eliminator, while equal in the lead
of the final with a fellow bmxer Dean’s front wheel lost traction
and he ran straight into the other rider putting them both in the dirt.
After picking up the rest of his bike Dean and his fellow rider walked
across the finish line together to finish equal 3rd. Not too bad for a
beginner…
Redline Victoria’s sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and BMXUltra.com
07/05 Double A Marketing BMX Race Report
NBL Left Coast and ABA New England Nationals May 4-5
The first weekend in May was a busy one for BMX racers. With 2 huge
BMX races going on, it was time for all the riders to pack their bikes
and head in different directions around the country. The NBL held its
Left Coast Nationals in Prunedale, CA, just outside of Monterey. One of
the NBL's best west coast tracks attracted a lot of the Pros. The ABA
Held its New England Nationals in Westfield, Massachusetts and did a lot
of promoting, as well as adding some cash to the Pro purses to get the
riders to travel. It worked, as the ABA race had a great slice of today's
top AA pros, as well as a large amateur turnout. In either place, the
Double A Marketing Pros were unbeatable in AA, as they scored all the
wins. Here is how the riders finished up:
Randy Stumpfhauser has been having a great season in the NBL, but this weekends race may have just been the best weekend Randy has had at a BMX National in his entire career, other than taking home both #1 Pro titles last year in the Cruiser class. Stumpy was just flat out fast as he was the winner of AA Pro both days as well as winning Pro Open on Saturday. Randy has been training hard, and its showing, as he sits near the top of the NBL's Pro points title chase. Randy's sponsors include Huffy, Fox, Smith Eye Wear, IRC Tires, AC Components, Vans, Marwi Ti Spokes, Powerbar, Head Lock, Revenge, CTI 2, Champion Nutrition, and BMXpros.com.
Thomas Allier has been training a lot as well, being able to focus a lot more on BMX this season, after getting used to his new role as a father. Thomas blazed in for 2 second place finishes in AA this weekend. Look for Thomas to battel it out for his old NBL #1 Pro plate he lost last year to Jamie Staff come NBL seasons end. Thomas' sponsors include Giant, THE, Oakley, Sun Ringle, Marwi Spokes, Headlock, Revenge, Champion Nutrition, WD-40, Hot Wheels, IRC Tires, ACS Claws, Jan Sport, Lava, Toolshed, Powerbar, Troy Lee Designs, and BMXpros.com.
Meanwhile, The ABA Held stop number 9 for the Pros in Massachusetts at the ABA New England Nationals, The Double A Marketing riders once again cleaned up all the victories in AA Pro. Here are how the guys finished up in the main events.
Warwick Stevenson kept his winning streak of ABA AA mains alive with 2 more wins this weekend. The ABA's current #1 Pro not only won the AA main both days, but took a lot of his free time to sign autographs, give advise, and hang out with many riders new to the sport of BMX. That the sign of one of the greatest riders doing the most for the sport he loves! Warwick's sponsors include Diamondback, Oakley, Thor, ATI, FSA Headsets, Answer, AC Components, Marwi, IRC, Ballistic, Dope, Vans, Revenge/Champion Nutrition, Ballistic, Head Lock, and BMXpros.com.
Jamie Staff showed that all his time in the velodrome has paid off as he was in all 4 pro mains this weekend. On Saturday, one bad lap cost him dearly in AA as he finished up a very respectful 4th overall. On Sunday it was one better with a 3rd in AA, as well as placing 2nd both days in Open. Jamie heads off to DeSoto, Texas this weekend, along with Warwick and the rest of the guys for the ABA Super Nationals, one of the ABA's televised events. Jaime's Sponsors include Haro, Adidas, No Fear, Lee Pipes, O'Neal Helmets, Tangent, AC Components, Smith Eye Wear, Revenge, Champion Nutrition, Answer Forks, Shimano, Powerbar, Kicker, Bob's Stores, BMXpros.com, and Headlock.
Double A Marketing proudly represents Thomas Allier, Wade Bootes, Christophe
Leveque, Robert MacPherson, John Parker, Jamie Staff, Warwick Stevenson,
and Randy Stumpfhauser.
For more information on any of the riders, please visit Bmxpros.com
or e-mail any questions about sponsorship to PeteD@BMXpros.com
06/05 Download the Aussies Elite Finals videos
It's about a month since the Australian nationals, but we thought it's
not too late to put up the Mens Elite class finals on our site for download.
(Both the files are 4Mb, mpg formatted moves.)
Watch as Kahlen Young
(Norco) blows away the Jnr Elite class and Luke
Madill (Norco) takes the win in the Senior Elite class ahead of strong
competition from Michael Robinson (DK), Kamakazi (Redline) and the likes.
The footage was taken by a friend while I was taking photos...it's not
the greatest, but you'll get to see about 99% of the action.
If you want to see all the action, and all classes, there is a professional
video available for sale, click here to find out more.
02/05 Dope BMX Products News
Dope BMX Products is changing names, well kind of. Dope is switching
their Number Plate and Pad set line to new name, Static X. The new plates
and pads are already done and look sweet.
And if that wasn't enough how about this. Are you currently getting paid
to run the number plate that's on your bike? If not, then read on. Static
is going to pay you! At select races (full race schedule to be released
shortly) if you get top 3 in any of the following; AA Pro, A Pro, Pro
Cruiser, Girl Pro, or Vet Pro you will make some extra cash from Static.
The breakdown goes as follows; 1st= $250 2nd=$125 3rd=$75 And you can
pick up a number plate from Static/Dope at each of those races. So if
your looking to make some extra money or if just want to run a "dope"
looking number plate, check out Static
X.
01/05 More information on Australian Championships
Video
Last
week we told you where you how you could get your hands on the Australian
Championships video, well this week we have a bunch of new information
including the prices.
Package 1:
- 1 class including all motos and finals for that class
- Highlights package
- Interviews with elite riders
- Opening ceremony
$AUS40 (approximately $US20)
Package 2:
- 1 class all motos and all finals for all classes
- Highlights package
- Interviews with elite riders
- Opening ceremony
$AUS60 (approximately $US30)
For further information about the videos contact Martin Duffy
via email on martinduffy@iprimus.com.au
or phone on (03) 6278 9917 (for international callers the international
number is +61 3 6278 9917).
Don't forget to tell them that BMXUltra.com sent you.
01/05 Redline Victoria race report
There were 2 rounds of the Victorian War of the Stars series run over
the weekend. Saturday was at the Portland BMX track, and Sunday at the
Warrnambool BMX track, host track of last years state championships.
Only 3 of the team riders made the journey down the West Coast of Victoria;
Adam Robb, Luke Pretlove and Craig "Wally" Walczuk.
Saturday was a great day for racing with awesome weather and quite a
few riders attending. In the Pro class there was only one gate, 3 of them
being team Redline riders.
It was the first day that the team were wearing the new Redline race pants,
and it was just a matter time before Wally had a chance to christen them.
The track didn't have any big jumps to crash on, so Wally decided
to put himself over the last corner in the 1st moto. With the christening
over Wally stayed on the bike for the rest of the day to finish a strong
3rd.
Adam came through with 2nd for the day. And Luke decided
his new pants neede a christening too, but he went a little too far, breaking
his hand at the same time.
All the Pro's were jumping off the last corner during their races and
Luke decided to try and go higher and further than anyone else in the
last moto. Luke landed a bit squirly and bit the dust, he still finished
1st on points but he will be off his bike for 5 to 6 weeks.
Sunday was also a great doy for racing, once again the weather was great and the track was in excellent condition. Again only one gate of pro class, this time only 2 Redline riders on the gate. Adam took the win with Wally staying on he's bike all day to finish a strong 2nd for the day.
Next week the team will be headed for the Knox BMX track looking to take
make some points in the Metro Plate series.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and
BMXUltra.com.
29/04 Official GT News
Melbourne, Australia. April, 2002 GT Appoints The Bicycle Authority Sole
Australian Distributor
Tom Sherlock, The Bicycle Authority’s Managing Director, proudly
announced the company’s appointment as the sole Australian distributor
for GT Bicycles at the recent Taipei International Cycle Show in Taiwan
April 11–14.
The Bicycle Authority Pty Ltd. is currently the Australian distributor
for Bell, Giro, Blackburn, HydraPak, Profile, Snafu, VistaLite, and Mongoose
accessories. The addition of GT Bicycles strengthens the company’s
lead in the
Australian wholesale bicycle and accessories market.
Following the announcement in Taiwan, Sherlock signed a contract with
GT’s Pete Garski, Director of International Sales and Richard Wittenberg,
Pacific Cycles’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Pacific Cycles
LLC, based in Madison, Wisconsin USA, owns the GT Bicycle brand.
“We all have worked extremely hard over the past six months to present
Pacific Cycles with a credible and practical plan to re-launch GT Bicycles
in Australia and Pacific’s decision to appoint The Bicycle Authority
is a major expansion, especially following our recent departure from Gemini
Bicycles.” Sherlock said.
“Under our new structure, we’ve implemented new warehousing,
streamlined our computer systems and, with the arrival of such an important
and high profile brand like GT, are now poised to reclaim GT’s rightful
place as the leading international bicycle brand on the Australian market.
“We had the opportunity to review the entire 2003 GT line during
the Taipei show and know our GT dealers in Australia will be as enthusiastic
when we start delivering the product in July or August.
“The Bicycle Authority also plans to resurrect a number of GT Team
riders by selectively targeting riders from all areas to rebuild GT’s
presence in Australia”.
Sherlock further states that GT Bicycles Australia will be the new distribution
body for GT in Australia. A new sales force, exclusively responsible for
managing the Australian GT dealer network, will be appointed and announced
shortly.
For more information on GT Bicycles Australia, please contact Tom Sherlock,
Managing Director, The Bicycle Authority Pty Ltd, at Tom_Sherlock@bellsport.com.au.
25/04 Meet our newest team member
We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the BMXUltra.com
team, thanks to French deginer Christophe Boul (www.boul.fr.fm).
At the moment we call him Roo, but we've been looking for a better name.
One suggestion was E-manual, which we think is pretty cool, unfortunatly
not as Australian as we'd hoped.
So what we would like you to do is think up a name, heck we'll call it
a competition and give away a BMXUltra.com sticker pack, which includes
stickers from our sponsors, for the winning entry.
Send your entries (as many names as you like) to freeskippy@bmxultra.com.
You can also click the image to the left for a full screen version that
you can set as your computers desk top image.
Talking about competitions we've been running a secret competition on
our competitions page, well it's not really secret but we didn't advertise
it. All you have to do is design a skate park, trails or a track and email
it in. Go to the competitions page
now to check it out.
24/04 DaleHolmes.com now online
The current UCI world champion, Dale Holmes, has settled into his
new home and is obviously already bored with that. He's turned his attention
to setting up his own website.
It includes the usual sponsors list, race schedule and bike setup that
you would expect from a AA pro riders website, but also has some interesting
insider pro gossip and photos from around the pits area.
Dale it would be nice if you could click on those pictures and get a bigger
pic.
Oh yeah and if you read the interview
that I did with Dale a while back you'll see that we go a long way
back, but BMXUltra.com was left off the links list. While you visit his
site drop him an email and let him know that BMXUltra webmaster Shane
is bigger than him.
Check it out for yourself at www.daleholmes.com
24/04 GT is back in Aus
Everyone should have heard by now that Christophe Leveque is riding
for GT...well...we hear from a reliable source that the first batch of
GTs will be in Australia in a couple of months and they will be cheaper
than they were last time around.
There will also be a new team, and with some of the names that I heard
kicking around it should be interesting to see who makes the final team.
24/04 2002 Aussie Titles Videos still available
If you missed out on the 2002 Australian National Championships down
in Tasmania this year, or you didn't get around to ordering the video,
then you haven't missed a thing. Fifth Wall, the production company who
put it all together, are making the video available for purchase through
their website at www.fifthwall.com.au.
Email or phone them for full details, and don't forget to tell them that
BMXUltra.com sent you.
24/04 Bully Bikes Press Release
Bully Bikes is pleased to announce that Steven Lilly kicked ass at the
UGP Roots contest held in Orlando, Florida April 5-7. Steven placed first
out of a field of 105 riders, in the 16 and over division. David Healy
qualified out of the top ten, just missing the cut. In the 15 and under
division Bully's Justin Davis placed 5th out of 65 riders. Whitesnake
and Chris Gerber weren't in attendence, they will be there next year for
sure.
For more on Bully Bikes check out www.bullybikes.com
23/04 New Zealand Pro series results
The New Zealand PRO Series has been running for 11 rounds over the
last half a year and the FINAL was held this past weekend.
There were only two guys that could win on points due to the fact that
3rd & 4th place were out with injurys so that left the door open for
the race for 3rd overall in the series.
The battle for 1st place was between Tony Wilcock & Callum Gifford
with the points between them been only 18 points.
This is how it turned out.
1st - Tony Wilcock 233
2nd - Callum Gifford 215
3rd - Tim Fergusson 152
4th - Steve Goodare 149
5th - Kurt Bagby 44
For all the results, Pictures & Information check out the official NZ PRO SERIES Website... www.nzbmx.homestead.com
22/04 PLANET X TV IN THE RUNNING FOR A LOGIE
Planet X TV. It’s fast. Hip. Fairly cool. Like, extreme, you
know? So cool, hip and extreme-y in fact, that Planet X TV can now be
mentioned in the same breath as other hard core TV shows such as Home
and Away, Neighbours and even, wait for it, even the 7.30 Report.
Planet X is finally joining the ranks of the big hitters. We have been nominated for a Logie.
All of Planet X’s rather sexy footage and slick, fast paced stories of freestyle sports girls, boys and things caught the attention of the general public who then voted us one of four nominees for Best Sports Show Category. Before we got all hot and bothered, yes, we checked, there are more than 4 sports shows on TV.
The show is up against Sports Tonight, the NRL and AFL Footy Shows, all of whom, we are quite confident, have no chance against the professional Planet X outfit.
So confident are we of a win, the Planet X team have already begun constructing a Logie Display Apparatus and redesigning the office layout so all can view this tangible evidence of Prime Time TV success. To some, the Logie may be a melted piece of scrap brass in the vague form of a person.
To us, it is much, much more. It is a chance to walk the red carpet, rub shoulders with Bert Newton and Catriona Rowntree and for Planet X Director Damien Bray it means free drinks all night.
Even if we don’t end up with a “man in hand”, a big thanks to all of the rockin’ and ultra talented riders we feature on the show who have helped make it such a great success, you guys are what the public want to see!
Keep on riding'.
Planet X TV,
Network 7, Saturday 12.30pm.
19/04 Pazzaz Stem Preview
While we're in preview mode, check out what Pazzaz have for us.
It's the new freestyle stem (MX275rt) with removable gyro tabs. It even
comes with 2 positions for 10mm adjustment, which is better than many
other adjustable stems on the market.
Apparently they don't have too many new models for the BMX racing range
in 2003. But the range they doo have is huge. Check it out for yourself
at www.pazzaz.com,
they only display a couple of models on the website.
18/04 2003 Uni Seat Preview
We managed to get a sneak preview of the new 2003 Uni seat.
It has been a while since the Uni seat has been in production, but I had
one personally back in the 80's. A few people will remember the Uni seat,
but most wont. They were the lightest seat/seat post combo on the market
and really only any good for the Juniors in BMX racing. The Uni seats
weigh nothing...literally.
If you would like more information about the seats in the US contact Roger
Berg of Uni-BMX at runabout@teleport.com.
For now check it out here.
16/04 2002 New Zealand National Championships
The 2002 New Zealand National Championships were held a few weeks ago
in the South Island. The track was smooth & fast but very short but
other than that the weather was fine & the racing was close. The racing
was so close that there were 3 guys that were 2 points apart going into
the Elite Final & this is how it ended up.
*ELITE MALE RESULTS*
1st. Tony Wilcock
2nd. Steven Schimanski
3rd. Callum Gifford
4th. Haden De Boer
5th. Dion Newth
6th. Steven Goodare
7th. Richard Stratford
8th. Tim Fergusson
For More information & Pictures on what went on at the NZ Nationals
check out www.bakebeansbmx.homestead.com
13/04 Chicks On Wheelz Press Release
Chicks On Wheelz a website dedicated to the female BMX racers in Victoria,
has been under construction for the past month or two and is now up and
running. It is a website for female BMXers made by female BMXers.
On our site you will find heaps of up to date profiles(plenty more coming),
pics, news, and results. Feel free to email us at chicksonwheelz@hotmail.com
if you have any ideas that you would like to contribute to the site.
So be sure to check out Chicks On Wheelz www.geocities.com/chicksonwheelz
Visit: http://www.geocities.com/chicksonwheelz
-- A website totally dedicated to Victorian Female BMX Racers.
10/04 Redline Victoria Race Report.
Over the Easter weekend the team headed over to Tasmania to race the National
Titles hosted by the Berridale Bmx track just out side Hobart.
The track was like nothing in Victoria, it had a long first straight and
big first turn and then the rest of the track had really short straights
and tight fast corners with a lot of jumps. This was a good challenge
for all riders.
Sean Craven rode the house down all weekend, Sean transferred to
the semi finals on both bikes in 13 boys and 13-14 cruiser. Sean made
it through to the cruiser final but a tuff semi on the 20inch kept him
from making the final. In the final of cruiser Sean battled it out with
the best and finished 6th in the end.
Kylie Gray took to the track well going 100% better than last year
by transferring to the final in the 15 girls class. Kylie had a good race
to finish 6th, all her hard training paid off.
Dean Beerens rode the house down all weekend in the 17 boys and
17-18 cruiser class and didn't finish any worse than 1st all weekend,
that's including all moto's and finals.
Dean now has the No.1 title in Australia for the 17boys age class and
17-18 cruiser class.
He was also a quarter of the winning Corporate team for the weekend, and
has now taken home almost every title he could find and he is now in the
AA class.
Adam Robb started the weekend off well with a crash while jumping
the big doubles in the first straight in the first race. This left Adam
playing catch up on points for the rest of the day. Adam transferred into
both finals in 19-24 men and 19-24 cruiser. In the Cruiser Adam rode a
good race coming from 4th after a bad start to finish 2nd in front of
the defending champion from last year.
In the 20inch final it was a good ride after a bad start coming from 8th
and finishing 5th in the end.
Luke Pretlove rode the Elite mens 20inch class, his aim was to
be competitive. Luke did that beating some big names over the weekend,
Luke unfortunately didn't transfer to the final. It was an up hill battle
for him having 23 riders in his class and not having semi's. Luke finished
10th, being the top Victorian in the Elite class for the weekend.
Luke also raced the Pro shoot out on Good Friday and finished 2nd to Kamakazi.
Redline would like to congratulate the whole team on there efforts at
the National titles.
Be sure to pop into the Redline tent at the races.
See you there.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total Bmx, Odyssey, DIRT Designs and
BMXUltra.com
09/04 Team BMXUltra.com News
As the dust settles over Hobart, the BMXUltra.com team return home
with great results from the Australian national championships. Probably
not quite the results the boys were after but outstanding none the less.
Jamie Truran (Jnr Elite) - travelled all the way back from the UK,
where he's spending the year, to make the Jnr Elite Cruiser final and
"bonus" semi final of the Jnr Elite Mens class on the first
day of competion, even with a fall in his second moto. Unfortunatly he
didn't have a good run in his semi and had to watch the final from the
sidelines. On day two, two crashes in Jnr Elite Men qualifying heats put
him out of the running and out of contention for the overall final. When
the gate dropped for the final of the Jnr Elite cruiser final Jamie went
the only way he knows how, "flat out!" but got caught up in
the pack, he fell and finished 8th. Jamie will be back in Aus in November
for the Victorian State championships, after a season in Europe he will
be unstopable.
Luke Chmielewski (19+ Men) - has been quiet over the past summer
season and with very few races under his belt in the lead up to the Nationals.
He was doing suprisingly well in his motos, but like Jamie had trouble
staying up-right. With too many crashes Luke was left watching the finals
through the BMXUltra.com video camera. As Luke nears the end of his University
education you can be guarenteed he'll be back on the track full time getting
amongst it.
Shane Jenkins (30-35 Men) - was competing at his 16th National
Championships, and once again proved he's amongst the best old guys on
the track today. The "Kingpin" didn't quite live up to expectations
but is looking forward to improving on his 2nd place in the 30-34 Cruiser
and 4th in the 30-34 Mens class next year in Adelaide.
The BMXUltra.com team is sponsored by Answer BMX, Pazzaz, BMXBits.com.au,
Troy Lee Designs, ATi and Dirt Designs number plates.
05/04 GRANT WHITE TRAINED BMX ATHLETES CLEAN-UP!!
The 2002 Australian BMX Championships were recently held over the Easter
weekend, where many Grant White trained athletes swept the field and became
2002 Australian BMX Champions!!
Five of Grant White's athletes showed TOTAL DOMINATION all weekend long,
and walked away with SEVEN AUSTRALIAN BMX CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDALS. These
athletes were;
Tanya Bailey - 19+ Elite Womens Australian Champion
Stuart McDougall - 35-39 Mens & 35-39 Men's Cruiser Australian
Champion
Michael Fenwick - 16 Year Boys & 15-16 Year Cruiser Australian
Champion
Chloe MacPherson - 15 Year Girls Australian Champion
Melissa Mankowski - 14 Year Girls Australian Champion
A further nine Grant White trained athletes picked up TOP-8 2002 National
Rankings, with these being; #2A Kamakazi - Elite Men and Elite Cruiser,
#2A Melissa Mankowski - 13&14 Year Cruiser (against the boys!!), #3A
Boss Moanaroa - 11 Year Boys, #5A Darren Hawkins - Elite Men, #5A Dean
Miller - 16 Year Boys, #5A Beau Ralston - 12 Year Boys, #6A Moko Moanaroa
- 13 Year Boys, #6A Ryan Carter - 15&16 Year Cruiser, #8A Brian Kirkham
- 16 Year Boys and #8A Adam Sanderson - 10 Year Boys.
Through results like these, Grant White shows that correct training and
preparation pays dividends for amateur BMX riders as well as professional
riders.
GRANT WHITE & MATT POHLKAMP MAKING PROGRESS!!
Aussie Supercoach and BMX trainer Grant White signed up DK racing legend
Matt Pohlkamp eleven weeks ago, to prepare his body and mind for professional
BMX competition. Matt joined forces with Grant to ensure that no stone
was left unturned in his quest for ultimate BMX performance.
Seems the individualized BMX specific training program designed for Matt
over the last eleven weeks is starting to show results. Matt went to Florida
last weekend for the first of the double header NBL Pro Series Nationals,
keen to see what effects his recent dedication would have on his racing
performance.
By the end of the weekend Matt was fairly stoked with his racing results,
and how well prepared he felt for the competition weekend. Matt finished
up Saturday with a 3rd in AA Pro and a 8th in Pro Open, whilst Sunday
saw Matt finish with the great results of 2nd in AA Pro and 2nd in Pro
Open.
If you too would like to be prepared for BMX competition by Aussie Supercoach
Grant White, send an enquiry off to Grant at, gwhite@bmxtrainer.com
and start training smart to achieve your BMX goals and dreams!
04/04 Aussie Championships Part 2
Senior Elite
In the Senior Elite class most of Australia's best riders were there,
Sean Dwight was MIA and Grant White was watching from the sidelines. Kamakazi
(Redline), the 2001 Australian Champion, looked a good chance but little
uneasy on the track, nearly bringing himself unstuck a couple of times.
Crowd favourite Luke Madill (Norco) was riding the track as if it was
his own. In one quality packed moto, he went from fifth to first seemlingly
effortlessly. Michael Robinson (DK), also a favourite was doing it easily
in the motos. The old guys Darren Hawkins (Cassap) and Brett Scruse (Cycology)
qualified for the main with apparent ease. Tony Harvey (S&M), a former
Australian Champion, also put himself in the main with some good racing
in the motos. Rounding off the field was Scott Taylor (BBCycles) and youngster
Adam May (Iron Horse), he was the only Junior Elite finalist from 2001
to make the Senior Elite main.
Those that missed out on the main that were doing well were the ever consistant
Troy Fisher (Cassap) and Luke Pretlove (Redline), who finished 10th overall
after stepping up just this year to senior elite.
In the main, when the gate dropped, Robinson and Madill got and edge on
the pack, Kamakazi close behind in third and the rest of the field all
over him. Coming out of the first turn Robinson seemed to have the lead
but collided with Madill and dropped his pedal. Madill looked to have
it all wrapped up and then Kamakazi tried a move underneath in the third
corner, what was strange was he could have taken Madill out but didn't,
it was a clean move that washed off all his speed, now the title was Madill's.
Kamakazi had to get his bike moving again with Scruse and Harvey breathing
down his neck. He crossed the line in second with Scruse in third and
Harvey fourth.
Junior Elite
After watching the first few motos of Junior Elite Kahlen Young (Norco),
Richard Barker (Free Agent) and Jamie Truran (BMXUltra.com) were a few
of the names that really stood out. Young was impressive, slaughtering
the competition, it was difficult to take photos of Kahlen and still see
the rest of the field in the background, he's going to be a real contender
when Norco let him loose at the World Championships later this year. Richard
Barker was consistant and looked like he was in with a good chance. Truran
was looking very fast, and not just because he is riding for BMXUltra.com.
The only problem was he was having trouble keeping it on 2 wheels. In
the main it was all Kahlen Young from start to finish.
Elite Women
Tania Bailey won by points, but didn't have it all her way, Kylie
Patroni was all over her like a rash.
Rumours/Other news;
Michael Fenwick (Specialized) doubled in the 16 boys/15-16 cruiser, he
was too young to compete in the Elite classes, even some of the pros have
trouble hanging with him.
Cloe McPherson was riding in Norco colours when she took her number 1
plate, looks like she's finished with BMXMania.com.
Luke Madill was riding a prototype Norco 2003 Madill signature frame with
euro bottom bracket and internal headset...keep an eye out for that.
The 2002 Nationals were the last for "Thunder" Danny Galea (Iron
Horse). After a long BMX career (nearly 20 years) Danny has decided to
pursue other things including veledrome and mountain bike racing, he will
be racing BMX until the end of this year. Danny's closest friends are
laying bets on how long it take for him to come out of retirement.
Elite Cycle Imports have bought the rights to use the name Tuff Neck...those
of you that have been around for a while will remember the brand that
was once American owned. Look out for their stems and chain rings which
should be out some time real soon.
The Elf Bicycles name has also been bought out by an Australian company
and production is due to start soon. You know it's funny, throw in companies
like Trik clothing and velocity wheels and you will just about be able
to be fully decked out in Australian equipment. Who said Australia isn't
big enough to support it's own BMX industry
03/04 Aussie Championships Results
Easter weekend is the time that the Australian Championship are run each
year, this year it was in Hobart, Tasmania.
The track was designed by Grant White, Australian coach and former ABA
AA Pro. Although it had a few small problems it was certainly the best
nationals track I have ever ridden in the 21 years I have been racing.
It was tight and very technical, something that Aussies better get used
to over the coming 18 months, as the 2003 Aussies will be indoors and
the 2003 World championships will be indoor in Australia as well.
As far as spectators go though it was simply impossible to see all of
the racing from any one point around the track and there wasn't enough
room for the 800ish riders with their friends and families and additional
spectators that were attracted by the local TV and radio advertising.
Here's the results that we could remember, come back later for more about
what went down in Hobat and pictures.
RESULTS
Snr Elite Men
1. Luke Madill (Norco)
2. Kamakazi (Redline)
3. Brett Scruse (Cycology)
4. Tony Harvey (S&M)
5. Darren Hawkins (Cassap)
6. Adam May (Iron Horse)
7. Scott Taylor (BB Cycles)
8. Michael Robinson (DK)
Jnr Elite Men
1. Kahlen Young (Norco)
Elite Women
1. Tania Bailey (Cassap)
2. Kylie Patroni
3. Ammie MacPherson
Snr Elite Cruiser
1. Luke Madill (Norco)
2. Kamakazi (Redline)
3. Andrew Chooketi (Blackman cycles)
4. Troy Fisher (Cassap)
5. Danny Galea (Iron Horse)
Jnr Elite Cruiser
1. Kahlen Young (Norco)
03/04 SeanDwight.com Training Systems News - Easter
Race report: "Madill & Bennett Double"
Easter proved to be a time for celebration in more ways than one.
The two major events on the weekend were dominated by seandwight.com trained
athletes.
In Australia;
Luke Madill has won Australia’s highest award in Hobart, Tasmania
at the recent National Championships with a double win taking out the
Elite Men 20" & 24" classes. Luke has now recorded more
national wins then any other Australian Elite rider & is sure to continue
with this form. Luke would like to thank his major sponsor Norco.
Brett Scruse has been finishing consistently on the podium lately
& this weekend was no exception. Brett had a great weekend in Hobart
taking a 3rd in the Elite 20" class. Brett would like to thank his
major sponsor Cycology.
Tony Harvey had a successful weekend in Hobart & after a lot
of hard work in the months before hand finished 4th in the Elite Men 20"
class. Tony would like to thank his major sponsor Elite Cycle Imports.
In America;
Kyle Bennett continued on with his consistency with another double
win in the AA class at the recent Easter Classic in Sarasota on the past
weekend. Kyle has a perfect score so far in the NBL this year & continues
to extend on his lead in the NBL Pro points.
Greg Romero had a good weekend with & qualifying for all the
main events, Greg finished 2nd & 5th in the AA class & 2nd &
3rd in Pro Open. Greg now finds himself in 2nd place in the NBL Pro Points.
Warwick Stevenson has taken this weekend off to prepare for the
upcoming ABA National at Black Mountain Pheonix Arizona.
Don’t forget to check out www.seandwight.com
for the world's best training advice & enquire about having your own
training schedule designed.
03/04 TonyHRV.com news
If you haven't worked it out already Tony Harvey has himself a website,
that's right the former Australian elite champion is following the US
trend but will also be selling products. He tells us he's got some shirts
and hats out.
Tony has also just picked up Australian Junior Elite Champion Khalen Young
(Norco) as a co-sponsored rider...also on team HRV are Darren Hawkins
(Cassap), Sean Dwight and the man himself Tony Harvey.
Oh and Tony also told us he's got some dirt jumping shorts in the making
(with padding), he tells us "they are gonna be mad.."
Check out the site at www.tonyhrv.com,
it didn't work when we tried it so if it doesn't work give it a couple
of days and try again.
03/04 Aussie girls only clinics in SA
Clinics are not new to BMX, but here's on for the girls who live in and
around Adelaide.
Girls coaching clinic: Happy Valley BMX Track, South Australia, Saturday
27th April 9:30am to 4:30pm.
Apparently they have been running girls only back-to-basic sessions for
some time now and have decided to run a more intense clinic.
Four of SA's senior girls riders will be acting as instructors on the
day;
Leonie Watson (Knucklebone), Sally Thomas (S&S), Renee Junga (GT)
and Sharon Watson (Trik)
We hear they are also giving away goodies to all that take part in the
clinics.
20/03 Team BMXUltra.com News
Team BMXUltra.com will be all geared up in their blue 2002 Answer race
clothes for the Australian National Championships in Hobart, Tasmania
coming up over the Easter weekend.
Jamie Truran (Jnr Elite) will be returning from England (where
he's spending a year while his father works there) for his first major
race since breaking his wrist at the Victorian state championships is
November last year. He has been training during the harsh English winter
conditions and tells us he's feeling fit and looking forward to competing
at the Nationals.
Luke Chmielewski (19+ Expert) hasn't been racing a great deal over
the past summer but has been putting in a lot of time on his bike in preparation
for the Australian Championships. After narrowly missing out on the main
last year Luke has a taste for it and will be putting in 110% this year.
Shane Jenkins (30-34 Expert) is the Team Manager and webmaster
for BMXUltra.com, with over 20 years racing and 16 national championships
experience, he's been putting in the hard training to improve on the two
second places he finished up with last year.
There's a new batch of BMXUltra.com stickers, so if you see any of the
riders be sure to ask them for one.
19/03 Redline Victoria race report.
This week most of the Redline team headed to Park Orchards for the first
round of Metro Plate.
Redline Bicycles sponsored the event, and most of the team were able to
make it to the meet, only Craig Walzcuk and Brian Alexander were absent.
The weather was great and the track turned out to be pretty good, with
only 4 riders entered in the AA pro class and 18 in the A pro class the
two classes were combined to make a total pro class of 22 riders.
In the Pro class there was some good riding with Dean Beerens on his home
track riding well to qualify 4th with Luke Pretlove qualifying 5th and
Adam Robb having to qualify via a run off due to a bad race in the last
moto.
In the final Dean Beerens had a good race and avoided the crash in the
first turn to finish 4th for the day and Luke Pretlove lost he's balance
on gate at the last second causing him to completely miss the start, once
Luke caught the pack at the end of the first straight he got caught up
in the crash that occurred between Simon Grigg and Levi Colins. Adam Robb
was unable to race due to a bad fall in he's last cruiser moto so he was
only able to roll around the track and finished 7th right behind Luke
Pretlove in 6th.
Kylie Gray raced the AA ladies class and proved that she is a force to
be reckoned with by finishing 3rd over all behind ex Australian Champion
Emma Franklin and current State Champion Jackie Babbington.
Young Sean Craven was once again riding up a couple of classes, he rode
the 15boys class this week to give himself a bit of a challenge and got
through the motos well. In the final Sean came from the outside and had
a good crack at the older kids and came in 7th, Sean had a good day on
he's cruiser finishing 1st in 13-14 class.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and
BMXUltra.com
19/03 Eastern Region Championships Round 1 Results
Park Orchards hosted the first round of Victoria's Eastern Regional Championships
in fine style, the weather was perfect and a number of riders were getting
good competition for the Australian Championships coming up over the Easter
weekend.
The new A and AA pro rule isn't working in Victoria there are few AA's
and as a example 4 rocked up to Park Orchards while the A pro class was
very healthy with 18 entrants, the riders made a proposal to combine the
class, giving all the riders and the crowd something a little more exciting.
And there was the added bonus of a consolation final in the pro class.
In the motos Galea, Slater, Grigg and Pretlove were all doing well, racing
was so tight there was a run off for the top 8 position which Adam Robb
won on the last straight. And a 5 man runoff for four positions to the
consolations final.
When the gate dropped in the top 8 main, Galea missed the gate, Grigg
and Slater jumped to the lead. By the first corner Galea got his nose
in front but only just and he was on the outside. Slater ran him up the
corner and at the same time Grigg and half the field went down. Slater
got a good lead pulling up to 3 lengths on Galea who tried all the way
to the end, but just missed. Slater knotched up his first pro win.
In the BMXUltra.com camp, Shane Jenkins rode A pro and cruiser, a couple
of good rides put him into second overall for cruiser (behind a very improved
Adam Bensch), the last moto he was drag racing for first position into
the first corner with Adam Robb when Robb's pedal axel snapped. The A
pro was less eventful, even with a second in the last moto he failed to
make the cut.
AA Results:
1. Robert Slater (Profile)
2. Danny Galea (Iron Horse)
3. James Hollings
(sorry I didn't catch all the results)
18/03 Norco T-Shirts available at LukeMadill.com
On the same weekend that saw Luke Madill dominate the AA Pro class at
the DK Masters race in Liverpool NSW, Norco launched two brand new T-Shirts
that are exculsivly available direct at lukemadill.com or from the Norco
tent at major race events for $20.00 per shirt. To view the shirt designs
follow the link on the left side of Luke's main page.
Look for BB Cycles at the 2002 Australian Nationals to be selling these
on behalf of Luke and the rest of the Norco Team.
Luke Madill's sponser's include - Norco Performance Bikes, Axo , 661,
Marzocchi BMX, SPY, Knucklebone, S&M, Atomlab, Profile racing, Perv,
Funn, Blackman Bicycles, Sun Ringle components, Sean Dwight Training Systems.
For more information on Luke log onto lukemadill.com
16/03 Dale Holmes NOT on Supercross!
Just over a week ago we announced in a press release from Supercross
that UCI World Champion
Dale Holmes would be riding for Supercross as a frame sponsor.
Today we received an email from Dale telling us that he is not riding
for Supercross. In fact he still hasn't signed a deal with any frame manufacturers
at all at this stage.
We apologise to Dale and look forward to Dale's own announcement when
his deal is done.
15/03 A must see website www.boul.fr.fm
Frenchman
cartoonist/BMXer Christophe Boul has been a favourite of ours at BMXUltra.com
since we discovered his website some 3 or so years ago now.
You might have seen some of his work if you saw the logo for the 1999 World Championships in France.
A lot of his work is done cartoon style, using Flash. A great tool for animations, if put into the hands of the right person, and Christophe does an awesome job.
His site has a huge online gallery which has a BMX section, but also
a heap of old-school racing photos in the photo section worth checking
out.
You don't have to be into cartoons to get something out of his site, it's well worth checking out, look out for the Christophe Leveque portrait.
Enough talk, check it out at www.boul.fr.fm.
14/03 BMXUltra.com Offline CDROM
If you have had your head in the sand for the past few months you
wouldn't have heard about BMXUltra.com's own video CDROM called "Offline
Volume 1".
Offline V1 contains over 40 minutes of video;
It's all neatly packaged on one CDROM, complete with an easy to use menu system. No software is installed on your PC and it is all run from the CD. The resolution has been increased from what is available for download from the internet because there is no concern about slow download speeds.
Two people that have checked it out are Current UCI Elite World Champion Dale Holmes and Australian National BMX Coach and former Australian Pro Champion Grant White. Here's what they had to say about it;
Grant White: "I
thought the Offline CD was of excellent quality and the picture was crisp.
It was great to catch up on all the Aussie racing from the 2001 season
and dirt jump action that's been going down in Australia while I was in
the US during 2001! Great job Shane and BMXUltra.com!!"
Dale Holmes: "It's good to see how the competition is going down in Sauce-land."
For even more information on Offline Volume 1 click here.
The CDROM will be available exclusively through www.bmxbits.com.au,
ask for it by name Offline Volume 1.
13/03 Redline Victoria Race Report.
Last weekend the team headed there separate ways.
Dean Beerens, Luke Pretlove and Sean Craven went to the DK Masters in
Liverpool NSW. Adam Robb and Kylie Gray went to a Friday night clubby
at Lalor and Wally
made his way to Sunbury for the Royal Children's Hospital race on Sunday.
On Friday night Adam and Kylie raced the last round of a pro series that Lalor Park have been holding.
There were only 8 riders in the class for the night. Adam Robb won for
the night with 3 firsts and a third.
Kylie did well for the night racing against all the older boys and was
not afraid to get in there and mix it up, Kylie finished 8th in the end
for the night.
At the end of the night there was an end of series final for those who qualified, Adam and Kylie were both in this final. Adam started off slow but gave chase on young Anthony Gray and past him on the 3rd straight and coming into the last corner Adam lost control of his Proline XL and took a soil sample, this left Adam with 8th place. Kylie Gray was in the mix of things and finished 7th.
Dean, Luke and Sean all rode very well at Liverpool. Sean Craven decided to give himself a challenge and raced the 13 boys class, there were around 20 riders. Sean looked good, not that you can see him when he is in the middle of the pack. He is too short, anyway Sean qualified for the final without a problem. Sean came a bit unstuck in the final and crashed with another rider, thankfully he was alright and got back up and raced his cruiser final and finished 2nd. There is no stopping this little guy!!
Dean Beerens rode the house down in the A Pro class and finished 1st in every moto, as if that wasn't enough Dean Continued through to win his semi final. In the first final Dean continued his winning way and was unstoppable to take 1st place. He lost a bit of concentration after the first final and finished 5th in the next 2 finals to finish 2nd overall. This is the first time Dean has raced a 3 final final there were 27 riders in his class. Dean also raced the Pro Open class, unfortunately a crash in his second moto kept him out of the semis.
Luke Pretlove raced the AA Pro but was unable to transfer to the semis. He also raced the Pro Open class and made it through to the semis but did not transfer to the final.
Last but not least (and that's for sure) is Wally. Wally headed down to Sunbury for the Royal Children's Hospital race, and entered the 19+ class. He made it through to the final where he did what he does best. He crashed in the second corner with none other that his own brother Damien. At least we can say that it was not Wal's fault (this time), Damien crashed in front and left him with know where to go but straight into him. He finished 7th at the end of it all.
Next week the Redline team is off to Park Orchards for the first round of Metro Plate. See you there.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total Bmx, Odyssey, DIRT Designs
and BMXUltra.com
12/03 SeanDwight.com Race Report - Liverpool DK
Masters
Luke Madill continued with his consistent winning ways with 1st
in the AA class & 2nd in the Pro Open event at the at the recent Liverpool
DK Masters. Luke has consistently placed in the top 3 at every event staged
this year & finds himself as a firm favourite & the one to beat
at the up coming National Titles in Hobart over the Easter weekend. Luke
would like to thank his major sponsor Norco.
Tony Harvey started preparation for the DK Masters some 6 weeks
ago. HRV made an impression on the class finding himself battling up front
consistantly throughout the weekend. With a 4th in AA & 5th in Pro
Open he had a great weekend & is looking good going into the Nationals
in Hobart. Tony would like to thank his major sponsor Elite Cycle Imports
(S&M Bikes).
Brett Scruse is the longest serving member on the Sean Dwight.com
crew & is coming into shape as always, with the National titles just
around the corner. Brett placed 3rd in AA & 6th in Pro Open. This
is one of Bretts favourite events & always rises to the challenge
of the Liverpool track, look for Scruzzy up front in Hobart. Brett would
like to thank his major sponsor Cycology.
These riders are prepared for competition by seandwight.com. Sean is currently
structuring & designing training programs for riders of all levels
& ages across the world, so why not drop a line to the leader in training
technology in our sport today? www.seandwight.com
Other riders on the roster include Warwick Stevenson, Kyle Bennett, Alice
Jung, Ian Stoffel, Mike Gul.
11/03 The Jim Beam Planet X National Tour : Next
Stop Sandringham Hotel, Melbourne!
After kicking of 2002 at Field Day in Sydney and continuing with sold
out venues, the Jim Beam Planet X Tour is set to drop in Victoria, at
the Sandringham Hotel on March 16.
If you are located South of the border and have been waiting for the Jim
Beam Planet X Tour to Head your way, then don't miss the entertainment
of four bands, DJ's, a break crew, BMX Dirt action and freestyle BMX and
skate on the mini vert ramp.
BMX dirt riders, including some home grown Melbourne talent and former
Planet X Summer Games competitors, will be hitting the specially constructed
dirt track.
The BMX Dirt riders will be busting huge over the 60 metre dirt jump track
that will be built in the outside arena.
Make the most of the afternoon sunshine as skaters Tom Rees, Luke Jaffa
Curtis and Spencer Eagles rip up one of the finest 6 Foot Miniramps in
the country, along side the big airing BMX riders. Break crew Wickid Force
will be laying down the moves indoors later in the night.
As the night hits, head inside and catch more DJ's and bands. The bands
and DJ's will be in both the outdoor and indoor areas from 2pm through
to 1am.
Outdoor bands include: Ezekio and Another Race. Tickets to the outside
area is $15 - another $15 will get you inside for Polcelain, Bodyjar,
Wickid Force and guest DJs. Over 18's only.
09/03 KHS Bicycles Australia Press Release
KHS Bicycles, which has been established for over 25 years, is breaking
into the Australia BMX market with a range of purpose built bikes unique
to the Australian market.
The "KHS BMX" range covers all disciplines, Trail (ZACH), Freestyle
(INJEKTA), Dirt (LASH) and of course racing with the already proven "Podium".
These bikes are of the usual high quality of which KHS has become famous
for and are available from select range of KHS dealers across the country.
KHS Australia is serious about the development of BMX is this country
and part of this philosophy is to nurture young talent. For this reason
KHS has picked up 15 year old Victorian BMX racer Scott Lacey. Scott is
a relative new comer to BMX racing but has already demonstrated his potential
by winning his age class in the last two Victorian State Titles and has
just scored a third place at the ACT titles for the second year in a row.
Scott`s future looks very promising with support from many other major
industry suppliers including KMC Chains, Lizard Skins, Panaracer Tyres
and BBB Sports Glasses.
To find out more about KHS check out the website at http://www.khsbicycles.com/.
08/03 ABA PUMPS BMX RACING WITH EX TV ON FOX SPORTS
NET
As of April 1st, 2002, ABA BMX Racing will be back on a major sports cable
network on a regular basis. The American Bicycle Association (ABA) recently
signed an agreement with Extreme Group, the world¹s leading media
company in the extreme sports sector and parent company of the Extreme
Sports Channel, to air "Pump" as part of "EX TV" on
FOX Sports Net (FSN). The first episode of "Pump" featuring
the "ABA Sooner Nationals" from Guthrie, Oklahoma will air Monday,
April 1st at 4:30 PM on FOX Sports Net. "Pump" continues a week
later on April 8th and then every other week until September 9th. Each
episode of "Pump" will also air on Extreme Sports Channel International
in 49 countries.
"It's exciting to be able to put BMX racing back on TV." commented Bernard Anderson, Vice-President of Marketing and Promotions for the ABA. "The added exposure will do nothing but help teams, pros and the ABA National Series in the acquisition of new sponsors and continuing the already tremendous growth of the sport." Anderson added.
The 13 original episodes will be produced by Satellite Sports Group, LLC in conjunction with The Eclectic Group out of Ontario, CA. Don Hoffman will be the director and producer of this new series. Mr. Hoffman has over 100 episodes of BMX programming to his credit including "Crank TV" (FSN & Outdoor Life Network),"BMXtreme Series"(FSN), "INVERT TV"(FSN), and the original nine episodes of "Pump" that aired on FSN in 2000. Each 30-minute program will feature an ABA event (racing and dirt jumping) along with pro rider bios, BMX product reviews, and special features. Check your local listings for exact times.
"BMX is among the fastest growing action sports in the country and we are excited at the opportunity to help support that growth with a spot in our EX TV line-up," commented CJ Olivares, SVP Programming and Production for Extreme Group. "We have enormous confidence in Don's abilities to capture the action, excitement and lifestyle that surround the sport of BMX," added Olivares.
Other ABA events covered will be the ABA Winter Nationals- April 5-7, 2002 (Phoenix, AZ), The Super Nationals-May 10-12, 2002 (Desoto, TX), The Great Salt Lake Nationals-June 14-16, 2002 (Salt Lake City, UT), and the ABA World Championships-July 26-28 (Ontario, CA). The ABA has the option to produce and air additional episodes of "Pump TV" from other ABA Nationals for airings beyond their original September 9th conclusion.
The American Bicycle Association is the largest BMX sanctioning body
in the world. For more information contact the American Bicycle Association
at 1645 W. Sunrise Blvd, Gilbert, AZ 85233 p:(480) 961-1903 Ext. 125 f:(480)
961-1842. Also find information at www.ababmx.com.
Fox Sports Net reaches over 78 million homes through its 21 regional sports
channels, and serves as the first truly nationwide, regional and local
supplier of sports programming. For the latest up-to-the-minute sports
news and opinions, visit the FOX Sports/Fox Sports Net website at www.FOXSports.com.
08/03 Dale Holmes on Supercross
SUPERCROSS' newest factory rider is "UCI World Champion" AA
Pro Dale Holmes.
We here at SUPERCROSS are very excited about having Dale join our factory SUPERCROSS/ATOMIC team.
As well as being one of the winningist AA Pros this year, he is also what we believe to be one of the nicest AA Pro's out there and is wonderful to have has a role model for the kids.
Dale will be riding a SUPERCROSS DEVO model Cro-mo race frame and fork while we work out details of his signature model 20" and 24" framesets.
Dale retains his current uniform co-sponsor of O'neal, and will use Atomic components on his factory SUPERCROSS ride.
Please check our website www.supercrossbmx.com
or e-mail me for more info.
07/03 Bellarine Entry Form
It seems that these days it's quite difficult to find entry forms for
race meetings.
As always we'll do our best to post entry forms here to allow more people to get hold of them. If you have an entry form and would like help with distribution, feel free to email it to the address above.
Click here to download the entry form (word Document) for Round 2 of the War of the Stars series at Bellarine (Vic, AUS) for the 7th of April.
06/03 Redline Victoria race report
This week most of the Redline team headed down to Lalor Park for the
1st round of the 2002 War of the Stars.
Redline was represented in the Pro class by Adam Robb, Luke Pretlove and a blast from the past Brian Alexander. There were two gates of riders and all 3 Redline riders made it through to the main.
Pretlove came from lane 6, Alexander from 7 and Robb from 8. Pretlove got a great start and hit with Galea over the doubles at the end of the first straight. Galea, Robb and Pretlove were neck and neck into turn one which saw Galea take the lead with Pretlove 2nd and Robb moving back to 4th. When everything was said and done it was Pretlove 2nd and Robb 3rd and Brian Alexander making a good come back to the sport and taking 8th spot.
Kylie Gray decided to have a go at the female money class, this week there were only 3 girls to ride for the money and after a tight day of racing between the 3 of them young Kylie Gray took home 2nd spot.
Wally was at it again having a good days racing with Jock Kelly, Wally took his Proline complete with his new Dirt Designs number plate to 1st place in the 19+ class.
Redline Victoria would like to welcome back Brian Alexander after a 12 month break, we hope to see Brian a bit more often this year.
Next week the team will go there separate ways with Sean Craven, Dean Beerens and Luke Pretlove all going to the Liverpool Masters in Sydney and the rest of the team will either head to Sunbury or take a break.
Redline Victoria's sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and BMXUltra.com.
06/03 UCI World Championships Press Release
2002 UCI BMX World Championships in Paulinia, Brazil.
Get ready for the greatest BMX race of the year! You can find all the
information you need to visit the 2002 UCI BMX World Championships on
the UCI website. Go to
http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/worlds_mondiale/worlds_2002/index.htm.
Paulinia is a small town of 55.000 inhabitants, located 1.30 h (by car) southwest of Sao Paolo in the southern part of Brazil. Paulinia is the hometown of one the most successful BMX clubs in Brazil - Paulinia Racing de Bicicross, with several top riders and with great experience in major BMX events.
The actual event will be held at the Brazil 500. Brazil 500 is an impressive outdoor arena just outside Paulinia, very suitable for an event of this size. With grandstands for over 10.000 spectators, major parking and large indoor halls. With affordable rates for accommodation, food etc, good infrastructure and support from the local authorities, UCI has no doubt that the 2002 UCI BMX World Championships will be a memorable event for all teams, riders and spectators.
World Championships news;
- The practice time has been increased, with training both Wednesday 24
July and Thursday 25 July. Please visit http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/worlds_mondiale/worlds_2002/index.htm
for the detailed schedule.
- The UCI BMX Convention will be held on Tuesday 23 July at the Royal
Palm Plaza in Campinas, Brazil. More information will be sent out to all
Federations prior to the Convention.
- Two female cruiser classes will be introduced in the World Challenge
level: Women Cruiser 18 & under and Women Cruiser - 19 & over.
- The class +19 Men (20") in the World Challenge will be open for
unlimited number of riders.
International race numbers 2002
The International race numbers for 2002 is published on the UCI website.
Please visit: http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/bmx_2002/nos/index.htm.
As mentioned in earlier BMX news, there are new rules for 2002 where only
the top 1-38 numbers are assigned by the UCI. The local organizers of
the event(s) are obliged to assign all other numbers. Please note that
all numbers should be displayed with a "w" in front of the number.
#1-8 refers to the top 8 riders in the UCI World Championships.
#11-18 refers to the top 8 riders in the European Championships series.
#21-29 refers to the top 8 riders in the Pan American Championships.
#31-38 refers to the top 8 riders in the Pan Pacific Championships.
UCI World Continental Ranking
Now published on the UCI website! The UCI recently introduced a new calculation
and points table for the UCI BMX Rankings. The new ranking system allows
each of the four BMX Continents to have their own rankings. Each continent
will have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 8 races counting for the world
continental ranking. The 5 best results for the actual rider will count
for rankings. The riders will then carry their continental ranking points
to the World Championships, where the actual World Ranking will be decided.
For more detailed information and the actual points table, visit http://www.uci.ch/english/bmx/rankings/2001/index.htm
The following races have been added to the International calendar and the World Continental Ranking.
(Date Race Venue Country Rank Continent)
Feb 23, Corrida Internacional Camburiu-Sc BRA 3 LA
Feb 24, Corrida Internacional Camburiu-Sc BRA 3 LA
July 21, Pre Mundial /Pre Worlds Paulinia BRA 3 LA
04/03 Lalor "War of the Stars" Round
1 Results
Lalor Park, officially the oldest club in Victoria, hosted the first round
of the War of the Stars series on Sunday. After a lot of overnight drizzle
the event looked like it could be washed out, but turning up at the track,
it was in surprisingly good condition, with only a few puddles and a couple
of slippery patches. By the time racing started the drizzle cleared.
There were 2 gates of the Pro class, apparently another new Pro option
that organisers can use, it was called 14 & Over Money Class. Riders
that enter the Money class cannot ride another 20 inch class, and it's
obviously opened to all riders 14 and over. The bulk of the riders were
the typical AA's Galea, Robb and Pretlove and A's Babbington and Jenkins.
Throw in 14 year old David Page (Norco) and Brian Alexander, who is back
on his bike for the first time in 12 months and still looking very strong,
along with Dean Coles (30-34 Australian titles finalist) and a few of
the locals and you have yourself a race.
In the motos Galea, Pretlove, Robb, Babbington and Jenkins qualified with
ease, Dean Coles was a bit of a surprise packet riding well in his first
big money class event, Alexander had a slow start but pulled of a first
in his last moto to secure a position in the final. Page did well but
not enough to make the cut.
In the main, when the gate dropped, Pretlove and Babbington got off to
a quick start, Galea struggled with the gate but made up ground to the
first corner. By the second corner Robb and Jenkins were getting amongst
it. The final positions were as follows;
Pro Men Results
1. Danny Galea (Iron Horse/BMXUltra.com)
2. Luke Pretlove (Redline/Total BMX)
3. Adam Robb (Redline/Total BMX/BMXUltra.com)
4. Ken Babbington
5. Shane Jenkins (BMXUltra.com)
6. Dean Coles
7. Anthony Gray
8. Brian Alexander (Redline/Total BMX)
28/02 Hyper Bicycles announces signing of BMX Pro
Justin Loffredo
February, 2002: Hyper Bicycles is pleased to announce the signing of AA
Pro and X Games finalist Justin Loffredo.
“I’m psyched to be representing an east coast BMX company,” said the Long Island, NY, native Loffredo. Speaking of his new ride, Loffredo said, “My new Hyper Boxster is an awesome handling and totally good-looking bike.”
Justin Loffredo is co-sponsored by Sun Rims, Spy, and Profile.
For more information about Justin Loffredo and Hyper Bicycles, surf to http://www.hyperbicycles.com.
28/02 REDLINE "D.I.R.T." ( drivel, innuendo,
rumors & trash )
WORLD'S YOUNGEST AA-PRO
Stands on ABA PODIUM both days in Oklahoma
Gutherie, Oklahoma: In his second national ever as a AA-pro; the most
elite class in all of BMX racing--REDLINE's BUBBA HARRIS took his
2002 PROLINE to the podium both days. Not bad for a Rookie. And not bad
for a 16 year old!
Just like everyone else, the first thing Bubba did when he got to Gutherie,
OK., was scope out the track. The ABA had built an incredible course indoors
at the Lazy-E Arena. This site was the host of last years' REDLINE CUP
FINALS ~ CENTRAL, and it also hosts the Arenacross Finals each year. With
a plentiful supply of good dirt, along with a larger-than-normal arena,
the track featured a huge and gnarly pro section. As Bubba reports; "It
was a track made for me. Probably the best track I've raced on since the
2000 Grands... it was awesome!"
During practice, it soon became obvious that this track was built for
Bubba -- as well as guys with a ton of skills such as Kyle Bennett and
Robert DeWilde. In fact--before the gate fell, it was apparent that this
weekend would come down to these three riders.
On Saturday--Bubba found himself in the main event with the biggest names
of BMX; Romero, Leveque, Bootes, Holmes, and BMX's current man on a mission--Kyle
Bennett. To everyone's shock--main number one saw Bennett bail, leaving
Robert DeWilde and BUBBA battling for the lead. By the finish--Harris
snagged an very impressive second place score. Always a good way to start
the first of three mains!
Main number two lined up and this time Bennett wasn't to be denied; taking
the win, followed in by DeWilde and BUBBA in third.
Going in to the final main of the day, count along with me--DeWilde led
with a mere 3 points, while Bubba had the second lowest score of 5, while
Kyle's first-main crash gave him 9.
The gate slammed down and Bubba was battling and bumping elbows with the
best of them and swooped in for a strong 4th place score--giving him 2nd
place bucks for the day!
Amazing, eh?!
The kid's been a pro for only 43 days [it's true] and he places 2nd in
double-A pro! REDLINE has a ton of faith in Bub', but we'll admit that
we didn't expect finishes like this, this soon.
On Sunday, the big news was that ABA has hooked up with FOX SPORTS, and
Sundays pro action was being filmed for their new afternoon show, called
PUSH TV. Beginning Monday April 1st, the show will air every Monday in
the 4:30pm timeslot. With TV cameras in place, day two's pro mains were
definitely something you'd want to do well in.
Bubba was amped. "Now that I know how to podium, I feel like I should
be able to do it everytime," Bub'ster commented afterwards.
After a very tight semi, Bubba was in the final again. And once again,
he played it consistent and followed DeWilde and Bennett to the finishline.
With a 3-5-4 in the three TV-mains, 12 points would be good enough for
3rd place money and another stand on the podium! When it was all said
and done, standing in the pro payout line Sunday night collecting over
$1,200 -- Bubba summed up the race: "This was the funnest weekend
I've had in a looooong, long time!"
At this rate--Bubba may very well change the mindset of the BMX World;
at what age a rider should turn pro. Previously, the perception was that
you shouldn't turn pro until you're at least 18, with 19 year olds being
the average. It was definitely a risky move for Redline to allow Harris
to go pro at the youngest age possible, but we fully believed in his skills.
And after making 3 of his first 4 AA events, he's proven it was the right
move.
Bubba's weekend tally goes like this:
* 2nd in AA-Pro on day one.
* 3rd in AA-Pro on day two.
* 5th in Pro Open.
* With these two strong finishes, expect Bubba to make a huge jump in
ABA Pro points--perhaps even a Top-10 ranking.
REDLINE REPORT: OKLAHOMA~ABA
Gutherie, Oklahoma: AA-pro CHRIS HAM had a tough weekend in Guthrie
-- with his best placing being a 2nd in Friday night's pre-race. JASON
CARNE$ was up to his usual; nabbing a 3rd and 4th in single-A-pro. In
Pro Cruiser, he was winning the main on Sunday before getting passed at
the finishline by Dale Holmes. When the dust cleared, he'd scored a 2nd
and 4th on his 24"er.
KIM HAYASHI did pretty much what we expected on Saturday. She just
bought herself a car the week before (a Toyota Camry), and she was out
to earn a car payment or two. The only thing standing in her way were
Jamie Lilly and Alice Jung. In moto #1 Kim had the outside gate with Jung
in #1 and Lily in #2. Around the first turn Kim was in third and put on
the horsepower and passed Lily in the second turn.
Jung 1st, Kim 2nd, Lily 3rd and so forth.
Round 2 of 3 - Kim had gate #1 with Jung and Lily on the outside. They
were all even going into the 1st turn but Kim railed down low and swooped
Jung and Lily. From there on Kim could not be caught. Kim 1st, Lily 2nd,
Jung 3rd and so forth.
Round 3 (Main) - Kim was leading in points going into the main, and wheelied
(too anxious) out of the gate. Stuck in 3rd behind Jung and Lily, she
saw daylight in the pack and cut down low to swoop Lilly and began reeling
in ABA's current No.1 Pro Girl--Jung. She caught up to Alice but needed
50 more feet of track to pass her.
Overall--Kim and Alice tied for points with Alice taking the overall win
due to a better finish in the last race.
CLARENCE PERRY ... what can we say? He'd just turned 41--moving up
to the 41-45cruiser ranks and looking forward to racing the old farts.
But ... the dude is just too strong for his own good. On Saturday, while
leading the main, he exploded his rear hub. Then on Sunday, he derailed
the chain while leading again. Two DNF's for the Earthquake.
REDLINE California co-spo'ers BRAD and MATT SANDFORD had a very
successful weekend in Gutherie. Brad made all mains he entered in both
13x and Cruiser, and on Saturday placed 3rd in 13 Cruiser and 5th in a
tough 13x class. Sunday Brad scored a 5th in Cruiser and an outstanding
4th in class.
Matt had a tougher run in 10x ,hitting the stacked semis both times. [ask
Niccos dad about our luck]. He faired much better in 9/10 open with a
5th on Saturday and a 3rd on Sunday. All in all a great time, great weather
and alot of fun. Brad now has 510 NAG pts in cruiser already, so with
a little luck the the NAG plate is well within reach.
DANNY JOYCE; wins AMATEUR KING of BIKES in Canada
BC Place - Vancouver, CAN: The BC Place in Vancouver (best known for being
the place where Pamela Anderson was discovered) recently hosted the KING
of BIKES race -- a short-track race that combined mountain bikes and BMX,
for the overall "King's crown." Held in conjunction with a huge
sports & rec show, the race was held indoors but the dirt came from
outdoors -- meaning it was wet, soggy and very squishy. The only solution
was to make a quick HomeDepot run and cover the track with plywood.
Racing wise--it was a 1-on-1 format (similar to the ol' INvert races).
And in the end, REDLINE was represented well. MIKE ALBRIGHT (who also
doubles as an SBS salesrep and is webmaster of MTBzone.com) made a good
showing against top pros Purse, Miranda and Northwest BMX legend Bart
McDaniel. 5th place was Albright's magic number for the weekend. But he
did do his share of pimpin' in the tight turns and even ran over one of
his competitors.
In the amateur action, REDLINE co-spo'er DANNY JOYCE was pretty much unstoppable,
and dominated on both his 20" Proline and Redline Dually. 15 year
old Danny--who is the reigning District No.1 Champ up here in Washington,
has been on fire lately ... and hopefully no one points an extinguisher
his way anytime soon. Congrats to "The Sundance Kid" for winning
it all in the am class.
PRO BMX
1 John Purse ... still on his old Redline (painted green)
2 Tyler Clarke
3 Robbie Miranda
3 Bart McDaniel
5 Mike Allbright ... on a '02 Redline PROLINE (white)
AMATEUR BMX
1 Danny Joyce ... on a '02 Redline PROLINE (grey)
2 Richard Humphries
3 John Hyatt
4 Makara Martin
5 Juan Solis Villagas
PRO MTB
1 Robbie Miranda
2 Bart McDaniel
3 Tyson McCrea
4 John Purse
5 Mike Albright
AMATEUR MTB
1 Danny Joyce ... on a REDLINE DUALLY
2 Aaron Kempf
3 Juan Solis Villagas
4 Makara Martin
5 Kevin Olson
SPORTSLINK SIGNS ON AS OFFICIAL CO-SPONSOR OF TEAM REDLINE
Last year, Redline's fast female KIM HAYASHI had hooked up with SPORTSLINK--a
Phoenix-based company, who make training systems for your mind. You heard
right--Kim Hayashi and numerous Olympic medal-winning athletes have used
the SPORTSLINK to train mentally.
How's it work? Glad you asked....
The SPORTSLINK looks similar to a Discman, but instead of cranking Kim's
favorite CD, she is listening to a very faint sound that is slightly noticeable
at first but goes away after about 15 seconds. Depending on what mode
you set the Sportslink on, it will give a different pitch that has been
scientifically proven to help train and focus your mind.
There are about 20 different settings--all proven to help your mind do
everything from improving focus and concentration, to relieving jet-lag
or stress. The settings used by Kim are tuned for eliminating pre-performance
anxiety, enhancing visualization, and reducing rest and recovery times.
If that's not cool enough already, the SORTSLINK also comes with glasses
that plug in to the unit. Although they're not as stylish as Oakley's,
they ARE slightly more custom--being as they are equipped with small lights
on the brow of the sunglass frame. The lights blink in patterns that also
have been scientifically proven to have an effect on your subconscious.
Just like the tone you hear at first in the headphones, your eyes notice
these blinking patterns immediately, but after about 10 seconds, you don't
even know they're there--but your mind does. Inside the recesses of your
brain, the SPORTSLINK is at work--tuning and training your brain while
you do whatever it is you're doing.
Look for the SPORTSLINK booth to be set up in the REDLINE pits, at select
races this year -- and learn more about it by visiting their website:
www.gosportslink.com
next stop:
Look for TEAM REDLINE at these upcoming events:
MAR 8-10 - Alberqueque, New Mexico - ABA national
MAR 22-24 - Pasco, Washington - ABA national
...and rumor has it that ADAM STRIEBY might be flying over the big pond
for a visit to jolly ol' England.
REDLINE's 2002 team sponsors are: ALEX rims, KOOL STOP brakeshoes,
TIOGA components, PROMAX brakes & cables, LIZARDSKINS products, PRYME
clothing, NINTENDO POWER magazine and SPORTSLINK training systems.
27/02 Redline Victoria race report.
Last weekend most of the team headed to Canberra for the ACT Titles
hosted by the Melba BMX club.
The weather was great, sitting at about 26 degrees for both days of racing.
AA Pro had Luke Pretlove and Adam Robb starting off well in the first moto but unfortunately it was all downhill from there and neither of them transfered to the main.
Dean Beerens came out strong in age class and won the # 1 title in the
17 boys, Dean kept up the good work by transfering through to the A Pro
final which had 28 riders.
Dean drew lane one but didn't get the start he wanted and pushed his Redline
signature frame a little to hard through the third turn and crashed, that
left Dean with # 8 in A Pro.
Sean Craven kept up his winning ways by taking the # 1 title in both the 12 boys 20inch and 11-12 cruiser class. Sean rode the house down in both classes and never dropped a race for the whole weekend.
Now that is a lot of wins! We can't wait to see how Sean goes at the Nationals.
Craig "Wally" Walzcuk only had 1 gate in 30-34 men, Wal finished 3rd after a heavy fall in turn two but did very well to get his points up to 3rd spot.
Next week the team will be heading to Lalor Park for the first round of War of the Stars.
Redline Victoria's co-sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs and BMXUltra.com.
26/02 Redline Victoria Press Release.
Redline Victoria are happy to announce a new arrival on the team.
That new arrival is none other than Craig "Wally" Walczuk. Craig took his Redline Proline to Canberra for its first outing and finished 3rd in 30-34 20inch class after a heavy fall in the 3rd moto.
Wally has been riding for about 20 years now and has crashed on tracks all around Australia. Wally has many titles under his belt including finishing 3rd in 25-29 Men at the National Titles in '96.
Wally joins Adam Robb, Luke Pretlove, Dean Beerens, Kylie Gray, Matt Demaid, and Sean Craven.
Redline Victoria and Total BMX would like to take this chance to welcome Wally to the team.
Redline Victoria's co-sponsors include Total BMX, Odyssey, Dirt Designs
and BMXUltra.com.
23/02 SponsorHouse.com Launches to BMX
February, 2002 - Stamford, CT - BMX riders and companies around the country
have a new solution when it comes time to apply for and renew sponsorships
for the season. SponsorHouse.com, a sponsorship service that connects
riders to companies is now available to the BMX community. Already recognized
as a leader in the motocross industry, SponsorHouse.com pioneered a sponsorship
service that has already helped hundreds of motocross racers obtain sponsorship
through its online program.
Having been involved with BMX since an early age, the founders are excited to have the opportunity to provide the BMX industry with its services. With the help of several leading BMX industry people, the services are expected to have an immediate positive impact on the sport. The service is geared towards riders who participate in ABA and NBL races, vert, street and/or dirt jumping.
As a rider, you have the opportunity to build a custom online resume and send it directly through the website to leading BMX companies. As the season goes on, you can make changes to your resume at any time, keeping it up to date with current results and photos. You'll also find features that enable you to communicate with other riders, and post local and national news.
Companies listed to send resumes to immediately include EVS Sports Protection, Scott USA, M2R Helmets, LAAS, Goat Eyewear, No Fear, HRP Sports, SixSixOne Protection, and 5150 Clothing. There are expected to be more than 30 companies involved by the end of February.
As a sponsoring company, receive an online profile to market their products and services to riders as well as an account which allows them to efficiently accept, review and reply to sponsorship requests without having to deal with mail. To get involved as a company on SponsorHouse.com, please call 203-359-0804 or send an email to sponsors@sponsorhouse.com.
To learn more about how to get started, visit www.sponsorhouse.com
and get all the information needed to begin your search for sponsorship,
or call SponsorHouse direct at 203-359-0400.
22/02 Clayborn Bicycles Press Release
CLAYBORN BICYCLE'S 2thousand2 TEAM LINE UP:
Clayborn Bicycles, the official frame of BMX is proud to announce their
2thousand2 team line up.
The roster includes: Barry Nobles 15 expert, Evan Bartlett 17 expert,
John Andrews 21-24 expert, and we are currently talking to a AA Pro to
add to the line up.
Clayborn's 2thousand2 team sponsors include: Kovachi Wheels, Cane Creek,
UGP, Xtrskn, and Alli With An I.
The team plans to be in full effect at the NBL Spring National March 1-3
in Morristown TN. Be sure to stop by the Clayborn Bicycles tent and pick
up your free copy of Alli With An I's CD "Long Story Short".
In other Clayborn news, we are hooking up Matt Beatty with his new Kovachi
Wheels ride and we have a new site in the works.
21/02 Fox Sport looking for crash footage
Every now and then we get emails from TV shows that want crash footage,
they usually pay good money for good footage if they use it. I found out
the hard way that it is actually difficult to find footage that is good
for TV, it's usually a crash that happens a couple of feet from the camera
and includes lots of twisted metal, bones and splattered with blood. If
you have anything even close to this then you should read on.
"I am an Associate Producer for the Fox Sports show "You Gotta
See this." I am in search of great BMX footage for the show. Wipeouts,
hard slams, broken bones, basically injuries caught on tape. Anything
I can build a story around. If anything comes to mind. Please contact
me: ehopkins@ugottaseethis.net or (310) 828-1811. I am always looking
for new footage."
20/02 Madill and Galea Dominate the Australian
Mountain Bike Nationals
Last Friday saw the running of the Dual Slalom event at the Australian
Mountain Bike Nationals, held at northen Victorian town Mt Beauty. The
Dual Slalom has gone through some changes and it's unsure what the name
of the event is now, but rather than it being run in the typical one on
one format, four guys race off, then the top 2 progress to the next round.
I guess you could call it a quad eliminator.
Anyway, Australian BMX legends, Norco's Luke Madill and Iron Horse's Danny
Galea dominated their heats in the elite class, beating a number of world
beating mountain bikers. It would have helped that the event was actually
run on the Mt Beauty BMX track, but there was a big difference, there
were no rules, making for some action packed races.
When it came down to the finals Luke finished second and Danny finished
third. Look out for Galea and Madill battling it out at future MTB events.
19/02 BMXVictoria's Super Nationals
The BMXVictoria's 2002 Super Nationals were run at central Victorian
city Bendigo, home of the Gold Rush, one of Australia's richest pro events,
and home of former Australian BMX Champion Glenn Stephens, who just missed
out on making the 2002 Winter Olymics four man Bobsleigh team.
The weather was perfect for racing but the track surface was a little
bit loose so racing was going to be fast on the straights and cautious
in the corners.
Victorian State Champion Simon Anderson (Mongoose/fastrider.com) was seen
riding around the track during practice for the first time since a heavy
fall during the Track Attack series. With some cartilage damage to his
knee he'll be missing the nationals and it may be a while before we see
him racing again. Simon and wife Tess did have some good news...apparently
there's another little Anderson on the way.
In AA Pro Luke Pretlove made a surprise move up from the A Pro and he
did it in style winning his first moto. Jamie Wallace finished second,
ahead of Danny Galea who has been off his bike for a few weeks. Galea
improved as the day progressed and he took out the main event. Jamie Wallace
finished second and Pretlove was impressive in third.
In A Pro the heats were stacked with some of the states best riders all
preparing for the National Championships coming up over Easter. In the
motos Levi Collins, Rob Slater and Ken Babbington were all on fire, they
carried their form through to dominate their final.
The BMXUltra.com team was represented by Shane Jenkins in the A Pro class,
while Jenkins failed to transfer to the main, after having a couple of
bad starts, but he was seen having a bit of fun on the big doubles, the
biggest doubles he's jumped for a while.
Final Results
A Pro
1. Levi Collins (Huffy/TotalBMX)
2. Rob Slater (Profile)
3. Ken Babbington
AA Pro
1. Danny Galea (Iron Horse/BMXUltra.com)
2. Jamie Wallace (Marzochi)
3. Luke Pretlove (Redline/TotalBMX)
18/02 MikeGul.com updated
USA's AA Pro Mike Gul has had his website www.mikegul.com totally redone.
Everything has been changed. Mike has also added his first few clinics
of the year on the schedule/clinics page. Be sure to check out www.mikegul.com
for all the latest news from the Maniac.
15/02 Yamaha Waverunner Signs On With The ABA!
Gilbert, AZ - The major industry leader inked a deal with the American
Bicycle Association this week to be a title sponsor for the 2002 National
season. Expect to see "Yamaha blue" in the infields at the remaining
Nationals this year, as the maker of the top watercraft in the country
breaks into the BMX industry.
15/02 Sharp Products Press Release
Sharp has inked a co-deal with the all American Brandon Meadows. His new
super clean ride with Specialized, will be equipped with Sharp products.
Chili bars, race stem and the new prototype 6 star general sprocket.
"We are very excited to have such a high profile rider representing
our product. Sharp supports Brandon 100% and wish him well." Says
Scott Bercier & Bill Sharp.
13/02 BMXUltra.com Vs Trackside BMX
Xtreme BMXing, a website run by Victorian female rider Elisia Folley,
is running a poll at the moment to determine which is the most popular
Australian BMX website. The choice is Trackside BMX or BMXUltra.com.
Apparently there have been people defecting to Trackside as they think
that we have lost touch with Australian BMX, that's far from the truth.
Since 1996 BMXUltra.com has been bringing the latest news from around
Australia and the World. We actually have a broarder scope than Trackside,
catering also for hundreds of international visitors daily.
If you like BMXUltra.com, show your support by voting for us at http://www.geocities.com/xtremebmxing/,
the polling booth is at the bottom left side of the page.
13/02 Puckapunyal BMX Track Temporary Closure
The Puckapunyal BMX Track is located on Australian Government land at
the entrance to Puckapunyal Australia's largest Army base. Coming into
it's 21st year of BMX racing it has a lot of history, but being on goverment
land it is under scrutiny.
In December last year a preliminary Occupational Health and Safety investigation
discovered a number of problems with the track, all of which can be fixed
and quite easily. They listed star pickets were too close to the track,
also wire fencing needed to be removed, both of which were used to keep
people off the track during racing events. Another was crash barriers
for the corners, now I don't know about you but I haven't seen any perminant
tracks with crash barriers, so the plan is to build up tha back of the
corners so they taper off gradually minimising the possibility of injury
if a rider were to go over a corner. The club have already taken measures
to ensure the track will reopen, the wire and star pickets have already
been removed, but are awaiting the final OH&S report which should
be carried out real soon now.
We will keep you informed of the reopening, but expect it to be around
March/April time.
12/02 Double A Marketing BMX Race Report
ABA Volunteer Nationals February 9-10
Round 3 of the ABA 2002 Pro tour was held this past weekend in Shelbyville,
TN. Cold weather outside kept the racing inside a little damp and slippery,
but a good track designed by the ABA made it bearable with hot racing
action inside. Here is how the Double A Marketing riders who attended
finished up in the main events.
Randy Stumpfhauser had another great weekend. On Saturday, Stumpy took the win in Pro open and placed 3rd in Pro Cruiser. On Sunday, Randy stood on the podium in AA with a 2nd place and a first in Pro Cruiser. Randy also raced Pro Open and finished up 8th overall. Looks like Randy is having another great race season. Randy's sponsors include Huffy, Smith Eye wear, IRC Tires, AC components, Revenge Sport, Vans, Control Tech, Champion Nutrition, Headlock, Fox, Marwi Ti Spokes, CTI 2, and BMXpros.com.
Darrin Mitchell continues his awesome race performance in 2002 with a 2nd place in Pro Open on Saturday and an 8th in A pro. On Sunday, Darrin placed 7th in Pro Open. Looks like Darrin is one of the top guys in AA these days. Darrin's sponsors include Free Agent, Fox, Vigor, Axis Shoes, Sun Ringle, Profile, ODI, Tioga, Champion Nutrition, Sonic, Powerbar, and BMXpros.com.
Jamie Staff was looking strong on Saturday, until a crash slowed him down a bit and he finished 4th in AA and 7th in Pro Open. Jamie didn't race on Sunday due to injury, but he will be back in time for the next race. Jaime's Sponsors include Haro, Adidas, No Fear, Lee Pipes, O'Neal Helmets, Tangent, AC Hubs, Smith Eye Wear, Revenge, Champion Nutrition, Answer Forks, Shimano, Kicker, Bob's Stores, BMXpros.com, and Headlock.
Wade Bootes made his 2002 American race debut this weekend, but it didn't go exactly as he wanted it to. A slippery track kept Wade out of the AA main on Saturday and 7th overall on Sunday. Wade looks forward to racing in Oklahoma in a few week to redeem himself and get back onto the podium. Wade's Sponsors include Trek, Volkswagen, O'Neal, Oakley, AC Components, Vans, Bombshell, IRC Tires, THE, ATI, Marwi, Powerbar, Head Lock, Toolshed, BMXpros.com, WadeBootes.com, and Champion Nutrition.
AA Pro Saturday
1st- Kyle Bennett
2nd- Dale Holmes
3rd- John Purse
4th- JAMIE STAFF - Haro/Lee Pipes
5th- Cristian Becerine
6th- Nate Berkheimer
7th- Bubba Harris
8th- Darrin Mitchell- Free Agent
AA Pro Sunday
1st- Kyle Bennett
2nd- Randy Stumpfhauser- Huffy
3rd- Nate Berkheimer
4th- Dale Holmes
5th- Levi One Nordmark
6th- Cristian Becerene
7th- Wade Bootes- Trek/VW
8th- Craig Reynolds
Double Marketing proudly represents Thomas Allier, Wade Bootes, Jason
Donnell, Christophe Leveque, Robert MacPherson, Darrin Mitchell, John
Parker, Jamie Staff, Warwick Stevenson, and Randy Stumpfhauser
For more information please visit Bmxpros.com or e mail PeteD@BMXpros.com
07/02 2002 BMX Victoria Race Calendar
We have finally got our hands on the 2002 Victorian race calendar,
it's in excel format, so you will probably need Microsoft excel or something
compatible to view it. Click here
to download the calendar.
While you are at it we also have the entry form for the Supernationals
at Bendigo on the 17th of Feb, better click
here to download it and get your entry in quick.
07/02 MCS Bicycles Press Release
MCS Bicycles is pleased to announce that we have finalized our 2002
Roster and Sponsors. The roster includes Tyler Martin 8 Expert, World
Champion Kalin Hall 11 Expert, World Champion Cesar Bruna 12 Expert, Aaron
Butler 12 Expert, Amanda Geving 12 Girls, Phil Delizia 14 Expert and Ciara
Simek 14 Girls.
Our 2002 Sponsors include: Answer, Odyssey, Profile, HAMMER Bodywear,
Diatech, UGP, ACS, Sun Rims and ATI grips. We are also happy to be the
official race team of Answer Products on the East coast. We are also excited
to announce that we are getting a new Dually and Fifth wheel trailer to
pull behind it. The trailer will be at all the races the BMX team goes
too. So be on the lookout this thing is gonna be trick.
07/02 Bully Bicycles Press Release
BULLY Bikes is pleased to announce that we have finalized our 2002 Roster
and Sponsors. The racing roster includes Troy Simek 16 Expert William
Peters 18-20 Expert, Paul Gomez 30-34 Expert, Dusty Means A-Pro and Ashley
Kneram Pro Girls. The Freestyle things of BULLY lines up like this David
Heally Street/Dirt, Steven Lilly Street/Dirt, Chris Gerber Pro Street/Dirt
and Joey "Whitesnake" Marks Pro Dirt.
Our 2002 Sponsors include: Answer, Odyssey, Profile, HAMMER Bodywear,
Diatech, UGP, Sun Rims and ODI grips. We are also pleased to announce
that we are getting a new Dually and Fifth wheel trailer to pull behind
it. The trailer will be at all the races the BMX team goes too and at
select Freestyle Contests.
06/02 Darren Hawkins Adds New Sponsors
Aussie AA Pro Darren Hawkins has hooked up with a couple of new co-sponsors.
He has added Sun Ringle, Profile Cranks and Accessories, S & M Bars
and Knucklebone to his list of sponsors which already include Cassap Racing,
Standish Cycles, AXO Products, A.T.I, Oakley and Marzocchi Forks.
05/02 Trackside BMX Press Release
Are you looking for a BMX racing site that's a little bit different? Sure
we have all the normal stuff including a ton of photos, interviews with
some of the biggest names in BMX, competitions, news, downloads for your
Computer!, you can find out about our race team, and much much more!
But what is different about Trackside is the bigger focus on amateur class riders, there's still information about the pros, but we haven't forgotten our roots. We are also proudly Australian orientated.
So for something different check out www.tracksidebmx.cjb.net your online BMX racing magazine from Victoria, Australia.
05/02 Spred The Word
| It's time to Spred the word! Spred Clothing that is. After taking
some time to get organized for the 2002 year. Spred is back with a bunch
of new designs. You can check'em out www.spredclothing.com
where you can order online. Spred will continue to sponsor; Pro Dirt Jumper
"Wildman" Todd Lyons (who has his own signature shirt you can
check out), AA Pro "Maniac" Mike Gul (who also has his own signature
shirt), AA Pro "TNT" Tim Kneip, AA Pro Chad Street, AA Pro Chris
Ham, and ABA's Number 1 Pro Girl Alice Jung.
05/02 BMX Australia News
BMX Australia confirms Grant "Supercoach" White as BMXA High
Performance Coach
BMX Australia has confirmed the 12 month contract appointment of Grant
White as BMXA High Performance Coach.
White returned from a succesful 2001 campaign in the States which saw
him pull in a top 10 ABA position. White is also well known for his past
Training efforts with Wade Bootes, Luke Madill, Kamakazi , Bubba Harris
and many others.
Having recently renegotiated a contract with BMXA, White will be responsible
for the National Train On Squad, the National Team and the
National Junior Development Scheme.
With increased finances from the Australian Sports Commission, the 2002
BMXA Coaching Program will see a further
strengthening of the existing relationship with the world renowned Australian
Institute of Sport and its team of Bio Mechanical specialists.
BMXA President Graham Arnold confirmed that the appointment of White was
on a contract basis, allowing him to conduct additional Coaching at bot
a local and international level. White will also undertake a 12 month
program with the members of the Australian Team. It is also hoped that
the Australian Challenge team to Brazil will be able to defend their 2001
World Championship status.
BMX Australia adds to strength of National Coaching program
Following on from the confirmation of Grant White as BMXA High Perfromance
Coach , BMX Australia has advised of the appointment of Heath Walker as
the new National Coaching Co-ordinator. Walker will be responsible for
the day-to-day administration of the existing State Coaching Program,
as well as working closely with BMX Australia's National Sports Development
Officer Loretta Burke.
The position is a 3 day per week part-time position that will see Walker
bring a whole new dimension to the administration side of the National
Coaching Program. Having completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports
Coaching and Administration, Walker also has minor in both Marketing and
Management.
His background includes Coaching within the AFL Club St Kilda,the National
Basketball League and the Titans Zone Basketball team. Having advertised
nationally for the position, the BMX Australia Board selected Walker because
of his innovative vision for future consolidation of the sport.
The BMXA Board has made a bold step in bringing a professional from outside
of the BMX sport, but the recent successes of Australian Coaching programs
has seen the need to increase the opportunities for riders at all levels.
Ultimately it is intended that the appointment of both White and Walker
will see the creation of a Coaching juggernaut that will change the face
of Australian BMX.
01/02 What's Wrong With BMX?
Some time ago we asked the question; What's wrong with BMX? The response
was overwhelming and the issues disscussed were quite varied.
Now, before I get started I should introduce myself, so you can see that my intentions are purely to help advance the sport of BMX racing in Australia. My name is Shane Jenkins I started racing BMX in 1981 and have raced, on and off, at a pro level for over 15 years. I have competed at 3 world championships, around 16 Australian Championships, and raced in three continents. I have been the president of the Puckapunyal BMX Club for over 7 years, I was the president of the Northern Rivers region for 2 years, I have been an accredited coach and organised many race events, the lastest being the ATi/Answer MidVic Nationals in October last year. I started BMXUltra.com in 1996 as a means to help promote the sport, it's riders and events at that time there were very few BMX websites and even fewer BMX racing specific. So as you can see BMX is a big part of my life.
The discussion points;
In Australia there is an equity rule which states that the pro
pool for an event should be spilt 75% to AA Men and 25% to AA Women. It
sounds fair on the surface...you would think...but let's put it into perspective.
The women pay the same entry fee as the men any where between $20 and
$40, however in many cases there will be only 3 female riders and around
16 male riders.
Let's say there is an event with a $1000 prize pool and the entry fee
is $30. There are 3 women entered (16% of riders, entry fees add up to
$90) and 16 men entered (84% of riders, entry fees add up to $480). Not
quite the 75/25% split that's defined in the rules is it?
Now what usually happens is the club will raise the prize money or a portion
of it and the entry fees help the club with expenses, etc. But when there
isn't a full field or women there is a portion of the pool that isn't
paid at all, a little bit extra that the club keeps. The girl who places
third gets $25 and is out of pocket only $5, there are 8 male riders who
go home with nothing at all.
What am I getting at here? Well...there are 2 sides of this story. To
make it fair for the women who only get 25% of the pool, they should only
pay 25% of what the male riders pay. But also to make it fair for the
men the women should have a minimum of a full gate, that's 8 riders to
form a class. Impossible to get 8 female riders on the track at one time?
Not at all, there are a number of riders out there who are allowed to
race pro, they just don't.
No matter how you look at it it isn't fair for either party, the associations
should look at ways to attract more female riders into BMX and not leave
it up to the clubs. Also the prize pool split should be divided according
to the amount of money contributed by male and female riders, in our example
this is 16/84%.
This leads on to a related problem which is Australian BMX racing
just isn't a big enough sport to attract any major sponsors, or media.
For a long time the X-games had taken focus away from BMX racing, until
the inclusion of the Downhill BMX racing event.
I often hear it said that 150 riders is a good number for a national event
in Australia, when you think that we have about 10% of the population
in the US and they get about 1500 riders to a national event it's not
so bad, however I have raced at national events that had 800 riders for
a number of years, and I'm not talking about the Australian championships.
There once was a time that BMX racing was more than 5 times bigger than
it is now. I say was, and many people will say that's all in the past,
and they are right, it is the past, but history shows that it can be done.
But how do you ask?
One of the biggest problems with Australian BMX is that it has lost focus,
even though it is a lot more oganised now than it was 20 years ago. Most
states and the national body now have paid administrators and offices.
But they are so busy chasing funding and trying to get BMX into the Olympics,
the day to day BMX racing is being neglected. I'm not blaming anyone,
we need funding and it would be great for the sport to make it to the
Olympics. It's just that when I first started racing there were 2 sanctions
ABMXA (Now BMXAustralia) and the NBA (National Bicycle Association), just
as in business the competition was good for both sanctioning bodies, both
were promoting themselves and promoting the sport and with that came rapid
growth getting involved in BMX racing was simple, it was an easy sport
to get involved with.
Where do you go today if you want to find out about BMX racing? You could
try your local bike shop, but they would probably not know anything about
BMX, appart from the entry level bikes they have on the showroom floor.
You could try the local track, but it's the racing tracks that are usually
off the beaten path and are difficult to find. The most ridden tracks
are more likely to be old tracks that aren't raced on anymore or tracks
built by councils and there is no information about how to start racing
BMX anywhere to be seen.
I'm getting off the track a bit here but I'm sure you can see it takes
more than expecting local clubs to generate growth in the sport, in the
US it's difficult to go into a major shopping centre without seeing an
ABA or NBL stand that has all the information on how to get involved,
and I'm not talking about clothing shops, not BMX specialists.
There are a number of websites, including BMXUltra.com, that deserve a
lot more attention and promotion from clubs and associations than they
get. BMXUltra.com simply gets far more hits than any other BMX racing
website in Australia, why don't BMX Australia tap into that?
From promotion comes sponsorship? It's a difficult climate to raise
sponsorship in for anything fullstop. To get sponsorship for a rider or
an event is far more difficult than people give it credit for. People
usually only spend money to make money, it's simple investment. Why would
you pool money into a sport that is so small, and how will any one benefit
from sponsoring a BMX event? I have been through the whole process of
rasing money to run an event and there is a lot of rejection both from
inside and outside the BMX industry, some people have been burned before,
some have other agendas and BMX racing doesn't fit into the formula, and
others simply don't have the money to give away.
The keyword here is benefit. If you can show someone that they will get
maximum exposure for their dollar that is all you need to attract interest.
So what is good exposure 150 riders and 150 spectators at one event? Don't
kid yourself. Websites like BMXUltra.com can reach that many people in
a couple of hours, magazines like BMXPress has a similar impact, putting
branding in the hands of thousands of potential customers. If we promote
our sport sponsorship will come easier, people will know what you are
talking about when you tell them you are rasing money for a BMX event
and 600 riders is more appealing than 150. But also a long running series
would be more appealing than a single day event.
Which leads me into state and national series programs. There
has been a lot of talk about how much better a series would be to decide
a champion. Years ago the Victorian State championships were run as a
series, it was quite successful, one year it was covered by the ABC and
had a major sponsor. Did it decide the real champion? Well yes, plain
and simply the most consistant rider would emerge the champion and there
would be a number of huge race meetings throughout the year. So why did
it stop? I honestly have no idea. Personally I prefer the pressure of
a one weekend event, that's how the world championships are run, the national
championships, so why not the state championships.
A national circuit works in the US because they have a huge industry with
a lot of support for riders, support that we don't see here in Australia.
Any series I have seen in Australia has forced riders to race a minimum
number of races, which is a high proportion rounds, and the race would
be one day. This is where it just falls appart, there should be seperate
races on Saturday and Sunday, both counting towards an end of year title
and you should only have to travel to very few events. Let's say each
state in Australia has one weekend of a national series, that's 16 rounds.
And let's say the minimum number of rounds was 4 and the Australian Championships
was a manditory round at the end of the series. This would make far more
sense as you would have more people being able to afford to travel enough
to compete, those who want to do more races can, and have the opportunity
to get higher points, although you would only count the best 4 rounds.
I believe that there needs to be a goal, particularly for the expert riders,
something to keep riders motivated right throughout the year and this
might just be the thing. Of course you could scale this down to state
level, or even just run it as a series seperate to the Australian Championships
and call it say the Australian Cup. What it is called is less important
than how it is run. Look at the ABA and NBL they have really got it together
and the only real complaints you get in the US are that the meetings run
too long and there are too many rounds in their series.
While this article was based around Australian BMX, I asked for outsiders
to tell us what they thought so we could compare and one suggestion was
to review the US National series format. Our US reader brought
up the possibility to use seperate tracks and run seperate events for
pro and expert riders, making the sport more exciting for TV and for riders
and spectators. There is a tendancy to build mellow tracks in the US at
the moment, so there are less injuries, allowing racing to run smoother
and enabling 6 year olds to race around the same track as pros. Also they
suggested to cut the classes at National level to Expert only and use
state events and regional events as stepping stones for novice and intermediate
riders to build their way up to expert and pro level. Unfortunatly I think
money is the biggest driver of the National series, the best the US riders
could hope for is a split schedule with novice and intermediate classes
earlier in the day and expert and pro later, but I can't imagine that
happening soon.
There are also the rules and officials and their interpretations of the
rules. But that's a whole other story, more on that soon.
So as you can see from the few things that we discussed there are some
issues that could be nutted out to improve BMX, there is nothing wrong
with the sport that can't be fixed. If you have any comments feel free
to drop us an email, the address is at the top of this page.
31/01 Sean Dwight Training Systems
Sean Dwight Training Systems are proud to announce our ongoing and new
relationships with some of BMX racing's top performers, and the launch
our new website at www.seandwight.com
Congratulations go out to Kyle Bennett, who has been almost unbeatable
since his historic win at the 2001 ABA Grand Nationals. Since then, Kyle
has won every main event that he has qualified for this year in both the
ABA & NBL sanctions. Kyle's recent success is a direct result of a
scientific training program designed specifically by Sean Dwight Training
Systems. Kyle is now sitting at the top of the AA points for the ABA and
NBL.
You've got to train hard to get to number one. And the popular belief
is that you've got to train TWICE as hard to stay number one. But Sean
Dwight Training Systems can show you how to train SMARTER! Alice Jung,
the current ABA #1 Pro female rider, is the most recent high-profile racer
to adopt the Sean Dwight Training System. She joins current ABA #1 AA
Pro Warwick Stevenson and current #1 NBL points leader Kyle Bennett in
an impressive roster of elite athletes with one thing in common.
These training programs are not just for the top professionals in our
sport. Careful planning, specific exercises, and a scientifically designed
overall program can help all riders become faster, stronger, and more
consistent in their performances. Sean Dwight Training Systems are now
pleased to offer these technologies and techniques to racers all around
the world. Check www.seandwight.com
for further details.
30/01 Track Attack Wrap Up
Round 4 (Eastfield)
Adam Robb reports;
The track looked and felt really good, a big improvement on a track that
had gone a long time without change, the Easfield club has obviously been
busy over the Christmas break.
The racing was fast but there were no finals due to a lighting problem
in the first corner, which blacked out just before the commencement of
the finals. For safety reasons the decision was to finish the meeting
and decide it all on points.
In the AA Pro class, I think Norco's Luke Madill finished 1st because
of the lighting problem.
The A's had semis last night, Leigh Weber (Huffy/BMXUltra.com) was sitting
1st and the Western Australian guy came under him and Leigh hit he's back
wheel on the way out of the corner which caused him to go down. But as
it worked out the Semis didn't count they went back to points to decide
the top 8.
Round 5 (South Eastern)
The South Eastern track has been through a number of changes over the
past 20 or so years that it's been around, but none as dramatic as the
changes that were finsihed in time for the Track Attack. Out of the start
gate there is a long straight that, for as long as I can remember, contained
2 roller jumps then a huge step down. This has been changed to 2 sets
of big doubles, so big as a matter of fact they now dwarf the step down.
The change is cool, but the spectators didn't benefit...atleast not this
time. It was difficult to come out of a relatively flat start gate into
a strong head wind and jump the doubles, most riders were coasting through
them.
In the AA Pro class Madill was showing why he was leading the series,
and Kamakazi was also doing well, even after a big fall in practice which
through him over his bars after snapping a pedal at the bottom of the
start hill. There was a run off for the main between the two powerhouses
of the class Danny Galea (Iron Horse/BMXUltra.com) and Sean Dwight (www.SeanDwight.com),
it was fairly even all the way to the line, but Dwight took line honors.
Showing just how competitive the AA Pro class is, Dwight got out of the
gate well, but Kamakazi got a slight lead, but got a bit out of control
and lost speed. The pack, lead by Dwight, swallowed him up, and as they
neared the last straight Dwight was under pressure by Michael Robinson
(DK), it became a drag race that Dwight took to the line just ahead of
Robinson. Youngster Michael Fenwick (Specialized) was flying and proved
that his finals birth at Lilydale was no fluke...this guy is so young
he won't even be old enough to race Junior Elite at the Nationals this
year, which is a big shame he would have been the favourite.
In A pro Luke Pretlove (Redline) took the big win.
In AA women Chloe MacPherson (BMXmania.com) took the win narrowly over
Melissa Mankowski (Redline) and Tanya Bailey (Cassap) had to settle for
third.
The BMXUltra.com crew didn't do too bad, Luke Chmielewski was up for some
A pro action and took it to the semi final but just missed out on making
the main. Shane Jenkins was in the 19+ Expert class and showing the youngsters
how to ride. Once again the 30 and over riders dominated the motos, Wayne
Flint qualified first with 3 straight wins, Shane qualified second and
Trevor "The cross dresser" Weber (Knucklebone) was also in the
mix. When the gate dropped in the main it was an even start until the
first jump when Jenkins started to break away from the pack, slowly pulling
away and taking it all the way to the line, expect to see Jenkins in the
A Pro class again soon.
Round 6 (Lilydale)
Adam Robb Reports;
It's the last round of the series, the idea was for a "bonus 8"
(the top 8 riders for the first 5 rounds) were meant to run off in a 3
moto final. They were gonna run them in the middle of each moto, but they
cancelled all the pro bonus finals and paid it out on points.
In the AA Women Rachel Marshall (Redline) led the final from start to
finish but didn't do it easy, she had Chloe MacPherson (BMXMania.com)
on her back wheel the whole way until Tanya Bailey (Cassap) pulled a good
move on her in the last corner. Rachel Marshal 1st with Tanya Bailey 2nd
and Chloe McPherson 3rd.
In A Pro Luke Pretlove (Redline) showed why he is #1 again by winning
the final from start to finish with Dean Bearens holding in there for
2nd and James Hollings ended 3rd, Huffy/BMXUltra.com's Leigh Weber was
top qualifier for the day but had a bad start and finished mid field.
The AA was hot as usual with Kamakazi taking the early lead while Luke
Madill was left with a bad start, Madill some how came out of the first
corner in 2nd position and starting to close the 5 bike length gap on
Kamakazi, Kamakazi held onto his bike through the rhythm section on the
second straight and Madill was hot on his tail, Kama tried to close the
opening that he left over the step up into the last corner but but Madill
had no time to slow down and the two hit over the jump ending with Kamakazi
on the dirt and Madill took the win. Dwight got under Hawkins in the last
corner to finish 2nd leaving Hawkins to play with Kama on the ground,
Harvey ended 3rd from memory.
The after party for the Gold Cup awards was a success with many riders
showing up for the award presentation.
Awards;
1) BEST BIKE = Redline
2) BEST TEAM = Redline
3) BEST FEMALE PRO = Bridget Pink
4) BEST PRO ROOKIE = Luke Turner
5) BEST PRO RIDER = Luke Madill
This year BMXPress also did a riders choice award voted only by the pro
riders. That award went to Luke Madill also.
29/01 Natarsha Williams Update
Australia's own Natarsha Williams topped of another great year in the
USA taking out the NBL Super girls title again, she also finished 2nd
overall in the NBL Pro girls series and 3rd overall in the ABA Super girls.
She is currently home resting over the break and is due to return to the
USA in March for the new season.
This year she is riding for Wooden Wheels/Entegee with co-sponsors SunRingle,
Redline, Fox, TroyLee Designs, Bullseye Visual, Answer, Maxxis, ATI and
Tektro.
Natarsha has had her website revamped with a new Ask Away section in it
so you can find out anything from training, to what her plans are, also
a Guestbook, and two very controversial Polls so come and check it out
on Tarsha's BMX World. http://home.austarnet.com.au/margw
28/01 Mike Gul and Alice Jung Sponsors Update
AA Pro "Maniac" Mike Gul and ABA #1 Pro Girl Alice Jung
have hooked up with a couple of new sponsors. They have added SDG seats
and Marwi Titanium spokes to their list of sponsors. SDG is making them
custom seats and they will be running Marwi blue titanium spokes. Their
other sponsors include; Mudslingers, Answer, Dope BMX Products, Hyper
Bicycles, Spred Clothing, AC Components, Sun/Ringle, BMXmania.com.
Check out the latest news from Mike Gul at www.mikegul.com.
25/01 Track Attack Round 3 (Knox) Round Up
Adam Robb (Redline/BMXUltra.com) Reports.
At the start of the night Mellisa Mankowski and Chloe McPherson were both
called to point score with their parents and Barry Porter (the riders
representative) and they were both warned that if they didn't stop taking
each other out that they would both be dq'd from the meeting.
The entries were good, AA Pro had 16 riders and A Pro had 24 ( no semis ).
In A Pro, Luke Pretlove (Redline/TotalBMX) and and Leigh Weber (Huffy/BMXUltra.com) had a run off for the final. (Pretlove had crashed in his first moto then got 2 1st's.) Pretlove won the run off in the end.
Rachel Marshall (Redline) won the AA pro women but it wasn't easy, she had the inside lane and held on for the win.
In the A Pro main, Pretlove was winning by about a bike and a half into the second corner and he left the gate open and Levi Colins (Huffy) did one of his awesome moves in the turn to take the lead and the win while Pretlove clipped Levi's rear wheel coming out of turn 2 which caused him to crash. Dean Bearans finished 2nd.
In the AA Pro class Thunder Danny Galea (Iron Horse/BMXUltra.com) made
his 2nd main of the series!! Kamakazi (Redline) had the lead down the
first straight and over the big doubles he and Luke Madill (Norco) made
contact in the air which in the end had Kama manualing the triples and
losing alot of speed which left Tiger steaming around the outside of the
first turn to take the lead. Madill sat in 2nd and Sean Dwight held on
for 3rd. Tony Harvey (S&M) almost put Kama over turn 3 while fighting
for 4th but Kama some how got around him. 16 year old Michael Fenwik (Specialized),
just graduated out of A Pro and already making AA mains.
23/01 Track Attack Round 2 Round Up
We didn't go to the second round of the Track Attack, but caught up
with Adam Robb afterwards, this is what he had to say about what went
down.
Leigh Weber (Huffy/BMXUltra.com) made the A final but went down in the first corner with the rest of the field. Luke Pretlove (Redline/TotalBMX) was on the inside cutting it real tight and the guy from WA was on the outside leaning in on Pretlove ( in equal 1st ) and Pretlove lost it and went down in the middle of the corner and every body except for 2 riders went down.
Rachel Marshall (Redline) finished 2nd but gave Tanya Bailey (Cassap) a really good run for her money. Melissa Mankowski (Redline) got put back again for taking out Chloe McPherson (BMXMania.com) in the last corner, it was a really good move but because it was intentional they reversed the placings.
AA was hot, Kamakazi (Redline) got the start of the century and went from lane 4 to lane 1 before the first jump and lead the whole and Luke Madill (Norco) past him on the last 2 jumps. Tony Harvey (S&M) put Sean Dwight into a tent from the last corner, it was a pretty harsh take out.
That's all for round 2, round 3 was postponed until Wednesday night due to a heap off rain on Monday and Tuesday. More news from the Track Attack as it comes to hand.
22/01 FREEWORLD RETURNS TO ST KILDA FESTIVAL 2002
(January 2002, Melbourne, Australia), The 2002 St Kilda Festival will
once again play host to the spectacular Freeworld event to be held on
the 10th February 2002. The event will be staged next to The Palace, Lower
Esplanade, St Kilda, from 10am til 5.30pm.
Freeworld includes the Australian BMX Dirt Jumping Masters combined with the Masters of Mayhem Freestyle Motocross demonstrations performed by some of the best FMX riders Australia has to offer, this includes Dayne Kinnaird, Luke Urek, Noel 'Shagga' Cotter and new kid wonder, Pete McCann.
The St Kilda festival is Australia's largest cultural festival which
attracted almost 400,000 people last year. It showcases a mix of different
live music along with extreme sports, street events, art, food and wine,
all in an exciting and fun filled carnival atmosphere.
Practice starts at 10am with the first of the Freestyle Motocross Demonstrations
at 12 noon, this will be followed by the first of the BMX Heats. There
will be 3 FMX Demonstrations in total, BMX heats and finals will then
be followed by a 'Best Trick' competition at the end of the day for both
Freestyle Motocross and BMX dirt jumping. Total prize pool for the BMX
competition is over $8000, one of the biggest prize pool for this sport
in Australia.
If you are interested in competing click
here to download the entry form.
21/01 Track Attack In Full Throttle
The Second Annual Track Attack series, run by BMX Victoria, started in
fine style at the Park Orchards track on Saturday with some of Australia's
top riders in both the Pro and Expert classes. Although the overall series
entries were lower that expected the event still managed to attract riders
from all over the country. In the elite ranks there was Sean Dwight, Kamakazi,
Luke Madill, Michael Robinson, Darren Hawkins, Danny Galea, Simon Anderson,
Tony Harvey, Brett Scruse and a heap more.
It was a hot day with a top temperature of 36c. The race was scheduled to start at 2 pm, a silly move I thought seeing as the middle of the day is the hottest part and BMX Victoria don't have a good reputation for getting the races over quickly, it's not particularly "sun smart" to keep people out in the sun in those conditions. The track was fast, actually the best I have ever seen it, except for the starting gate which has always been a discussion piece.
In the AA Pro motos Madill, Dwight, Robinson and Kamakazi all looked very comfortable. There were semis for the A pros and a number of crashes, the rider who was looking good on the day was Levi Collins. Rachell Marshall, the 1998 Elite Womens World Champion, made surprise appearance in Redline colours to take on Tanya Bailey and crew in the Pro womens class.
Madill dominated the AA Pro final making his win look easy, Levi Collins did the same in the A pro class, while Tanya Bailey looked to have a battle on her hands in the main she took line honours with Rachell Marshall hot on her tail.
The BMXUltra.com crew were doing a fine job. Shane Jenkins, the BMXUltra.com webmaster, dropped back into the 19+ Expert class and despite being the oldest rider in the class qualified easily for the final. Actually an interesting statistic was that of the 15 entries in the class 4 riders who are 30-35 expert class riders made the main. Jenkins went on to finish second in the final after leading most of the way, he lost momentum when he miscalculated a rhythm section. In the AA Pro class Danny Galea finished 6th in the main and Adam Robb was doing well but failed to transfer out of the motos. Leigh Weber finished 4th in the A Pro main.
Some more results from the Track Attack series coming soon.
17/01 SeanDwight.com is live
Aussie AA Pro powerhouse Sean Dwight has been keeping busy while taking
a break from the US circuit back home in Australia. He has been both racing
and getting his new website off the ground. Sean has had a lot of success
with his own racing career and he's also had a lot with training riders
like Kyle Bennett, Greg Romero, Ian Stoffell and (fellow Aussie) the 2001
ABA AA Pro champion Warwick Stevenson.
The website was designed by old school Australian BMXer Billy "Ray" Dixon, and includes photos taken from the BMXUltra.com photo gallery and other sources. It includes a bit on info on the riders he's working with and information on his Training Systems work, as well as riders results.
Don't forget to add the Sean Dwight Training Systems website to your favourites list, check it out at www.seandwight.com.
14/01 KnuckleBone Joins the Answer Family
Answer Products Inc. announces today that it has entered into an exclusive
licensing agreement with KnuckleBone. Answer will assume complete responsibilities
for all aspects of brand management including product strategy, product
development, sales, distribution, and marketing.
"I am really excited about the new relationship between KnuckleBone and Answer," says KnuckleBone's founder, Spencer Thompson. "Answer has an excellent reputation for innovative products and a high level of service. This relationship will enable Answer to enter the core dirt jumping, street and vert markets and will help the KnuckleBone brand and product line to continue to grow and succeed."
The long-term goal with KnuckleBone is to keep the company firmly tied to its BMX roots while providing an increased level of service, with better availability of product.
"KnuckleBone is a unique company with high performance products and a strong brand identity," says Glenn Miller, Answer's President. "KnuckleBone presents a great opportunity for future growth and we have worked diligently to make the transition as seamless as possible."
Answer Products Inc. (www.answerproducts.com)
includes Manitou suspension forks, Answer BMX products, Answer shoes and
gloves, Answer components and Knucklebone BMX products.
14/01 DK Masters entry form
The meeting formerly known as the Liverpool GT masters (for a number of
years) has a new sponsor and a huge $5333 kitty for the AA Pro class.
Liverpool is just outside of Sydney, the meeting will be held on March
10th, and if you want any further information you'll have to click
here to download the entry form (175kb pdf document).
13/01 BMX and Go Karting
Last Thursday night, Queensland AA Pro racer Julian Lim organised
a night of Gokarting at Archerfield Speed Karts to celebrate his birthday.
Archerfield Speed Karts is owned by former 1980's and 1990's AA Factory
Powerlite Pro Bill Dixon (previously known as Billy Ray Dixon).
A group of 22 current BMX racers, ex-BMX racers and other hangers-on competed.
The qualifying rounds were tough, with the top 11 drivers making it through
to the 20 lap feature main, while the also-rans battled it out in the
consolation final.
AA Pro Brett Scruse and former Maxxim Team Manager Duane Prasser were
two notable names in the consi final, with Brett t-boning Duane with two
laps to go causing both to finish in the minor placings.
The main was won by Jamie Gray who consistently posted fast times all
evening and started from pole position. Second place went to former gokart
racer and current top AA Pro-lady racer Tanya Bailey, and third place
was taken by Jake The Snake Moratti (former GT Factory star). Fourth place
was birthday-boy Julian Lim.
Some of the drivers qualified up to race Archerfield's "superkarts",
with Julian taking the honours for fastest time of the day.
More details on Brisbane's FASTEST hire karts can be found at www.realgokarts.com
10/01 GRANT WHITE TRAINED ATHLETES TAKE HOME THE
GOLD!
The 2002 Australian BMX circuit kicked off this past weekend with the
prestigious Gold Coast Nationals in QLD….and it was a couple of Grant
White trained athletes who took home the GOLD all weekend!
Wade Bootes (Trek) stopped off in QLD as part of his 2002 Australian tour
and WON a stacked AA Pro class BOTH DAYS!!! Congratulations Wade!
Wade the 2000 ABA # 1 Pro and 2000 UCI World Dual Champion, has been training
with Grant White since late 1999, and his 2002 preparation seems to be
on track for yet another successful year of BMX and MTB competition.
Tanya Bailey (Cassap) journeyed all the way across Australia to WIN the Pro Women's class BOTH DAYS also!!! Seems Tanya's 2002 season training paid off big time as she was victorious in a world class field. Tanya was also recently awarded the 2001 Australian Female BMX Cyclist of the Year Award.
WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BMX TRAINING TIME, AND HOOK UP WITH THE AUSSIE SUPERCOACH TOO? - WELL NOW YOU CAN!!!
The service that has up until now only been available to a select few, is now available to the rest of the worldwide BMX community!
After balancing coaching and training BMX athletes along with racing for the past number of years, Grant has decided to go full time with assisting BMX'ers across the globe in 2002!
Do you want to be prepared for competition like never before, and achieve the results that you are truly capable of? Then drop Grant White a line at bmxtrainer@bigpond.com (e-mail address while website is being finalized) and get the wheels in motion!………just as Bubba Harris (Redline) recently did, to ensure that his rookie year of Pro BMX racing in the USA is one for the record books!!
07/01 Track Attack entry forms.
Have you been looking for entry forms for the Melbourne Track Attack series
that's on at the end of this month? Well entries close on the 11th of
Jan. So click
here to download the word document and send it off quick smart.
05/01 What's wrong with BMX in Australia?
At BMXUltra.com we are known to say exactly what we think about BMX
racing. And after competing for over 20 years at a national level we believe
we have every right to. We have decided it's about time to get a few things
of our chest (again), but this time we would like a little bit of external
input. If you have some ideas about what is wrong with BMX racing today
let us know and we'll incorporate it in an upcoming article for BMXUltra.com.
But, we are after possible solutions/recommendations as well.
Even if you aren't from Australia it will be interesting to compare people's
thoughts to see if problems we have here occur anywhere else. The types
of things we want to discuss are a National Series, promotion of the sport,
the rules and so forth. If you have anything for us send it to news@bmxultra.com.
03/01 Gul And Jung announce 2002 Sponsors
According to www.mikegul.com the "Maniac" Mike Gul and ABA's
Number 1 Pro Girl Alice Jung have teamed up together for 2002. The 2 are
running their own sponsorship program to help them with their racing efforts
for this year. So who have the gotten so far? How about the following;
Answer - The official uniform and fork sponsor.
Dope BMX Products - Plates and pad sets will be on their bikes.
Hyper Bicycles - Will continue to be the bike of choice for both riders.
Spred Clothing - The only clothes for both Mike and Alice.
AC Components - Makers of great cranks and sprockets can now be found
on both bikes.
Sun/Ringle - The best rims in the business, period!
Mudslingers Bike Shop - Are helping the dynamic due out and will also
be vending at almost every ABA National this year. Check'em out.
BMXmania - You want the latest news and rumors, BMXmania gives them to
you.
Both Mike and Alice will be at the ABA season opener in Reno, NV to show
off their new parts and race duds. Mike will also be making his AA Pro
debut next weekend at that race. And www.mikegul.com has also be updated
with a ton of new pics, 2002 race schedule, and more.