Sandy Ridge BMX —- Big A Series —- McDonough, Georgia —- February 13-14, 2010

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Story: Tim Huff

Photos: Tim Palmer

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“You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather” – Outkast

That quote from Atlanta’s finest hip-hop export kept running through my head on Valentine’s weekend as I sat and watched the snow fall from my hotel room in McDonough, Georgia.  And I watched it keep falling.  And then it fell some more.

Over the past few years, Sandy Ridge BMX in McDonough, Georgia has defied the odds and had some of the greatest weather at races planned in times of the year when Georgia wasn’t particularly known for having good weather.  Even last year in March, a notoriously tumultuous weather month in Georgia, Sandy Ridge BMX had near 60 degree weather and clear skies for their national event.

This year, however, Mother Nature showed everyone in Georgia exactly who was in charge as she dumped over three inches of snow on McDonough on Friday afternoon.  This caused the NBL to cancel all Friday activities until Saturday morning and call for a nine o’clock start time.  The sheer volume of the downfall, though, caused the tentative start time for practice and registration to be pushed back to noon.

This was eventually a 2:00 PM start time for practice.  Words can’t do enough to describe the hard work put forth by the volunteers at this track.  I thought this type of hard work was relegated to the crew at Oak Mountain, BMX in Pelham, Alabama…as they can’t seem to buy a good weekend of weather over there.

Watching entire straight aways lit on fire with kerosene and straw was a bit shocking as flames were leaping chest high in the air where riders were supposed to be riding in mere moments.  But this trick seemed to work wonders at drying out the track.

Day one racing got underway a bit behind schedule with the two moto transfer system in place, but the race was run with efficiency and saw some great racing action.

DAY 1

Elite action saw Addison Bikes’ Jon Miller untouchable, as he was perfect all day long.  Jason Sherrill and Redline’s Jason Carnes kept him honest and looked fast in the cold weather.

EXPERT

Standouts on day one in the expert classes found Tony Lehman picking up a perfect in 41+, and Chris Meaker did likewise in 35-40 X.  However, this class saw the return of old school legend Shan “The Man” Hatfield riding for Kovachi Wheels.  Shan threw down some power on the first straight and looked to be in pretty good shape.

MCS rider, Petey Peters scored the win as did Bakari Hassan.  Local hotshoe Seth Utz scored a big perfect in the rock hard 17-18 X class, and Geoffrey Banser from Florida perfected the 16 Expert class.

Morphine rider Damian Cherepko came down from Pennsylvania the perfect on day one in 14/15 expert.

Other winners in Expert were Kavin Brander in 13X, Antonio Bonessi in 12X, Coleman Habib held off stylish Richard Dey in 11X, Warren Large scored a perfect in 10X, Grant Green, Dylan Shipley and Ezra Poole all got the win on day one in their classes.

GIRLS

Aryanna Wilfork was perfect in a tough 16/17+ women class, Kendra Stoddard is on the comeback trail and got her perfect in 14/15 Girls.  Bianca Dean, Carly Jacobs, and Melody Large all got the win on day one in their classes.

NOVICE

Robert Murray out of Florida in the 41+ Novice class has to be the fastest Novice rider out there.  If he goes to Expert before the Grands, this plate is his to lose.  I’m calling that one now.  No one was close to being as fast as him in Novice this weekend.  Mark “The Beast” Wheeler out of Louisiana got the win in 26-34/35-40 Novice.  Ethan Quehl, Dillon “Slayer” Slay, and Jacob Pischke all got wins in their classes as well.  Also, a big win was scored by local Austin Gates from Decatur, Georgia as he was perfect.

CRUISER

James Rempkowski relocated from his New Jersey home to Alabama a few years ago and has acclimated well to the southern environment.  He’s been on a tear in the 50+ Crusier class and was untouchable on day one.  Married power-duo Anthony and Shayne Robinson both scored perfects in their respective classes as did Tony Lehman for Kovachi Wheels.  Tony Spencer scored a big win all the way from Pennsylvania and Cameron Dyll turned it on in the main to get the win.

“Ironman” Nathan Grant has been due for a while.  Injuries slowed him down a bit last year.  He seems to be back and his confidence is higher than ever.  Score him perfect in 15-16 Cruiser.  Tyler Heinrichs and Coleman Habib both got the win in their cruiser classes on day one.

ROOKIES

Some of the standouts in Rookie were Isaiah Estanislao, Maximus “Gladiator” Broach, Austyn Burrell, and Bailey Smith who all scored the win on day one.  However, the crowd favorite in the Rookie class had to be 3 year old Tate Ammon from Kentucky who got the loudest ovation all weekend long for handling the jumps and a gate that seemed to scare him a bit.

DAY 2

Racing on day two was postponed until 11:00 AM to give the track time to “thaw”.  Any leftover moisture on the track froze after the sun set the previous day.  The track was uncovered to show several spots of sheer ice on the face of jumps.  After some thawing and some warm up laps, the track was ready for racing.

In Elite Open on day 2, Addison’s Jon Miller had to work a bit harder for that win.  Jason Larev (Morphine Industries) showed up and got some moto wins, and Schanewolf’s Matt Lindley had a fire lit under him as he was flying all day long.  Come main time, tough, it was Miller with DK’s Josh Smith, Fred Lintz and Jason Carnes chasing him down.

EXPERT

Tony Lehman held off Kovachi’s Mark Mitchell, who is on the comeback trail in 41+ Expert.  Large BMX legend Tony Sheets rolled in for the 3^rd.

35-40 Expert saw the Rennen/Intense ride of Meaker with the perfect.  Shan Hatfield battled with Bulldog’s Roy Washington in the Motos.  But the main found it Meaker, Mike Powers, Hatfield, then Washinton.

Petey Peters must love living in Georgia.  He ALWAYS seems to do well at this race.  I think the win on day 2 here makes four consecutive national wins for Peters at McDonough.

The shocker of the weekend in Expert has to go to all around nice guy Dimitrie Dyke from Peachtree City, Georgia stepping up and winning 19-25X over Rennen/Intense’s MJ Peters.

In 16X, local guy rocking the punk rawk pants Nathan “Ironman” Grant had the misfortune of drawing Intense/Dyna-Pep rider Geoffrey Banser in the motos.  Banser might have been the overall fastest rider in attendance this weekend.  He scored the win with Grant in tow and Jordan Ryan in for the 3^rd.

As on day one, Morphine’s Damian Cherepko was perfect in 14/15X.  He held off Ryan Deroche and Doug Widdows from Maryland.

Kavin Brander, Antonio Bonessi and Richard Dey were all perfect in their Expert classes as was Grant Green, Dylan Shipley and Ezra Poole, who scored the win in the 6X class.

GIRLS

Taylor Thomison showed up on day two and defeated local favorite Aryanna Wilfork and a hard charging Kyrstin Bluhm in the 16 Girls/17+ Women class.  Punk Rawk’s Little Sister even took time out of her career as a tattoo apprentice to come out and race on day two in this class!

Kendra Stoddard repeated on day two over Cheyenne Grant in 14-15 Girls.  And Christina Harvey and Bianca Dean had one of the best battles of the weekend in 11-13 Girls with Harvey coming out a winner.

Emily Grice, Carly Jacobs from Nashville, and Melody Large all scored perfects in their classes.

NOVICE

As he did on day one, Robert Murray ruled the old guy class with an iron fist.  Chris Pease from North Carolina was right there with him, but still has some catching up to do.

“The Beast” Robert Wheeler was perfect in 26-34/35-40 Novice over Paul Barkley and long haired rocker Matthew Gates.

Dillon Slay was perfect in 17-18 Novice as was Jacob Pischke in 16 Novice.  Camden Wolf from Alabama was perfect in the large 11 Novice Class as was Mikey Hewitt in 10 Nov., and Tristan Rockett in 9 Novice.

CRUISER

James Rempkowski continued his “Goodfellas” routine and whacked the competition in 50+ Cruiser.  Old School legend Jeff Tapscott from Illinois showed up on day two and destroyed the 45-49 Cruiser class leaving Anthony Robinson and James Armstrong to fend for second and third place.

Tony Lehman was perfect again in 40-44 Cruiser, and Robert Murray jumped up and took the win from Rennen/Intense rider Rob McAllister.  Mike Powers threw down the power (no pun intended) and was perfect over Vic Palmeri in 25-29/35-39 Cruiser after Tony Spencer decided mid-moto to go back to Pennsylvania.

Nathan Grant again was perfect on the big bike as was Clayborn’s Gabriel Barwick.

ROOKIE

Frankie Patterson is a large man.  And he killed the 17+ Rookie class on day two with a perfect.  Jordan Gleasure did likewise in 12/13 Rookie.  Austin Hutson and Drew Hannah were both perfect on day 2 as well.

As with day one, it was the 5 & Under Rookie class that was the loudest class of the day.  Big Bailey Smith from Marietta, Georgia won and Cade Edmondson from Illinois got the second.  Crowd favorite three year old Tate Ammon came in 6^th for the loudest ovation of the day.

After it was all said and done, the weekend was the coldest and muddiest race I’ve attended in over twenty years of BMX.  But that didn’t deter the Charlie Metree and his crew of volunteers from getting the track whipped into shape and pulling off what could have been a miserable mud race.  Kudos to the entire Sandy Ridge BMX volunteer crew for pulling some magic out of your hat with LOADS of hard work to pull off another successful race.

Even if Mother Nature wasn’t on your side this time!