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Pittsburgh, PA —- Elite Series —- South Park BMX —- June 26-27

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Story: Mercury Morgan

Photos: Jerrod Huffman, jrodsphotoshop.com

Video: Luke Nesler, 340films.com

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[Show as slideshow]

The weather is getting good, school is out, the NBL National series is steaming full speed ahead and all that meant I was heading to Pittsburgh, PA, home of the Penguins, Steelers and Pirates. Also home to the Truxells, Millers, and Burrights! And most importantly, home of South Park BMX!

Let me explain a bit about this special place. South Park BMX needs no introduction in the BMX world. This is heart pounding track is the real deal, full of high speed downhill action combined with big jumps and asphalt turns. If rollercoasters get your heart pumpin’ and make you scream “YAHOO!”, then South Park BMX is just for you. Located in a gorgeous park, set alongside a golf course and skate park, it just seems like heaven to me! If you haven’t been to South Park, let me just say, you’re missing out on an amazing track, city and history of BMX. You might want to be a part of the show next year because this place is like a huge piece of BMX pie! Come get some.

THE TRACK

I love a huge covered staging area like at the Grands and you know South Park has you covered. As you walk your way up the backside of the hill you can hear riders talk about how they are gonna hit the jumps and carve turns. A well thought out plan has to be in place for this track as it’s challenging to everyone. A great combination of doubles, step up and downs down the first straight leads you into turn one where you hit a step right out of the turn followed by a set of doubles, then a huge step table that leads you into the step up into turn two. This turn is fast as it sucks you in and holds you tight (kinda like Aunt Jenny’s Christmas hugs) until you exit and get one pedal in just before a huge step up with more backside than Kim Kardashian. Now you have to decide to go right and hit the Gravity Cavity Pro jump or go left ( like I did) because you’re scared to jump 32 feet with a hole all the way to China in the middle! I never liked China, so I chose to go left where you face a series of doubles, steps and rollers to slow your roll for  being a scaredy cat! Out of the last turn, you’ll face a downhill rhythm section where you can go big or roll right on through to the stripe!

I arrived at the track excited to see how everyone was hitting the 2nd and 3rd straights. My heart was pounding and I wasnt even on my bike yet. I knew it was gonna be a great weekend. Practice went well as did the Friday night race and we were on the Road to Glory with the National Bicycle League!

ELITES

For those of you that don’t know, South Park is famous WORLDWIDE! Thats why so many foreign riders were here prepping for the World Championships and gaining valuable points for the NBL Grand Nationals. Saturday night’s Pro Spectacular went off without a hitch. The band was playing during the Pro warm-ups and the Pros were flying around the course with speed and style. Stickers, t-shirts and even bikes were given away during the event. It was rad !

In the Masters class, Joey Allbright leads the year-long points chase with company coming quick. He stole a win Saturday with pure power! Opincar and Andres Rueda were right there! On Sunday, it was the Convertible Kid from Tennesse, Tommy Opincar, putting his skills to the test for a huge win. Albright was right behind him with Bolivia’s Javier Larrea for the third.

Super-Ex was pretty stiff as they lined up for the mains. Johnny Culbreth was in the mix both days but couldn’t muster a win as Weston Pope, Kyle McRory and AJBontorno were in the mix. But in the winner’s circle, Standard’s Scott McMahon and Michael Henderson stole the main events.

In Elite Women, I wonder if anyone can touch the power of 3D, Dom Daniels. She doubled and rode away with the wins in stellar fashion as Amanda Geving and Maddy Pitts chased her down. Alaina Henderson is getting faster and faster, keep your eyes on her. Tiffany Bontorno is too. She’s the youngest Elite Woman in the country and made mains like a rockstar!

In Elite Men, young guns are charging hard. Barry Nobles has been training at the OTC lately and it is showing in his riding skills and first straight pull. Argentinian Olympian Ramiro Marino grabbed a second and Jason Rogers nabbed a third on Saturday. On Sunday, it was Rogers getting the third again as Marino again settled for the second, but this time it was Josh Meyers on the top spot with his S Squared rig alongside him.

ROOKIES

You can check the results page for complete results, but let me inform you on some of the great racing I saw.  Rookies are awesome and the fact that they charged this super challenging track proves that they are ready for the next step in BMX! Many of the wins came from PA locals like Xavier Spaulding (5 Rookie), Luke Mackowiak (7 Rookie), Keegan Gaub (doubled in 9 Rookie), Nathan Bramer (also doubled 11 Rookie) and Jeremy Siedlecki (13 Rookie).  Then we had out-of-state race fans taking home big wins like Ian Gaskin, New Yorks’s 6 rookie, Rocky Pallotta from West Virginia, and Connecticut’s very own Thomas Goclowski coming in for a big win in 14 Rookie! Bode Raffa turned on the heat Sunday for a big win out of New York too. The Rookie classes are getting bigger and bigger at the National level as riders challenge themselves on amazing NBL tracks. I look forward to seeing all these guys turn it up and join the Novice ranks soon.

NOVICE

The Novice classes were stacked also. A couple of the guys pulled off doubles for the weekend, like Nathan Halahan (6 Novice), Joshua Reid ( 7 novice), Grant Krieger (9 Novice), Andrew Parow, Jon Mielke and Josh Lund. Brian Wick was on fire and took home a win on Saturday while  Terry Laird and Ronnie Burwan battled every moto and main splitting wins! The Novice riders truly caught my attention because they all charged fearlessly down the hill toward one of the hardest tracks in the country!

EXPERT

In the Expert classes, these guys are top notch! Some stanouts were Chandler Tipple from Ohio who won both days. Gabe Hatem, who was on fire and couldn’t be caught at all! Warren Large was looking good after coming back from a nasty fall to get a win Sunday! Coleman Habib (11x) is so fast and smooth, you just have to take notes and learn from this young gun. New Jersey brought out Anthony Catlow and he was jumping everything in sight! Two wins for him. From the Shaky state of California, Alden Volle showed up to take home a win and a crash. Cole Tesar is rad and showed it too. He had about 15 guys in his class like Andrew Townsend, Paul Fillppone and Luke Roarty, but no one could touch Tesar! Big ol’ Hootman took two wins in 15 ex. This kid can ride a bike and comes from Ohio. So keep your eye on him! Tanner Sebesta figured out a way to get around young Damian Cherepko. That’s a tough job son. Of course, Tommy Zula schooled everyone in 17-18 Expert and Open too. I’m starting to think that guys are ducking races that Zula goes too, could it be? 19-25 is stacked! Egdorf, Caldwell, Utz, Mannino and Schmac all can ride a bike. When the dust settled though, Caldwell and Egdorf each had a win and a smile. Lance McGuire is back and now has a South Park win along with Truxell, who’s a bad boy in his own right. In the old guy Expert classes, Nigel Hopkinson is just owning it. John Paul Pfeiffer thought he was on a runway and landed a win also. Randy Bitnaitis is looking smooth and in control thus far, let’s see if he can dethrone Jud Ciancio for a National #1 title!

GIRLS

Lovely ladies had it going on in South Park. Payton Ridenour, Destiny Broughton, Abby McLeod, Jen Sagendorf all had great weekends with two wins apiece. Sam Miller is just amazing as she doubled on her home track too. 14 Girls had the battle of the weekend with Wooding, Holmes and Barnes all battling it out. Felicia Stancil won both days running away, showing everyone just why she is World #1. Jen Hartmann and Angela Therrialt each had wins and crashes to their weekends. Emily Fisher is trying to earn herself a National #1 and with two wins this weekend she made a huge leap in the right direction!

CRUISER

Cruisers cruise…. super fast. Hatem won again! Both days too! Habib as well, so chalk that up as four wins for the big guy. Yup, Cole Tesar followed with two Cruiser wins. Nathan Grant had his hands full, but ended up with the wins. Bissell is hot and cold and so one day he wins and then he got treated like he was at the Doctor’s office on day two. Anthony Jefferson and Randy Bitinaitis battled both days swapping wins and of course Gregg Hansel lit up the track both days in his Cruiser division.

The staff at South Park would like to thank everyone who came out during the weeks leading up to the National to help get the facility and track ready. Thank you also to all the people who volunteered their time during the weekend to help with concessions, Chinese auction volunteer hospitality, announcers and all track officials/scorers who helped make the weekend a success. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Next stop is Nashville, and I can’t wait. The track is rad and the staff are sweeeeettt! The Road to Glory is looking good!