Great Smoky Mountain Expo Center —- Big-A Series —- Morristown, Tennessee —- November 28-29, 2009

—RESULTS—

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Story: Greg Davis

Photos: Jerrod Huffman (jrodsphotoshop.com)

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[Show as slideshow]

Most BMX racers know exactly how to burn off all that turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Forget that Stairmaster and Sweating to the Oldies; simply head to Morristown, Tennessee for some great race action on Thanksgiving weekend. Not only can riders burn off calories, they can earn national points and ride a great track that’s made specifically for the NBL’s Thanksgiving National.

An added benefit for this race is the great competition. This track is fairly centrally located, geographically. It’s also positioned during a time when racers are anxious to try and get some points for the new season. Being an indoor event with plenty of arena seating, folks don’t have to worry about Mother Nature spoiling their BMX fun.

This year’s track didn’t disappoint. Just out of the gate, there was a step-up-step-down to a triple-step into the first corner. Out of the first corner, there was a table to a sort of step double into the second corner. The final two straights were rhythm.

SATURDAY

Saturday’s motos heated up quickly, and plenty of action in every class quickly ensued. Tim Huff, one of my favorite announcers, mentioned something about a racer in the older cruiser class. Apparently, one of the 55 and over racers was 76 years old. I had to find out more, so I tracked down Phares Parsons in the stands to interrogate him.

“I love meeting all my friends,” he said. “Getting to see my friends is like coming home. It makes my day having little kids come up to me and high-five me.”

Parsons is in great shape for his age. Actually, he’s in great shape for someone younger than his age. I wondered what his secret was.

“I never give up,” Parsons said. “I raced 25 years and never made the main at the Grands.”

That changed in 2008, he told me, when he finally snagged that ever-illusive main spot. He also said that one thing he’d like to tell the kids out there is to, “Keep consistent.”

In BMX, keeping consistent is very good advice, especially in a class as highly competitive as Elite Open. In the Saturday’s motos, Beatty, Kelty, Greathouse, Vega, and Faoro, among others, rode extremely well. In the main, Kelty grabbed the holeshot, and Beatty was bunched up in the pack. In the last turn, Beatty railed the corner and shot from third into second place, but he didn’t have enough track to catch Kelty. Faoro and Vega tucked in behind Beatty, and fought for third. Behind them, Weimar, Campbell, Greathouse and Sherrill followed.

In the Elite Women class, Pitts came from second to win in most of the motos. When the gate slammed down, the main seemed a replay of the motos. Pitts was slightly behind down the first straight, but she carved the first turn hard to capture the lead. As she carved, Donna Snow squeezed by Cartwright for second. Pitts held on for the win.

Madison Pitts described it this way,

“The main went well. Donna [Snow] was able to beat me to the first turn, but with clean riding between us both, I was able to get the win. It was my first national since I’ve been going to school, and I definitely have a lot more training to get back where I was.”

The NBL teamed up with GOARMY.COM for the Thanksgiving National. Between certain “Mystery Motos,” Army officers handed out goody bags to all the riders in that moto or main, so some riders received an extra prize besides their trophy.

In 41 & Over Expert, John Pringle rode well, but in the main, Aubrey Jacobson seemed to be having a conversation with him as they raced (he does that sometimes). Pringle did, however, come away with the win.

Watching the 35-40 Expert motos, Scott Burright, Chris Meaker, and Nigel Hopkinson were flat-out flying. The main looked to be a great one. During practice, Meaker sometimes pedaled over the first jump as quickly as many of the Elite riders, but it’d been Burright with the win at Friday’s U.S. Open, so it was anybody’s guess who’d win the main. Burright was also the only rider headed into the main with three moto wins. Out of the gate, Meaker shot out into the lead and didn’t look back. At the line, Spring, Burright, Wade, Mechler, Bagwell, and Knies followed Meaker.

Afterward, Meaker said,

“I had been struggling with the first straight all day. So I knew if I got it smooth and beat Scott Burright to the first turn, I wouldn’t have any trouble riding the rest of the track fast.”

Thomas Truxell seems to have always been fast, but at Morristown, he seemed to be going even faster. Kris Creech, however, was going equally quickly. When the gate slammed down, Truxell wasted no time getting the lead, but Creech was on him. Through the rhythm, some of the racers back in the pack crashed, but Truxell and Creech were far enough ahead to avoid the carnage. Truxell held off Creech for the win.

19-25 Expert was stacked! Frank “the Tank” Hoskins looked really fast, as did Jon Jackson, Derek Ramsey, RJ Livesay, Donald Thompson, but only Kyle McCrory managed to come into the main undefeated. McCrory not only looked quick, he also rode incredibly smooth. McCrory repeated his motos for the main. Out of the gate, McCory pulled hard, but Hoskins was on him. Jackson got out of the gate good, but dropped to the back of the pack. McCory looked to be riding well enough to have been near the podium in Elite Open. McCrory stayed in front and grabbed the perfect.

I caught up with Jackson later, to find out what happened.

“There were a lot of fast people in 19-25 Expert,” he said. “I had a good gate, but I came unclipped on the first jump.”

In a class like 19-25, coming unclipped is mistake that’s next to impossible to overcome.

Chase Hines had some of the largest leads of the weekend. In both the 17-18 Expert and the 17-25 Cruiser, Chase sometimes had half straight leads. In Expert, however, Jeremy Knapper, who’d won the US Open the night before, tried to keep Hines honest in both the motos and the main. Enzo Parraguez also headed into the main with perfect moto points. In the main, Hines rocketed into the lead, but Knapper, Mark Dolan and Parraguez were in tow. None managed to catch him, and Hines grabbed one of his two perfects for the day.

In 16 Expert, a crash in the second corner changed things up a bit. The finishes looked like this, Wedge, Grant, Porter, Benoit, Trevino, Palmer, Floyd, and Sinauskas.

Two riders headed into the 15 Expert main undefeated—Behm and Widdows. When the gate slammed down in the main, Rennen’s Victor Behm III grabbed the holeshot. Through the first turn, he widened his lead, and the race seemed for second. Cody House fought off Widdows to snag the second.

Three 13 Experts headed into the main without losing a lap—Townsend, Shaw, and Knapper. When the gate fell, several jockeyed for position, but Townsend. Behind him, there was a crash in the first corner. At the finish, Roarty, Shaw, Lemon, Knapper, Bradner, Horne, and Takamasa followed Townsend.

A tight battle, wire-to-wire, described the 5 Novice class. Schneider and Banks drag raced around the track, but Schneider grabbed a very narrow win.

Preston Evans grabbed a big lead over the very quick McHenry for the win in 6 Novice.

7 Novice was a big class, and a very competitive one. In the main, Carson Leet managed a narrow lead, but the lead was enough. The pack followed mostly single file in this order—Leet, Kuehn, Young, Oliver, Ketron, Branch, Hennet, and Schroeder.

Jeffrey Hampton broke his frame during the US Open the previous night, so he was riding the 45-49 Cruiser on a new, unfamiliar frame. Riding atop a new bike didn’t hurt him at all. Hampton’s Elite-like snap helped him grab a perfect.

“I had a perfect gate start, so I had a wheel out of the gate,” he told me later. “I got a perfect pedal-manual over the triple step.”

And you just held on for the win, I said and asked about his new frame. “Powers Bike Shop (one of the vendors at the Thanksgiving National) helped me get the new frame set up,” he said. “I owe them a big thanks.”

In perhaps one of the most competitive classes out there, the 40-44 Cruiser, there was a one-man crash in the first corner in the main, and Pringle passed into 2nd, but was passed back in the final corner. Georgian, Rob McAllister grabbed the win, with Pringle, Mroz, Longere, Henderson, Womac, Gonzales, and Palmer following closely behind.

Dan Hurley headed into the main as the only undefeated rider in 35-39 Cruiser. Out of the gate in the main, Hurley snagged a good solid lead and held off some really quick racers. Behind Hurley, riders struggled for position, but no one could touch Hurley.

Louisville local, Steve Robbins, has been riding incredibly well, and Morristown was no different, but his hope for a perfect seemed to be derailed. I spotted him working on his bike in the pits, and it didn’t look promising. I found out later, what happened. Robbins managed to not only to get his bike fixed by his main, he also grabbed his perfect, as he holeshotted and held a good lead—start to finish. “I got a good gate, and that’s key at this track,” he said. “It’s my first perfect, all year. I owe a big thank you to Brock Schneider for the clips.”

17 & Over Rookie is always fun to watch. At the Thanksgiving National, Jonathan Hicks and Cody Haithcock headed into the main, each having won every lap. Out of the gate in the main, Hicks and Haithcock fought for first, but Hicks came out on top. Behind them, Michael Riley, Jason Lippin, Jacob Gragg, Chris “Git-R-Done” Illing and Shaun Mayo followed.

Going for the lead in the 16, 17 & Over Women class, Amanda Sciandra crashed hard coming out of the first corner. Danielle Parish, who’d led all day, pulled out in front and won the main. I caught up with Amanda after the race. She had her hand bandaged, and as we’d find out the next day, she’d hit her head pretty dang hard. Thank God for helmets.

“Going for first out of the first turn, I got squirrelly before the table and went down,” she said. “I hit my nose on the handlebars and a couple of my fingers ended up in someone’s sprocket.”

After the National, I also spoke with the winner, Danielle Parish,

“I’ve always liked the Morristown Nationals because it’s always a fun race,” she said. “I wasn’t completely comfortable with the track this year, but I’ve been training hard, and I put it in the back of my mind. Saturday I won all my motos. In the main my gate wasn’t great but I came out of the first turn in first place and won. After the race Saturday, Frank Hoskins asked me to join the Addison Bike Co. Factory Team. This weekend was a great start to this season. My next national race will be the Christmas Classic.”

SUNDAY

After a short practice, the race action got off to a quick start, and in Elite Open, Tyler Faoro had his game face on. He headed into the main with three moto wins under his belt. Faoro again grabbed the lead in the main, but Beatty was on him. When Beatty went for it in the last corner and washed out, it became a race for second. Kelty and Vega, with Sherrill and Greathouse breathing down their necks, battled to the line.

In the Elite Women, it seemed a replay of Saturday. Again Pitts headed into the main undefeated, but it hadn’t been easy for her. Snow and Cartwright kept her honest. In the main, Snow and Pitts traded off leading, passing and getting passed back, but at the line Pitts again seized the victory.

In the 16, 17 & Over Women class, Danielle Parish repeated her Saturday by winning the main wire-to-wire. The crash in the previous day’s main, however, had left Amanda Sciandra with a concussion. She ended up being sick all night, and only rolled the gate on Sunday.

Other Girl perfects included: Emily Tallmadge in 15, Molly Longton, Sarah Gross 12-13, Erika Takamasa 11, Carly Jacobs 8, and Payton Ridenour 5-5.

If you listen carefully, you can hear a collective “awww, they’re so cute” when the 5 & Under Rookies get up onto the gate. They sometimes need a little help balancing, but most of them do surprisingly well. At the Thanksgiving race, there was a 3-year-old racing this class and doing great. The main looked to be a very good one, with two riders heading in undefeated. Bailey Smith couldn’t quite beat Tyler Butler to the first corner and ended up in second. Butler opened up a big lead, and the rest of the pack followed single file.

Cody Oliver owned the 8 & Under Cruiser class. Winning every single lap, including the main.

In the 11-12 Cruiser class, Jeremy Knapper fought off Coleman Habib to score a perfect.

Factory SE rider, Chase Hines, opened up another huge lead in 17-24 Cruiser on Sunday and easily won the main. The race was for second, and although Grimes finished behind Hines in the motos, it was Beale who snagged the second in the main.

In the 30-34 Cruiser class, Robbins snapped out of the gate and pulled far enough away to avoid the carnage. In the second corner and in the third straight two separate crashes enabled Robbins to coast to another main win.

Similar to 30-34, the 35-39 Cruiser had carnage to spare. Hurley’s lead helped him avoid the crashes—and there were many. Behind Hurley there was a crash in the first corner, second corner, and third corner.

The 41 & Over Novice class had semis both days at Morristown, and three riders entered the main with perfect moto points. Six feet, four inch tall, Mike Jolly, pulled hard down the first straight and edged out Tim Grimes. Eric Person pulled into third—and that’s the way they finished.

In the 35-40 Novice, a crash in the second corner separated the pack a bit, but by the line Michael Palugi and Mark Wheeler finished neck and neck.

While watching the 18-24 Expert class, I watched a pile-up over the jump into the first corner, but the crashed sounded like someone had broken their frame. It turned out that Jon Jackson blew out his front tire, when he flipped over the Paul Schmac. I was glad to hear it was only a tire, because Jackson has a sweet looking new custom-made Standard frame. Just like Saturday, Kyle McCrory pulled a huge lead, but Sunday it was Korey Terry tying to reel him in.

Rennen/Intense beat Addison on Saturday and Trilogy/Fly on Sunday for the National Team and Accel Racing won Saturday’s Team NBL, while HBR/SE won it on Sunday.

A huge thanks goes out to all the great volunteers. Folks, there’s a reason they call Tennessee the “Volunteer State.”

If you missed the Morristown race, I have great news. You don’t have to wait a whole year to race it. There’s another Morristown National in the Spring. Make sure to make plans to be there. I’m sure you’ll love it.