Music City Nationals indepth race coverage

Filed under General on May 23, 2014 | Comment(s)

FRIDAY

The Music City BMX track has always been well known for it's fast speeds, huge jumps, big air and great racing - and each year, it amazingly seems to get better and better. The soil-tac'ed surface is as smooth as silk and the airtime down the first straight away is practically unmatched on the USA BMX national circuit.  Here are just a few of the highlight shots from Friday's practice and pre-race. 

The Friday practice and pre-race is always a great indicator on the action and excitement that is about to go down over the next 3 days. You get to judge your competition, and get a glimpse as to who's been doing their homework, and what teams are on fire at the moment.  For this weekend's race report - we thought it might be a nice change to break it down by Teams (rather than classes). 

DFR

The familiar black and white colors of DFR were out in full force in Nashville - and, as always, led by the Chudzik clan, who started off their Nashville weekend with some mighty impressive wins in the Friday pre-race. Henry doubled things up in open and 10x, and likely would've tripled had he raced cruiser. The dude was on fire, and his teammates were trying their hardest to keep up with the winning tradition. John Jilbert, in 14x, did just that and took home a hard-fought win in one of the toughtest classes of the weekend. 

FRIDAY: 9-10 OPEN & 10x

• 1st: HENRY CHUDZIK, DFR-POWERLITE BMX, HOMERGLEN, IL

FRIDAY: 14 EXPERT 

• 1st: JOHN JILBERT, DFR-POWERLITE BMX, SANDWICH, IL 

HOSTILE

Team Green - also known as Team Hostile, is always easy to spot. Usually, just look out front and you'll spot one of their many talented factory riders. While the Schwinn's went back to the hotel to rest up for the national, 8 year old Inter Luke Barr stuck around on Friday to get in some work, as he inches closer to becoming the next 8x in the sport. With a double at the pre-race, he is the main 8inter to best this weekend ...barr-none.

FRIDAY: 7-8 MIXED OPEN & 8 INTER

• 1st: LUKE BARR, HOSTILE FACTORY TEAM, THE WOODLANDS, TX 

STAR PRODUCTS

One word: Shackleton. The fiery threesome kept the red and white of Star Products out front and in the winner's circle.  Marrisa kicked things off with the Mixed Open win and followed it up with a 12girls victory, while her brother's - not to be outdone by a girl, scored wins of their own. Older bro Seth came out on top in X-Open and a 3rd in class, while Bryce owned 9x. At this current rate, they might just have to rent a U-Haul trailer to get all of their trophies back home to Elkhown, WI. Could they keep up thie streak the rest of the weekend?  We'd soon find out.  

FRIDAY: 11-12 MIXED OPEN & 12 GIRLS

• 1st: MARRISA SHACKLETON, STAR BMX PRODUCTS, ELKHORN, WI 

FRIDAY: 11-12 OPEN

• 1st: SETH SHACKLETON, STAR BMX PRODUCTS, ELKHORN, WI 

FRIDAY: 9 EXPERT 

• 1st: BRYCE SHACKLETON, STAR BMX PRODUCTS, ELKHORN, WI

BLACK CROWN

In practice, as well as the motos, it seemed like everywhere you looked - there was a BlackCrown rider flyin' or stylin' out front. Come main-time, tho - the single most dominating dude in the black yellow and blue was Wichita's Devin Gracey. Known by his fans as "The Devinator," Gracey was racing as if he was on a mission. And with his Nag plate on the bars, he apparently is: to hold on to that No.1.  

FRIDAY: 7 & UNDER CRUISER & 7X

• 1st: DEVIN "DEVINATOR" GRACEY, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, WICHITA, KS

CCH FACTORY

Cruisin' Chris' crew is gorwing like a wildfire in Sedona, and his pick-ups are nearly just as hot. 11 year old Lucas Tepoel is just one of the many talented kids flyin' the flourescent frames of CCH, and putting them on top of the results. It's always a good sign that you're about to have a great weekend when you not only win once, but twice, on Friday's pre-race. Iowa's "Tadpole" did just that. 

FRIDAY: 11 CRUISER & 11X

• 1st: LUCAS TEPOEL, CCH FACTORY BIKES, SOLON, IA

KAOS

 Causing Kaos out there on the track is what Teddy's team does best - and 6inter Dylan Spansel was looking strong in the 6inter class, flyin' in for the win. But it was Blazin' Blaise in 9x, who was the most impressive Kaos kid out there on the track. In a tight race for first, Pereira scored a tough, and well-fought 2nd place in one of the toughest classes there is. Keep an eye on him the rest of the weekend, beacause we have a feeling he'll score at least one win this weekend.

FRIDAY: 6 INTERMEDIATE: 

• 1st: DYLAN SPANSEL, KAOS, PRAIRIEVILLE, LA

FRIDAY: 9 EXPERT

• 2nd: BLAZZIN' BLAISE PEREIRA, KAOS BMX, MARRERO, LA

REDLINE~ADVENTURE

 As one of the top Redline co-factory teams, Minnesota's Adventure crew has always rostered some of the fastest kids from the land of Alise Post. And six year old Bo Jeffers is just one such kid; who even at a young age, knows how to uphold Redline's winning tradition. The "Bad Dog" Bo went toe-to-toe with all comers in 6x, and started off his nashville adventure with a win. 

FRIDAY: 6 EXPERT

• 1st: BO (BAD DOG) JEFFERS, REDLINE ADVENTURE, ZIMMERMAN, MN

DOUBLECROSS

With right around 80-or-so motos, the Friday pre-race seemed to roll alongpretty fast, and before we knew it - the final main of the night was in the gate. Doublecross' Jason McMullen wasa  favorite to take the cake in 19-27x, and found himself battling back and forth for the lead and the win. Down the last straight, it was a tight race to the line, and Marquette's Michael Noble did the dastardly deed of stealing the win from McMullen right at the line. Luckily for him, there are still two days of action left for redemption.  

FRIDAY: 19-27 EXPERT

• 2nd: JASON MCMULLEN, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, WADSWORTH, IL

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

By Saturday, the who's who of BMX racing were all here in Nashville, and ready to rock this town like the Stray Cats. In keeping with the "team theme" of this write-up, we'll continue with those stand-out factory studs who took it to the top rung of the podium. 

ANSWER~S-SQUARED

Marathon-driver Jim Buchanaon admitted to us that he was pretty blown out from driving to and from Albuquerque last week, but he was still able to make the trek to Tennessee with only 1 stop. His crew, as always, was primed and ready and LOVES this track. Instead of them looking forward to winning and racing, their biggest concern and question is whether they'll get to stick around after the races and play around and jump. Nashville is their style of track, with plenty of airtime and lots of challenges. 
As anybody would expect, they ripped it up. 
Just to pick one "key" rider in the Troy Lee "Flying Tigers" gear (which is impossible), I'm going to go with the new kid on the Buchanan program; Hayden Robinson. Seems like it was just a few years ago when he was a young, small kid following in the footsteps of his mentor, Dylan Cooley, on AllTow's Wrecking Crew. Now, the kid looks like he's closin' in on the 6 foot mark, and is probably taller than Cooley.  ...and he's only 12! Robinson's growth spurt definitely hasn't hurt him, and he is now the dominant dude in the 12x ranks. 

12 CRUISER & 12 EXPERT  - Saturday & Sunday

• 1st: HAYDEN ROBINSON, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, BIG FLATS, NY

12 GIRLS 

• 1st:  NATALEE DAUGHERTY, FACTORY SSQUARED, PLANO, TX

13 GIRLS 

• 1st:  KAITLYN DETERS, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, ST PETERS, MO

15-16 GIRLS CRUISER  &  15-16 GIRLS 

• 1st:  JAMIE WINDHOLZ, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, CENTERVIEW, MO

15 CRUISER - Saturday & Sunday

• 1st:  NICOLAS DETERS, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, ST PETERS, MO

HARO~PROMAX

The big story for the yellow & black attack would be yet another win for Rookie pro Rusty Nesvig; who was only $300 shy of going AA-pro coming in to this weekend. With a win on Saturday, Razzle-dazzleberry made enough to get called up to the big leagues. He is hte first Rookie pro this year to make it up to AA, and only time will tell if we've got a fute No.1 Pro on our hands. For about a decade now, Donovan Long has been grooming Rusty for this moment. 

A PRO 

• 1st  RUSTY NESVIG, HARO/PROMAX, SAN DIEGO, CA

17-18 EXPERT  - Saturday & Sunday

• 1st: ANDREW TOWNSEND, HARO/PROMAX, HAMPTON, VA

BLACKCROWN 

I am not sure if we have enough room in this story to list all of the wins and top finishes of the BlckCrown crew. It seemed as if they were winning every-other race, at times. But by far, their most impressive score of Day 1 would have to be a 3rd place in Elite Men (AA-pro) - up against some of the toughest comp in the World. Oh ...by the way, Logan is a Music City local; which definitely was in his favor. Every lap, you could tell that he knew every little nook and cranny on this track, and used it to his advantage in any way he could.
Picking just two of the many Blackcrown Ams who were seen sweeping their comp in motos and mains, I'd have to point out hometrack hero Luke Segal and Wichita's "Devinator" - Devin Gracey. While these two are on opposite ends of the height scale (Luke stands a good 6' 4" and Devin barely comes up to Luke's knees), they both scored their fair share of wins. Gracey owned 7x all weekend long - with Ryder Speagle being the only one to beat him (on Saturday). On Sunday, he was out for vengeance! 
Meanwhile, Luke, who is an old Arizona local from the 90's, is a BMXing father who serves in the Army. In fact, he was telling us during practice that he'd just got his papers to spend a year in Korea, to fight off the Jong-Ill's of the World (or somethig to that effect). According to BlackCrown - if the World's in trouble, or if you want a win on your team sheet, you call Luke Segal.

ELITE MEN

• Saturday: 3rd  LOGAN COLLINS - BLACKCROWN

USAC BOYS 

• Saturday:  1st: COLEMAN HABIB, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, GOOSE CREEK, SC

9-10 OPEN

• Saturday 1st: KAYNEN BURG, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, HAMILTON, OH

7 & UNDER CRUISER & 7 EXPERT - Sunday

• 1st:  DEVIN "DEVINATOR" GRACEY, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, WICHITA, KS

13-14 OPEN  &   14 EXPERT 

• Sunday:   1st: TRISTON "LIME TIME" JUDD, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, SEAGOVILLE, TX
   

36-40 CRUISER  &  36-40 EXPERT

• Sunday   1st: LUKE SEGAL, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, CLARKSVILLE, TN

46-50 CRUISER  - Saturday & Sunday 

• 1st:  ROB MCALLISTER, BLACKCROWN PRODUCTS, ROSSVILLE, GA

HOSTILE

The green and black colors are out front, and often. And there are more winners in this bunch than just Aram Schwinn. Luke Barr continued his winning ways from Friday night and is now on the quick path to Expert'ism. 

7-8 MIXED OPEN 

• 1st: LUKE BARR, HOSTILE FACTORY TEAM, THE WOODLANDS, TX

11-12 GIRLS CRUISER  &  11 GIRLS 

• 1st: JAYCIE (SUPERSONIC) SINCLAIR, HOSTILE ELITE, SPRING, TX

13 CRUISER & 13 EXPERT

• Saturday:  1st: ARAM (THE DIESEL) SCHWINN, HOSTILE ELITE, MAGNOLIA, TX

STAATS

Back in the day, Tennessee used to be Cyclecraft country - but recently, they have been taken over by Staats. It seems that the House of Staats' east-side headquarters is right here in Nashville. Being as Music City's national track director Tommy Jacobs' kids - Carly and Zach both ride for Staats. The Staats pit area was pretty happening - although, there was not a single sighting of Alberto Ciari all weekend. Rumor has it that he was last seen heading toward Lynchburg, TN (population 6.339) - and never made it back.
Without a doubt, the Jacob siblings had the track dialed in;  as their family has pretty much lived at Music City BMX for the past month or so.   

13-14 MIXED OPEN 

• Saturday:  1st: CARLY (THE HONEY BADGER) JACOBS, STAATS BICYCLES, MT JULIET, TN 

11 EXPERT 

• Saturday: 3rd  "THE DREAM TAKER"  ZACH JACOBS, STAATS BICYCLES, MT JULIET, TN

DOUBLECROSS

Orange uniforms were ablaze in Nashville, and it's priobably safe to say that they were one of the major standouts at the Music City nationals. From the little dude classes - starring the lightning fast Wood bros., to the A-pro ranks, and alll expert classes inbetween - Doublecross has quite an impressive roster.  Saturday's single-A pro class had Doublecross written all over it - thanks to Olijuwan Davis and Jake Sherbno. 

A PRO

• 3rd:  OLIJUWON DAVIS, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, ST CHARLES, IL
• 5th:  JACOB SHERBNO, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, ST PETERS, MO 

6 & UNDER OPEN  & 6 EXPERT

• Saturday: 1st: CANE "THE HURRICANE" WOOD, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, YUKON, OK

7-8 OPEN & 8 CRUISER - Saturday & Sunday

• 1st: CANNON "THE HAMMER" WOOD, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, YUKON, OK

17-20 GIRLS CRUISER

• Sunday 1st:  JOSIE RITCHIE, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, ASHEVILLE, NC

17-20 GIRLS 

• 1st:  MIKA SHAW, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, BAILEY, CO

16 CRUISER 

• Sunday 1st:  COLLIN "THE COUNT" SCHMIDT, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, COLUMBIA, IL

41-45 CRUISER

• Sunday 1st:  GERALD GRIEVE, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, CABOT, AR

61 & OVER CRUISER  - Saturday & Sunday

• 1st: DEAN MCCALL, DOUBLCROSS BIKES, DAMASCUS, VA

ANSWER~RENNEN

George's gang was also out front and flyin' high again, and again, and again. Especially when it comes to 11x. The Cannonball keep firing off wins like it's nothing, and in typical fashion he was not to be beat this weekend. 

11-12 OPEN & 11 EXPERT

• Saturday:   1st: JACK "CANNONBALL" KELLY, ANSWER./RENNEN, KEARNS, UT

11 GIRLS 

• 1PAYTON RIDENOUR, ANSWER./RENNEN, POTTSTOWN, PA

21-25 CRUISER - Saturday & Sunday 

• 1st:  JEREMY "THUNDER" KNAPPER, ANSWER./RENNEN, POTTSTOWN, PA

MCS BICYCLES

Following up his recent big wins at the Gator Nationals and Florida's Sunshine State series, Coconut Creek's Tucker Rice has been on fire. The 16x class has long been a tough class to dominate in, with so much talent in that division - but we'd proclaim that Rice has movved himself to the top of this class. Up against Cam moore, Ryan Pettigrew and Justin Richmond - it's guaranteed to be a good race every time the gate drops. 

16 EXPERT 

• Saturday:  1st:  TUCKER RICE, MCS BICYCLES, COCONUT CREEK, FL

41-45 EXPERT  - Saturday & Sunday 

• 1st: RAUL GOMEZ, MCS BICYCLES, COCONUT CREEK, FL

In the end, Nashville was AWESOME this year (in all capital letters). The Music City track is all about power, big air and fun. Three key elements that BMXer's love. The facility is nothing short of first-class - all the way down to the marble counter-top at the starter's booth and their new Onyx barrel gate. Nashville has long been a staple event on the old NBL circuit - and is surely an annual USA BMX stop that is bound to grow bigger and bigger each year.