MidWest Nationals: The Rockford Files

Filed under General on June 27, 2014 | Comment(s)

Let's start out with a little bit of Rockford trivia:  The Rockford Files was an American television drama series starring James Garner - who drove around in a really cool gold-colored Pontiac Firebird. The seris aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974, and January 10, 1980 - and due to it's stunt driving, even coined the phrase "Rockford turn" - which was the act of speeding in reverse, whipping the wheel, and doing a quick 180 in one solid motion.
What does all this have to do with Rockford BMX and the 2014 MidWest Nationals?

Absolutely nothing.
(Well, except for that fact that many BMX pros - especially Eric Rupe, used to imitate the "Rockford turn" technique in their factory rental cars). 

What you are about to read here though, is being dubbed the Rockford Files. And we don't expect any cameo from James Garner, We will, though, give you a good sitcom-sized rundown of all the action that took place at this years' MidWest National.

FRIDAY:
During practice, it's always interesting to watch certain age classes and examine who stands out the most. In Rockford, I'd have to admit, it was a lil' dude in the green, white and black colors of Badd & Co.  Ethan Popovich is his name, 9x is his class, and I'll predict it right now that the Kid is the future Manual King of the sport. He's like a mini Tyler Whitfield in the making. Manualing the step-down down the first straight - check. Manualing the triples in to turn one - check. Manualing the triple jump on the second straight - check. Manualing the rhyrthm section - no problem. In fact, I think I witnessed the kid on his back wheel more than both wheels. With that type of skills at such a young age, you'd better believe that he's a threat to be reckoned with in the 9x ranks. 

SATURDAY:
All day long, the weather was sunny with clouds - which for us photographers is always a hassle. The sun shines, you set your camera to the correct apperature, then right when the gate drops, a cloud comes in and gives you a 1 or 2 notch differnence. But other than the many photographers who were having to set and reset their DSLR's, the hundreds and hundreds of racers and spectators were thrilled with the situtation. The clouds kept things cooler, and the action on the super smooth Rockford track kept things hotter.
After dodging any threats of that "R"-word all day long, the sky didn't open up until we were about halfway thru the mains. The Rockford crew quickly covered things up and the action went on a short 30 min delay. The sun again shone, and things picked right back up where they'd left off.

But prior to that little intermission - let's jump back a bit to the beginning of the mains. Namely, the Pros!

In A-pro, it was all Doublecross colors out front, just as it had been all day. You might say that Rockford local Olijuwon Davis has ridden this track a 'few" times, and once the Progate slammed down, he flew straight to the front and never looked back. 

A-PRO

• 1 OLIJUWON DAVIS, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, ST CHARLES, IL
• 2 JACOB SHERBNO, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, ST PETERS, MO
• 3 JARROD ADCOCK, PEKIN, IL

In Vet Pro, you can usually safely predict the top-3 finishers. About 95% of the time, it's going to be a combo of Pohlkamp, Colombo and Becerine. Put them in a Yahtzee cup, shake 'em up and see who place on which rung of the podium. But today, at this track - the crowd was hoping to see longtime hometown hero George "The Mangler" Andrews, and his new CCH bike, get in the mix. But, it wasn't in the cards.
The guy who is currently in a narrow points lead for Vet Pro - SE's Javier Colombo, continued his winning ways from Nashvile and stole the show. If he can continue his curernt win streak in to the Fall months, perhaps Javi can slap a No.1 Vet Pro plate on his bars - just as Matt and Cristian have done.

VET PRO

• 1 JAVIER (JAVI) COLOMBO, SE BIKES/MAXXIS TIRES, COSTA MESA, CA
• 2 CRISTIAN BECERINE, CHASE/STAY STRONG, COSTA MESA, CA
• 3 MATT POHLKAMP, DAN'S COMP, SANTA MONICA, CA

The ladies pro ranks were without the current leaders in points: Alise Post out on injured-reserve while Shanaze, Felicia and Mariana Pajon were MIA, alledgedly getting prepped for the upcoming Worlds in the Netherlands. Just like the Elite Mens class, this meant a GREAT opportunity for the Elite Women who'd made the trek to Rockford and needed a little bit o' catch-up in the standings. 
This could leave a huge open door for Amanda Carr (currently ranked No.5 in pts), Dominique Daniels  (currently ranked No.7 in pts), Amanda Geving  (currently ranked No.8 in pts), Dani George  (currently ranked No.9 in pts) and others. A new face in the hunt for the win was Canada's new "Samantha Cools" - Drew Mechielsen, who was doing double-duty in Elite as well as class.
In the end, it was Doublecross/GCU's 3-D dominating down the first straight with her typical horsepower. She got the Answer Holeshot award ($250) and just keep on rolling to score the win. And you know what this means - she won't be leaving early on Sunday morning! Daniels plans on doin' it again on Day 2.  

ELITE WOMEN 

• 1 DOMINIQUE DANIELS, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, GILBERT, AZ
• 2 AMANDA GEVING, YESS / TROY LEE DESIGN, LARGO, FL
• 3 DANI GEORGE, (looking) , PALMDALE, CA

 The Elite Men were in a similar situation - with some mysterious MIA's - namely, no Sam and no Maris. Same excuse as the ladies ("getting ready for the Worlds). This meant a win by Fields or Herman could give them a nice little boost in points that could possibly throw their name in the ring for the No.1 Pro title chase.
USA BMX's facebook poll as for who might win saw a lot of fans rooting for David Herman, and they were right. Z' Hermanator fought hard all the way to the Answer Holeshot stripe with Kiwi Kurt Pickard, but Herman edged him out for the $250 bonus and put the hammer down. With two Haro riders in tow, Herman and his Free Agent finished strong and scored the victory. 

ELITE MEN

• 1 DAVID HERMAN, FREE AGENT / ROCKSTAR, WHEAT RIDGE, CO
• 2 KURT PICKARD, HARO,
• 3 NIC LONG, HARO, LAKESIDE, CA

 In 7 girls, it was a classic drag race down the first straightaway - ironically, between two Danica's. Now, when it comes to fast females, Danica is a name that screams speed, and these two were living up to that reputation. Avalanche's Anderson and All-Tow's Bailey were grip to grip all the way to the first turn, but the daughter of 2-time No.1 ABA Amateur Richie, took things over and blasted off to victory circle.   

7 GIRLS

• 1 DANICA ANDERSON, AVALANCHE TRAINING, LANCASTER, CA
• 2 DANICA BAILEY, ALLTOW WRECKING CREW/YESS, SMITHFIELD, RI

 There were plenty of gnarly girls main events, but one that really stood out for me was 15-16 girls, where Drew Mechielsen used the Elite Women main to warm up for the big showdown between her and Answer-Ssquared's Jamie Windholz. 

15-16 GIRLS

• 1 DREW MECHIELSEN, YESS BMX, LANGLEY, BC
• 2 JAMIE WINDHOLZ, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, CENTERVIEW, MO
• 3 ELIDA BEEMAN, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, LANSING, MI

 It was pretty awesome to see the sidelines still crowded as teh Expert Boys mains began. Nobody was heading home; they all wanted to watch the fastest amateur racers in the country duke it out. The action really built up once the 8 experts hits the track. 
From the drop of the gate, it looked as if it'd be a 2-way race between Haros' Jack Parkin and All-Tow~Yess' Tyler Bailey. While Parkin had a slight edge, bailey was all over him like stink in limberger. Like white on Rice. Like bees to honey. ... you get my point. It was TIGHT! Suddenly, Tyler steered his Yess low in to turn two and broke loose, slamming stright to pavement and leaving Parkin free and clear to fly in for the win. 
This'll be a great race to watch on Sunday, as Tyler is definitely going to be out for self redemption from that one. 

8 EXPERT

• 1 JACK PARKIN, HARO/PROMAX, THE WOODLANDS, TX
• 2 ALEK ELO, BADD & CO BMX FACTORY TEAM, CROWN POINT, IN
• 3 LEVI HUVARD, STAATS BICYCLES, CAMARILLO, CA

For the next few mains, it seemed as if there was a contest on for "Who Can Win by the Furthest Lead" ? Would it be Bubba Gonzales in 15x? Hayden Robinson in 12x? Justin Richmond in 16x? Brandon Crain in 10x? 
Well .. they all won, and they all did it by huge margins of victory.  

And then came one of the best races of the day - 19-27x! Being in Illinois - the locals were definitely rootin' for hometown hottie T-Whitt; the media-proclaimed King of Smoothness. But there are also a WHOLE lot of Doublecross fans who are huge Kenny G fans. No, not fans of the adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. Kenny Gustafson, that it. 
So far this year, Kenny G (the BMXer, not the saxophonist) has been on a mission. And once again, he found himself out front, leading the hard-charging pack of 19-27 X's. Whitfield, as he's done a few times thi year already, came in fast and hard in the first turn, and made a sweet inside low/high swoop, stealing away Kenny's line and giving him nowhere to go but off the backside of bermzilla. The crowd went nuts and T-Whitt continued on from there to stretch his lead, Kenny-G free.
The Whitfield/Gustafson battle is bu far one of the hottest and most heated rivalries of 2014; and we can't wait to see how it all winds down in November for the Nag No.1 title! 

19-27 EXPERT

• 1 TYLER WHITFIELD, FACTORY SSQUARED/ANSWER, ROCKFORD, IL
• 2 DERIK BERGH, ANSWER./RENNEN, FERGUS FALLS, MN
• 3 TRAVOR PAYTON, FACTORY STAR BMX PRODUCTS, MILFORD, DE

Being at Rockford, there are quite a few "legendary" names who have been associated with this track and the Chicago-area BMX scene. Some who no longer race - like Mark Melton or Moses Tillmon, and others who have returned and are still at it - like George Andrews. Well, right up there in the "has never quit" category has to be ex-Sundance team rider and MidWest icon Frank Nuccio. It was pointed out to me on Saturday that Frank continues to do his patented 1-footed starts (just for the thrill of it, we suppose). He's right up there with Andy Patterson, Crazy J.J. and Bill Morris as guys who can likely snap you out of the gate doing a Novice start. 

On Saturday, the ol' 1-footed start didn't work too well for Nuccio, but he was able to use his knowledge of Rockford to make a few moves, going from 7th place up to 4th, then dodged a bullet or two, and found himself in 2nd place by the time he hit the finishline. Pretty impressive.
On Sunday, Frank's 1-footed start was much better, but he still wound up getting squeezed and outpowered to the first turn by Colorado legend Jamie Keelan and Doublecross' Gerald Grieve.

41-45 EXPERT - SATURDAY

• 1JAMIE KEELAN, ARVADA, CO
• 2FRANK NUCCIO, GLENELLYN, IL
• 3DEAN BUSCH, OMAHA, NE

41-45 EXPERT - SUNDAY

• 1 GERALD GRIEVE, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, AUSTIN, AR
• 2 JAMIE KEELAN, ARVADA, CO
• 3 FRANK NUCCIO, GLENELLYN, IL
• 
  

INTERMEDIATE HIGHLIGHTS:

The unofficial and fictitious "Swoop of the Day" Award for Day 1 has to go out Beloit's Bob Shockley. Even though he's familiar with the Rocford track, he was shut down hard down the first straight away, but used his local advantage to swoop hard to the inside in Bermzilla, to go from about 4th to 1st. This dude is well on his way to Expert'ism, no doubt!

28-35 INTERMEDIATE 

• 1 BOB SHOCKLEY, ANSWER/SSQUARED/TLD, S BELOIT, IL
• 2 BROC VIERZBA, E BETHEL, MN
• 3 JASON HENKEL, DUBUQUE, IA

For a little while - in fact, all the way up to the middle of the 3rd straight, things were looking good for Young Guns' Rick Trelecki. He'd holeshotted and held a comfy lead up to that point, but somehow slid off the side of the rhythm tabletop and exited left when he should've held it straight. This opened up the door for Minnesota's David Hass, who definitely owes Trlecki a big "thank you" card from Hallmark.

46 & OVER INTERMEDIATE 

• 1DAVID HASS, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
• 2SCOTT UBL, CRANKED 5 STAR RACING, SHIOCTON, WI
• 3CARY CALLIS, ROCKFORD, IL

...stay tuned for more throughout the weekend.