Music City Nationals - race report and photos

Filed under General on May 22, 2015 | Comment(s)

It was a Chase sweep on Friday night for the opening day of Nashville's BMX tradition - the Music City Nationals. Frenchman Joris Daudet powered to the front to not only nab the $250 

Answer Holeshot Award, but the win as well. DHR/Answer/Chase's Anthony Dean kept him honest in the 2-spot and Joris's Chase teammate Connor Fields rounded out the podium.

Talking to  Connor after the podium presentation, he was quick to point out that a Chase rider has won every race so far this year ...except for 2. A pretty amazing fact that'll make Chase owner Christopher Leveque (a former National No.1 Pro) very happy. 

MEN ELITE

• 1 JORIS DAUDET, CHASE BMX, CA
• 2 ANTHONY DEAN, CHASE/DHR, CA
• 3 CONNOR FIELDS, CHASE BMX, NV
• 4 JUSTIN POSEY, DANS COMP, NC
• 5 DAVID HERMAN, FREEAGENT, CO
• 6 LOGAN COLLINS, SPEEDCO / SINZ, TN
• 7 LAIN VAN OGLE, STAATS/CIARI, WA
• 8 JEFFERY UPSHAW, KUWAHARA, OH

In the Elite Women class, the chances for Haro's Brooke Crain to keep her 2-straight win streak (from Ventura) alive, ended early - as she tried to race her first main despite having strept throat, and then decided to pull out for the rest of the night. 

This, of course - left her Olympic team mate - Alise Post, as the one to watch. But don't think that it'd be easy ...as Thailand Olympic medal hopeful Amanda Carr was always in the mix, as well as GT's Felicia Stancil - who stayed right on AP's tail in the main. Other notable stand-outs were DHR's Dani George and Staats' impressive rookie pro Kelsey VanOgle - who were fighting hard all the way to the stripe in the final.

WOMEN ELITE

• 1 ALISE POST, REDLINE, CA
• 2 FELICIA STANCIL, FACTORY GT BICYCLES, CA
• 3 KELSEY VAN OGLE, FACTORY STAATS/CIARI, WA
• 4 DANI GEORGE, CHASE/ DHR, CA
• 5 AMELIA WALSH, ONTARIO, CAN
• 6 MIKA SHAW, HOSTILE INDUSTRIES, CO
• 7 AMANDA CARR, J&R BICYCLES & REDLINE, FL
• 8 KRISTEN BOB, ALL-STAR RACING/ROCKET FIZZ, TX

While there were plenty of great races for the Friday night under the lights, one of the standouts would have to be the 16x final - where Minnesota's Rum River local Taylor Riedermann had to weave thru some traffic and make some sweet moves to get up in to the lead and beat out C-yaa's Jake Olish. It was a great battle and some impressive dicin' 'n slicin'.

16 EXPERT

• 1 TAYLOR RIEDEMANN, MN
• 2 JAKE OLISH, C-YAA FACTORY, NY
• 3 AUSTIN BENTON, KNUCKLEBUSTERS SPEED SHOP, TN
• 4 SHANE DRAYSON, MORPHINE INDUSTRIES, FL
• 5 MICAH BELLING, YOUNG GUNS BMX, WI
• 6 MATEO GONZALEZ, M
• 7 ALEC DULL, IN THE ZONE BICYCLE SHOP, GA
• 8 BRENNAN HALEY, OH

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT
Saturday brought us 302 motos and a ton of insane racing - from qualifiers to quarters, semis to mains. As the day rolled in to the evening, it was obvious by all of the slicin' and dicin' that things were getting more serious. The speeds that these guys and gals were hitting on the Music City track were enough to break the BMX sound barrier in most cases. 

Kickin' off the big show with the big guns, we saw an exact xerox of Friday night in the Elite ranks - with Alise, Felicia and Kelsey oing 1-2-3 again, while the Chase boys - Joris, Anthony and Connor again swept the podium like a hispanic housekeeper. 

WOMEN ELITE resuts - Saturday

• 1 ALISE POST, REDLINE, CA
• 2 FELICIA STANCIL, GT BICYCLES, CA
• 3 KELSEY VAN OGLE, STAATS/CIARI, WA

MEN ELITE resuts - Saturday

• 1 JORIS DAUDET, CHASE BMX, CA
• 2 ANTHONY DEAN, CHASE/DHR, CA
• 3 CONNOR FIELDS, CHASE BMX, NV
• 
  

In the Vet and A-pro ranks, we witnessed some good bar-to-bar action, as the Argentinian cartel of Javier Colombo and Cristian Becerine battled as they always do, to the first turn. Javi crossed the Answer holeshot line first, and from there proceeded to check out.

In the single-A class, it was the young guns versus the "old guard" of A-pro. While it seems like just yesterday that Lee "The Flea" Lewis turned pro, it seems bizarre that he is now considered the "old man" of the single-A ranks at the ripe ol' age of 26. Sophmore rookies Santitago Marin (Hostile) and Extremist Jeremy Smith held off the ever stylish Flea as if they were wearing a Hartz all-in-one collar. Lewis stuck to 'em like a tick, tho - and held on for the 3-spot.  

A PRO resuts - Saturday

• 1 SANTIAGO MARIN, HOSTILE ELITE, FL
• 2 JEREMY SMITH, EXTREME TEAM, OH
• 3 LEE LEWIS, GOLDS GYM/J&R/ANSWER, TX
• 4 RYAN PETTIGREW, J&R BICYCLES.COM, CA
• 5 JUSTIN RIDDELL, NATIONAL GHP, FL
• 6 WILLIAM GRANT, MY RADAR/J&R,, FL
• 7 PHILIP DELIZIA, STARS N STRIPES, NJ
• 8 KRISTIAN COOPER, BALLISTIC BMX, OR

Being that this IS Nashville - the home of country music and rockers alike, and this IS

the Music City nationals and track, it has become a Nashville tradition that all Pro winners on Saturday night received a custom autographed Fender guitar. This year, they were signed by country music superstar Luke Bryan ...who, rumor has it, is a HUGE fan of BMX racing and might've even considered taking on the gang in 36-40 cruiser had he not been on tour.

...of course, that IS just a rumor.

S.o.T.D.:
One of the best "Saves of the Day" came in - of all classes, 5 intermediate. At Music City, riders are definintely hitting mach speeds, no matter what their age or size, and in the 5i finale' Ben Shockley was warpin' out when he hit the mondo tabletop - and perhaps got bucked a lil' bit more than he'd expected. The Illinois local then nose-manualed almost the entire jump, put just enough lean back and saved it to go on for the win.
A 5 year old - or better yet, an intermediate!, with those kind of skills just goes to show how high the level of talent is in this sport these days! 

5 & UNDER INTERMEDIATE

• 1 BENJAMIN SHOCKLEY, S BELOIT, IL
• 2 JAYDEN LINVILLE, RIVERSIDE, OH
• 3 KAILUM BUTTS, WHITMANS, DAYTON, OH

H.L.o.T.D:

While there were plenty of passes made in Nashville's Daytona-like turns, one of the best we moves we witnessed in the mains came in 7 inter. Cameron Koslovesky - from Ohio, put on a High-Low Clinic on Passing 101 to nab the lead. In a blink of an eye, leader Ben Thompson saw The Kos whiz by on the inside, and did his best to grab it back but didn't have quite enough mustard to his pickle. 

7 INTERMEDIATE

• 1 CAMERON KOSLOVSKY, WHITMANS, OH
• 2 BEN THOMPSON, CHAPIN, SC
• 3 PEARCE FOWLER, MT PLEASANT, SC
• 4 WILL JAHNKE, OCONOMOWOC, WI
• 5 CHANDON GATLIN, BOMBSHELL/AVENT CYCLES, TN
• 6 CALEB CLEMONS, BLUEGRASS DAN'S COMP, IN
• 7 LEMMIE STONE, TEAM SPEEDLINE FLY TBF, TN
• 8 DREW SHOCKLEY, SOUTH BELOIT, IL

Taking a que from the 7 year olds, another great pass came in 28-35 inter, where eventual winner Raymond Bradford went from third to first in one full swoop. Missouri's Ryan Young didn't see that one coming, either - and fought tooth and nail the rest of the way to get back his lead, but Bradford held on for the 1st place trophy slip, the fame and the glory.

B.G.M.o.T.D.:

14 EXPERT

• 1 JETT GAUDETTE, FULL TILT BIKE CO, MN
• 2 CHASE ROBINSON, BLOT OUT GRAPHICS, OH
• 3 JESSE WELCH, HARO/PROMAX, CA
• 4 DAHVIN CHILDS, JRBICYCLES.COM, CA
• 5 ALEC GARZA, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, TX
• 6 ALEX GARCIA, DANCE FACTORY, WI
• 7 ARAM SCHWINN, HOSTILE ELITE, TX
• 8 AIDAN KELLY, OUT2WIN,, NC

B.L.o.T.D.:

For the "biggest lead" category this weekend, it was quite obvious to all spectators that the honors have to go to Haro~Promax's Kevin Pauls.  Thru the rhythm, Pauls had already checked out and was so far out front, he was in his own zip code. Winning it on his carbon Haro, Pauls crossed the line with about a half-a-straight lead - and is no doubt preparing for a good run at the National No.1 Amateur title.
There's definintley an impressive pro career in this guys' future - wether it is in BMX or playing oboe for the New York philharmonic orchestra, only time will tell. 

15 EXPERT

• 1 KEVIN PAULS, HARO/PROMAX, CA
• 2 MARKWANE BILLINGSLEY, ANSWER/RENNEN, MI
• 3 WILLIAM SILVA, POWER CYCLES ORL TICKETS, FL
• 4 TRISTON (LIFETIME) JUDD, ALL-STAR/ROCKET FIZZ, TX
• 5 REECE RANKINS, SSQUARED BICYCLES,, WI
• 6 CARLOS JAVIER ZULUAGA, MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA
• 7 JASON CUNNINGHAM, LUTZ, FL
• 8 JOSEF GERHARTZ, STAR BMX PRODUCTS, WI

P.I.N.F R.o.T.D.:

As the night grows longer, so do the acronyms, right? In our "Proving I'm No Fluke" Race of the Day, Stars 'n Stripes Racing's Menardo Simon shut up any nay-sayers that he's a hit n miss rider by once again winning one of the toughest classes in amatuer racing: 19-27x. 

In Georgia, Simon had burst on everybody's radar by winning 19-27x, ahead of Answer-Rennen's Derik Bergh and his Virginia mentor - Andrew Townsend. But many factory scouts and TM's dismissed it as "just a fluke" and questioned if he could do it again - and do it consistently. Well - after Saturday night in Nashville, the answer is a big YES. Simon proved he's got the speed, the skills and the power to dominate this class this year. 
Even better yet, the dude is a really nice. humble rider who seems just as concerned with helpingout the younger riders onhis team, as he does with winning. Team managers, take note. 

19-27 EXPERT

• 1 MENARDO SIMON, STARS N STRIPES, PA
• 2 DERIK BERGH, ANSWER/RENNEN, MN
• 3 ANDREW TOWNSEND, HARO/PROMAX, VA
• 4 RYAN DEROCHE, DOUBLECROSS BIKES, GA
• 5 TYLER SMITH, FACTORY BLACKCROWN, GA
• 6 DYLAN COOLEY, DK BICYCLES, OH
• 7 BRANDON ROHARIK, STANDARD BYKE CO, OH
• 8 MATT CALVIN, N CHARLESTON, SC

G.R.T.A.T.M.C.N.:

From the shady pit areas, to a super fast track, or the lake side camping spots and large motorhome row to the plush covered starting hill and Onyx barrell gate, you just can't help but fall in love with the Music City BMX venue and national. It is one of those events that every hardcore racer needs to experience - at least once in their lifetime.  (Of course, once you do it once, you'll want to hit this one every year afterwards - we guarantee it.) 

One of those riders who had raced here throughout the 80's and 90's is BMX Hall of Famer Billy Griggs (aka "Mr.Bill.").  If you've kept track of him on facebook, you'll know that after his HoF induction, his love for the sport was revitalized and with daily sessions at the gym, the beer-gut is now gone and his focus on BMX is back.
This weekend, Griggs was anxious to return to one of his favorite tracks as a teenager - and everytime we saw him cruising around the pits, there was a big ol' cheese-eating grin on his face. Mr.Bill was in heaven, and he was more than happy to share those fond memories of Nashville with us.

Billy joined seven other super fast riders in the final main of the night - including former Vet Pro Cody Smart and Florida's proflific Profiler John Pringle. Riding for his sponsor - Razor (maker of scooters and electric kids toys - not shaving blades), Griggs powered straight to the front of the pack and was re-living his Mongoose, CW and Redline days ...when all of the sudden, reality (and a set of doubles) hit. Billy bailed all by his lonesome, and with a slight dodge and a weave, Smart was right there to take things over for the last victory of one very long and entertaining day.

46 & OVER EXPERT

• 1 CODY SMART, FRIENDSWOOD, TX
• 2 JOHN PRINGLE, PROFILE RACING, FL
• 3 ALFONSO GIGANTI, SRT REDLINE, MO
• 4 CHRIS JEFFREY, FACTORY KUWAHARA, MI
• 5 BRYAN DICKERSON, STAR BMX PRODUCTS, WI
• 6 GERSON FERRIERA, DAVIE, FL
• 7 BILLY GRIGGS, RAZOR /CHASE, CA

Despite his end result, though - Griggs still got up grinning and wasn't about to let a last place score ruin the fun and thrills of the Music City Nationals. There's always Sunday - right?

Fun and thrills - that is definintley the GREATEST REASON to ATTEND the MUSIC CITY NATIONALS (or, as I like to call it - the G.R.T.A.T.M.C.N.).