2016 USA BMX Stars & Stripes Nationals

Filed under General on July 02, 2016 | Comment(s)

Woodbridge Virginia gets its name from a wooden toll bridge that dates back to the 1700’s. As visionary as the founding fathers probably were, they could never have imaged the awesomeness that went down at NOVA BMX.  The track just received a fresh skim coat a few weeks back and it was in pristine condition come race time on Friday. They local folks even went as far as taping off the straightaways to assure that the lines were perfect.

As Friday kicked off three days of national racing, we witnessed what would be the pass of the day.  Blot Out Graphics’ Noelle Vidak shot out to an early lead but as she entered the second turn Jammin’ Jena Sagendorf swooped in with precision accuracy and overtook the lead.

We gotta give a big shout out to the younger of the Bakken brothers, Luke. Despite some bad luck on Saturday he’d head back to Colorado with two wins in 9cruiser. Another awesome battle on big bikes was in the 17-20 cruiser class where Powers’ Brady Kincheloe, Cyaa’s Jason Baird and Hyper’s Luke Roarty would fight it out. Brady would use his track speed to secure two wins in the class while Baird would net the other victory. Baird would also get a win in expert on Friday. As he left the last turn Profile’s Nic Connelly, who was in second, decided to do a impromptu one-footer. This allowed Velocity’s Benjamin Roberts to execute a textbook high-low and take over the two spot. Kincheloe would cruise in for the three-spot.

A-pro was chock full of talented guys and any one of them could have taken the win. Early on,
it looked liked Austin Loebe would be the one to beat but a big crash in the second main would keep him in third for Saturdays overall. “Sic” Vic Behm would keep it consistent and take the victory. On day two, Hostile~Elite’s Santiago Marin looked pretty much unbeatable despite the slippery track conditions. He’d go on to win with Cole Tesar in second and new rookie Menardo Simon in third.

On the girl’s front, Utah’s National No.1 Girl, Sophia Foresta, made her first trip ever to the east coast and went unchallenged in 15-16 Girls. Despite her secret trip out to Rock Hill the week prior to do some big hill training, we don’t think she was a fan of the humidity.

The first USA BMX National in Virginia was a complete success! There is something about being in the nations capital around Independence Day that is just magical.  We can’t put our finger on it but if you were there you know what we mean.