Cam Wood Crowned Holeshot King

Filed under General on September 12, 2022 | Comment(s)

From the minds of Tyler Brown and Sam Willoughby, who hosted the original event back in 2018, Tyler Brown and the San Diego BMX crew brought back the event that looks to settle a constant debate, Who has the fastest first straight in BMX?

Horsepower, race craft, and night show magic showed its head in San Diego as the Sandiego BMX Holeshot Challenge lit up the BMX Community on Sept. 10th!

Watch the full #HoleshotChallenge highlight reel on our YouTube Channel

From the west coast and beyond, the best of the best charged their way to SoCal for a taste of the limelight. Taking eleven Amateur Guys and four Amateur Ladies, the USA BMX Live times were down to milliseconds.

From gate to the finish line, the Double Point Pre races were scattered, with big names putting down hot laps in search of the best times. For 15 experts, Sean Day and Thomas Maturano, their qualifying laps came down to the wire. Sitting on the bubble with one lap to go, the competitors towed each other around the track to lock in the six and eight spots on the time sheet.

Qualified Amateurs

Ronnie Kim - Brandon Crain - Peter Elizondo - Cedric Cade
Brody Cole - Thomas Maturano - Jacob Trujillo - Sean Day
Joel Williams - Levi Folkrod - Daniel Folkrod
Ava Corley - Kaitlyn Larson - Derin Merten - Keiley Shea

Run of Show

Quarter and Semi Mains - Top four across the Holeshot line move on.

Main Event - Gate pick chosen at random by playing cards with outermost and innermost gates being wiped from the deck to bring the final two racers together in gates 4&5. Single rider elimination down to the last two for the Fastest First Straight monicker.

As the lights flipped on and the red lights began to shine on the USA BMX cameras, the crowd wasn't ready for the action about to go down. Right off the bat in quarter mains, the storylines got dicey as qualifier Brody Cole and rookie pro, Kyle Jensen, get stacked up in turn, one opening the door for the Ladies Daleny Vaughn and Derin Merten to find the top 4 qualifying spots.

The Move of the Night

In true night show fashion, the semi-main events had all of San Diego BMX on their feet as back-to-back BMX action carved through turn one. Setting the tone for the type of racing about to go down, the entertainer, Cedric Cade, puts on the best move of the night. Coming out of gate 7, Cade found himself in fourth going into turn 1, but with a veteran corner one move, the Vegas local exited the turn in first ahead of Nick Adams, Josh Mclean, and Corben Sharrah for a spot in the elite eight.

Following up a jaw-dropping move was the first "EJECTO SEATO" call out from Grindle. Side by side, Cam Wood and Kam Larsen came up, and over the step up into turn one, and while Larsen looked to have the lead elbow, #CW12 went low, bringing the two fast lines together and putting one of the favorites of the night over the turn and onto the sidelines. 

From 8 to 2 Cash is on the Line

With everything on the line, all these racers had to do was not get last. But that's no small task with the fastest racers lined up bar-to-bar down the first straight. One after another, we saw the field dwindle, from National Series point leader Mclean to scrappy amateurs Peter Elizondo and Jacob Trujillo and even the top dog Corben Sharrah missing out on the round of 4 after getting an Ejecto Seato courtesy of the rookie, Nick Adams.

The final four. The money rounds. IT JUST GOT REAL

Anthony Bucardo, Cam Wood, Cedric Cade, and Nick Adams all locked their spots, but the real work just began. As the lone amateur, Cedric Cade went out in a blaze of glory courtesy of a Shibby hip check. Leaning on each other at the apex, the young gun finished his night at the bottom of the turn but left the track with some cash and a lot of respect from the top dogs.

With only two gates left to drop, it was anyone's holeshot. With all three racers putting down fast first straights, we noticed the low line was a favorite for Bucardo to sneak into the pack. Utilizing it in the final four laps, Bucardo came up clutch to join Sam Wiloughby Jr. in the Main Event.

It was a movie-like scenario, The Local Hero vs. The Favorite. a battle for the ages that ended the night with a bang. Lined up in gates 4&5 (Bucardo in 4, Wood in 5), Wood snapped down the hill, taking an early lead up and over the first double. With a wheel still in the game, Shibby looked to make his low line work again from the inside. Banging elbow and connecting up to the top of the turn, the favorite was able to hold on to the white line and cross the holeshot line as the Holeshot King.

An all-around electric event ended precisely as we hoped, action-packed. With an incalculable amount of hours put into the preparation for this event, the crew out at San Diego BMX made a must-watch spectacular, leaving racers and race fans itching for more. Will we see a future expansion of the #HoleshotChallenge? Only time will tell.