Carolina Nationals

photos gOrk & James Pennucci . words by gOrk

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Alpha’s Blaise Pereira and Clayborn’s Foster Henderson were flyin’ in 15x, but had to deal with Answer’s P.J. O’Brien and Haro’s Peter Choat.

Rock Hill. Those two words alone conjure up thoughts of World Championship racing, a first-class BMX facility and super-duper, exciting racing. Rock Hill simply RULES.

very BMXer who has been here before wants to return. And many participants this weekend, some who were here for the very first time, got a taste of what makes this so great. Not just this track, but the entire city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is such a cool community that loves all things cycling.

There’s no doubt that the City of Rock Hill loves BMX. Which is why USA BMX was able to make this the third “reboot” National after the global-pandemic shut everything down. This weekend in particular, they were hosting this BMX National, along with softball and flag football tournaments, all happening at once - as a hopeful return to full-on normalcy.

That’s not to say the usual precautions weren’t in place - social distancing and mask-wearing were still encouraged, and the new widely-distanced staging area was in full effect. The large span of bleachers on both sides of the track gave everybody plenty of room to space out from eachother, and the pit area on the green grassy fields were jampacked and spread out widely.

Friday kicked off with 212 motos, making it the largest turnout since the return to racing. Saturday wound up with 221 motos and Sunday wrapped up with 206.

THE RIVALRY ...CONTINUES! If there were only one class to pay attention to in the sport right now, it’d have to be 14x. For the past year, we’ve seen the hotly-contested rivalry between Box’s franchise amateur - Ronnie Kim, and the BMX Shark on the prowl, Cedric “The Entertainer” Cade. Almost a year ago to the date, in Bakersfield, Ced was biting at the heels of Ronnie, who has been the Ruler Supreme of this age class since age 7. With multiple World Championships and even more NAG No.1 plates, Kim is, and always will be, the one to beat.

It’s been nearly one year since Ronnie’s longstanding win-streak was stopped in Las Vegas, and Cedric has been workin’ hard at beating Ronnie flat-out ...and more frequently. Just a week prior to the Carolina’s, they’d divided up the wins in Phoenix with Cedric = 2, Ronnie = 1. On Sunday in Arizona, Cedric had watched 14x from the sidelines after crashin’ out in the semi. In Rock Hill, he wasn’t about let that happen again. Ever. These two weren’t about to take a break in this

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Two-time No.1 Amateur and 1988 No.1 Pro Mike King is in charge of the Rock Hill BMX program; as an employee of the City of Rock Hill. King still rides and races on a daily basis - only now it on 29” or 700c wheels.

ROCK HILL BMX

Rock Hill BMX is one of seven big “Olympic” hill tracks in the U.S., and was made with the sole intention of hosting the 2017 UCI BMX World Champs., and has also hosted plenty of USA BMX’s Carolina Nationals and even a few UCI Super-

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cross events.

For this particular weekend - sadly, half of the track (three Pro straightaways and the big hill) went unused, due to forced changes in the 2020 Pro Series. ...although, there were a couple of rebel-runners in practice who couldn’t resist going right out

of the first turn and hitting the berm jump.

Due to the Covid craziness, the pump track was also closed for the weekend.

The Amateur portion of Rock Hill that was used, was in its usual

prime condition, with the City of Rock Hill tuning it up and repairing any divits each night following the racing.

This facility is nothing short of firstclass!

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Some of the fastest 12 Intermediates in the National congregated in South Carolina to determine who is currently the King of 12 Inter. Would it be (GC#1) Henry Borowski? Or maybe Georgia’s Antonio Murray (#120)? Or perhaps Floridian Lane Sistrunk (#56) or Jersey boy Evan Boyle (#60)? In the end, Justin Avila (#13) scored two of the three wins, giving up the victory one day to Powers’ Borowski.

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three 3-Day Nationals in a row streak - and both had come to Rock Hill to let the rivalry continue. Only this time, the tables turned, as Ronnie found himself in the very unusual spot of 5th-in-the-semi on Friday. In an ultrarare moment, Ronnie was the one watching the main from the sidelines - something he hasn’t done for quite some time.

Cedric, who is being trained by Ronnie’s former trainer - Richie Anderson - along with taking tips from Tuni and Makieva Hopson, has perfected his starts consistently, compared to Ronnie - who suddenly seems to be struggling with getting a killer snap. Not only that, but Cade’s second and third cranks are becoming more powerful, thanks in part to his unique form of trampoline training. It also appears that Cedric is now in Ronnie’s

head, and Kim needs to get back in that “unbeatable mindset” that he’s had for the past seven or eight years. For the first time in his BMX career, the Box factory superstar is experiencing the “slump” that all great athletes get into, from time to time. For both Saturday & Sunday, Cedric beat Ronnie - flat out, fair ‘n square. Final score for this weekend: Cedric = 3, Ronnie = 0 ...which boosts

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Cade into the No.2 spot of National Amateur points.

A GOOD DAY With 37 riders in 13x, two or three wins in this class could bump a guy into the No.1 Amateur point standings. And Full Tilt’s Sean Day - the National No.2 rider from last year, was poised to do just that. The announcers and his Full Tilt teammates call Sean “Suave” (or sometimes, “Rico Suave” if they’re in the mood)... which, if you look up in the dictionary, means that he’s about as smooth as butter when he’s out on

the track.

The River Valley BMX local from Washington proved his smoothness all weekend, winning each day with hefty leads; often three, five or ten bike lengths ahead of second place. The coolest thing about Day is that he’s not out doing sprints

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every day or going to the gym. If you ask him, he’ll tell you “I just ride.”

But if you ask us, or his competition - he does more than just ride. He rides fast. REAL fast.

TWENTY SIX PRO SALUTE The Carolina’s brought out the

Aside from the Ronnie -vs- Cedric action happening in 14x, here are four fast dudes who are always fighting it out for a podium spot: (NAG#8) Cole Issacs, Hayden Boyd (NAG#18), Yess’ Alejandro Che and Mudslinger’s Ethan Popovich (NAG#7).

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big guns this weekend. When you’ve got a facility as cool as Rock Hill, it brings ‘em out in droves. With 26 Pros signed up, fans and spectators were treated to some incredible racing. With a good mix of AA-pros and single A’s and even two or three Women Pros, it was evident that everybody was ready to get #backontrack after months of shutdown and isolation.

From first-glance during practice, Corsa’s Jeremy Smith was looking super impressive and was thought by most to be the man to beat. But never count out those ultra-fast South American Elite pros - like Brazil’s Anderson Souza or Brayan Querales and Jholman Sivira. American AApros

Kamren Larsen (Supercross) and Cole Tesar (NoLogo), along with Smith, had the hard task of defending American soil from a foreign invasion. Adding to the international flavor was Aussie Josh McClean and original South African import Tyler Klumper.

In the end, it was the Brazilian waxin’ the competition, two of the

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three days. Smith, who bailed hard in Friday night’s main event, lived up to the name of the frame he rides (StayStrong) and finally found his groove to score Sunday’s Pro Open win. Now that the big Pro series is done until Grands - and the Olympics are put off ‘til 2021, it’ll be real interesting to see which AA’s come out to race Pro Open. (Or better yet, just

New Supercross superstar Cameron Bramer has big shoes to fill, replacing the 17-20x position that was held last year by No.1 Amateur Riley House ... and it seems the shoes fit well. Bramer went home to South Park with two 17- 20 cruiser wins and one win in class.

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how many of them will race throughout the extremely-limited National schedule we have?) One thing you can bet on is that those who clock-in some track time on these weekends, in Pro Open, will have a sweet advantage by the time November and Grands rolls around. #RacersRace, right? Even the women Pros! Without enough glas to make a class, DK’s Carly Kane and Black Widow’s Caitlyn Farmer decided that they’d see how they could hang against the men, rather than going home empty-handed.

LEFT: Clayborn-Answer’s Aiden Guidry hauls it in 10x.

BOTTOM LEFT: Conceptual racer Jonny Goodwin was lookin’ sharp in 26-35x.

CENTER: Full Tilt’s Dylan Wood is struggling in 16x.

FAR RIGHT: BMX Shark Cedric Cade ruled 14x.

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THE NEW QUEEN OF TRIPLES After scoring two triples (and a double) in Phoenix, Fall Risk Racing’s Hannah Leakey came to Rock Hill to keep her Triple-wins streak alive. And in Danica Andersonfashion, she did just that - winning

11-12 Mixed, 12 girls cruiser and 12g all three days. By Sunday, “The Hurricane” had 12 straight wins, with plans on attending the next National in Indiana. (Spoiler Alert: She did keep the streak alive!) Other fast females to make note of were Danica Appenzeller in 9girls, Leeaira Sherrill-Hill in 11g, and “Skittles” MacKenzie Gayheart in 17-20w.

JUST CRUISIN’ When it comes to cruiser-time, we often see a variety of names you won’t

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find in class. For some odd reason, they roll better on 24’s. Such as 13 cruiser, where Hyper’s Parker Respass dominated all three days, thankful that Sean Day doesn’t own a cruiser. In 7 & under cruiser, it was owned by Ohio’s Alex Ingham. In the older-dude categories, Dennis Ybarra held on to first all three days in 61-plus, while everybody’s favorite roller-rinker Scott “Old Skool” Sloan killed it in 56-60 cruiser. In fact, if you check out the current cruiser standings, Sloan has now moved into the Top-10 of National standings!

THE 2020 REBOOT SERIES

Everybody who attended the 2020

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ABOVE: With 33 riders in 17-20x, there were some big points available for Alpha’s Brayden Kempel, Preston Evans and Hyper’s (ROC#1) Alex Antil.

FAR RIGHT: Full Tilt’s “Skittles” three wins in 17-20 women gave her a good bump in the National No.1 title chase.

Carolina Nationals was pumped - not only to ride and race at such an incredible facility, but just to be able to be at a National event. During these times of a global pandemic, the BMX world has been left in limbo - not knowing where or when the next big event will be. Thus, we are all grateful to the City of Rock Hill and all of the city official who helped make sure that the rescheduled Carolina Nationals happened. These days, there is a LOT more going on behind the scenes to make these events happen!

Triples X 3 HANNAH LEAKEY

11-12 Gcru, 11-12 Mixed

& 12G

Doubles X 3 CHAD STREET 41-45 Cru & 41-45X DOMINGOS LAMMOGLIA 51+X & 51-55 Cru ELI STATON

9X & 9-10 Xopen MALIA ALVAREZ 6under Mixed & 6 G Doubles x 2 DEVIN MURPHY 21-30 Wcru & 21-30 W KYLEE NIEDERBERGER 13G & 13-14 Gcru LISA WEBB

31-40 W & 36-40 Wcru

SAGE GAZAN 10 G & 9-10 Mixed

Doubles

CAMERON BRAMER

17-20 Cru & 17-20X

CHLOE KAPPEN

15-16 Gcru & 15-16G

JEREMY THOMPSON

46-50 Cru & 46-50X

KATIE PIOTTI

31-35 Wcru & 31-40W

MASON GRAY

7 Inter & 7-8 Mixed

MATTEO PIGO

11X & 11-12 Xopen

PATRICK O’BRIEN

15 Cru & 15X

ROWDY HOLZER

11 Cru & 11X

RYDER LAWRENCE

12 Cru & 12X

SEAN DAY

13X & 13-14 Xopen

STELLA SUNSERI

13-14 Mixed & 14G

TOMMY BRUNEY

11 Cru & 11X

DATA:

Date: June 19-21, 2020 Location: Rock Hill BMX City/State: Rock Hill, SC States Represented: 37 Country Count: 5, counting U.S.A.

TEAM WINNERS

Bike Shop: Fri: 1-800 KAOS Sat: J&R Bicycles.com Sun: Black Widow BMX

Factory: Fri: Full Tilt-Radio Sat: Full Tilt-Radio Sun: Full Tilt-Radio

Moto Counter: Fri: 212 Sat: 221 Sun: 207

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TOP RIGHT: In 21-30 women cruiser, Erin Jones (NAG#1) went elbow-to-elbow with Family Pride’s Devin Murphy (#8).

FAR RIGHT: Mudslinger’s Ethan Popovich and his Americanmade Standard, getting things done in 14x.

BOTTOM RIGHT: J&R’s dynamic duo in the girls classes - Alexis Alden (NAG#1) and Stella Sunseri (NAG#8) went 1-2 in 13-14 Mixed Open.

FAR RIGHT BOTTOM: Vote for Pedro! Ecuador’s Pedro Benalcazar (#394) made quite a name for himself, winning 16x two out of three tries

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FAR LEFT: Blake Powell(NAG#17 had Velocity in 15cruiser, scoring a second place.

CENTER: Florida’s Answer- Ssquard team broke out new uniforms in Rock Hill, and Tyle r Rooney (#48) made ‘em look good in 21-25x.

TOP RIGHT: Ssquared’s Parker Tramposch and his California gearing take to the skies in 11x.

CENTER RIGHT: Powers’ Cogan Martin-Kersey gets a wheel on Alpha dog Ace Laack (NAG#5).

BOTTOM RIGHT: Hyper’s IsabellaNelson was in the mix allweekend in 14 girls.

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FAR LEFT: Rock Hill locals Chris Felker (Tangent-Rift)and Mason Hayes (Mongoose) put on a great show in11x.

BOTTOM LEFT: All Tow-Yess’ Renato Silva (NAG#1)owned the pink slip to 46-50 expert.

TOP CENTER: Box’s Liberty Dalton (#4) tries to grab the lead in 13-14 Mixed Open, but Miranda Lanuto (GC1) has other ideas.

CENTER: Spin City’s Manuela Rolden tries to hold off Chloe Kappen in the last turn, in 15-16 girls. BOTTOM CENTER: Answer pro Ronan Webber and Powerlite’s Bobby Dellert air things out in a Pro Open qualifier.

BELOW: Gil Sanchez (#28) gets some grip from his gumwallVee tires in 51-over Intermediate.

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