By now you probably already know that Cristian Becerine won the ABA’s World Championship title, and that it rained like cats and dogs on Saturday during the Pro time trials.Since I couldn’t go to the race, single-A Pro’s Daniel Greer and Aaron Johnson took some notes along the way to fill me in on what I missed. Here’s a quick list of what the AA Main results looked like on Sunday, followed by Daniel and Aaron’s personal journals from the week.
AA PRO Total Riders = 24
1 Cristian Becerine, Huntington Beach, CA
2 Nate Berkheimer, Staats Bicycles, Boulder City, NV
3 Warwick Stevenson, Haro Lee Pipes/AtI, Phoenix, AZ
4 Greg Romero, Redman/Yamaha Waverunner, Sapulpa, OK
5 Dale Holmes, Free Agent, Huntington Beach, CA
6 Bubba Harris, Redline, Lancaster, CA
7 Mike Day, Staats Bicycles, Canyon Country, CA
8 Donny Robinson, Phantom/Fly/Adidas/Avent, Napa, CA
In a month or so, you’ll read all about the ABA and the UCI World Championships in the November issue of TransWorld BMX. For now, consider this a little appetizer before the main course.
Road Trip:
The ABA World Championships have come again. This race was my first race since the Grands last year, so I wanted to make the best of it. I decided that in order to experience summer BMX to its fullest, a road trip would have to go down. First, I called AaronJohnson because he is always interesting to have on a road trip. Second, I called John Smart (we would need his “AA Pro seriousness” to keep us on track, and in case we broke down in some shady town, we would be able to hustle some money at the local basketball courts with big John playing center). Nevertheless, we were all down for the ABA Worlds in Reno. Aaron and I kept a daily journal of the happenings good or bad, funny or stupid, skillful or squiddish.
Daniel’s Journal
Day 1: Nothing really interesting happened until we stopped at the Truckers’ Paradise just over the grapevine. In the traveler’s store, John purchased a nice “Truckers of America” hat. To me, it symbolized his crown from the time trials in Ontario last year. To John, it was rights to tell everybody to buckle up.
Day 2:
7:45AM: We had a bar dip contest at the gas station using two poles. Aaron won with 37 dips.
10:45AM: We arrived in Reno.
11:30AM: First Pro Practice went down—no complaints on the track. There was a nice Pro Section down the second straight.
12:30PM: Checked in at the $$$ilver Legacy. We travel in style.
5:30PM: Second Pro Practice went down. It was windy, but fun. Especially beating John to the first turn because that was bragging rights for the night.
Day 3:
9:00 am: First moto for me since the Grands last year; fourth. Eric Meyer is a heckuva lot faster than I remember.
1:00PM: I made the quarterbut got passed by “The Fierce One” Robert Pierce for the final qualifier.
2:00PM: John, Aaron, and I didn’t make it, so we went to the hotel and slept. John finished with 12 points and still didn’t qualify…shows how hard AA Pro is.
4:00PM: We went to the skatepark off of Pyramid Highway in Reno. The park was good. It had a spine and two bowls. John Smart was rippin’ it up and showing us a cool line when he knocked his two front teeth out.
8:30PM: We finally got back from the ER. I bought Smarty a Margarita to ease the pain.
Day 4:
9:00AM: After rubbing our sore joints with Tiger Balm, Aaron and I got to watch Pro time trials. Redman was calling Tim Kneip “Fubu Platinum” because he bought a $300 Fubu Jumpsuit. Dale sat in the hot seat for a while, but Christophe ended up grabbing thetitle from John Smart.
9:30AM: Aaron and I raced our first motos and it started pouring right when the AAs were on the gate. Greg Romero bought a Chris Webber Jersey to make fun of “Fubu Platinum.”
4:30PM: Aaron saw some bank with a lip and landing cemented into it near downtown. We sessioned that for a bit.
6:30PM: We sessioned the spa and John was flirting with some 30-year-old girl. He must have forgotten about not having his front teeth.
Day 5:
9:00 AM: The Worlds were about to begin. Mike Gul decided to pull out as did Stumpy, Thunder Dan, Snot Rocket, Stoeffel, and Bebout. Too bad ‘cuz the track was good. Bill Morris was even seen with a shovel in hand.
11:00AM: I made the quarters again. It gets old looking at Paul Lange’s back almost every lap.
12:00PM: Jason Cowick beat me out with a photo finish… Cowick ended up making the main.
1:00PM: I sat down with Alliant’s Owner, Mike Devitt to watch mains. DR won the first AA main.
1:30PM: Chris Burke won 17 & Over Open. FAST should be his nickname ‘cuz he won 19-27 expert as well.
1:40PM: DR was taken out down the first straight and would not return. Jamie Lilly, Carnes, and Paul Lange won their races.
1:50PM: Paul Lange won Pro Cruiser against a hard-charging Dale Holmes and Tim Kneip. Lange walked with $2,500 for the weekend; not bad for being 16, huh?
2:00PM: Aaron (Enron) pulled off 3rd overall. Bubba went down and broke his wrist with X Games going down next week. Robert Pierce pulled off second place.
2:05PM: It was announced that Nate Berkheimer and Christian Becerine tied for the win, but Becerine was given the win due to a lower third round finish.
3:00PM: John Smart went home with Mike Devitt, so we said our goodbyes.
4:00PM: Aaron and I ate at a restaurant in Truckee, CA. We got directions to a community skatepark. We got there just as Joe Riley called, so we made Joe jealous by explaining how there were three box jumps, six bowls, and a spine.
9:00PM: We arrived at my Aunt’s house in Vacaville, stoked on the weekend. Aaron and I sat down to watch the new Warpt video “50 Frenzy” produced by Phact Films.
Overall, the weekend was pretty fun. I couldn’t have asked for a better track; it was good—Daniel Greer.
Aaron’s Journal
Day 1: John sleep talks. It’s weird to wake up to a huge Aussie talking to himself at 5:30 the next morning. (I had bad gas from Taco Bell at the Truck Stop Paradise).
Day 2:
7:30AM: We leave from Vacaville and have a dip contest at a gas station. My arms and chest were sore but I won. (I’m stupid).
10:50AM: We got to Reno and a dog the size of a rat made Daniel so scared I thought he was going to piss his pants.
1:00PM: We finally got to the track and rode practice. The track was short and good. The Pro section was small but good, besides the fact that you had to grab a handful of brakes in the next turn.
6:00PM: After second practice we went back to the hotel and out to eat.
Day 3:
Today was interesting! To start things off, in the second round I got cut off in the air over the Pro section and looped out full speed and bruised my tailbone. Then Matt Faulk shattered his front rim in five pieces over the Pro section. Anyway, Paul Lange won A Pro. He was going fast as usual. The AA Pro mains were really mixed up in points and I don’t know who won but Bubba Harris was looking fast and Christophe is on top of his game again. Bubba’s mom passed away last night and he dedicated his whole weekend to her. (Myprayers are with you Bubba and family.) After the races we went to this skatepark in town. John Smart broke his two front teeth out after making fun of Mike Gul’s missing tooth.
Day 4:
8:00AM: Racing and time trials were delayed due to bad track conditions.
10:00AM: Racing and Time trials finally started and ended after the first round of A Pro because it started to pour.
4:00PM: The Rain stopped so we all decided to go street riding and found a good hip that someone had concreted two lips to on each side. We sessioned that for about 30 minutes, then we found a cool wall ride.
6:00PM: We rode back to the hotel and hit up the spa with some chick who had hairy arm pits. We then got some food and went to sleep.
Day 5:
8:00AM: The track was a lot better than I had expected. The Worlds were on! Everyone who pulled out regretted it.
12:00PM: The quarters and semis rolled around and Paul Lange was the guy to beat in A Pro and Pro Cruiser. Other than that, Clint Lambert and Robert Pierce were the only other riders that could have taken it. Clint broke himself off as well as his forks in the Pro section as I blew by him like a “Samurai Snake in the Night!” That really narrowed it down without Clint in the mix. The fast AA’s were Becerine, Bubba, and Warwick. Some amateurs that stuck out were Answer~Pro Concept’s Danny Calaug, Alliant~Doublecross’ Chris Burke, GT’s An credit: Dan Mooney
