2015 Bluegrass Nationals Race Report

Filed under General on February 07, 2015 | Comment(s)

Louisville, KY – The 2015 USA BMX National Series made it's third stop on the tour in beautiful Louisville, KY for the Bluegrass Nationals. Also new to this year's event is the addition of the prestigious President's Cup, which combines a rider's top three finishes throughout the weekend and then the top rider in each age group is awarded the title. 

This is one of the finest facilities we visit every year and there is no doubt the city of Louisville loves BMX. For me, this place is a BMX hotbed. This event is huge for this part of the country in the fact that this is the first opportunity a lot of riders on this side of the country have to get in their national scores. On top of that, this is a big race. Riders from all over flock to this facility, and every year it continues to get better. As I was walking from registration to the track, I was amazed at the amount of bikes lining the hallways along the famed Bluegrass Nationals white-picket fence. An almost endless sea of bikes flowed as far as the eye can see. Witnessing that definitely gave me the feeling that this weekend was going to be BIG! 

Motos posted and 234 was the magic number. For a Friday, that is pretty awesome. As practice winded down and the riders were preparing for the first round, the intensity in the air was thick. With the President's Cup on the line, riders were ready to rock! 

The A Pro class featured another newcomer to the group, C-YAA's Cole Tesar. He made a huge statement in the first round of qualifying after finishing ahead of a tough group in Tyler Whitfield, Chandler Denton and Jeremy Smith. For the toughest A Pro class in recent memory, that is no easy feat. The newly entered rookie looked for the top of the podium once the main event started, but Ssquared~Answer's Tyler Whitfield had other plans for him. The three rounds brought a bit of carnage and in the first round, Kenny Gustafson catapulted through the air, taking out Mike Carruth's tripod in the process. Clearly that tumble motivated him for the rest of the night as he clicked in to his reserve gears and rattled off two more wins. Unfortunately that first round fall kept him in third overall. Tyler Whitfield took his first round win and solid finishes in the next two rounds to take the overall and mark up his first win as an A Pro. In Tesar's debut, an impressive second place finish would end his night. Once again the 2015 Rookie Pro class put on an entertaining show, leaving little doubt that this is the toughest group in years. 

Amateur action at the Bluegrass Nationals has always been filled with excitement. Every year there are riders who push it to the limits and fireworks ensue. This year was no different, and with smaller turns than in previous years, it was sure to get a bit dicey. In the 11-12 Girls Cruiser class, Rennen~Answer's newest lady addition, Leyna Jones, was out front all day and looking to score on day one. With the lead for the majority of the race, it was all but sealed and delivered as the pack headed into the final turn. Factory Hostile's Jaycie Sinclair had a look inside and took the chance but was out of position and made contact with Jones, which ultimately led to them both tumbling to the bottom of the turn. With the two top girls out, Power's Bike Shop rider Rayne Wilson cruised on by for the overall win. 

When your sister is a USA BMX National Champion, it is not always easy to pull the spotlight away from her. However, Nathan Scott was able to do just that in 15 Cruiser. While Scott is a name known by many, usually it is Jordy who comes to mind. The 15 cruiser class learned that their is another rider under the family name on the rise of becoming a consistent first place contender. Nathan has been putting in a tone of work and shows the foundation of a having a solid future. With a win on cruiser today, his 2015 NAG #1 chase has begun. Be on the lookout for this dude as the year continues, he is sure to turn some heads. 

Last year Kaitlyn Deters had a roller coaster of a ride on her Ssquared. While she still accomplished plenty, she also seemed to have a lot of bad luck. 2015 looks to be bigger and better as she picked up a pair of thirds in Vegas and kicked off this weekend with a huge win in 14 Girls. Both Madison Martinez and Stephani Morin pushed as hard as they could to reel in Deters, but it was not happening on day one. Those three will be back and forth all weekend long, but if Deters can take home to more wins, it was be a great start to hear year. 

One of the biggest pieces of news this weekend is the return of Redline's Jason Carnes, the man's man of BMX. While he took a break from competing in Vet Pro last year, this weekend marked the restart of his amateur career. If you ask him, he is out of shape and didn't expect a whole lot in his first race back as an amateur. Fortunately for him, it could not have gone any better. BlackCrown's Shawn DiPrete was giving Carnes everything he had, but came up just short on cruiser. With one win in the books for Carnes, it was on to the 41-45 Expert main. Carnes pulled the holeshot right out of the gate and held the lead down the second straight as well. Turn two approached and DiPrete had Carnes setup for a textbook swoop. DiPrete now holding the lead down the third straight, Carnes stayed strong on the inside line and with his textbook perfect turning, held tight and took over the lead again. Jeremy Thompson came in from behind and took the inside and it became a three-way drag race to the line. In the end, Carnes would land the win with DiPrete in second and Thompson in third. This may very well be the most exciting class of the weekend! If Carnes can hold strong and walk away with the President's Cup, it will be a huge mark up in his amateur return! 

The last key factor in this weekend is the coveted battle of the states for the President's Cup. The previous years has seen California run the table, and after turning in a perfect score of 200 for day one, they are on track to do it again. However, the other nine states in the top ten are all right on their tale with no deficit larger than 13 points. We have included the full list of results here, now give us your opinion on who you think will take home the 2015 President's Cup. 

Day one of the Bluegrass Nationals is a wrap, and with a bigger moto count expected for tomorrow, the competition will be ramped up even more. Be sure to check with us on Facebook throughout the day for live updates and also tune in to the live audiocast at usabmx.com/webcast.

SATURDAY:

Day two of the Bluegrass Nationals kicked off with the bi-annual appearance of the official Kentucky Derby Bugler, Steve Buttleman – accompanied by the color guard. That is one of the unique experiences of any USA BMX national held in Kentucky. Hearing the calling of the guard and the national anthem in true Kentucky form is a wonderful experience.

With the tone set for another awesome day of racing, it was backed up even more by the raised moto count of 273 – only one moto less than last year. Qualifying came and went within only a few hours and before we knew it, the main events were locked and loaded. As usual, the A Pro class was ready to do battle and with five rookies in the mix, it was almost impossible to predict the winner. After yesterday’s struggles, Gustafson was determined to redeem himself; and that is just what he did. By the time we wrapped the third main, Denton continued to hit the dirt, Whitfield checked out the backsides of the first and last turns unwillingly and Tesar impressed again in his rookie debut weekend. All of that combined with Jeremy Smith’s consistency was still not enough to keep Gustafson from reigning supreme on the top of the podium. As far as tomorrow, anyone of those riders is capable of taking home the money. 

In amateur racing, it almost felt as if the riders were playing their desperation Sunday hands. It was hard to not find a main where there was some serious moves being made that either ended as expected or less than stellar, which of course leaves that much more work for day three tomorrow. As far as the state battle is concerned, California once again pulled in a perfect score of 200 – leaving them in the top slot once again. The main move of the day was Texas, which pulled into second and has a legitimate shot of beating out California if they can produce a strong score on the final day of competition.

15-16 Girl Cruiser had quite the battle between Clayborn rider Destiny Dominguez and Staats~Ciari’s Cayleigh Van Staalduinen. Both the new Clayborn crew and the Alberto Ciari faithful’s have fielded some extremely talented riders this year and these two ladies are some of the best on the respected teams. It was back and forth quite a bit throughout the entire day, but Staalduinen was determined to nab her second win in the class. She would do just that after edging out Dominguez for the win. With two in a row, she has all but secured the President’s Cup in her class.

16 Cruiser was bound to come down between Minnesota’s Taylor Riedemann and Ssquared~Answer’s Nick Deters. Those two have been battling all weekend long and these two powerhouses put on one heck of show! In the main event, Riedemann had an awesome start, which would eventually lead to a holeshot. In the back of his head I am sure he was thinking Deters was right there, but unfortunately for Nick, he was in the middle of a pack and slowly got swallowed with each crank. Riedemann would check out after the first turn and run away with the win. The points are all jumbled now with the finishes and Free Agent~ODMG rider Cole Acord in the mix as well, it is a three way battle for the cup.

After yesterday, the 17-20 Women’s class seemed to be ruled by Sabrina Bice. Today, Shayona Glynn showed signs of being the leader of the group. Key player Samantha Brown looked to be struggling more than usual on the indoor track. When it came down to the main event it was Brown that shot out of the gate like a cannon ball leaving a WWII cannon. She had a bike length lead by the double heading into the first turn. Bice was hot on her tail, but after getting tangled up in the pack, she hit the dirt and watched the rest of the class ride away. Brown had no issues in maintaining her momentum and lead, which would pave the way to a solid win in a tough class. This is yet another class that has points in a jumble, leaving the cup up in the air as we enter day three. 

The Expert classes were nothing short of ecstatic. The roller out of the gate proved to be a huge game changer as many classes had riders bunch up and see who could hit the ground first. Out of all the races that had some awesome action, I was most impressed by Answer~Rennen’s Markwane Billingsley. This kid has more untapped talent than many within his age group. He has picked up the ace both times in the last two days, and with Aram Schwinn on his backside, I am sure he was sweating bullets. With one more day left, it will be tough to make it happen again, but with his current momentum, he is more than capable of making it happen.

Day two is a wrap and boy was it one heck of a day. The racing was hands down in contention with the best battles in Vegas. As we enter the final day tomorrow, everything from national points to the President’s Cups are on the line and the riders who have a shot of taking them home will most likely not be holding anything back. Join us tomorrow at usabmx.com/webcast for all of the rocking action and as always we will keep you updated throughout the day on Facebook and with the end of weekend race report. See you tomorrow!