Blackjack Nationals Race Report

Filed under General on September 05, 2015 | Comment(s)

September 4, 2015, Reno, Nevada – Once again USA BMX returns to Reno, Nevada over Labor Day Weekend for the annual Blackjack Nationals and Western Divisional Finals. 

With three days of national racing on the line up, racers from all over the country have divided between the Eastern Divisional Finals in Louisville, Kentucky, or over in Reno, Nevada for the Western Divisional Finals. Riders from the west have made a long-standing tradition of hitting the "Littlest Big City In the World" and with the divisional title on the line, everyone is ready to scrape paint, bang bars, and battle it out inside of the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center. 

This year's track has left many riders up in the air on how they plan on attacking it. The USA BMX track crew went over the top with the technicality and made it quite hard to get in a lot of pedaling after the first obstacle (minus the turns). The first straight has a roller right in between the first step-up-step-down obstacle, which then leads right into a double that takes riders in and out of the sweeping first turn. The close quarters makes it impossible to get any cranks in, and it quickly becomes a race that can be decided by the riders who excel in manualling and jumpers. All throughout the qualifying rounds, it was clear that this was a great race track that kept everyone pretty close together with plenty of passing on both the turns and the second-straight, which features a dogleg that made for some interesting pass attempts. 

The main events rolled around and the A Pro class was ready to rock. With 18 fast cats from the west, the final eight left everyone up in the air on who would win. For Rift~Tangent Factory superstar Jacob Abbe, it was no question. He was sporting his new gold Rift frame, which he appropriately nicknamed "Goldilocks."
Over the course of the next three rounds, it was all Downtown Abbe who made it his mission to sweep the mains for the overall win. The second and third place spots came down to Phantom Development's Marquise Montgomery and RRP Gate's Josh Klatman, respectively. The class was definitely on top of their game and it will make for an interesting weekend to see if Abbe can pull the triple out.

A PRO TOTAL RIDERS = 18 GROUPS = 9

• 1JACOB ABBE, FACTORY RIFT/TANGENT, EL CAJON, CA
• 2MARQUISE MONTGOMERY, PHANTOM DEVELOPMENT BMX, MADARA, CA
• 3JOSHUA KLATMAN, RRP BMX GATES, PORT ORCHARD, WA
• 4WALKER FINCH, HARO/PROMAX, FT COLLINS, CO
• 5BRANDON CATO, BAY AREA BMXERS, OAKLAND, CA
• 6STEPHEN SMITH, BIG TOOL / TANGENT, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA
• 7PAUL WASSENAAR, BFR SWAG BUCKS, BELLFLOWER, CA
• 8KYLE BASTIN, DOUBLE R RENTALS, FONTANA, CA

Speaking of the Factory Rift~Tangent crew, their two little ladies crushed the competition in the 10 & Under Girl's Cruiser class. Both Breanna "Monster B" Winter and Deserae "Rah Rah" Romero. These two were leading the class all day long and when it came time for the main event, they had no problem leading the class around the track. At the line, it was "Monster B" taking home the win and "Rah Rah" cruising in for second. If these young ladies keep it up, there will be a whole lot of top finishes for the Tangent Cartel. 

10 & UNDER GIRLS CRUISER TOTAL RIDERS = 10 GROUPS = 2

• 1BREANNA (MONSTER B) WINTER, FACTORY RIFT/TANGENT, ANTELOPE, CA
• 2DESERAE (RAH RAH) ROMERO, FACTORY RIFT/TANGENT, VICTORVILLE, CA
• 3SHELBY RICHARDSON, ICEE/ANDERSONS 209/SNAP, STOCKTON, CA
• 4SAMANTHA (CHATTERBOX) OGBORN, COB/FINDLAY MOTOR CO. LVC, KINGMAN, AZ
• 5JORDYN (THE RHYTHM) MIRANDA, COB/FINDLAY, BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
• 6JENNA DAVIS, COB/FINDLAY, APPLE VALLEY, CA
• 7CAILEY (PITA POWER) PITA, NATIONAL GHP, SANTA MARIA, CA
• 8KYLIE (GLITCH) RICHARDSON, ICEE/ANDERSONS 209/SNAP, STOCKTON, CA

When you are 50 years old and still killing it out on the BMX track, life is good. Unfortunately for your competition, they are stuck chasing you and the hat you may or may not have attached to your backside. Did we give it away? Well, Todd Parry put on a straight clinic for the blokes in the 46-50 Cruiser class and, of course, his signature "tail hat" was in tow right there with him. Parry has had quite a career as both a pro and an amateur, but I am sure even him at this age didn't imagine he would still be at this level, especially with no training! It wouldn't surprise me if he put in a bunch of full blown training that he could come out and compete with the Vet Pro class. This guy is still as fast as lightning and he gave the NAG 1 of David Archibald all he could handle. TP looks to do it again on both bikes today and tomorrow, we will see if anybody will be able to slow this guy down.

46-50 CRUISER TOTAL RIDERS = 12 GROUPS = 2

• 1(TP) TODD PARRY, MADERA, SARATOGA SPRINGS, UT
• 2DAVID ARCHIBALD, PRIVATEER, PUYALLUP, WA
• 3ERIC SWEETS, PHANTOM DEVELOPMENT BMX, LAS VEGAS, NV
• 4DINO MATTONI, BAD ACE FACTORY, PUYALLUP, WA
• 5JASON (JJ) MELTON, MELTON RACING, S JORDAN, UT
• 6BOB COOVER, ICEE/ANDERSONS 209/SNAP, ORINDA, CA
• 7DAMON JOHNSON, TEAM 567, PUYALLUP, WA
• 8STEVE CLARK, LAWMAN BIKES, BUCKLEY, WA

With the girl's main events starting to hit the track, there were some of the best and fastest ladies in the country. In the 15-16 class, Olivia Armstrong was the favorite before the gate dropped. The National #1 Girl Cruiser title holder and most recently securing the world title on that same bike. We can only suspect that she would have the same success on the little bike. Out of the gate and all the way until the third straight, Armstrong had no problem and looked like she had the win on lock. Unfortunately for her, Factory Free Agent~Tangent's Taylour Howard had different plans. Howard was hot on Armstrong's back tire and fired off an inside move into the last turn that would get her past the powerful Armstrong. With just a short length left, it was just too late for any sort of a comeback. Howard was very impressive, and it will make for an interesting matchup for the remainder of the weekend.

15-16 GIRLS TOTAL RIDERS = 14 GROUPS = 2

• 1TAYLOUR HOWARD, FACTORY FREE AGENT / TANGENT, SPARKS, NV
• 2OLIVIA ARMSTRONG, BAY AREA BMXERS, BEND, OR
• 3CLAIRE (THE BOSS) OCONNOR, MOTIVE POWER RACING, ROCKLIN, CA
• 4MADISON GOMES, BLACK BOX/BASIC/FLY, RIPON, CA
• 5MADISON MARTINEZ, HARO/PROMAX, SANTA CLARITA, CA
• 6CAYLEIGH VAN STAALDUINEN, FACTORY STAATS/CIARI, ST ALBERT, AB
• 7SENELE ENDECOTT, BIG BOOTY BMXERS, REDDING, CA
• 8EMILY HARRIS, FACTORY EXTREME TEAM, ROCKLIN, CA

One of this year's additions to the Factory Staats crew was Tyler Cacciola. Ever since joining the wolf pack, Cacciola has been stringing together some good finishes and growing both his skill and speed with each event. He had his hands full today with Yess' Patrick Coo ready to explode the competition. Coo has been a kid that you never doubt and can often be found out front, but Cacciola had the drive to put himself in a position to make a pass. After Coo led the class almost the entire way, Cacciola had a hard carve in turn two to boost his momentum and reel in Coo. When the opportunity presented itself, Cacciola slid to the inside and took over the lead with just a few feet to go. It was definitely an upsetting loss for Coo, but a huge win for Cacciola. Chances are Coo will do whatever it takes to not let that happen again.

13 EXPERT TOTAL RIDERS = 17 GROUPS = 3

• 1TYLER CACCIOLA, FACTORY STAATS, CARMICHAEL, CA
• 2PATRICK COO, FACTORY YESS, BELLFLOWER, CA
• 3TRISTAN MITCHELL, SUPERCROSSBMX.COM, KAPOLEI, HI
• 4JOEL WILLIAMS, PHANTOM/STEALTH HUBS, SAN DIEGO, CA
• 5JOSHUA LOESCH, RRP BMX GATES, EUGENE, OR
• 6TREVOR SHIELDS, FREEAGENT/ TANGENT, CHICO, CA
• 7JACOB ALLEN, BAY AREA BMXERS, MANTECA, CA
• 8AUSTIN PEEBLES, J.E.T. RACING, CITRUS HTS, CA

Day one of the Blackjack Nationals and Western Divisional Finals are a wrap, and it was a dynamite day of racing. With two full days of epic action remaining, it will be a nail-biter until the champions are crowned. Be sure to listen in live at usabmx.com/webcast, and as always keep up with updates throughout the day through all of the USA BMX social media outlets. Now let's go racing! 

SATURDAY:

Coming into Saturday morning, the vibe around the arena was electric. Riders from all over the country were ready to hit the track for day two of chasing down their shot at a Western Divisional Championship. Qualifying went through without any issues, and the quarters and semis picked apart each class to make up some great main event classes. 

Once again the main events kicked off with the A Pro class and Factory Rift~Tangent's Jacob Abbe was the favorite after a dominating performance from day one. The next three rounds saw a ton of back and forth with various winners. When they lined up into the gate for the last round, Abbe, Brandon Cato, Pete Pascual, and Josh Klatman all had a chance at pulling out the win. The gate went down and it was Abbe and Cato leading the crew in and out of one. Abbe had the momentum and powered down the second straight to pull away from Cato, who had Pascual hot on his tail. They would continue to finish that way and that's how the podium went. They will line up tomorrow to do it all again, and we will see what the outcome is after two full days of racing. 

When it comes to Girl Cruiser classes, it is hard not to talk about the younger classes that have really blown up over the last couple of years. Today, though, the 46-50 Women's Cruiser class was quite the nail biter in the main event. 510 Bay Area BMXer's Patty Metzger made an appearance and has been dominating the weekend. In the main event, she had her hands full with Black Box Racing's Sunny Harmeson. Patty was battling bar-to-bar down the third straight with Sunny, and as they prepared to enter the last turn, it was Patty who got the edge and surpassed Sunny after she ran out of track and took a tumble into the soft stuff. Although Sunny didn't pull out the win, it was a spectacle for everyone to watch and some of the best racing the women's cruiser classes have seen all weekend.

This weekend's 16 Cruiser class has been pretty interesting with some great battles between 510 Bay Area's Kenny Cross, Extreme Team's Alex Clift, and Redman's Nathan Scott. All three of these riders have shown they have what it takes to win in the class this weekend, and out of the trio, Scott has been one of the most impressive with his constant progression towards becoming one of the biggest names in the class. In the main, Cross had issues and was immediately pushed to the back, but Scott and Clift were scraping paint as they went ferociously into turn one. Clift would take the lead, but he had Scott close enough to cause a problem if he slipped up. Luckily for Clift he was able to hold it together and just edge out Scott for the win. Going into the final day of competition, all three riders are pointed up and can have a shot at winning this. I am sure the three will be going all out, and luckily the spectators get to watch it all unfold in the main event! 

Each year I am always on the lookout for the next girl who I think has a legitimate shot at making the transition into the tough Women's Pro class. Not always is there someone who looks to be able to make that jump and handle it well, as it is an entirely different breed of racers at that level. One girl that has been crushing the 17-20 Girl's class the entire year, and also made waves last year, is Washington's Kialani Hines. The rider out of Seattle is an extremely focused young lady that clearly has the potential. She has the power, speed, and skill to compete on that level and with just a bit more preparation could make an immediate impact. All weekend she has handled her competition with ease and has most likely already locked up the Western Divisional title for her class. 

After getting sent in yesterday's 19-27 Expert main event, Zack Van Kammen was loaded into the gate for the main event with a vendetta to come back and crush his foes. Out of the gate, he was immediately out front but had Bryce Betts and Corey Salas all over him. The privateer Taylor Stephens worked his way into second place by the second turn and was setting up Van Kammen for a last-turn swoop. With the door open, Stephens threw in his front wheel and laid into Van Kammen to park him at the top of the turn. That was all she wrote for the J&R rider as Stephens cruised away with the win. It was definitely an impressive run for Stephens as this was only his second race in the class. With a giant boost of confidence after the win, Stephens will be primed to try and make another big run at it tomorrow. 

Day two is in the books and the points battles for the Western Divisional Titles are coming down to the wire. Desperation Sunday is around the corner and there will be plenty of last-ditch efforts for those in search of the coveted jersey. Tune in live via usabmx.com/webcast to listen to all of the action, and as always follow us @usabmx on all the major social media outlets for the latest updates!