Silver Dollar National race report and pics

Filed under General on January 09, 2016 | Comment(s)

2016 is going to be AWESOME. For starters, 2016 is an Olympic year. For those who care, it's also a election year, and for those who don't it's a leap year - and that means one extra day of BMX racing for you point-chasers! For hundreds of BMXers, they were ready to kick off the new year in typical fashion; racing the first national of the year in Las Vegas, at the South Point Hotel & Casino.

The first race of the new year is always an exciting one. Everybody anticipates starting the season off tied in points, and for many riders and teams – it’s extra special to debut a new bike, new uniform or new sponsor.

Defending multi-time Bike Shop Team Champions, J&R Bikes, showed up in predominantly white jerseys and a few new riders. Vegas’ very own Makieva Hobson was one of those newbies, hand-picked by TM Scott Angus, and was excited to be on a winning squad.

Among the biggest news in the sponsor-switching department was longtime Redman loyalist Jordy Scott making her debut for Factory Hyper! 
With Bubba Gonzalez as their male Am, and now Jordy in the girls ranks, Hyper has a serious 1-2 punch for 2016. Jordy, as usual, dominated her 14 girls class, with wins all weekend.

This year, it was also new for USA BMX to kick off the year with the new white NAG numbers (instead of black). It was easy to spot who read the new rulebook and who hadn’t – and many were swappin’ out numbers  to keep from getting DQ’ed.  Arizona’s Bryce Batten had his correct Nag #1, going with the bone-stock Tangent look for now – and he was looking sharp and stylish as always in his fresh new Ssquared kit. Aboard a blue Ssquared, he was flyin’ around the South Point short-track in a blur of orange and yellow. 

It’s always cool to spot the riders with new all-black plates – especially those with a hard-earned #1 on it. New Amateur champ Kevin Pauls went with a gold Box plate while Girl Champ Sophia Foresta went with a white one. 510’s Olivia Armstrong, we suspect, was able to keep tha same plate from last year on her cruiser. Seeing our new No’1’s proudly displaying their Championship plate - and then stompin' the comp, just to prove to all how they won that title, never gets old. 

15-16 GIRLS 

• 1SOPHIA FORESTA, GT, S JORDAN, UT
• 2OLIVIA ARMSTRONG, BAY AREA BMXERS, BEND, OR
• 3ANNA JOHNSON, SUPERCROSSBMX.COM, GARLAND, TX
• 4TAYLOUR HOWARD, VENDETTA/ELITE BICYCLES, SPARKS, NV
• 5KAITLYN DETERS, SSQUARED, ST PETERS, MO
• 6MCKENIZE HANSEN, RIVERTON, UT
• 7MADISON MARTINEZ, HARO/PROMAX, SANTA CLARITA, CA
• 8CAYLEIGH VAN STAALDUINEN, DAYLIGHT CYCLES  

16 EXPERT 

• 1KEVIN PAULS, HARO/PROMAX, SIMI VALLEY, CA
• 2RYAN PUCKETT, SUPERCROSSBMX.COM, REDDING, CA
• 3SULLIVAN FINCH, HARO/PROMAX, FORT COLLINS, CO
• 4REECE RANKINS, SSQUARED, TWIN LAKES, WI
• 5AUSTIN ROGERS, GORDY'S BICYCLES, SURPRISE, AZ
• 6COLIN WHITTINGTON, CRUPI, ARLINGTON, TX
• 7DYLAN MARQUIS,  COB/FINDLAY/MCDONALDS, LAS VEGAS, NV
• 8WILLIAM (ALOHA NO KA OI!) DUNN, HARO/BELL/DRAGON/BIKFACTORY

In the Pro ranks, we had an impressive turnout of single-A's - with a couple of Girl pros taking on the boys just for good measure. Supercross' Rachel Mydock and Lithuanian Olympian Vilma Rimšaitė  (who is now riding for Tangent-Rift). While neither gal made it to the big show, all of the top dogs in A-pro did - including Tangent-Rift's Jacob Abbe. 

A PRO

• 1JACOB ABBE, FACTORY RIFT-TANGENT TEAM, EL CAJON, CA
• 2JOSHUA KLATMAN, RRP BMX, PORT ORCHARD, WA
• 3DERIK BERGH, FERGUS FALLS, MN
• 4LAYNE GAINER, MESA, AZ
• 5WALKER FINCH, FACTORY HARO/PROMAX, FT COLLINS, CO
• 6CALEB ALONZO, MERCED, CA
• 7ALEX TOUGAS, FACTORY YESS, PITT MEADOWS, BC
• 8ALAN HUDSON, PHOENIX, AZ

Another great pick-up for the new year wasSsquared's acquisition of Arizona's Bryce Batten. Brilliant move by TM Jim Buchanan, that might just be the weapon he needed to beat Haro-Promax for the No.1 Factory Team title this year. Batten, with a fresh new NAG #1 on his bars, looked like he was well adjusted to the new blue frame, and was often seen out front in qualifying. Come main time, though - the B.B.King of Cool ran into some problems both days. Saturday, it was a slide-out, while out front, all by himself. And on Sunday, he got a little assist in turn two, and launched off the top of the berm like Evil Knievel at the Sanke River Canyon. It definitely took the "big bail of the weekend" award - and we wish Bryce a quick recovery.