Good Luck!!!

[Diesel]

Pattersons wish everyone racing the best of luck this weekend! This should be a real barn burner! As nationals go, I got the feeling it'll be HUGE! Home track advantage = laps on this knarly track and being used to breathing at this altitude.

Hammertime!
Diesel

[Jackie]

Good luck everyone wish you a safe and successful weekend. Thanks goes out to all who have worked so hard to prepare the track and facilities.

[joker75]

Thanks to all who have helped get the track ready, ad al of you who have helped all of our local riders prepare for such a huge race. I'll be cheering you all on from the stands.

[Curtis Newkirk]

Hi Pattersons,

Congrats on an awesome weekend. Just looking at the results it looks like Robby and Daniel tore it up! Robbie almost had a perfect weekend and that is rare!

Good job to the rest of the Utah crew with some great wins and mains. I wish we could have been there!

Your old pal,

Curtis

[Diesel]

The boys and I say thanks Curtis! Danny is limping around from all his crashes on the class bike and Robby is stoked! We had high hopes on Robby's chances going into the weekend and other than the run in with a bone headed KJ Saturday in Crusier, he got it done. Got it done from 8 on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. Now for the first time Robby is really in the mix for class. First time ever with 6 class wins. Now we got to move on and chase a couple of better rider counts. Danny has had great success so far in 21 Cruiser! Extreme Team has been huge helping us keep it rolling! It really helps when you've got someone who really believes in you and gives you genuine support. Ray at Fly and Greg Hill as well. We are lucky!!!

TP rocked it and so did Brenley on the "Pinkys" team. Brooke Oblad made her dad proud! Joey Foresta just flat smoked um both days! You know Joey has serious potential! Like to see Joey out there on a cruiser. And how about Jordan Esteban just coming back to racing making 17X and coming away with a top 4. And ole Thomas Bullock got busy and made it on Saturday. Jordan Smith came out and made it on Sunday for 4th. Brighton Alvey did well! Saw some real fire from the Allen boys!!! And all those other good finishes by the Utah crew. COGs got it done. Liked Fordham's "rub" on Lebow on Friday night clean as a whistle. Chandler was not happy and things got a little ugly at the finish line after. Had him in the penalty box on Saturday.

Please fill us in on how things are going for you and your family. Are you still "over there?"

Candle is still burning at both ends for us!

Thanks,
Diesel

[Curtis Newkirk]

Thanks for the excellent update Dan! It is good to hear the "inside info" from so far away. I so wish we could have been there, but attending ABA nationals from Europe is not only very expensive, but also has time zone ramifications you are probably well aware of.

Regarding Joey Forresta's wins: What can I say? The kid does not even show up in the NAG results yet. This is a good thing which means that the family has a true grip on how to do this sport. All of the rest of us chase the six wins while they just live and train to be the best without regard for point chasing. Awesome method for the family!

Over here we are just trying to live well and do the right thing. It is complicated, but working well. The kids are all in Swiss school, can speak the local language(s). and are involved in local sports. There is a lot of BMX, but none that is really close. We just bought our first EU family vehicle in May and are looking for a good track within a reasonable training distance. The kids all still have the passion.

In the mean time, Bennett has grabbed a lot of attention in Downhill MTB and that is the main focus as far as titles for this year. We have to take this integration one step at a time, so the lead driver in getting those titles gets the priority. We all know that BMX is the key skills driver for anything cycling-skills realted so wish us luck in figuring out the rest!

More updates as time permits, but we really miss Utah and the great people there.

[Diesel]

Sorry about missing the second "r" in Forresta. You know how worked I get when someone spells Robby's name Robbie so I guess I ought to practice what I preach
You had to be there listening, but that different announcer Friday night was messing up with Joey way worse than missing that r. Who was that guy anyway?

Man that is such an interesting deal you got going there. Living there is so different from here. Would you say it's like going back in time a bit? And you got to fess up some pics!

If I'm reading that right Bennett is in position to take a title in DHMTB this year? I'd have no doubt Bennett's bmx skills and his Bull Dog determination has him up front in anything he's riding!

Tell us about what kind of vehicle you got.

Do you know about the GO211.com BMX live streaming and video? If you're a MX fan, you can watch speed channel's live feed of the first moto's of the US nationals on allisports.com on Saturdays. Racerxonline.com is good reading and info.

Interesting point you made with Joey not in NAG points. All I'd say to that is, based on what I've seen, Joey's got stuff figured out early with his riding and I think he would be up front anywhere given the opportunity and I'd like to see them go for it. I'll tell you right now Robby didn't ride that good when he was 8. Well maybe almost that good
I should have started the boys earlier doing nationals instead of going to East Carbon. They might have got worked for a long time but I think I could have cut 3 years off this program.

[joeynsophia]

Thank you everyone for the very nice comments about Joey.
Dan...Our name is spelled "Foresta" 1 R.....and for everyones info it is the the ITALIAN colors....lol....its all good, we are not easily offended.

Here is my philosophy about racing or any sport for what it is worth.
1. At the begining of the year Ashli and I have the kids set goals on what they want to accomplish.
2. We come to agreement with the kids on what it will take as far as training to accomplish them.
3. We make them stick to it for the entire year and as long as they train hard and have good sportsmanship we "invest" in the travel to get them where they need to be. I dont believe in changing goals midstream through the year as they need to understand that training for something is a long term commitment.

This year they wanted to accomplish the following...(Their decision)
Joey wanted to just race local BMX but try his hand at winning a National Championship Jersey in MTB 4-Cross and/or Downhill. He is well on his way and the Championship race is the week after next.

Sophia wanted to focus her attention on Track and try and qualify for the regional USTAF race. She has done that and her race is this weekend.

If Joey and or Sophia decide they want to try for a NAG plate next year and put the work into it then I am all for supporting them but ultimately it will be there decision and work ethic that will allow it to happen.

That being said, I also believe that we have such a strong program here locally that they can continue to get extremely fast and have "national level" competition in their own back yard. Just think about the 10/11 year old girls classes we have. And Joey has Jack, Kale, Hunter, Max, etc.. to train with and race against.

Getting back to Joey and his bike skills both in BMX and on his MTN bike, he is training very hard on both, but being able to train with Cody Kelley has made all the difference the last 2 years. Cody has done wonders for every kid he has trained over the last year and a half. He has also been a great roll model for them as well. Thanks Cody!

Curtis....I hope all is going well for you and yours.....Any footage, pictures, or stories from the MTB scene out there would be great to hear about. Bennett is still thought of highly by the young ones out here and they would love to see what he is up too.

We are in CO for the next 2 weeks for the kids big race weekends.....we will see how they do! (Fingers crossed)
Steve

[Diesel]

Where'd you go Curtis. Would really like to see some pics and hear some stories of life in Switzerland. You know I suck at spelling but hopefully I was close enough! Maybe you're putting something together, thus the wait.

Thanks

[Curtis Newkirk]

Hi Dan...my apologies. It has been a busy week with a busier weekend about to follow. I certainly appreciate the interest in pics and updates, but it may be next week before I can get to it. In the mean time, the kids all still love BMX. The only problem is that Mom and Dad are still trying to figure out how to pull off training with the current schedules, but we forgive ourselves that part and promise to resolve it soon.

Steve - your program sounds exactly what we used to do with the kids, and will restart again soon. We relaxed the standards a bit last year to let the kids center on what they really want to do...as well center ourselves after the move.

More next week We are heading to France tomorrow to do some DH on Saturday, and watch some guy named Lance ride in some silly race through the Alps on Sunday