Roll call......."Grands".

[bnd]

Name, rank & serial number chime in!

We do know that Todd Parry has a shot at ABA National #1 (overall).

Heather Allred Elliot is fighting for a NAG #1.

Please tell us what to look for concerning your racer next weekend, thanks!

b.

[JAlvey]

I know there is a pretty big group heading out from Utah. Alveys, Clifts, Bartons, Browns, Fordhams, Bullocks, Kellys, other Kellys, Tanners, Pattersons, TP, Heather/Ian, Kings, Wells', Gansens, Oblads, Doug Cheney, and probably more that I'm forgetting off the top of my head.

I think that the following are in contention for NAG #1: Jasmine Bullock, Brenlee Fordham, Heather Allred Elliot, Robby Patterson (both bikes), Danny Patterson, TP (both bikes), Jack Kelly. Last time we counted it up, we could have 27 NAG 1-10 plates this year. TP is in contention for National #1 Cruiser. Robby Patterson is in contention for National #1 on 20". I think they need to win the class to get those, but that's usually the case. Extreme Team in contention for National #1 Trophy Team.

If everything goes perfect (which it usually doesn't there), Utah could come home with 3 National Championships (cruiser, 20, trophy team), 9 Nag 1's, and 27 Nag plates. That would be pretty sweet, and certainly proof of the quality and dedication of our programs, riders, and parents around here.

I'll be mostly on the sidelines with a knee injury, so I'll try and post up some race reports through the weekend here and on facebook.

[dilleyboys]

Good luck to all at the grands! we will be watching.

[bnd]

Please keep us that aren't on Facebook updated here Justin. Your on-location race reports are great!

b.

[b2]

Video of ABA setting up and the track being built.

For you anti-Facebookers, maybe it should be Gallos assignment on Thursday--after he's gorged himself on turkey--to find a plug-in for phpBB that reads a certain Facebook tag or account's wall--like maybe Rad Canyon's--that could display a column or thread with any information that is mentioned for that Facebook tag or wall. eh? Gallo? What you think?

PS: why are the smiley's broke.

[JAlvey]

Or Bruce could just use his wifes Facebook login- that would be a lot easier

[mahaffeybilly]

Good luck everyone.Tear em up!!!!!!

[JAlvey]

Wednesday at the grands. I think the same media people that got everyone worked up about the blizzard "of the century" must have done the story on airport security. Took us about 5 minutes to go through. No scan. No body cavity search or anything. About half the people on the plane were bmxrs. Kind of weird to leave slc at 10 degrees and land in Tulsa at 80degrees.

Went to check the track out tonight. It looks really fun. Tall start hill, a bit taller than rads. First straight goes diagonal across the arena and has a big table the a bump then a big step up. Second straight is similar to rads but ends in a big triple step up camelback looking thing. Pros do a different second straight with two big doubles then a third that jumps over our second turn. For the third straight you can go the long way through a rhythm section or the short way through 3 sets of doubles and a camelback that you will probably have jump through. The pros come back onto this section somewhere. The third turn is actually two berms, one inside the other. If you took the shorter/harder third straight, it sends you to the inside berm. If you take the rythym third straight, you get the outside berm. Guess we'll have to be thinking on our feet for that one. The fourth straight has a 4xstep up to 3x step down thing that takes up the whole short straight

Practice tomorrow. Cruiser at 7am, twenty at 940 PM.

[bnd]

Justin,
Thanks for the update. Your officially the sites "Man in the street". Keep them coming, let us know how team Utah looks.

Facebook, what's that?

b.

[JAlvey]

Thursday at the grands in the books. Practice from 7am to 10PM is a good way to get worn out. This is a new practice schedule this year where each age group gets 25 minutes. That's all the practice for the whole weekend. All the utards made it through in one piece. Robby, Cody, rope, tp, and brenlee all looking real fast. Others probably did too, but hard to watch everyone. The track isn't quite as tough ad I thought it would be, but at speed and in a group it will still be a challenge. One of the highlights was AA pro practice the pro section has two huge doubles with the second jumping over the amateurs second turn. Early in pro practice, most of them were going around. Barry nobles was the first to jump it, and jumped OVER the rest of his pro rack who were cruising around the second turn. There will be some sweet photos of that showing up in the magazines. The other highlight was walking around checking out all the new stuff. Pretty much every bike company comes to this so its a good place to check new things out.

Thanks goes out to the browns and the fordhams for setting everyone up with thanksgiving dinner

[JAlvey]

Friday at the grands. Race of Champions. Really tough competition, making other nationals look relatively easy.

Utah killed it. Not sure what the state record is, but today we took 8 ROC1 plates. Hatden brown in 12 open. Chris white, Robby Patterson, Danny Patterson, Todd parry, heather Allred on cruiser. Jack Kelly and Todd parry in expert.

Other notables included mike Kelly who was leading his cruiser class by a long way and then washed out his front tire while all alone in the last turn. Derrick king second right behind Robby. Cody Kelly second on cruiser. Alex and Chris Clift both made cruiser mains.

Robby Patterson is looking really fast. He raced in the NAG5 challenge tonight, taking third behind Conner feilds and rusty nesvig (both pros now).

Mitch Ropelato took third in his first pro cruiser race. He was looking really fast on the twenty too, winning round one, but having some bad luck in his quarter.

Tomorrow starts the big day. Will we see some NAG#1 plates coming home-yes but how many? National #1 boys and cruiser? Looking like it. Nation #1 team? Hope so (extreme could have won factory tonight)

[bnd]

I watched the mains & saw what happened to Mike, made me sick seeing that. The TV coverage also froze up right when T.P.s 41x main was about to start. I heard he got a bad start, hit the 1st corner in 4th & still won pulling away......

Go Utah!


b.

[billythekid]

Good luck to every Utah rider that went to grands and hope you guys bring back so big trophies and some nag plates.

sincerely, Billy"the kid" Lowery

[JAlvey]

2010 Grands is in the books.

The race is incredible. If you've never been, like Ron said, plan on going at least once during your BMX career. You'll never go to a bigger, tougher, or more fun race.

Saturday and Sunday are the same race. They do 3 round transfer and only take 1st place out of rounds 1 and 2. Rd 1 and 2 of qualifying was saturday. Rd 3 and all the eighths, quarters, and mains were sunday. We got out of there at 1030 sunday night, so if you do go, plan on staying until Monday. About 535 motos with almost 200 quarters and 200 semis. Brent and I figured that they ran about 5000 motos through the weekend.

Utah did well overall, at least a dozen NAG plates coming home this year.

Jack Kelly won his main going away. Looked really strong all weekend. No BS like last year, so it stuck. He's NAG 1 for 2010.

Heather Elliot Allred also looked good all weekend. She had a girl in her moto determined to take her out, but she couldn't get close to Heather in the main and Heather won it by a good distance. Heather 4-peats as NAG 1 for 2010.

Robby Patterson went into the weekend set up for NAG 1 on the twenty. A win probably would have given him National #1. His class had 73 riders. He was leading in his quarter main, and took the last turn a bit outside (where he should have, the inside was really slippery-see Hayden Brown below). This opened the door to some idiot in second to blast Robby and take him out 40 feet from the finish. NAG 1 gone, National 1 gone. This kind of thing happens all weekend long at the Grands. Robby handled it well, all things and build up considered. He's a great kid, and I gained even more respect for him this weekend. Klatman ended up winning, which gave him the National #1, but everyone who's been watching this year knows Robby owns that class. In cruiser, Robby spun coming out of the gate and ended up last on the first straight (this gate seemed to be cursed for the utahns). He pulled a great move in turn one and a few more passes through the track and ended up 4th overall. That will put him NAG 2-3 or so.

Danny Patterson also with some trouble coming out of the gate in his main and ended up 5th. He missed NAG1 by about 4 points.

The Pattersons both won ROC #1 plates on Friday night, which is a really big deal, so I hope they realize that even if the results weren't what they hoped for, they had an incredible season.

Todd Parry was in contention for NAG 1 and National 1 on cruiser. He flipped the gate that was giving everyone so much trouble in the semi. He would have won the class by a ways. On twenty he looked great in the main. He actually got beat on the first straight, then pulled a sweet 4th to 1st move in turn one and pulled away for a convincing win. Alan Porter finished right behind him, giving him enough points for the #1 plate, I think TP will end up #2.

Brenlee Fordham hit the gate in her main and ended up with a 4th, getting her NAG 3.

Brooke Oblad had a really fast class. She made her main, and picked her way through the carnage with a fast ride to a 4th place. This is enough to move Brooke up into the NAG standings, probably around NAG 8 or 9. That's really good for a girl who didn't get to many nationals this year, but won many of the ones she went to.

Hayden Brown crashed on his twenty leading a quarter in the same last turn where Robby got taken out. He took the far inside line, washed the front wheel and was done. He ends up NAG 10 for the year due to having a lot of good finishes through the year. On cruiser he had a very close race and ended up with a 4th in the main. I think that puts him around NAG 3-4.

Cody Kelly was ripping all weekend. In his cruiser main, he was in a tie for first with the inside position when he got hit in the handlebar and lawn-darted into the last step up, knocking himself out. Looks like he will be ok, but very frustrating as he would have won that first turn.

Mike Kelly recovered from one of the many frustrating crashed of the weekend in ROC to take a second in his main. I think that puts him into the NAG rankings.

Mitch did great. He won a few rounds of A pro on his twenty, but couldn't get to the main. He did make the cruiser main, on his MTB. He was going for a move to put him into 3-4th in the second turn after the big pro set and went down.

Extreme Team had 4 riders make the main on the team sheet and ended up with 2nd for the weekend. This was enough though to lock in the year. Extreme Team is your ABA 2010 National Champion Trophy Team. Look for some big announcements out of the Extreme Camp over the next few weeks regarding the 2011 season.

Performance Bike Parts ended up in the overall top 10 for teams as well at 9th overall.

myself, Ethan Alvey, Brighton Alvey, Chris Clift , Alex Clift, Doug Cheney, Jasmine Bullock, Thomas Bullock, Brent Barton, Hunter Brown, all looked good and got out of motos, but didn't make it through the minefeild that is ABA grands.

2010 national Champs:

Pro Men: Sam Willoughby
Pro Women: Dominique Daniels
Am Men: Klatman
Am Women: Schaefer
Pro Cruiser: Barry Nobles
Am Cruiser: Brody (?) Spott
Am Girl Cruiser: Kelsey Van Ogle
Factory Team: Redman Rockstar
Shop Team: J and R
Trophy Team: Extreme Team

[onephastkiss]

WELL SAID DOC.