their wins off the journey to the expert classes. One of those racers being 10 intermediate, David Lowe, from Florida. David kicked off the weekend right with a confidence-boosting win that would propel him into a Sunday move-up win and the Gold Cup Title! It wasn’t just David adding to the excitement over the weekend, a little bit of drama played a factor in a hard-earned Gold Cup plate!
SOUTHEAST words & photos Justin Wahl Locked in for a late September tee time, the wild and free BMX scene took over the golf town of Augusta, Georgia for the South East DK Gold Cup Final! Looming in the back nine of a beautiful Blanchard Woods Park, lies a track that will challenge anyone’s endurance. With dual 50 yard first straights and a tight and technical rhythm section, this par six track laid the driving swing to a weekend full of excitement! And the Friday night pre-race did just that! Watching racer after racer find their lines and challenge their skills in practice, some standouts were starting to emerge. As always, the intermediate classes came out in force for the Gold Cup weekend, all looking to chip
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The 15-year-olds were putting down the style and speed in both class and cruiser, going back and forth to lock in gold. Bombshell’s Cannon Joyner and LDC’s Sebastian Bettinger were locked in a tight battle in both classes, with Berringer taking home the cruiser win after a DQ on Joyner and Joyner taking the class win with an impressively fast outside line down the third straight. With one race day left in the series, these two put on a show, to say the least. Once again in a total point battle come Sunday’s cruiser race it looked like Joyner might be seeing the infield once again, but he tucked in behind Bettinger’s elbow and waited for the line to appear. The clear path showed itself one turn later, leaving an inside line for Joyner to shut the door and take home the cruiser #1 plate! Now we all know it’s not just the boys laying down battle heavy laps, each race across the country comes with
the #GirlsClub action that creates a show-stopping race day! On the tee box for the South East was a stacked 15-16 Expert Girls class all searching for the extra points to climb the podium at the end of the weekend. During this killer race weekend, three ladies made their presence known, Isabella Zitelli, Ashleigh Mech, and Aubrey Douglass all battled throughout the weekend, switching it up in the turns and laying down some crazy power. Isabella took home a clean sweep through the South East, however, that wasn’t without Mech and Douglass showing her a wheel and putting on the pressure all the way to the line! As we winded down the weekend and we headed to the 19th hole for the DK Gold Cup podium ceremony, the excitement and pride was electric! Seeing competitors, families, and friends share the podium and feel the love from the crowd is exactly what we all love about the series. From the smallest racers holding their plates high to the ladies of BMX popping sparkling cider bottles, we can’t wait to experience the fun of the South East Gold Cup again next year!
