GOLD CUP FINALS

from Pull Magazine November/December 2021

S O U T H E A S T

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 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!

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!

BOTTOM FAR LEFT: Elbows were out, but that wasn’t stopping 11 Intermediate, Dominic Mennuti from going for it. >>> BOTTOM LEFT CENTER: The Clayborn Factory crew was in the house with Zephin Mann lighting up the 21-25 Expert class. >>> BELOW: Perfect timing is all you need, for the snap and the photo. >>> RIGHT: Gonzalo Rengal had the kit up in his J&R/SpeedCo/Avian kit for some stealthy style. >>> ABOVE: The lady cruisers were flying with Tatum Pierce leading the charge >>> ABOVE RIGHT: Possibly one of the tightest battles of the weekend was a three-way race between McKenzie Fuchs, Ashleigh Mech, and Marissa (Movie Star) Lyman. >>> BOTTOM FAR RIGHT: Did you even go to a race if you didn’t get GoPro POV?

S O U T H E A S T

S O U T H E A S T

S O U T H E A S T

TOP ROW LEFT to RIGHT:

>>>> Bend, Oregon’s Jade Durfee was determined to hold on to her Gold Cup plate - and did. >>> Driven’s Tyler Finklea came closest to catchin’ WiFi. >>Hyper child Isaac Larson was on fire all weekend in 14x and 14 cruiser. > It sure didn’t take Cory Franzwa long to pick up a sponsor, after dominating 26-35x.

BOTTOM ROW LEFT to RIGHT:

>>> 14x’s Trevor Hoffman (#14) goes grip-to-grip with Idaho’s Gavin Chapple. >> Montana’s Sprocket Kings were out in full force - as proven by 11 girls winner Addison Thompson. > Two Northwest diehards - Bike Masters’ Dan Bushnell (GC#1) and his trusted sidekick “Suspender Man.”

The day after attending the Gold Cup Finals at Columbia Basin BMX, in south east Washington.

Normally, after driving for hours to get home, you would be okay with your kid wanting to stay home from school. It’d been a busy weekend, but it was a successful one, with ‘em pulling off a big win - becoming a DK Gold Cup Champion in class.

But your kid is up and at ‘em, wide awake (probably didn’t sleep much, with adrenaline still pumping thru the veins). Surprisingly, the kid is ready for school, already dressed and wearing the brand new Kawicolored DK Bikes Gold Cup jacket (even though the weather today will be in the low-90’s).

You know what’s going on. The prideful smile on the face says it all. A goal that all of us had been shooting for, all year long, had been accomplished. Hard work had paid off - and now, it was time to strut into class showing the World who just became Number One.

You grab the car keys to cruise ‘em to school, but your kid declines the offer. “I’ll ride to school today.” You do a double-take. Really? You never want to ride to school. Then it dawns on you that there’s a fresh, new No.1 plate with a yellow background already zip-tied to the handlebars. You imagine the pride of your kid crankin’ into the school bike racks with that No.1 Tangent plate on the bike, and it all starts to make sense.

USA BMX and all of us at PULL magazine congratulate all winners of a 2021 Gold Cup Championship.

We would also like to thank the staff at Columbia Basin BMX for an awesome weekend on a great track.

It’s been a few years since the USA BMX rig has been in Springfield, but the racing was just as intense as before. With Gold Cup Championship plates on the line, racers gave everything they had despite the less than ideal track conditions.

Mother Nature tried to rain on our party in Springfield but you know how us BMXers are.... we always come out on top in the end! An untimely lightening storm and a flooded track stopped the action mid race on Saturday and after a few hours of pumping, maintenance and good ol’ sunshine, things were ready to resume Sunday morning. The 15X class had the deepest talent pool of the expert class on the weekend and Trip 9’s Austin Jung was able to overcome a midpack finish on day one to win the overall.

A father-daughter duo, ironically from

Missouri, were able to experience the ultimate joy as they both captured number one titles. Neil and Payton Johnson secured their Pro Circuit inspired champion jackets on Sunday. What a glorious car ride that must have been back down Highway 44. The 10 & Under Girl Cruiser class came down to a tiebreaker between Harper Vescuso and Camdyn Cole aka the fire fox and the crazy girl. Vescuso would win on day two (the tie breaker) and take home the title. Ozark, Missouri’s Chayton Rhodus showed the rest of the 7 Inter class the hot lines around Spokes BMX by taking the wins each day and locking down the championship. Missouri holds a special place in the history of the Gold Cup Finals and Springfied is a big part of that.

ABOVE: Five 10X riders dice it out for the title. Cameron Almaguer (1) took the Gold Cup #1 back to New Mexico. >>> TOP RIGHT: Pringle(956), Fetch(256) & Houston (65) sounds like a law firm but was the overall podium in 41-45 nervous Novice. >>> CENTER RIGHT: Quite an impressive manual from 6 Inter Mattias Castro. >>> BOTTOM RIGHT: Carving hard in 12 Cruiser! This class came down to Cohen Adams (12) and Hudson Yahnke (GC1) with Adams taking away the #1 plate. >>> FAR LEFT: Grayson Tolbert (84) and Jackson Dobias (35) went bar to bar in 8 Intermediate. Tolbert would take the title. >>> CENTER BELOW: Stevie Slover skies it out while leading 17-20 Intermediate.