8 minute read
EAST COAST NATIONALS
by USA BMX
Words & Photos JamesPennucci
The East Coast Nationals returned to Chesapeake BMX in Severn, Maryland this year. The weather outlook was great for Friday’s Race, hot and sunny, but the next two day’s of National Racing were cooler and very rainy. The rain did make the racing extremely exciting though, with what seemed like every moto having some form of incident in the third turn, this led to the turn dubbed Carnage Corner and it really held up to that name. During Saturday’s race, Carnage Corner, at times, seemed unpassable by even the most cautious riders and this severely changed the outcome of many main events. By Sunday, every rider knew not to try to do anything sketchy, in the second or third turn, making the lap really a drag race down the first straight, and then just try to maintain the lead to the finish by going just fast enough to stay ahead.
There were not enough Pro riders to make a class any of the days, but we did get to watch some pro style racing. This was the debut weekend of a High School Series created by Chesapeake BMX, where Maryland high school riders battled each other for High School Challenge Points both National Days. It would be really incredible to see this series grow across more states. The 11-12 Girls Cruiser main on Friday was one of the greatest moto’s to watch all weekend. Camryn Searfoss was on fire this weekend grabbing up a few wins in open, class and cruiser, but the move of the weekend went to her opponent, Landon Burian. Landon and Camryn tangled early on the first straight sending them both skidding off the track, but that didn’t stop Landon. She pedaled back onto the track trailing the pack. One by one she passed the riders until she was in second place on the last straight where she was able to make a final pass of the lead rider and go on to win the Main.It was an incredible lap to watch and definitely the highlight of the weekend.
Saturday’s 14 Expert boy’s class main event was another crazy moto, Kai Leblanc was out front for the first two straights until he went into the second turn and washed out, this took out the top three riders allowing Casshe Hopson to take over the lead. His lead was short lived because he washed out in the third
TOP LEFT: Zeronine racer Addison Spencer charges to the lead in 11x Girl. With a lot of fast girls in the class this Holeshot had to feel good for the up and coming rockstar. BOTTOM LEFT: Factory Full Tilt’s Tommy Bruney gets the pull and the inside on the Tangent bots Ryder Santos and Chris Felker.
ABOVE: Elliot Pettit and Danny Transue styled it out over the last jump table all weekend long. CENTER: Cruz (Cruzzzer)Hansberger cranks through the Saturday drizzle for a spot in the Semi Main. BOTTOM RIGHT: The four bike of Sawyer Spence is all business while Caleb Peddicord and Ty Rawlings work on their #raceface.
turn and took the current second and third place riders with him. Now Last place rider Philip Ramsey finds himself in the lead, and all he has to do to win is stay upright to the finish, which he does. You could copy and paste this same moto description and just change the names for most of the Day Two’s racing. By the time the Expert Girls started racing their Main Events on Saturday you could see the uneasy feeling in rack after rack of riders in the gate, watching lap after lap go down in the second and then third turn while they were waiting to start their lap. There was nothing you could do, “Racers Gonna Race” as the saying goes. Even the parents at times were yelling to their kids while they were waiting in the gate “Stay High in the Turns” but that fell on deaf ears after years of being told to get on the inside into the turn instinct would kick in and they would dive low taking themselves and most often others with them.
Carnage Corner ended a lot of racers laps early on Day Two, but on Sunday it was back to the normal turn three racing by the second round maybe just at a little slower than normal pace since everyone seemed to be holding back a little due to the previous days experience.
ABOVE: Red is fast with Powerlite DFR’s Brayden Daleny while he leads the pack with Ty Henry. FAR LEFT: Looking dapper with 17-20x Andrew Dorofee.
LEFT: ‘Mad Max’ Max Meinel understood the style assignment with his tweaked out style. It seems like style is a prerequisite to join the TNT bicycles crew, those cats are RAD.
DETAILS
Date: June 4 - 6, 2022 Location: Chesapeake BMX City/State: Severn, MD
States Represented: 34 Countries Rep’ed: 2
Moto Counter
Friday 180 Saturday 203 Sunday 183 Social Engagement: 443,745 Social Media Reach: 3,293,963
Team Winners
Friday & Saturday:
Sunday:
SQORZ Fast Times
Overall Men EVAN MENDITTO 35.532 sec
Overall Women
LILY SUTHERLAND 39.881 sec
Flat Pedal Boys
BRADY KING 39.574 sec
Flat Pedal Girls
LANDON BURIAN 41.753 sec
TRIPLES x 3 (3 wins all 3 days!)
MARSHALL WARNER 10 Cru, 10X & 9-10 Open
DOUBLES x 3 (2 wins all 3 days!)
FABIAN GONZALEZ 46-50 Cru & 46-50 X HANNAH LEAKEY 13-14 Gcru & 14 Girls
DOUBLES x 2 (2 wins on 2 of the 3 days)
SARAH CUGLER 41+W & 41-45 Wcru SEAN LEHEW 11 Cru & 11 X LUKE PEAPER 6under Open & 6 X ELLIE PIERCE 10under Gcru & 10 Girls KATIE PIOTTI 31-40 W & 36-40 Wcru KAMDEN ROBERTS 10 Inter & 9-10 Mixed CAMRYN SEARFOSS 11-12 Gcru & 11-12 Mixed SAWYER SMITH 7-8 Mixed & 8 Girls SANTIAGO STACHURSKI 6under Mixed & 6 Inter MATTHEW WEERTS 15 X & 15-16 Open
DOUBLE - Once (2 wins in a single day)
JAKSON ANDERSON 15-16 Mixed & 16 Inter ZOEY BARNES 9 Girls & 9-10 Mixed CARSON BURKHOLDER 7-8 Open & 8 Cru DANIELA CURRIE 31-35 Wcru & 31-40 Women KYLE FUNK 41-45 Cru & 41-45 Expert GRADY HILL 13 Inter & 13-14 Mixed JAXSYN HORNE 9 Cruiser & 9 Expert MARJORIE KAMINSKI41+ W & 56 & Over Wcru BRADY KING 11-12 Open & 12 Expert DREW MOTLEY 51+X & 51-55 Cruiser
Factory Zeronine is bringing back the legendary designs of the BMX heyday with a fresh flair of tomorrow. With Men Pro, Cole Tesar, and a host of top amateurs joining the brand, Zeronine is on their way to becoming a top team on the national series once again!
Kenadie Neelan
Hannah Swagger Cole Tesar floating through his home track in Rock Hill, SC
Team Roster:
Maya Brown Brooklynn Campbell Cooper Campbell Nick Disanti Caleb Gassaway Jacob Gonzales Joi Gonzales Hutch Griffith Charlei Gurganus Shan Hatfield Ian Herman Cole Kopczyk Pete Loncarevich Kenadie Neelan Brooke Nolta Dana Nolta Peyton Pulaski Addison Spencer Hannah Swager Tom Swager Cole Tesar Jonas Yockelson
FACTORY
1 FULL TILT/RADIO 2 FACTORY BABS 3 ALPHA FACTORY 4 FACTORY LSG 5 FACTORY SSQUARED 6 FACTORY ANSWER 7 FACTORY RIFT TANGENT
3913 3703 3568 3530 3348 3208 3013 8 FACTORY BLACKCROWN BMX 2950 9 CLAYBORN BICYCLES/ANSWER BMX 2937 10 FACTORY ZERONINE 2693 11 BOMBSHELL 2326 12 SPROCKET KINGZ NATIONAL FACTORY 1463 13 REMIX BMX 1282 14 SEAN CARVAJAL’S LDC 1274 15 VELOCITY BIKE CO 1041 16 FACTORY POWERS BMX 693 17 FACTORY MANGLER 532 18 FACTORY POWERLITE DFR 204 19 VENDETTA/ELITE BICYCLES 174 20 MAYHEM/MONGOOSE/ONEAL 168 21 ALLTOW WRECKING CREW 103
BIKE SHOP
1 BMX SHARKS 2781 2 J & R BICYCLES/SPEEDCO/AVIAN 2648 3 ALBE’S BIKE SHOP 2553 4 BLACK WIDOW BMX 2489 5 IMPACT BMX RACING 2413 6 SSQUARED NATIONAL TEAM 2353 7 FALL RISK RACING 2298 8 NORCAL NEXT GENERATION 2169 9 PREMIER RACING NATIONAL TEAM 2020 10 GORDYS BICYCLES 2003 11 ALL STAR RACING 1979 12 TIME2SHINEBMX.COM 1930 13 PHYRE 1853 14 REGGIE’S BIKE SHOP 1591 15 NAPA VALLEY PULL 1541 16 BIOLAB-BOX-RACE, INC. 1466 17 PAK BMX RACING 1321 18 ROCKET RACING 1146 19 HRPDESIGNS NATIONAL TEAM 1126 20 PROJECT ALPHA NATIONAL 809 21 MANTIS RACING 772 22 BAY AREA BMXERS 731 23 BIKE MASTER 716 24 BMX WORLD STORE 624 25 POWER FX SPEEDCO 623 26 TOXIC RACING 522 27 CHIP N DALE 445 28 DIRT ADDICTION BMX 420 29 SPROCKET KINGZ NATIONAL BIKE SHOP 397 30 WRENCHMAN RACING/RECYCLES BIKE SHOP 383 31 LONE WOLF BMX 367 32 CHAOS SQUAD NATIONAL BIKE SHOP TEAM 321 33 KROWN APPAREL 287 34 WIKED RACING 271 35 F1 DESIGN/STAY STRONG/HIGHTOWER 78 36 POWERS BIKE SHOP 71 37 FULL THROTTLE BMX 60 38 CC BIKE CO 53
