Hampton Supertrack BMX
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Hampton Supertrack BMX
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Trackside News
Sunday 5/4/08
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Week of 4/27/08 You guys sure did show up in force for the Freedom National last weekend. There were about 25 of our guys that made the trip and 22 of you made your main at least one day. Way to go! We are extremely proud of you. Paul Kinchloe really went all out for the Freedom National again this year. What a nice racetrack and facility these guys have. I talked to Paul on Tuesday night before the national and they had just gotten 2 to 3 inches of hard rain that destroyed the track (Boy do we know what that is like). The county parks people along with the help of Chad Powers worked diligently all Wednesday and by the time we got there Thursday morning it was ready to go. The weather for practice Friday was perfect, in the mid-70's with no wind. Saturday was another story. It started out to be a nice day but by 2 or 3 o'clock it was pure miserable HOT. Then the rain came! Thank heaven for tarps. We covered the track Saturday afternoon and when we got there Sunday morning at 6:30 there were a bunch of muddy spots in the flats of the track. Several of us pitched in and got it dried out relatively quick and the races got started only 30 minutes behind schedule. It was an extremely long and tiring weekend for me but it was worth the effort. One of the biggest thrills of the weekend for me and a lot of other people came Sunday morning when Kelli's Accel/Powers Bike Shop team took to the track for the parade lap winning 2nd place in the Team NBL Standings. What a strong showing for this team and a heartfelt moment was shared by all. Kelli's team ran consistent all weekend and achieved another 2nd place finish after Sundays racing. Anyone that knew her husband Eddie surely knows that he was looking down at "his" team with his head held high and a big grin on his face. Special props to Ryan Greene and Curtis Luppens who both had wins in Saturday's competition. Tristen Timmerman and Ryan Thomas came home with wins both days. At the end of this newsletter I'll include a list of everyone who made their main at this weekends national. GOOD JOB EVERYONE. Also, I would like to thank Jim Bly, Tom Blythe, Scott Birmingham, Andrea Greene and the rest of our Hampton Supertrack personel who helped make my job as volunteer coordinator for the race a lot easier. As always you guys rock. Once again the Super X class riders showed up in droves. Saturday and Sunday Johnny's class consisted of 32 riders. That's one short of having to run Quarters. Just transferring to Semi's was going to take some strong riding. With this being his first Super X race since his collarbone surgery we weren't expecting but so much. I guess all those practices at NOVA helped because he went out both days and ran very strong, including a moto win on Saturday. The semi's were extremely stacked and even with his flawless gates and strong pull down the first straight he got balled up in the first turn both days and failed to transfer to his main. All said and done I was extremely impressed with him and very proud of the way he rode. We'll get 'em next time! Last but not least I want to mention our concern for those affected by the tornados Monday in the Suffolk area. Two of our BMX families were directly affected by these violent storms. Kerri and Todd Caron's along with Heather and John Loushe's houses received damage but as far as I know neither house was damaged very badly and everyone is okay. Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone who suffered losses during these storms. So until next time ride hard and I'll see you all at the races!
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Week of 4/20/08
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Week of 4/13/08 Even with the late notification and the threatening weather we had a decent turnout for the race on Saturday (4/12/08). We were able to run the first race without a single raindrop, but the second race was another washout. This is truly getting old!
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Week of 4/06/08 As devastating as it is to our racers, by not being able to accumulate much needed points, not to mention the track’s bank account, it has had one upside. This is the fact that I have had waaaay too much free time on my hands. I've pondered what I could do to keep everyone up to date on track happenings and some of the latest news from here and the NBL in general. So here we go. As everyone knows we have our Northeast Regional and Pro-Am coming up the weekend of July 4th. This is a huge endeavor and will require loads of help from every one of our board members and parent volunteers. We all should give a special thanks to Kelli Townsend for taking on the huge responsibility of "Regional Director" for this event. We have almost 90 days left to prepare, but trust me, July 4th will be here before we know it. So lets all pitch in and make this a well-planned and well-executed event. If all goes well, not only will the track benefit financially, but we will get the recognition from the NBL that we so richly deserve. Maybe next year they will grace us with a national event to help celebrate our 30th anniversary of top quality BMX racing at Gosnold’s Hope Park. We have a lot of work ahead of us, as far as the aesthetics of the track goes. It would be nice to have help in areas such as painting the bleachers, landscaping, trailer skirting replacement and so on, so in the next few weeks we will try to put a plan and schedule together to get these things done. No help will be turned down, and all help will be greatly appreciated. Okay, with that being said, lets look at some of the latest happenings at Hampton Supertrack. First of all last Sunday we were all saddened when Charles Davis (SuperX) had to ship out to Bahrain for a six month tour of duty. He joins Todd Caron in the fight to end terrorism and I know we all pray for their safe return. I will get e-mail addresses for these guys soon, and we can send our support via e-mail every now and then. In other local news we have added a new expert rider to our ranks. After dominating another national event (Morristown, Spring Nat) "Big Tony" Adkinson moved up to the premier class in the NBL amateur ranks. Now that he finally figured out the random gate, ha ha, he faces a whole new world. Best of luck to you Tony and we know you will do well. As new rider sponsorships go, alot has happened lately. Andrew Townsend (12x) has secured a ride with Factory Felt for the 2008 season. Accel Racing/Powers Bikes Shop has three recent additions to their team. Matt Boller (19-25x); Asher Scott (14n); and Dan Birmingham (14n) have all joined the Accel Squad. Accel/Powers Bikes Shop has been doing well this year and is currently sitting in 8th place in the team NBL National Standings. Rumor has is that Menardo Simon has been picked up by Factory Trackstars, nothing definite yet but stay tuned for more info. Last but not least my son, Johnny Jr.(SuperX) signed on with Addison Bike Company. This is a new bike manufacturer out of Louisville, KY. These guys are the greatest, and we hope to have a long-term relationship with them. In other breaking national news Donny Robinson has returned to ride for Hyper Bicycles, and Tyler Brown recently made the move to the Supercross Factory Team. Kyle Bennett seems unstoppable in his quest for an Olympic team spot, leading dR by 44 points in the UCI points battle. ABA's National #1 Pro, Danny Caluag will be out of the action for 4 weeks after suffering a broken wrist at the USAC National Championships in Desoto, TX. Denzel Stein (Redline) has moved to AA Pro after a dominating A Pro career. He is only 17 so keep your eyes on him to do well in the AA series. Last but not least our friend Phil Delizia has been selected to ride for Factory Felt team in the AA ranks. Good luck to all in their new ventures. Well, what started out to be a short newsletter from your track director looks like its turned into a full-length novel. Next week I will try to keep it shorter but I'll try to include all recent news and updates as needed. Some of you must not be praying for no rain, so lets all get with the program. We need to race and I know all of you guys really want to race. I look forward to writing this article each week to keep everyone informed. Thanks and I'll see y'all soon, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hampton Supertrack 2008
Hampton, Virginia
BMX by the Bay
NBL Sanctioned/Not-for-Profit Organization
