It was all down to the math in the final AA pro main at the final race of the year. It was a Stumpy sandwich for the two Free Agent contenders. In gate one was the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, 2009 NBL Pro Champ, and ABA points leader, Maris Strombergs. In gate three, it was the always-hot,-but-recently-volcanic personage of Kyle Bennett. And in gate two was the guy who stood six points from winning what many consider the most coveted Pro title in BMX Racing (excluding the Olympics, which isn’t a pro title, so…).
The shot out of the gate and to the first jump was one of those moments you live in slow motion. There was a brief time, after the first jump, when Randy was as far back as fourth place, with Bennett, Strombergs and Denzel Stein taking the three lead positions. Into the first turn, however, Stumpy swooped to the low side, and came up in second out of the first turn. After that, it was pretty much follow the leader in the top three spots as they came through the pro section and into the last straight. The place was unglued by then, wondering how the math would work out, and who would take the $15,000 year-end prize, the cup, a whole bunch of JBL-Harman audio gear, and the right to run the skinny digit for the next 365.
In the end, it was Stumpfhauser as 2009 champ, by 40 points, with Bennett and Strombergs for two and three, respectively. Kyle won the award of the day, with Randy and Maris in two and three, respectively.
Check back to BMXNOW.COM for more on the Vet and Girl Pro titles, as well as the other 2009 ABA National titles by Wednesday morning.
