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The Super Nationals are always, as Forrest Gump said, like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.* No question that it is always one of the better races of the year—that much is practically assured. But with the two days of national racing bookending the USAC National Championships, it makes for an interesting chemistry of people either attending or not attending for the same reason. Add to that that this year, pro turnout was impacted a tad by the fact that the Madrid SX race is next weekend, so some either did not want to risk injury, or wanted to conserve energy and currency.

Still, we had a great day of racing under the Desoto Metroplex BMX roof. In the Elite classes, it was a short field, with only 15 Elite men, 13 Elite Women (and Jr. Women combined), and six Jr. Men. Some speculated that the non-US riders might stay away form this one, but that didn’t happen as Maris Strombergs turned in a wire-to-wire finish in the main, with teammate Kyle Bennett in for the second and Sam Willoughby in the right step for third.

Elite Women had some rare-and-welcomed action. Just as the crowd was ready to pop their No-Doze (in the motos, Dom had two firsts and Alise had adequate points to make the main), Jamie Lilly dove for the inside in the first turn, and jammed Stephanie Barragan and Alise post a little higher than comfortable, taking over the second spot. Alise was well back in the pack after losing momentum, but back on the pedals to catch Dom and Jamie, who were opening up a lead. What happens next was told to us a couple different ways: One telling has it that Dom came unclipped in the early part of the second straight, and the awkward position of the unclipped foot on a clip pedal made for a rather uncomfortable approach to the jump into the second turn. The other telling was that she got out of form over the jump into the second turn. Whatever the case, she seemed to have lost just enough speed for Jamie to tag her back wheel coming out of turn two (where Courtney Tomei saw some daylight, and looked like she might have a piece of the podium when it was all said and done. Jamie went down pretty hard in turn two, and Dom was still leading the race as the pack entered the third straight. By this time, Alise had navigated through the carnage in turn two like Rowdy Burns in “Days of Thunder” and was on Dom like she was Cole Trickle. Midway through the straight, Alise took the lead, and it was pretty much over. Final order Post, Frances Garcia, and Stephanie Barragan.

Aside from those two races, a few standout Amateur main events: In The 14 Girls Main, pals Felicia Stancil and Shay Glynn went into turn one closer than peas and carrots. They never made it out. Amy Mcintyre and Megan “The Major” Pritchard were there to take posession of the two top slots. Cole Tesar holds the deed on 13 Cruiser and does not even rent it out – especially on weekends. He also won 13x by a respectable margin with “Mojo” McMullin in the two spot. 14 cruiser in both boys and girls was worth note. Of the gents, Tyler Whitfield rode it like he stole it, and took the win. The 14 Girls cruiser was a contentious lap with Carly Dyar leading Felicia Stancil most of the way…buy we have a feeling Felicia was still smarting from her digger in turn one in 14G, and kept the pilot lit til there was no more track to chase..and got past Carly just before the stripe.

The 16x main gets the “Heartbreak Ridge” award. Rusty Nesvig was leading, with Justin Posey in second. Not exactly sure what happened as they reached the heart of the turn, but Rusty and Justin both went down, and took four other guys with them. Local Billy Russell and SE Racing’s AJ Hiatt took it from there for the 1-2 at the stripe.

Friday was a great day of racing, and Saturday promises to be equal-but-different as the USAC National Championship gets going.

Keep it here on BMXNEWS the rest of the weekend, and check out Friday’s Photo Gallery.