Story via BMXNEWS.COM

The USA Cycling National Championships gives us an annual peek into what some people would like to see a national BMX Race evolve into. The foundation of the race, run under UCI rules, is different from a traditional ABA or NBL national in two major ways: First, the age classifications are decided by birth year and not birth date. The UCI rulebook makes it easy in its explanation: “(a rider’s age) shall be calculated by deducting the year of birth from the current year.” Secondly, there are no proficiencies. Competition is divided up by gender and wheel size only. So, no novices, intermediates or Open classes. All this certainly makes for a streamlined day of racing, despite the “NBL-style” (or, as some would argue, the “UCI-style”) three-moto transfer. At 75 motos, today’s race was 130 motos lighter than day one of the ABA Super Nationals, run the previous day. Make of that what you will, but the point is that, love it or hate it, this format is what some people are longing for.

With respect to the “National Championship” component to this race…well, that is a topic of some controversy and discussion as well. A so-called “one-lap,-no-crap” approach to crowning a national champion (via a win in the main event) may work great for countries with less-developed BMX programs. But for the United States, there is a large chorus of voices calling for this race to be re-engineered into a mini series or, dare we say, some kind of “Superbowl of BMX,” where the champions of the ABA and the NBL meet in…well, Chicago, or other neutral ground, to decide the true national champion for each class. But that, too, is another story of “War and Peace” heft.

However you feel about the format, this is the one day of the year where riders qualify (or not) for the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships, to be held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa this July. If we did our math right, only an unfortunate few in 17-24 men (as the only class to have quarter finals) did not qualify for the worlds by default, as all riders in the semis automatically qualify (and thus, the mains as well). Also on the auto-qualify list were any riders who made the main at last year’s worlds.

Hard to launch into the highlights from the race without first talking about the weather—normally, that most mundane of topics. Well, 24 hours prior, we were enjoying a southern, breezy 68 degrees. By the first gate on Saturday, it had started raining and the temp dropped by more than HALF, to 33 degrees. People were wandering blank-faced and aimlessly around staging, like you’d expect in one of those shows about the days following a nuclear apocalypse. Seems a lot of people were caught off guard by the cold front, present company included, except we did not strip the bed in the hotel of its bedspread and wear it like a prize-fighter’s robe. As much as the parents were “on tilt” at the teeth-chattering temps, the riders were moving as if in some kind of splinter dimension where everything goes at 3/4 time. What was once a sea of picture-perfect factory uniforms was now a patchwork of T.H.E. hoodies, flannels, and the now-ubiquitous Troy Lee zip-front hoodies, on which J&R did a brisk business, when the winds turned from brisk to blistering.

The unfriendly Fahrenheit notwithstanding, there was some seriously hot racing happening on the track. In addition to the above-listed rules of the day’s race, another important aspect of today’s race was that it was open to only US Citizens (hence the name, “USA Cycling BMX National Championships”)—thus, no Maris, Willoughby or other offshore talent in the mix today.

The birth year rule brought more than a few sometimes-rivals squarely into the ring—one being in 8 boys where the now-eight-year old Julian Dittrick met his still-seven pals Wyatt Bell and Andres Papajohn, and came from way out in gate 8 to win it by a couple lengths.

Changing channels for a moment, to the Elite classes, Elite Men had 14 riders, but the scratching of Dennison Smith, Kyle Bennett and Matt Pohlkamp brought the field down to 11. Defending champ, Jason Rogers made his 2010 debut on his home turf to do battle with some familiar faces like Donny Robinson, Nic Long, and Danny Caluag, and some not before seen in the class like Riley Stair, Corey Reid, Tony Hoffman and Tyler Faoro. Nic took the lead in today’s Elite Men main, and never had a knobby not out front thereafter, with Danny C in second and Corey Reid on the right-step (well, camera-right, at least).

Elite Women had a similar flavor and flair as it had the previous day, with Alise and Dom in the same class (and the same moto in the qualifying rounds). The results tell the story as well as we could: Dominique Daniels: 1-1-1-1, Alise Post: 2-2-2-2, Stephanie Barragan (who was in the other rack): 1-1-1-3.

The six-rider Jr. Men class actually had some punch to it in the action department, when Jared Garcia snatched the win from the grasp of Elliot McGrath at the line, in one of those moments where a “correction” has to be announced (or in our case, tweeted). Justin Posey got the third for Dan’s Comp.

In Masters, Kenth Fallen walked away with a perfect day, and it was down to the final feet between Chad Street and Joey Albright who, after a quick check of the finish line camera, just to be sure, finished second and third, respectively.

Gotta give a BMXNEWS shoutout to the four riders in the “dub club,” who scored wins in class as well as cruiser. Cruisin’ Chris Blevins (12 Boys and 12-Under Cruiser), Cole Tesar (14 Boys and 13-14C), Jordan Miranda (16 Boys and 15-16C) and Kelsey Van Ogle in 12 Girls and 14-Under Girls Cruiser). Congrats!

Other highlights:

The most pint-sized podium topper was five-year-old (six in “UCI Years”) Dylan Borbely of Belvedere, IL.

In 35-39 Cruiser, Doug-E Fresh Crowell took the gold medal practically off the neck of Jason Carne$ when he sneaked in to the lead in the final few feet.

17-24 men was the largest class of the day (and the only one to have a quarterfinal), with 39 riders.

The 13 Boys main served up a heaping helping of disappointment for Walker Finch and Brock Heffron when, in a bummer of a do-over from the Friday Semi, the two tangled, this time in turn two, and handed off control to Jake Campbell and Antonio Bonessi for the 1-2 finish.

Check out the Saturday Photo Gallery for more fun and excitement from the race.

It is currently way-past-midnight on Sunday morning as we post this, and it is snowing in Dallas. There is a fair chance that we will not be shooting tomorrow (today?), as we did not pack for a snowy 30 degrees when the first gate drops at 8AM. Hopefully, some main photos or somesuch.