O Cup Decided By Wildcard on Sunday

The 2014 BMX Canada Maple Leaf Nationals ran this weekend in Milton, Ontario. The three-day national was a “cup” race, like the Disney Cup in October.

News kept an eye on the weather for the weekend as of Monday. Friday looked good, but Saturday and Sunday were dicey, with a 50% chace of rain on Sat and an 80% chance on Sunday. As the week marched on, folks started posting their photos crossing the Ambassador Bridge, and other entry points to the East, the Saturday forecast started smiling upon the BMXers heading to Milton.

There were 86 motos on the sheets for Friday’s race, 98 on Saturday, and 80 for Sunday.

The Canadian nationals are a little different than the US nationals–one thing you’d notice right away is the lack of Novices on the moto sheets, at least in Milton. On Saturday, as the bigger of the three days, no Novice class had more than four riders, and only five classes made at all. On the Intermediate side, 12 classes had enough to get it on, and all had 10 riders or under. Naturally, the rider base is smaller up North, but we’d be interested to see if the Canadian novice and intermediate riders think of nationals differently than we do here in the States.

The girl and expert classes were another story. Lots of long-reaching participation, with riders from as far aways as Florida, British Columbia, Colorado, and all stops along the Eastern Seaboard of the US.

Back to that weather report. Friday and Saturday’s race was done completely in-the-dry. But, Sunday morning’s wake up call was to angry skies, pouring down on an un-covered track. Never a good combination–especially that second part.

There was just no way to hold a full-lap race in that muck. So what do you do? The BMX Canada/USA BMX on-site staff made the quick-call to run the third race as a first-straight-only sprint, to the base of the second jump. This has been used before as the “go to” format when the weather made the track unraceable. Remember: only three nationals were ever canceled in ABA history.

As miserable as we’re sure it was out there, nobody went home without a final score, and the weekend’s “O Cup” was decided over an actual race–however messy it may have been. We have to applaud that.

Now, should EVERY national track have tarps in place for the fairly-likely event that it rains on either Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday of their national weekend? Yes, no question. But that is “woulda, coulda, shoulda” material at this point. But still a good lesson. Jake at Rockford can have the entire track covered with tarps in 43 seconds. That comes from years of experience of knowing that it will, universally, rain on his parade every June.

On Sunday, if you had eight riders or fewer, all transferred straight to the main. Others ran a one-moto-transfer, ultimately ending up in a main (9x was the only class with semis).

BMX News 2014 race coverage sponsored by Dan’s Comp

Of course, within a few hours, the rain passed and the sun was out, and at the very least most overall winners got to stand on the podium with their cup, with fairly bright skies overhead.

Travis Shinabery, a 19-27x from Michigan, snapped the top photo of the 100-foot sprint, covered in hay (the cones are the finish line). We asked him for his assessment of the weekend, as a whole. Here’s what he told us:

My first impression of the track was good. Friday went well, other than it being super cold. We ran mains under the lights which is always fun.

Saturday was a nice day. The track was faster and on-point, races ran smooth. They had two announcers going back and forth on the race action, which felt a little more moto than usual, so that was super sweet.

Sunday, we pulled up to the track knowing it was going to be soaked. I took one look at it, and wanted to start packin up. But they announced they were still gonna run the race…No way! It wasn’t long before a bunch of volunteers started spreading straw on the first straight. Not sure if that did anything to help–I would have rather picked a rut in the mud and layed it down on my super-sick Cyclecraft, like “braaaap!”

Anyway the race was run as smooth as possible. My strategy was to try and get a killer gate and lean back to get as much traction as I could and lay down the ponies..

I don’t think my “genius” strategy really made a difference, but I ended up with a third (Editor’s Note: Trae Proctor got first for Staats Bicycles, and Travor Payton got second for Star BMX Products).

Overall the weekend was a good one, but Sunday was pretty gnarly, racin half the first straight on a muddy, hay covered track. Shout out to Milton BMX and the BMX Canada/USA BMX staff for still makin it happen.

I’d like to give big thanks to Jared Wilson for all the help and support he and his family have given me, and of course Cyclecraft BMX for supporting me with their great products. And finally to Pyscho Customs for the best frame paint in the business.

Thanks for the photo, and the quote, Travis.

If you remember back to some of your best BMX stories–we’ll bet that the top three involve less-than-ideal conditions– maybe a tornado chasing BMXers haulin bananas out of the parking lot, or running mains at 2AM (to the end of the first straight, no less), maybe three inches of snow the night before the race, with hay and diesel fuel set-ablaze to dry the track. Those are always better than the ones where you get home, and say “welp…nothing much happened but some BMX racin.” The folks who made the trip to Milton sure can’t say it was an uneventful weekend.

Here’s a two-minute edit from the non-rainy days, courtesy of Rick Meloff from One Cut Media. Results will be linked below.

And one vid showing the conditions on Sunday, during the main events. This is the 11x Main. With only eight riders, this class got one shot at it, and how you crossed the line was your finish. Gavin Freewalt won this one, and aced-up Friday and Saturday as well, to take home the overall “O-Cup” win for Haro Promax.

Edit (9/23/14): We incorrectly reported that the “Disney Cup” name would no longer be associated with the Fall Nationals. We apologize for the error.

2014 BMX Canada Maple Leaf Nationals Results

Check out Travis Shinabery’s sponsor:
Cyclecraft BMX Website

Yess BMX Tulsa Team Report

Well the dust has settled on another great season of BMX racing. It has been a huge year for the Yess BMX Factory team, from winning the BMX Canada factory team title, to winning eight CNAG #1 titles and two USA BMX NAG #1 titles.

Submitted by Renny Husada

At last month’s USA BMX Grand National, the QT Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma was abuzz with title hopes and aspirations on the line. There was only a small contingent from the YESS Factory Team in attendance, but the results were anything but small. Trevor Brown won the 41-45 cruiser title, Alex Tougas won the 14x title and Drew Mechielsen took home two third places. James Palmer, Jared Oberndorf and “Wild Bill” Will Jones were also in Tulsa, doing well in their respective classes.

It has been a huge team effort this year, and we are looking forward to an even bigger year in 2013. With the addition of the Yess bikeshop team for 2013 we are hoping to see even more Yess frames on the podium.

On behalf of the team consisting of Jim Brown, William Jones, Trevor Brown, Laurie Harding, Taylor Brown, Alex Tougas, Ryan Tougas, James Palmer, Drew Mechielsen, Amelia Walsh, Justin Hailey, Jared Oberndorf, Ryan Murphy, Santiago Young and Georges Kreuzkamp, we would like to thank all of our sponsors.

Crit Number Plates, Fly Racing, LDC, Tioga, Lizard Skins, Hawk Racing, Blackspire, Ogio, Leatt Brace, Time, Blotout Graphics, Custom Racing

Editor’s Note: Link added to highlight companies who are also BMX News advertisers

Yess BMX Website

2013 BMX Canada National Schedule

This just in to the BMX News center: The 2013 BMX Canada national schedule is out, and already drawing solid interest from both sides of the border.

With six events, plus the Canadian Grands, the schedule does a good back-n-forth between BC and Ontario, and gives enough time between races to also enjoy some of the offerings on the USA BMX side of the house.

Yess BMX won the first BMX Canada Factory Team title last year (above), and we’re sure they’ll be back to go for a repeat.

There will be some rule changes comin down the pike, but they will not be announced until February at the USA BMX/BMX Canada Summit in Las Vegas. One change BMX Canada gave us a peek at is that a rider’s best five scores, plus the BMX Canada Grands, will determine their overall CNAG ranking. One of those scores can be earned on the Saturday of C-Grands weekend, thus enabling riders from Eastern Canada to compete for CNAG plates with only one trip out west!

Without further ado, here are the stops:

Fraser Valley Nationals
Chilliwack Heritage Park (INDOOR)
Chilliwack, BC
May 10-12

Limestone City Nationals
Kingston BMX
Kingston, ON
May 24-26

Cactus Classic Nationals
McArthur Island BMX
Kamloops, BC
June 14-16

Vancouver Island Nationals
Greater Victoria BMX
Victoria, BC
July 5-7

Maple Leaf Nationals
Milton BMX
Milton, ON
August 23-25

Sea To Sky Nationals
Squamish BMX
Squamish, BC
September 13-15

BMX Canada Grand Nationals
Chilliwack Heritage Park (INDOOR)
Chilliwack, BC
October 11-13

BMX News will have more on the 2013 BMX Canada National Series as it becomes available.

BMX Canada Website

Yess BMX Website

Final Days of the Yess BMX Design Contest

Only five more days to get your design ideas in for the Yess BMX Frame Decal design contest.

They started the contest late last month, and have been getting brisk response and some wild concepts submitted. We’re anxious to see who the top contenders are, but Yess honcho, Renny Husada said we’d have to wait to peek under the curtain.

Renny gave News a little background on the contest:

We’re a small company –and one of the advantages of that is we can react to requests and feedback from customers, then adjust/create quickly.

Customization plays an important role in the market. Initially, with our design we wanted to bring our identity to the community and showcase the craftsmanship and quality in our products.

Busy graphics detract from the detail and attention-to-detail that we put into every one of our frames. It was our expectation that providing a lot of real estate on our frames allows Yess customers plenty of room to get creative with decals, graphics and paint.

This contest will spark creativity from designers and riders with a flair for graphics (Any kind of media will be accepted for submissions as long as they are made into the provided template. This means you can use software such as Photoshop, Paint, or even sketches by hand using markers or crayons!). The best ones will be put to a vote be our Facebook fans, and they will choose the best of the best as the winner. Interaction between our company and the community is important to us, and promotions like this make it fun for everyone.

We have our own designs, naturally. In fact, thousands of requests come in each year for the graphic kit we use solely for our factory team. But with the contest, we can give people options as when we select an idea, we will create one of a few graphic options that you can apply onto your Yess frame.

The Top five designs chosen by the Yess factory crew will be posted on the Yess BMX Facebook fan page, where the fans will decide on the best design. The winner will receive a Yess frame, featuring their custom designed graphics.

Click below for more info on the Yess Decal Design contest. Deadline for entries is October 15, 2012.

Yess Frame Graphics Design Contest

ABA/NBL —> USA BMX / BMX Canada

USA BMX is a great name for a BMX sanction. As long as you’re in the “Free 52.” Since the moment news of the merger between the ABA and NBL, under the USA BMX Umbrella, was first announced, there were questions asking “What about Canada?” What about Canada, indeed.

News was just talking about this subject at the recent Interbike trade show with some folks from up that way, and the sentiment was that they really didn’t mind the USA BMX moniker, as applied to their brand of BMX Racing up North. “I mean, it doesn’t exactly fit, but whatever” said one racer.

Well, no need to shoehorn the Canucks into the program, because Gilbert’s got ya’ covered. Little did we know that plans were underway to give Canada a league of their own, via BMX Canada. We spied the above shot on ABA’s Facebook page earlier in the week, and gOrk confirmed that this was the BMX brand for the Northland.

The above rig will roll on Canadian soil this weekend, just in time for the 2011 ABA Canadian Grand Nationals, held at Chilliwack Heritage Park in Chilliwack, BC.

Keep it right here on BMX News for more developments from the Arctic Circle to

Oh, and we’re reasonably sure that yellow “boot” is a security device so the trailer won’t get stolen. Looks too new to have five parking tickets already

#SingItWithMeNow – O Canada

Yess Products Says “Yes” to Canadian ABA Series

Yess products is a company whose brand may not be familiar to you at first utterance. But, know it or not, you have been familiar with their handiwork for years, as they have been the behind-the-scenes framebuilder for many popular US brands.

Recently, these craftsmen came out from behind the welder’s shield, and decided to put out a BMX product bearing their own brand (above). They are jumping in with both feet, spreading product around…will soon be advertising in all the right places, and announced this week that they will be sponsoring the four-race ABA Canadian National Series. The official release is below, but keep your eyes on BMX News in the coming weeks for more in-depth info on the Yess product line, and an interview with the guys behind it all.

First race for the Yess sponsorship is the “Sea to Sky Nationals” in Squamish, BC on June 10 – 12.

Here is the official release:

The American Bicycle Association is happy to announce the addition of Yess Products, as a sponsor of the 2011 ABA Canadian National Series.  “We’re pleased to add Yess Products as a sponsor of the ABA Canadian National Series.,” said John David, COO of the ABA.  “The Canadian National Series has continued to grow and having companies, like Yess Products, that are based in Canada will continue to help the series expand.”

Yess Products is located in Surrey, British Columbia.  Since inception in 1994, Yess Products continues to provide its clients with high end aluminum bicycle frames and parts. Building frames for more than 15 years, Yess Products has relentlessly evolved and matured to what it is today.

“We are excited to be a part of the World’s most popular BMX Sanction and look forward to support the growth of such a positive sport of all ages,” said Renny Husada, Vice president Yess Products.

The Canadian National Series consists of five races, including the Canadian Grand Nationals.  Look for Yess Products at the upcoming Sea to Sky National or any one of the four remaining events.