BMX champs crowned at Utah races

SOUTH JORDAN — Local BMX racers were forced to step it up against a world class field at the Great Salt Lake Nationals, held over the Fourth of July weekend at Rad Canyon BMX track in South Jordan.

More than 1,000 riders competed during the two days of racing. Olympic gold medalist Maris Strombergs of Latvia won Saturday's AA Pro, while nationally No.1-ranked woman Alise Post from Minnesota won the Elite Women's division. Sunday, Australian Sam Willoughby was the top AA Pro man, with Post again winning Elite Women.

It was the 14th year the Rad Canyon track has hosted the Great Salt Lake Nationals, but this year set a record for the number of registered racers. Despite a tough field, many local riders rode over out-of-state competition.

It was a good weekend for Brooke Oblad of West Jordan. She won the 15-year-old girls age group on Saturday, and she took second place Sunday.

"I kind of expected to do this good," said Oblad. "It's usually more competitive; only one girl gave me a run for my money. I'm hoping to turn pro someday."

Two top local riders won their age divisions on both days. Roy's Robby Patterson won the extremely competitive men's 19-27 expert class, and Heather Allred took first place in the 26-30 girl's cruiser. Elite Women's racer Arielle Martin, formerly of Provo, was second to Post on both days. To win, racers must compete in two qualifying motos, or heats, in order to make the main, or the actual race for points.

There's a saying in BMX racing: "No pain, no main." A number of riders learned that lesson the hard way over the weekend. The Rad Canyon track, which has been revamped since last season, now has bigger jumps and a larger rhythm section that requires more focus than the previous multi-bumped portion of the track.

"You really have to pay attention," said 41-year-old racer Dave Cote of Sandy.

Layton's Blake Lee, 17, was in a good position to sweep his class after taking first place in the men's 17-18 intermediate Saturday and winning the Open class on Sunday. He was into the main of his third event in men's 17-18 intermediate when his luck stopped.

"I was just going into the turn, and a rider rubbed up against me, and I fell," he said. "Another rider rode over my wrist and broke it. Still, it was a pretty good weekend for me.

"That stuff happens in racing. If you're gonna race, you're gonna crash," he added.

Sandy's Leo Doppelt, who rode by his crashed competition to win the class, said, "I didn't see him. But if he hadn't crashed, it would have been pretty close; we're both evenly skilled."

The event drew a crew of international contenders because it was also the UCI North American Continental Championship — a race offering more points than any other BMX Nationals.

BMX is organized into a series of 25 state point races, leading up to the Grand Nationals in November. Winners of national titles in both age-group and pro categories are determined by combining points from both state races and placing at the Grands.

Even more importantly, now is when the collecting of national points begins for the 2012 Olympics. Those points will determine whether a country qualifies for the Olympics in BMX and how many Olympic racer slots it will be given.