Podiums & Move Up’s for many local riders at the Spring National BMX Race
Albuquerque, New Mexico — Over the weekend of June 5th, 6th, and 7th riders from Durango and the surrounding area headed down to Duke City BMX to compete in the Spring Nationals BMX event. National events bring riders from across the nation to compete for national points and big trophies (full schedule here).
Going into the weekend two riders from Durango BMX Louis Vito 7, of Durango had 2 wins coming from trips to Springfield,MO for the “Show Me State National” and 2 at Chilliwack, BC for the Canadian National race . Price Cloure 10, of Bloomfield, NM had 3 wins coming from a weekend racing at the Music City Nationals in Nashville, TN.
USA BMX rules and guidelines have racers categorized by age and proficiency. When riders first start out in BMX they start out in the novice proficiency and race other riders that are the same age bracket and are also novice, riders then need 10 wins to move up to intermediate, and 20 to move up to expert. There is a quicker way (although much harder) to move up which is by winning races at National events. Riders can move into intermediate by winning 3 nationals, and then to move to expert riders need 5 national wins. Each of the 3 days of nationals is its own race, giving the riders three different chances over the weekend to win and move up.
Friday racing started with Louis Vito in a competitive first moto, where he tried to go inside to go for the win but caught up in the barriers at the bottom of the track and had a crash. In the main event he had another mishap racing in the first turn, got tangled up in the turn with another rider and took another spill and ended up taking 5th. Cloure, on Friday night cruised to an easy victory in his main event, leaving him with one more win.
Saturday brought a new round of racing with both Vito and Cloure both placing first in their respective first round motos. With mom’s at the finish line with a silly string at the ready, first up was Vito ready for some redemption from his Friday evening crashes. Vito was able to get the hole shot right out of the gate and stayed in first to cruise to first place, and into being an expert. Cloure also was able to get the hole shot and stay easily in first place to also move on to being an expert.
With two riders advancing to the Expert ranks and numerous main-event appearances throughout the weekend, Durango BMX racers turned in strong national showings.
Sam Vito at his first nationals weekend kept Durango BMX on the podium with a standout weekend, earning 2nd place on Friday, taking 1st place on Saturday, and finishing strong with another 2nd place on Sunday in a race against 10-year-old Novice riders.
Durango BMX racer Eli Hall turned in his strongest national performance to date at the Duke City BMX Spring Nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hall kicked off the weekend on Friday with a pair of third-place finishes in the highly competitive 9-10 Open and Cruiser classes while also qualifying for his class main event. He continued his momentum on Saturday by capturing a first-place finish in 9-10 Open and adding another third-place finish in Cruiser. On Sunday, Hall capped off an outstanding weekend by earning his second consecutive victory in 9-10 Open after making a thrilling pass on the final straightaway. He also secured a fifth-place finish in Cruiser and battled his way into the class main event with a second-place finish in his semi, ultimately finishing fifth in the main. The weekend showcased Hall's continued growth and competitiveness on the national stage.
Eli Hall - Photo by Jimmie Gomez Photography
Julia Koskinen, racing in the 10 Girls Expert class, put together a steady weekend with 5th-place finishes in all three races, continuing to gain valuable experience and points while competing at the national level.
Bode Dosch raced consistently throughout the weekend in the 9 Intermediate class, earning a 3rd-place finish on Friday followed by 4th-place finishes on both Saturday and Sunday against a strong field of competitors.
Riley Larkin recently turned 9, raced in his first competition against other 9 experts and had a tough weekend of qualifying rounds which did not lead to a main event.
Daniel Brown had a strong weekend, qualifying for the highly competitive 16 Cruiser main event on all three days of racing.
Devion Pawlicki competed in the challenging 17–20 Open class and earned a spot in the main event each day of the national.
Deigo Lopez battled in the qualifying rounds of the 17-20 year old expert class.
Aaron Pawlicki, racing in the 36–40 Novice class, put together a solid weekend of competition with a 3rd-place finish on Friday, followed by an impressive 2nd-place finish on Saturday, and another 3rd-place finish on Sunday.
About Durango BMX
Durango BMX is a non-profit organization supporting BMX racers in and around Durango. We partner with the City of Durango Parks and Recreation to bring local BMX racing and events, as well as support racers who compete at state and national events.
Durango BMX has racing for all ages and levels every Friday evening through the fall, for those wanting to give it a try, the first race is always free!
