ABA FACTORY TEAM REPORT –
Roseville, California – The Spring Nationals marked the halfway point of the ABA “A” national season and with it, of course, came the pressure on Factory team managers to make their team scores count. The ABA’s “A” schedule races are always a good yard stick to measure a team by. All the big Factory players are there with their big guns ready to go head to head to see who is the baddest team in the land – at least for that weekend. Only three teams had won an “A” schedule race in ’05 coming into Roseville. Factory Answer rolled into Nor Cal having won three of the previous six “A” schedule races, making them top dogs for the season. Factory Hyper pulled out their two “A” wins at the previous national in San Bernardino while Phantom / On Trac grabbed their only “A” schedule win in Phoenix back in February. But, racing is racing and anything can happen out on the track. The usual cast of characters was in the house including surprise upstarts Brew / ProMax, Felt / Extreme Sports, and Supercross / Finishline. Local favorites Vendetta Bikes and Challenge / Intense were in the mix as well. However you stack it up, the stage was set for the fourth installment of the ABA’s Factory showdown and it proved to be a good one.
Phantom / On Trac left San Berdoo leading the Factory points chase thanks to some early season scores at smaller nationals as well as consistent scores at the bigger ones. Big news in the Phantom camp was the loss of Vance Weisendanger to Redman. Phantom then grabbed Joe Szurek off the Brew team to fill Vance’s spot, which made for some good drama for the weekend. Hyper TM TJ Johnson was once again a few men down as Bobby Edson was out with a shoulder injury sustained in San Berdoo and Mike McGonigle and Warren McDow were needed at the NBL Tanglewood race. Joey Licata’s strong Answer / Staats team came into Roseville with the highest A national point average. Good news for Joey was the return of Sean Lechner to the lineup, a much needed boost to the team sheets. Challenge / Intense’s Josh Oie made the move to A Pro and that could have either made or broke their team sheet chances. Brew / Pro Max, the newest Factory team on the tour, has been turning heads lately with some good scores and looks strong to in the mix come Grands time.
KILLER BYTES* Hyper’s Alise Post had a rough time on Saturday, coming unclipped in 13-14 Mixed Open and Phantom / On Trac’s Terra Nichols went on for the win. In 14 Girls, Post crashed while leading down the second straight and Nichols went on for the win and a double for her efforts. “The Beast” battled back in 14-16 Girls Cruiser for her only win of the day. When was the last time that Post didn’t at least double? Beast was back to normal on Sunday with her usual triple
* Phantom / On Trac’s Christopher Blevins rocked 7-8 Open on Saturday but had some difficulties in class. Sunday, Hyper’s Jacob Abbe switched over from Cruiser, won the open class and Blevins had to settle for second. Blevins redeemed himself in Sunday’s 7 Expert main with a commanding win. Abbe grabbed himself a win in 8 Expert on Saturday but had to settle for second to On Trac’s hometrack hero Jonathon Perry on Sunday
* Answer’s BoBo Lechner returned to the lineup after a wrist injury had kept him sidelined for what seemed like forever. BoBo had a rough weekend, with a third in open his best finish for the weekend. In Sunday’s 13 Expert semi, BoBo went down in the first turn when Hyper’s Lahsaan Kobza, Sundays eventual main event winner, swooped under him to take the lead. There was a little controversy there, but otherwise it was a clean move. One thing’s for sure, you can’t keep a rider like BoBo down for long. Speaking of Kobza, in Saturday’s main event, he was leading out of the second turn, bonked in the rhythm, got passed and had to settle for second
* Answer’s Jared Garcia was on fire again and grabbed yet another double-double. Can anyone stop him?
* Vendetta’s local hero, Blake Paulson, once again ruled 9-10 open with 2 wins for the weekend
* Mongoose’s Joey Bradford was killing it all weekend. HUGE double double in 15 Expert and 15-16 open. Joey’s throwing his hat in the ring for National #1 amateur, especially now that Josh Oie has turned pro. This is gonna be a fun one to watch in Tulsa this year
* Phantom’s Shelbi Long doubled in 13 girls
* Hyper super-grom Chad Kerley was on fire again, dominating 11-12 open and winning Saturday’s 11 Expert main. Chad had to settle for second Sunday in class to Wesley Gunn. Saturday’s victory was enough to vault Chad into the National #4 amateur position
* Arguably the most popular amateur on the scene today, Jeffery Upshaw grabbed a double in 17-20 Cruiser. Sunday’s main had Brew’s Julio Fierro out front going into the rhythm. The last place you want Jeff Upshaw is behind you in a rhythm section. Fierro found out the hard way as Upshaw manualed the entire last half of the rhythm section and passed Fierro about 10 yards from the last turn and went on for the win
* The 17-18 Expert class is still one of the most competitive classes in BMX with names like Answer’s Mike Brabant, Hyper’s Mike Lundy, and Sun Ringle’s Jeff Upshaw. Lundy took a few months off from riding after dominating early in the year and definitely had some rust. After failing to make it out of quarters in class, Lundy came back and destroyed 17-24 Open. Brabant went on for the win in Saturday’s class main holding Jeff Upshaw off for the last half of the track. In Sunday’s class main, Lundy, Upshaw and Brabant all went down in the second turn. Now that Lundy’s turning pro in Rockford, his home track, its gonna be the Brabant and Upshaw show
* The biggest team swapping story of the weekend was Vance Weisendanger leaving Phantom and joining back up with the Redman crew. To stop the bleeding, Phantom grabbed Joe Szurek after only one race with Brew, a dominating effort in Utah. Szurek and Weisendanger battled all weekend in every moto, quarter, semi, and main – bumping and grinding at every chance. The score you ask? Weisendanger one win on Saturday and Szurek one win on Sunday. This one ain’t over folks
* Redman’s Kelsey Van Ogle was as dominant as ever with yet another double double in 6 Girls and 6 and under Mixed Open
* Former Powerlite superstar Kayman Benetti was back out racing again. Hard to believe Kayman is already 16. Benetti had a rough re-initiation back into BMX, not making mains on Saturday. Sunday was a different story though with a second in class behind Answer’s Kris Fox. Answer’s Andrew Mayfield was going fast all weekend and came home with the 16 Expert win on Saturday
* Crupi’s Jake Trevino showed up in Roseville and showed the 14 Expert class what he was all about. Current ABA NAG #1 Hyper’s Ben Kubalak made the trek from Minnesota to do the same thing. Looks like they both accomplished what they wanted,swapping wins in both class and 13-14 Open
* Linder/Staats’ Naz Greer was on fire winning 3 out of 4 mains. Naz dominated 6 and under open and won 6 Expert on Saturday
* Supercross / Finishline’s Tyler Schaefer swapped wins with Phantom’s Jourdan Cervantes in 12 Girls action
* Vendetta’s Eddie Cerone ruled the old guys with a big double double in 28-35 Expert and 31-35 Cruiser
* Other big news was the rumor that the Crupi / Hurricane team was done for the season. That means a lot of good kids will be looking for rides. Interesting things to come!
FACTORY TEAM PODIUM – ROSEVILLESaturday
| 1. | 204 | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent |
| 2. | 203 | Answer Factory |
| 3. | 190 | Factory Brew / Pro Max |
Sunday
| 1. | 215 | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent |
| 2. | 206 | Phantom / On Trac |
| 3. | 195 | Factory Brew / Pro Max |
CURRENT FACTORY TEAM STANDINGS| 1. | Phantom / On Trac | 2505 | |
| 2. | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent | 2382 | -123 |
| 3. | Vendetta / Fly | 2147 | -358 |
| 4. | Answer Factory / Staats | 2053 | -452 |
| 5. | Crupi / Hurricane | 1967 | -538 |
CURRENT FACTORY TEAM AVERAGES (A schedule nationals only)| 1. | 208.4 | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent |
| 2. | 207.9 | Answer Factory |
| 3. | 204.1 | Phantom / On Trac |
| 4. | 192.5 | Crupi / Hurricane |
| 5. | 186.0 | Challenge / Intense |
ABA “A” SCHEDULE NATIONAL WINS (8 total)| 1. | 4 | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent |
| 2. | 3 | Answer Factory |
| 3. | 1 | Phantom / On Trac |
ABA OVERALL NATIONAL WINS (22 total)| 1. | 7 | Factory Hyper / No Fear / Tangent |
| 2. | 7 | Phantom / On Trac |
| 3. | 4 | Answer Factory |
| 4. | 1 | Crupi / Hurricane |
| 5. | 1 | Felt / Extreme Sports |
| 6. | 1 | Factory MCS |
| 7. | 1 | Factory Brew / Pro Max |
WRAP UPWith his small team, Hyper team manager TJ Johnson once again grabbed both wins for the weekend, making it four in a row at A Schedule nationals. The two wins closed the gap on first place Phantom / On Trac by 129 points - down from 234 to 105 and also made history as Hyper won the National team competition both days at the NBL Tarheel national the same weekend. Answer Factory grabbed the number two spot on Saturday but could only muster a fifth on Sunday. Phantom / On Trac had some trouble on Saturday finishing way down in seventh but came back strong on Sunday with a second place finish. The Brew / Pro Max team nailed down consistent third place finishes both days.
Next up, the Factory team tour heads into Rockford, Illinois for the ABA’s Mid West Nationals on June 17-19. TJ Johnson’s Hyper team looks to make it six in a row and wrangle the lead away from Phantom / On Trac. Joey Licata’s Answer team may be down in the points standings, but you can never count out the reigning national #1 team. Surprise upstart team Factory Brew / Pro Max will try to maintain their consistency through the meat of the season to have a shot at the ABA’s coveted Factory championship title. With the team trading deadline fast approaching in August, look for some last minute scrambling as teams try to put together a roster that will make them the #1 Factory team in the land. Stay tuned only at ISTV.com - your source for up to the minute BMX action!
