ABA FACTORY TEAM REPORT MID WEST NATIONALS – Rockford, Illinois – What can you say about Rockford?  Racers travel from all across the US and abroad to hit up the ABA’s best national of the year and the Rock always delivers.  Nestled in a lush, green park setting, Rockford BMX is the epitome of what a national should be.  The top Factory teams couldn’t agree more - all the top players were in attendance.  Points leader Phantom On Trac showed up ready to defend its lead.  Answer Factory finally grabbed it’s twelfth score of the year in new Mexico and jumped into the #2 spot.  Factory Hyper wasn’t far behind in third place and had all their big guns in attendance.  Challenge / Intense , Factory Brew / Pro Max, CMC/BKS, Linder / Staats, and Supercross / Finishline were all represented as well.  With great weather, Rockford was getting ready to deliver once again.

ABA points leader Phantom / On Trac rolled into the rock with a couple of new riders, Derek Bergh, 10 Expert, and Jake Trevino, 14 Expert.  Phantom has been making a lot of team moves lately and once these pick-ups become eligible for their team sheets, Phantom will be very strong.  Answer Factory came into the Rock with a small team featuring Kris Fox, Mike Brabant, David Herman, BoBo Lechner, Hunter Pelham, Kaloni Lechner and Tori Johnson.  Hyper won four nationals in a row with six riders, why couldn’t Answer?  Speaking of Hyper, team manager TJ Johnson had a full team this time around.  Bobby Edson was still a little sore from his crash in San Bernardino but was back in the mix.  Johnson also had several of Hyper’s NBL team at the Rock including Anthony Derosa and Doug Hayes.

KILLER BYTES

Phantom / On Trac’s newest pick up Jake Trevino has been on fire lately, dominating 14 Expert.  This weekend was no exception.  Trevino battled with Hyper’s Ben Kubalak on Saturday and took the win.  Trevino added another win in 14 Cruiser for a Saturday double.  Kubalak grabbed a win in 13-14 Open on Saturday.  Sunday, Trevino switched from Cruiser and beat Kubalak in 13-14 Open.  Trevino had it easy n class as Kubalak didn’t make it out of quarters and grabbed another double-double……….The lone Mongoose amateur Joey Bradford dominated once again.  Double-double in 15 Expert and 15 Cruiser……….There are a lot of intense Phantom / Hyper battles at the big races and 8 Expert is no exception.  One of the biggest rivalries is between Hyper’s Jake Abbe and Phantom’s Jonathon Perry.  With no love lost between these two riders, you can always expect a bit of controversy to play out.  In Sunday’s 7-8 open main, Perry, who is known for moving over hard on the competition, created a little drama by taking out half the field before the first obstacle.  ABA’s Mike Luna called for the restart.  In the restart, Abbe had no problem handling Perry, who won 7-8 Open on Saturday.  Abbe doubled in 8 expert making it 3 wins out of 4 mains for the weekend and looks to regain the World Title he lost last year to Perry in Nanaimo……….The Lahsaan Kobza / BoBo Lechner battle will have to be put on hold for a while.  Answer’s BoBo Lechner went down HARD in Saturday’s semis breaking his right arm/wrist in multiple places.  That left the door open for Hyper’s Lahsaan Kobza to dominate 13 Expert for the weekend.  Chalk up a double for Kobza……….Yet another Phantom / Hyper rivalry exists between Phantom’s Billy Russell and Hyper’s Chad Kerley.  Kerley has had Russell’s number for the past few nationals with multiple 11 Expert doubles.  Rockford’s long first straight favored Russell’s horsepower and size, however, and Kerley had to settle for two seconds in 11 Expert for the weekend to the “Bad Boy”.  Kerley doubled in 11-12 Open at the Rock while Russell won 11 Cruiser on Saturday……….Hyper’s Warren McDow is known for having the most ponies out of anyone in the class.  He’s also known for blowing up anywhere and at anytime on the track.  With Rockford’s long downhill first straight, everyone knew McDow would be way out front.  Warren didn’t disappoint, horsing the competition, that included Redman’s Joey Berthiaume, Answer’s Kris Fox, and Phantom’s Jay Greene, in and out of turn one.  Warren also didn’t disappoint in the rhythm, losing 3 out of 4 mains (Open and class) in that section of the track.  Sunday, McDow redeemed himself in 16 Expert with a commanding win.  Jay Greene took 16X on Saturday and 15-16 Open on Sunday while Joey Berthiaume nailed down Saturday’ Open main win……….Supercross / Finishline’s Tyler Schaefer was on point as usual with a double in 11 Girls.  Schaefer has a LEGIT shot at National #1 Girl……….Hyper’s Alise “The Beast” Post once again proved why she’s the best girl racer in BMX.  6 wins out of 6 mains for the Beast……….Phantom’s Joe Szurek moved himself to the top of the leader board with a double in 19-27 Expert.  Redman’s Vance Weisendanger had some problems along with Hyper’s Bobby Edson.  Neither made the main on Saturday……….Phantom / On Trac’s Shelbi Long won 3 out of 4 mains in 13 girls and 11-13 girls Cruiser.  On Saturday, she lost her cruiser main to Samantha Bretheim……….17-18 Expert didn’t lose a step when Hyper’s Mike Lundy turned pro.  On Saturday, the Answer twins, David Herman and Mike Brabant finished one and two giving Answer the extra push for the Factory win.  On Sunday, Sergio Pena upset the class with a win which was enough to vault Phantom into the top spot for Factory teams.  Could this class be the “real” A Pro class?..........Hyper rider Anthony Derosa came over from the NBL to dominate 10 Expert for the weekend.  Chalk up a double for Derosa

FACTORY TEAM PODIUM

Saturday

1.         227       Answer Factory

2.         225       Factory Hyper

3.         213       Phantom / On Trac

Sunday

1.         231       Phantom / On Trac

2.         224       Factory Hyper

3.         199       Answer Factory

FACTORY TEAM STANDINGS

1.         2566     (213.83 avg)      Phantom / On Trac

2.         2509     (209.08)            Answer Factory       -57

3.         2496     (208.00)            Factory Hyper         -70

4.         2147     (178.92)            Vendetta Bikes        -419

5.         1967     (178.82)            Crupi / Hurricane      -599

AVERAGE SCORES – “A” Nationals only

1.         212.00              Factory Hyper

2.         208.90              Answer Factory

3.         207.70              Phantom / On Trac

4.         192.50              Crupi / Hurricane

5.         186.00              Challenge / Intense

NATIONAL WINS

            Overall

                        1.         8          Factory Hyper

                        2.         8          Phantom / On Trac

                        3.         6          Answer Factory

                        4.         1          Crupi / Hurricane

                        5.         1          Factory Brew / Pro Max

                        6.         1          Felt / Extreme Sports

                        7.         1          MCS

            “A” Schedule wins

                        1.         4          Factory Hyper

                        2.         4          Answer Factory

                        3.         2          Phantom / On Trac

WRAP UP

So with some good scores, Answer and Hyper pick up a little on Phantom and close the gap to within 70 points from first to third.  Phantom is still on top, Answer moves into second, and Hyper drops back to third but cuts Phantom’s lead in half.  Rounding out the top five is Vendetta and it looks like Crupi is fading fast, falling back to fifth.  It’s a mad scramble up until the World Championships in Ontario, California at the end of July.  All the teams will be there ready for battle and the rider counts will be through the roof.  Expect the Worlds to be the race of the year!  Tune into ISTV.com for all the info on one of the closest factory battles in years!