Evansville's track is one of the country's top technical tracks. It's downhill with plenty of lippy jumps. It's a photographer's dream track. It's fast with tight turns and airtime is found on every straight. The only drawback I'd say to the track is that the layout has remained the same for quite some time. The layout is great. However, the riders have become faster than in days past and the jump areas have not expanded to adapt to that speed. So, you basically get riders (especially the Elite and Super class) that overclear the jumps by one or two (or ten or twenty) feet. All that said, the track was great - the area is that southern Indiana / Tennessee / Kentucky downhill, plushly wooded terrain that's always great for races.
    The facilities are great around the track and there are hotels only minutes away. Overall a great place to hold a national event. One of the great features to NBL events are the volunteer system used to run a national. The local track operators and crew are relied on heavily to facilitate the event. Just a quick word to the volunteers - common courtesy and friendliness will get you allot further, OK ? Fact is MOST of the yellow shirt volunteers were friendly and willing to put forth a great effort. The weekend couldn't have gone on without them and they should be commended for their time and contribution to the national weekend.
    Unlike the event here last year, this was an Elite Pro / UCI event. This meant all the big hitter Elite would be in attendance. Greg Romero, riding for his own company Revtec has been on fire lately. Not that Greg has won any mains but he's looked extremely strong in motos and came damn close to winning one of the mains in Rockford a week ago. As I mentioned in Rockford's article I've always wanted Greg to win so we could get a great, interesting interview out of him. Looks like even though Greg did not take a win this weekend that will come around anyway as he's scheduled to do the pre-race show at South Park this Friday.
    The NBL system for pro mains is a one lap dash for the cash. This really adds to the excitement as it all comes down to the one lap. No matter how you've been riding or how you did in motos, put it together for this one lap and you go home with the cash. This scenario proved true both days as neither of the main event winners Saturday or Sunday actually won a moto.
    Saturday Staats' Mike Day looked to be the one to watch as he took moto one and moto two. Moto three he took a seventh but most people know that if you have the points you hold back on the third moto to conserve energy and also possibly help out a buddy who might have a bad score. When the gate dropped, Afro Bob (Robert DeWilde) sprang out of the middle gate and took the lead into the first turn. Day was right there lookin' to set Bob up. Pohlkamp, with a new ride in Kuwahara, dropped to the inside of the first turn. As the pack went into turn two Fly's Donny Robinson tried to rail the bottom of the turn to gain some positions. Unfortunately, the turn wouldn't handle the speed the Elite's were bringing into the turn and DR slid out. Primo (Romero) hit his back tire and both went down. DeWilde continued to pull down the second and third downhill straights. Day's only hope would be the rhythm section on the last straight. Day is known for his mad skills and everybody watched as the top three went into the final turn. However, by that time DeWilde had built up too much of a lead. While Day did pull Pohlkamp on the rhythm he did not have the area to get by DeWilde. The finish would go DeWilde, Day and Pohlkamp.
    Sunday, DeWilde held his momentum and won the first two motos just as Day had done Saturday. He cruised the third moto, as is customary, and concentrated on the main. Sunday, the lead would be Day's to defend. Day shot into the lead out of gate two and that was all she wrote. DeWilde came out of gate five and maneuvered into second. GT/Hyundai's Randy Stumpfhauser had a great first straight and put himself into third out of gate seven by the first turn. They pretty much went single file in that order throughout the rest of the race. DeWilde did pull up along side day a bit on the last straight but Day had the momentum this time and took the win.
    Super class shaped up to be an intense and exciting race. You had Hyper's Mike Lundy straight off his undefeated weekend as a newbie pro at Rockford determined to keep that winning streak alive. Revtec / Fox's Derek Betcher, who's known for an unbelievable first straight, also showed up in E-Ville to take on the new kid. Brew/Promax rider Danny Caluag made the trip. Travis Postany came out from Texas to support the new SE factory team.
    Saturday Lundy won the first moto and set the stage for what could possibly be an undefeated weekend again. However, a second in the second moto knocked that stress off his shoulders. With that Mike could settle down and focus on the main. It wasn't going to be easy with Betcher's first straight pull and all the other riders in the gate looking to grab the win from Mike. In the main Mike was given gate eight with Betcher in gate one and Caluag in four. The first striaght in E-Ville is short and hooks to the right a bit. This wasn't going to be easy. Mike got a heck of a gate though and by his third peddle was in front of the pack. Everybody except for Betcher that is. Betcher's notorious first straight was right there and he took the lead into the first corner. Mike settled back and looked for a line down the second straight. He found that line when Betcher took the second corner a little too safe and high. Mike dove to the inside and his tires faithfully stuck to the dirt. The third straight basically will give the win to whoever has the guts to give it that one more stroke before hitting the downhill step-up that launches you into the third corner. This time it was Lundy who got in that extra crank and in turn took the lead from Betcher. Well, you're not going to pull Lundy on a jump section and DEFINITELY not a rhythm. That was all that was left and Mike took his third main event win in three events. Betcher got the second. The third place spot went to Luke Pretlove who lead the rest of the pack that Lundy and Betcher had basically pulled a 3/4 straight lead on.
    Sunday's Super Class race was by far one of the most exciting I've seen in quite a while. Lundy had gone undefeated in his motos this time. He looked to have it locked up. However, Danny Caluag had some proving to do. He told me Saturday night when we went out to dinner with the Crifases and Keefers that he had "ridden like a pu**y". He had something to prove and he definitely started the main that way. Caluag came out of gate two like it had dropped a half second early. Lundy was in gate one but was shut down by Caluag's tremendous gate out of two. Betcher had gate eight but he reached into his pocket and pulled out that famous pull. Betcher went into second behind Caluag and Lundy was a distant third into the second turn. It looked as if Mike would be handed his first loss for his pro career. It was Caluag and Betcher in a tight group going down the third straight. All of the sudden Lundy hit the turbo down the third straight and put himself into that group heading into the last turn. Ahead was the rhythm, one of Mike's forte's and his only chance for the win. Danny and Derek chose the inside of the last straight as Mike hit up the outside. The crowd went absolutely nuts as Mike's bike handling skills flowed him through the rhythm gaining speed with each roller. He passed Betcher and at the last possible second manualed by Caluag for the win. That is race you CAN NOT miss - make sure to check the video section for Sunday's Super class.
    It's probably not a secret what great friends Redline's Kim Hayashi and MCS's Amanda Geving have become. It's also not a secret how incredibly gifted these two girl pro riders are. Saturday each would score perfects in their motos. Clayborn's Krystal Hyme and Free Agent's Alice Jung were right there as well with seconds in their own races. Unfortunately, Jung went down hard in one of her qualifying races and would not be in the main.
    In the main Hayashi shot out of gate one into the lead. Geving came out of four to take a spot right behind Hayashi. One's Rachel Smith rode into third and they went that way, single file, until the downhill fourth straight. Geving pulled on the inside of Hayashi and seemed as though she'd make a move for the lead on the inside of the last turn. However, Geving isn't a newcomer to the sport and knew with the speed they were carrying into the last turn there could be some carnage. So, she settled behind Hayashi and content with a second crossed the line. Hayashi got the win and Smith rounded out the top three.
    Sunday would unfortunately be Geving's turn to go down and she was out of contention for the main with a bruised hip. However, it was great to see Jung back in action and looking strong going into the main. You could really tell what three girls had the gate down the second it dropped in the main. Hayashi, Jung and Smith were literally half a bike length in front of the rest of the main by the second crank. Hayashi took the lead and a rejuvenated Alice Jung set herself in second. Smith took the third spot and the race went on to the finish exactly in that order. Hayashi with the win, Jung in second and Smith with another third for the weekend.
    Geving did win girl's cruiser both days with Dan's rider Katie Shedivy taking a close second. Shedivy also won both days in the Junior Women class - shades of a new girl pro in the mix ??
    In Masters TwentyFour Seven's founder Geof Ssengoba busted down the gate (must be the practice on the custom gates he produces and distributes himself). He flew out into the lead in front of vets like Redline's Jason Carnes and Mongoose rider Eric Rupe as well as a newly turned Master Dave Bittner. Rupe is a seasoned veteran though and knows how to pull moves in corners many riders had gone down just trying to negotiate. Rupe dived on the inside and pushed Ssengoba high and out of the lead. Bittner took advantage of the move and pushed himself into the second spot. Geof retained enough momentum to stay in the top three. Rupe held the lead until the last straight rhythm where Bittner took to the outside and rode past Rupe for the win. Rupe settled for the second and Geof took the third still wondering what the heck happened in the second turn.
    On Sunday Bittner would be Rupe's victim in the second turn. Dave got a great start and pulled into the lead. Eric set him up in the second straight just as he had Ssengoba the day before. Coming out of the second turn it was Rupe again with the lead, Carnes taking advantage of the move with the second and Bittner somewhere around forth or fifth trying to regain his speed. Carnes had some moves of his own though and through the last turn and down the last straight took the lead from Rupe to the French announcers yells (that was quite a treat having the French announcer call the entire Masters main). It will be interesting for sure to see how homeboy Dave Bittner does on his own turf in Masters class in South Park this weekend.
    Day absolutely ruled the Elite Open class this weekend. The one loss in Elite narrowly put Day out of a rare pro double/double. Stumpfhauser did the same in Elite Cruiser. Throughout the six motos and two mains Stumpy lost only one of those heats.
    Check out the finishes for the girls classes on the NBL site. You'll see that in almost every class there was a definite dominating rider. Most of the classes have the same rider winning all the motos and the main. Team Diamond's Megan Yuchasz tore up the six-seven girls class. Revolution's Jessica Sherbno showed she could handle the lippy NBL tracks just as well as the speedy ABA ones with across the board wins in eight-nine girls. Cassandra Brown represented her South Carolina state and Keely Kortman did the same for Michigan by dominating the ten and the eleven girls classes respectively. Twelve - thirteen girls had the only mix on the weekend as Savannah Lahr and Jessica Cartwright traded wins Saturday and Sunday. Terra Nichols won the fourteen girls class while having to put up with the "Jump Something" heckles from fellow Texans Travis Postany and Lee "Little Tarzan" Lewis. In the final age designated class Allie Dragoo mopped up the fifteen year olds for her Iowa based sponsor Standard.
    Nine year old Jerred Reuter came one win away from scoring a perfect weekend and sixteen incredible wins. A second in moto one on Saturday was the only mark on a perfect showing for the young Dans rider. One of the incredible groms that did pull this off is Revolution's Jake Sherbno. Jake is amazing and on fire currently ripping up both the ABA and NBL circuit lately. Jake was untouched in the twelve expert and cruiser classes winning seemingly at will. I can't wait to see what "Jackrabbit" as he's nicknamed has in store for the rest of the races leading up to the big show in Louisville.
    Nobody really dominated the older classes the way the menehunes did but there was some great racing. Dan's pretty much owned the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen through twenty-one classes on Saturday. Check out the name on the NBL site of the winner of thirty-five and over expert class - Drew Motley. When it's listed last name first as the site does it's shown as "Motley Drew". Does anyone else not find that hilarious? No disrespect on the family name but that's gotta be funny.
    On Sunday Kelley Kelley schooled the older expert class with straight moto/main wins. In cruiser Jeff Upshaw got the last perfect that he needed to cap out and left the sixteen through twenty-one combined cruiser class to Texan Lee Lewis. I cannot tell you how crazy it was to see Lee up there on the gate with twenty-one year-olds (Lee's a little small for his age even at sixteen). He's a pit-bull though and took the win on Sunday for his sponsor Fly Racing.
    Well, I'm on the plane about to land in Pittsburgh. So, I'll have to cut it short here. Look for some awesome coverage from the South Park national. The track has been rebuilt and promises to be an air-fest.