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    Dacono, Colorado - Answer's David Herman's home track. I remember first meeting David when he was a little grom riding for Herda's Hot Shots. I believe it was a Minnesota national and David was cruising around on a big home made chopper. He had no shirt on as he'd been swarmed on by a bunch of mosquitos and he had anti-itch cream from head to toe. It didn't seem to bother him as he rode around going up to people and screaming out this Woody Wood Pecker-ish laugh.
    Fast forward to today and David Herman has turned in to a remarkable rider. One of the few on the Answer team that is actually soft spoken and somewhat shy. David has turned in some exemplary finishes for his Answer team. One that sticks out most in my mind is the win against his team-mate Mike Brabant that was a bit controversial. Not because of a questionable move or call by an official. It was because David, with that win, knocked Mike out of the running for the Amateur title. David told me later that he almost felt bad for winning. He'd also heard some not so kind things about him not basically giving Mike the win. However, I don't know if Mike would have wanted to win that way. David was on and flat out won that race. He deserves the win and more than that deserves to be proud of his ABA Grands win.
    I know for a fact that David has been offered some great deals to ride for other teams. However, through the years he's been loyal and true to Answer's main man Joey Licata. David has a personality that could only reflect a great upbringing. Not sure when David will turn pro but when he does the sport will gain a top notch representative to it's top echelon.
    When I prepared to leave for Colorado I checked the weather forecast to see if there was any rain in site. Unfortunately, there was. Not only that but I noticed the HIGHs for the days were supposed to be in the 60's. Well, the chance of rain wasn't super high and it was supposed to be spotty. I knew the Dacono track could hold it's share of water. I wasn't too worried about that. For the low temperatures I simply through my FLY sweatshirt into my bags and I was set.
    Friday turned out to be an awesome day. A slight mix of clouds and sun but for sure enough sun to have me peeling as I write this. The track was packed down and exquisitely groomed. I actually felt bad about getting up on the side of the jumps for a good shot as my footprints ruined the perfect sides to the jumps.
    Saturday morning came around and unfortunately the weather had been pretty wet over night. The ABA and Dacono crew worked on the track until the time practice was supposed to start. The decision was made to forego practice to keep working on the track. Seemed a good decision as the track was in close to perfect shape by the time racing started around 11:30 a.m.
    Being a "B" national, you don't expect a heck of allot of motos. However, you can never tell who will show up toward the end of the national season. Riders are constantly looking for last minute points and finishes to better their position in the standings. Riders came to Colorado in force. Phantom/OnTrac, Answer, CMC/BKS, etc. all the teams were there. California, Texas, Minnesota, Tonganoxie Kansas, many states were represented.
    The pros came out in force as well. All the top AA pros that didn't make the trip down to Bogota Columbia for the Pro Invitational there came out to Colorado. I was actually a little surprised to see Redline's Bubba Harris there straight off his unifying win at UCI Worlds. I figured with the ABA and the UCI titles under his belt he'd take a few off.
    There were various goals each rider came with. In AA John Purse is going for the title of most career wins and is damn close. For new AA pro Mike Moeller it's the elusive first win. The Phantom/OnTrac rider has been bustin' tail to get up to speed. Mike's been an amazing rider. I can still remember his first NBL national. I was covering the Springfield national for the NBL at the time. Mike decided to make the trip down and proceeded to spank his class. He was so dominant that Jeff Sack decided to put a shot of Mike I had on the cover of the BMX Today NBL publication. The problem came out when we realized that the front cover shot of the NBL paper had a rider with an ABA NAG plate on - woops!
    Truth is though "amazing" in amateur pretty much gets thrown out the door when you make the jump into a class that has weeded out any but the "amazing". AA pro is the cream of the crop and what you've accomplished as an amateur is quickly overshadowed by the collective accomplishments of every other rider coming to the gate.
    I've watched as Mike struggled with the jump to the top level of BMX. I've seen the usually joking rider ride past in practice without even a nod. Mike's a competitive person and accepts nothing but one hundred percent. This weekend Mike was on a mission - take the AA pro win and get that monkey off his back.
    First of three AA pro mains. Moeller is on the inside in gate one. Mike gets a great gate and has a straight shot down the first straight into the first turn. For a while it looked like Mike would have the lead. However, Bubba got great pull out of an outside gate and railed the first turn into the lead. Mike settled into second with Mongoose's John Purse in third. It stayed that way for the rest of the first race.
    Second main is when things would get REAL interesting. Mike got a great pop but not quite as good as Specialized rider Brandon Meadows in gate two. Brandon pulled the pack to the lead by the first turn. Avent/Fly's Jason Rogers went midway into the turn with Bubba high and Moeller low all stacked. Moeller pushed up Rogers and Rogers in turn pushed up Harris. Unfortunately for Bubba there was no turn left and Bubba went sliding head first down the back of the first turn. Moeller pulled into second behind Meadows down the second straight. He pulled along side Meadows in the third straight and looked to be setting up for the last turn. However, in flew Rogers who cut Meadow's line off and completed a great pass for the lead sending Moeller back into forth behind Meadows and Purse.
    Third main Meadows got a perfect snap out of the gate. He shot into the lead with the black and yellow of Moeller in tow. John Purse was right there and gave Moeller a tap in the last turn. However, Mike would stay up and hold on to the second. Two seconds and a forth and eight total points. Meadows also had two seconds but with a crash in the first main the points didn't add up. They added up for Mike though and finally - his first AA pro win!
    A pro was all Redline's Scott Rodolf. Scott was coming out of the gate like the other riders were geared way to hard or something. His starts were honestly amazing. In the first moto Aftershock/Intense/Fly's Gabe Moreno and 505's Thomas Fernandez were right there giving Scott hell in the turns but Rodolf held on for the win.
    Second moto Rodolf would not only get the start but then continue to pull the class. Nobody gave Rodolf any problems at all. Bike America's Anthony Wallace gave a great effort but nobody was near Rodolf the whole lap to give any challenge.
    Third moto one of the vets (who race A pro when it's not a designated vet race) finally warmed up. Redman/Yamaha/Waverunner's Darrin Mitchell got a great gate. Darrin flew into the lead with Rodolf in a close second. Down the second straight Darrin's throttle would stick and he'd go down just before the second turn. Rodolf takes advantage of the bobble and take the lead. Fernandez gets caught up with Mitchell and goes down.
    Three straight wins and the overall for Scott Rodolf. Man, I can still remember his first A pro race in Phoenix for the mud spectacular. He was just a kid then - haha.
    Sunday in the A pro first main Rodolf hit the gate and put himself out of contention right away. Mongoose's Eric Rupe got a great snap and pulled into the lead. He held the lead until Fernandez pulled a textbook high/low in the second corner. Rupe faded a bit and Moreno came around him as well.
    Second main Rodolf was out to prove Saturday was no fluke. Out of gate one he pulled the lead again. This time for good as Anthony Wallace followed in for the second.
    Third main Rodolf almost pulled a Bubba as he got the snap but was ridden high in the first turn by Fernandez. Dust went flying as Scott hit the loose part of the top of the first berm. He shut down just before flying off. Moreno took advantage of the collision at the top of the berm and railed the lower part of the berm into the lead. Moreno got the third main win with Fernandez in two and Wallace in three. The overall would go to Moreno with Fernandez in second and Anthony Wallace with another third.
    It was great to see Avent/Bombshell's Tyler Brown back in the states after training for a while in Switzerland. On Sunday Tyler would show it's good to be back by leading the first AA pro main. That was until the last turn when John Purse decided to give him a little welcome home elbow tap. Unfortunately, Tyler went over the top and the dust and bike went flying. Harris swooped down low and passed both for the win.
    Second main Moeller flew out of the gate and into the lead with Free Agent's Kyle Bennet and Brandon Meadows close behind. Bubba kicked it into gear the second half of the lap but was only able to pass Bennet for the third place finish.
    Third main Bubba came out of gate one and rode the white line down the entire first straight. He came out of the first turn in the lead with Moeller in second. Bennet was in three with Meadows in four. Moeller and Harris battled for the lead in turn two and Meadows went to cut low to pass Bennet. Meadows front tire hooked up with Bennet's back and he went down hard. Bubba pulled out to a clear lead and overall win and Moeller settled for second. Unfortunately, Meadows was slow to get up. I talked with Brandon at the airport on the way home and it seems he's most likely out for Reno with a possible broken collar bone.
    Well, seven year-old Chris Blevins continues to be absolutely phenomenal. I think I saw the little Phantom/OnTrac rider in second, once, only up to the first turn. From that point on it was all in the lead. It must be frustrating to all the eight year-olds this seven year-old schooled in the seven/eight expert open.
    The nine year-old cruiser and twenty class was one of the most exciting to watch. With riders like Supercross's Alex Jones, Revolution's DJ Stephan, Answer's Hunter Pelham, Phantom's Sean Gaian and 505's Jordan Moreno the leaders changed with almost every race. Jones, Pelham and Gaian shared wins in the classes but all the riders in the main should be proud of their riding in this stacked class.
    Another great class everybody made sure to watch was the battle between Phantom/OnTrac's Shelbi Long and Hyper's Alise Post in the fourteen girls and fourteen-sixteen girls cruiser. Alise has been known for her aerial attacks but recently Long was shown boosting the step-up at the recent Ontario ABA Worlds. The two battle all weekend. Post took the majority of the wins but in twenty class on Sunday the two headed into the second turn together. Long aggressively took the line from Alise and got the win. Shelbi and Alise were seen hanging out and goofing around after the race.
    Brat Pak's Ryan Morley was crackin' me up with his antics out on the track. He definitely doesn't let the pressure get to him. He ruled the twenty-one to twenty-five cruiser class. However, in his twenty inch nineteen to twenty-seven expert class Ryan couldn't keep up with Phantom's Joseph Szurek. Szurek won that class both days as well as the seventeen to twenty-four expert open on Saturday.
    The feeling on Sunday was a little crazy. Allot of riders have all their points in and were goofing around quite a bit. Mongoose's Joey Bradford lost the first race I've seen him loose in quite a while on Sunday. Both the fifteen cruiser and fifteen expert class went to another rider. I'm not taking anything away from the winners of those classes but it was frustrating to see Joey's winning streak come to and end.
    Another goof was Hyper's Lahsaan Kobza. He decided that it would be amusing to ride his bright red beach cruiser in his thirteen cruiser class. It was quite honestly hilarious watching Lahsaan bounce down the second straight after loosing track of his peddles. Make sure to check out the video included in this PDF file for that.
    So we're coming down to the final stretch for the ABA national points chase. Only three more nationals before the big show in Tulsa. Some of the top riders will undoubtedly miss Reno for the NBL Grands. York, PA. is pretty far to go for some but I have seen west coasters make the trip. The fall nationals in Phoenix are stacking up to be one heck of a show. It will be interesting to see how the last part of the trek goes for the ABA series. Make sure to check daily on ISTV for updates and more race coverage.