"My goal is to be up there in the top three going into mains," Sharrah said. "I was able to do that and I got the win. It feels really good. The year's been going well. The first ABA nationals went well and the first supercross went really well."
Alise Post (St. Cloud, Minn/Redline) rode away from silver and bronze medalists Brooke Crain (Visalia, Calif./Haro/Rockstar) and Arielle Martin (East Spanaway, Wash./Intense BMX) to win the elite women's gold medal.
"Went out there for my first moto and had a great lap and it all just snowballed from there," Post said. "It just got better and better on every lap. I live here, so it was just like any practice session. I had fun and it all worked out. It's awesome to win a national championship. It's been a long time coming. I've had some bad luck in the past whether it's a crash or not the best race. I think what the USOC and USA Cycling are doing with putting their national championship on the supercross track is pretty cool, so I'm really happy to have won it."
In the junior men's race, three USA Cycling National Development Program participants took home the hardware. Rusty Nesvig (San Diego, Calif./Factory-Intense) earned the Stars-and-Stripes jersey ahead of Justin Posey (Winston-Salem, N.C./Dan's Competition) and Lain Van Ogle (Auburn, Wash./Redman) in the junior men's race.
"I just had a good gate. I was staying focused," Nesvig said. "I knew I had to get a good snap to stay up front. Once I had the hole shot, I just had to keep it smooth and it was all good from there."
With the 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon America's brightest BMX stars shone brilliantly in Southern California on Saturday.
"I'm very pleased with how everything went," USA Cycling's BMX Program Director Mike King said. "I wasn't too surprised by the results. Corben's been hot lately and Alise has been a little banged up, but she's showing that she can hang in there.
"I'm very excited about how our juniors ran today. They're the future of the program and think they ran great."
In addition to the elite and junior elite fields that highlighted the day, amateur racers provided plenty of action as well. Riders between the ages of five and 50 not only competed for the right to slip into a Stars-and-Stripes jersey on the podium's top step, but also for eligibility to represent the U.S. at the 2011 UCI BMX World Championships from July 27-31, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The top eight athletes in each age group earned invitations to the amateur world championship event.