Looking Back Now
This is a day that I will NEVER forget! Todd Lyons won AA Pro. What!? What make's this win so cool is that the legend, Gary Ellis finished in 2nd. And back in the day, ABA Reno in January was one of THE hardest races of the year. I remember that Christophe Leveque and Brian Lopes were the only two heavy hitter racers that weren't there. It didn't matter though, 'cause I would have beat them too! I remember Gary Ellis hugging me and giving me "props" at the finish line. Man, that was cool to beat him and have him still give me props. It was cool that Brian Foster and I finished 1-2 in Pro Open as well. We were roommates at the time in Huntington Beach.
What's also cool about this win is that less than 2 weeks earlier, I won the jump contest at the NBL X-Mas classic beating the likes of Taj Mihelic, Jimmy Levan, Griffin, Stieby, Van Homan, Jody Donelly, Brian Foster, and Mike Foerny. And a month later I won the "Play" street contest in Orlando, Florida. Man, I was on top of my game in the beginning of 1995!
Photo: One of the few days I was ever able to stay ahead of the "Lumberjack" all the way to the Payout Line!
I started keeping a daily journal way back in 1987 when I was only 15 years old. Back then I was a just a freshman in high school. Since then, every single freakin' day of my life has been documented in these journals. If it happened in my life, then I wrote it down & documented it. And believe me; I've got some stories to tell! Looking back over the years, here is a journal entry that stands out and also my comments looking back now.
-Ride On.
-Todd Lyons
Brand Manager SE Bikes
"We Make it Happen"
Days of the Wildman 1995 - The 1st & Only AA Pro Win of My Career
Oct 06, 2007
Read 6376 times
ABA Reno NV Race, “First and Only AA Pro Win of My Career" January 7th, 1995 Actual Journal Entry
"AA Pro motos 1-4-2 Main 2-2-3 Overall = 1st "YES! My first AA win ever! I won $870 plus $25 for a moto win. Here's how the rest of the main finished: 2nd- Gary Ellis, 3rd- Justin Green, 4th- Brian Foster, 5th- Eric Carter, 6th- Charles Townsend, 7th-Matt Hadan, 8th- Danny Nelson. I beat 'em all! There were 28 AA pros here."
Pro Open motos 3-1-2 Main 2nd. "Won $240. Brian Foster won. Cool, my best pro day EVER! I was passing a lot of people down the second straight. My big day finally came. Everyone gave me props! It's almost kind of funny that "I" won. But I raced consistent all day. At night, ate pizza in the hotel room."
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.