The 2008 season is shifting into high gear and the fans are loving it!
Round six saw the return of ABA National #1 PRO, Danny Caluag back on the ABA BMX scene. "Easy Money" was fresh off a great performance at the Olympic Trials event held a week earlier in Chula Vista, CA. and he was going way FAST! Danny scored another AA PRO win on day #1 Danny C. looks to be on track for a repeat of his ABA PRO title from 2007.
Another So. Cal kid that has been looking good is Mike Brabant. Mike is another rider to watch this season. He's getting closer and closer to a AA PRO win and with support from ON THE GATE FILMS, Mike should be there in no time. Mike scored his best finish of the year with a solid second.
Another young gun is J&R's Michael Kapes. Kapes also scored his best finish of the year with a third and taking up the last spot on the AA PRO Podium. Mike's out of FLA. and if he could get to more ABA PRO series events he could do some damage to the class!
Day #2 had the kid from Alabama, Clayborn's Barry Nobles showing the fans his two New Mexico wins were no fluke. Nobles has been making a name for himself on the ABA BMX PRO scene this season and at this rate, he'll be a house hold name in no time!
Tony D. over at HARO Bikes sent his ace rider Khalen Young out to GA. Khalen kept Barry honest on day #2 with a solid 2nd place finish. Khalen is another rider that is due for a AA PRO win and we expect to see him right in the middle of the ABA PRO Title hunt comes GRANDS time. Intense/BAWLS rider Danny C. stayed consistent as ever with a 3rd on Day #2. Once again this past weekend shows just how deep the talent pool is on the ABA BMX PRO tour. There has been six different AA PRO winner in six stops. That's very impressive!
On the Ladies PRO side we saw New York's own Kayla Gaddis take another HUGE win on Day #1. ABA National #1 girl and girl cruiser turned PRO Dominique Daniels scored a second on day #1 and the super consistent Rachel Luna rounded out the podium on day #1. Day #2 had current ABA National #1 Lady PRO, Alise "The Beast" Post sitting right where she's used to being. Alise brought home the top spot on Sunday. GT Bicycles, Rachel Luna, continued to impress with a 2nd place finish. Rachel's another one to watch on the PRO win chart. I'm expecting her to get her first PRO win any race now. The third place finisher was none other than Saturday's winner Kayla Gaddis. Kayla's another one that could be a ABA PRO title threat if she can get out to some more events in 2008! The ladies racing has really stepped it up over the last couple of years and the new crop of younger woman is very promising for more excitement to come.
Pro Cruiser was the Danny C. - Barry Nobles battle. Day #1 saw the Alabama Slamma' Barry Nobles take his second PRO CRUISER win! J&R's Michael Kapes was once again flirtin' with the top spot and brought home a much deserved 2nd with Jeffrey Upshaw bringing home a 3rd place podium finish. It was great to see Upshaw back on the track. It's been a while since we have seen this master of skills. Upshaw is always a crowd favorite to watch. Day #2 saw ABA National #1 PRO Cruiser rider Danny Caluag win again! Probably one of the toughest guys out there, Utah's own "TP" Todd Parry did the impossible. Todd's 40 YEARS OLD and held it down for the old guys with a straight up 2nd place finish in PRO Cruiser. I don't know about you, but I'm impressed with that for sure! Kapes once again continued to impress the fans with another trip to the podium. Mike scored a 3rd on day #2.
Vet Pro was back in action again. Day #1 was a Texas podium sweep! Intense/Phantom/On-TRAC's Chad Street nailed his first win of 2008. Chad's been so close so many times this season it was only a matter of time for this one. 2nd went to the "Jackal" John Purse. John's been back on the track and getting hungry for a VET PRO win this season. 3rd was none other than current ABA National #1 VET PRO, Jason Carnes. C-Money was fresh off his "MADE" gig with MTV and was lookin' good! Day #2 Was all "Jackal ". GHP's John Purse was back in form and took his first VET PRO win. This could be bad for the rest of the VET PRO class now that the "Jackal" has had another taste of Victory. John does still hold the ALL-TIME AA PRO wins in a single season record with 25! So as you can see John's know stranger to the top spot on the podium. Intense/Phantom/ON-TRAC's, Chad Street nailed down another solid 2nd, and GHP's Robert Harris makes his first trip to the podium for 2008. Robert's very close to the podium earlier this season and has been training like crazy. Whatever he's doing is paying off big time for him. I'm sure this won't be the last time we see him on the podium in 2008.
The ABA, the city of Powder Springs, GA. and the entire Cobb County BMX crew would like to thank all the participants, families, teams, sponsors, and BMX industry for helping make the Dixieland Coast National event such a huge success!
AA PRO
Danny "Easy Money" Caluag – Intense/BAWLS – 5
Barry Nobles – Clayborn Bikes - 3
David Herman – Intense/BAWLS - 1
Kyle Bennett - Free Agent - 1
Cristian Becerine - Free Agent - 1
Khalen Young - Haro Bicycles - 1
Woman’s PRO
"Demolition" Dominique Daniels – 6
Alise "The Beast" Post- Formula – 3
Kayla Gaddis - Intense/Bizarro/JRA - 2
Stephanie Barragan – 1
PRO CRUISER
Danny "Easy Money" Caluag – Intense/BAWLS – 5
Kenth Fallen - Supercross – 2
Barry Nobles – Clayborn Bicycles - 2
Michael Kapes – J&R Bicycles -1
Tyler Brown - Supercross - 1
Paul Lange – Redman/Rockstar – 1
VET PRO
Kenth Fallen – Supercross - 7
Dale Holmes – Free Agent – 3
Chad Street – Intense/Phantom/On-Trac – 1
John Purse – GHP/Powerbar/ABA BMX - 1
2008 PRO Standing through Dixieland Nationals
AA PRO
1 DANNY CALUAG 2181 2 DAVID HERMAN 1521 3 BARRY NOBLES 1443 4 KHALEN YOUNG 1143 5 JASON ROGERS 773 6 BUBBA HARRIS 761 7 MIKE BRABANT 697 8 CRISTIAN BECERINE 587 9 DEREK BETCHER 557 10 MICHAEL KAPES 434 11 PHIL DELIZIA 414 12 KYLE CUSHMAN 397 13 RANDY STUMPFHAUSER 297 14 KYLE BENNETT 290 15 JOE SZUREK 259 16 JARRETT KOLICH 247 17 DONNY ROBINSON 224 18 JEFF UPSHAW 220 19 KELVIN BATEY 217 20 WARWICK STEVENSON 217 21 JOEY BRADFORD 207 22 ALAN HUDSON 193 23 ALEXIS VERGARA 187 24 TYLER BROWN 167 25 JOE SOWERS 163 26 PAUL LANGE 163 27 MIKE MOELLER 159 28 JOSH OIE 147 29 BILLY ANDERSON 133 30 DENZEL STEIN 116 31 MICHAEL HUGHES 97 32 STEVEN CISAR 90 33 NATE BERKHEIMER 83 34 MICHAEL WEATHERFORD 79 35 JAVIER COLOMBO 67 36 AUGUSTRO CASTRO 60 37 MIKE DAY 54 38 JOEY BERTHIAUME 50 39 THOMAS FERNANDEZ 40 40 JASON RICHARDSON 34 41 BRANDON THOMAS 26 41 SERGIO PENA 26 42 MICHAEL GONZALEZ 20 // WOMEN PRO 1 DOMINIQUE DANIELS 2295 2 RACHAEL LUNA 1533 3 STEPHANIE BARRAGAN 1105 4 ALISE POST 1099 5 TERRA NICHOLS 1061 6 KAYLA GADDIS 832 7 AFTON SCHRIMPF 767 8 BRITTANY BATES 431 9 KATHRYN ECKLUND 425 10 CASSIE BUSHNELL 385 11 TONI RUDE 322 12 AMANDA GEVING 307 13 LIZ PASSWATERS 216 14 STEPHANIE HIGGINS 210 15 JESSICA LAMBERT 177 16 COURTNEY TOMEI 166 17 MICHELLE GUTHRIE 152 18 MISSY HARTLEY 76 19 LAYNE NYHAUG 70 20 MADISON PITTS 57 21 KIMBERLY HAYASHI 27 22 CHRISTIAN COSSEY 20 // VET PRO 1 KENTH FALLEN 2404 2 CHAD STREET 2043 3 JOHN PURSE 1828 4 DALE HOLMES 1307 5 ROBERT HARRIS 1207 6 JASON CARNES 1125 7 TIM DINGER 553 8 MIKE GUL 330 9 CODY SMART 235 10 ERIC DYER 234 11 DAN MAIER 216 12 TIM GALLANT 216 13 DAVID BITTNER 194 14 KEVIN TOMKO 194 15 BILLY ROSS 174 16 CHRIS HAM 157 17 PAUL CALDWELL 144 18 THOMAS HARPER 144 19 JASON ALSTATT 141 20 BILL MADDEN 138 21 RONALD WILLIAMS 91 22 GREG ROMERO 89 23 COLIN STILES 86 24 RYAN BIRK 86 25 ZACK ROEBUCK 81 26 JASON SILVA 77 27 JUSTIN WHEAT 77 28 MICKEY STANLEY 66 29 TJ JOHNSON 57 30 GREG DAYS 56 31 SHAWN O`GORMAN 54 32 TERRY TENETTE 54 33 CAMERON DAVIS 50 34 DAVID WRAY 47 35 JASON HALVERSON 44 36 RAY HUDSON 44 37 SHAUN BUTLER 44 38 ERIC RUPE 37 39 JERRY VANDERPOOL 34 40 RICK LOWRY 34 41 MICHAEL KILPATRICK 9
PRO CRUISER
1 DANNY CALUAG 1893 2 KENTH FALLEN 1615 3 BARRY NOBLES 946 4 TYLER BROWN 835 5 MICHAEL KAPES 828 6 PAUL LANGE 640 7 JOE SOWERS 570 8 TODD PARRY 530 9 ADAM TREADWELL 440 10 BILLY ANDERSON 437 11 JOEY BRADFORD 262 12 JASON CARNES 256 13 CHRIS KROOSWYK 252 14 JEFF UPSHAW 216 15 MICHAEL KILPATRICK 209 16 BRANDON THOMAS 183 17 THOMAS FERNANDEZ 170 18 MIKE GUL 166 19 BRANDON PANUCCIO 138 20 MATT BAISLEY 126 21 MICHAEL HUGHES 122 22 JASON SILVA 87 23 PATRICK DIPENTINO 78 24 SCOTT SIMMONS 40 25 AUSTEN LEE 12 26 WILLY SUAREZ 12 27 MIKE MOELLER 10
A PRO
1 KRIS FOX 942 2 DEAK BROWN 932 3 JON MILLER 915 4 JASON MORRIS 914 5 LIAM PHILLIPS 895 6 DENZEL STEIN 765 7 TODD PARRY 754 8 DEREK SIPKOI 745 9 KARL CLARK 728 10 CODY HUNGERFORD 662 11 TRAVIS OHRAZDA 611 12 MICHAEL LARSON 609 13 SHANE BANKS 556 14 JIM BROWN 526 15 MATT KELTY 519 16 EVAN STEINBERG 440 17 JUSTIN DODSON 436 18 JUSTIN MCLINTOCK 433 19 EDWARD OLSON 427 20 ADAM TREADWELL 418 21 ANTHONY WALLACE 398 22 WILLY SUAREZ 373 23 TYLER DURHAM 356 24 SCOTT ERWOOD 321 25 WARREN MCDOW 320
Photo: GT Bicycles