Billed as the "Greatest Race on Earth", the racing absolutely lived up the hype. The first thing to draw attention, other than the amazing track, was the moto count. The Grands attracted 490 motos full of the best riders from around the World. This year's moto count far exceeded 2007 and is validation of the hard work of the ABA and ABA Track Operators. A total of 45 States and 13 countries were represented at this year’s Grand Nationals. Here is a summary of the 2008 ABA Grand Nationals.
The ABA Hall of Fame is the most prestigious recognition in all of BMX and this year featured an exceptional class:
2008 ABA BMX Hall of Fame Inductees: Ø Clayton John - ABA President for 27 years
Ø Bernie Anderson - ABA Owner since 1985
Ø Jon and Chuck Raudman of Skyway fame
Ø Marvin Church
Ø Brian Lopes
2008 ABA/BMXer Magazine Golden Crank winners:
Ø Denzel Stein - Rookie PRO of the year
Ø Mike Day - PRO of the Year
Ø Intense/Phantom/On-Trac - Team of the year
Ø Intense - Bike of the year
NAG 5 Challenge Winners:
Two-time ABA National #1 Am, Nic Long received some great KICKER Car Audio equipment for his NAG 5 Challenge win. Nic is the second rider to win both the NAG 5 Challenge and the ABA National #1 Am. title in the same year. David Herman was the first rider to do so, breaking the NAG 5 Challenge curse by being the first rider to win both the Nag 5 Challenge and the ABA National Title in the same year. This had never been done before until 2006.
Taylor Wolcott has the honor of being this year’s female winner of the NAG 5 Challenge and picked up a KICKER Car Audio iPOD dock station as well.
PRO hole-short awards:
Ø AA PRO - Sam Willoughby - Claybornbmx.com sponsored $500
Ø A PRO - Josh Meyers - BMXnow.com sponsored $250
Ø Ladies PRO - Dominique Daniels - Claybornbmx.com sponsored $500
Ø Vet PRO - Kenth Fallen - Vintagebmx.com sponsored $200
Thanks to all the great sponsors that helped out with the Friday Night NAG 5/PRO Spectacular:
NAG 5 Challenge Prizes from:
Industrialrideshop.com
Kicker.com
thebmx.com
intensebmx.com
bawls.com
FLY Racing
BMX HEX
J&R Bicycles bikes
Riders PRO shop
Redline Bicycles
bmxnow.com
bmxnews.com
Sun Bru
ABA BMX Racewear
Special thanks to Pete Dylewski and the Intense crew for the Intense Pit Bikes for the Intense Pit Bike Challenge!
2008 ABA BMX National Champions: ABA National #1 PRO - Khalen Young - The third Australian to win an ABA AA-PRO #1 Title and is $15,000 richer for his efforts. Khalen also won a sweet 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for his title win!
ABA National #1 PRO Woman - Dominique Daniels - 3 total ABA Cups for Dominique and counting. Dominique also becomes the first to female to win back-to-back Am and Pro titles in her rookie season. Dominique also won a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike to go along with the title!
ABA National #1 PRO Cruiser - Danny Caluag - Back-to-back PRO Cruiser titles for Danny C. Danny has been the man to beat the last couple of years on both bikes and this title was no fluke. Danny C also won a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for his title win! ABA National #1 Vet PRO - Kenth Fallen - This was Kenth's rookie season in the Vet PRO class and he's made his mark in the history books. Kenth dethroned Jason Carnes who had won the previous 5 years. Kenth wins his first ever ABA PRO title and a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for his title win!
ABA National #1 AM - Nic Long - Back-to-Back in 2007 and 2008. Nic Long becomes the fourth ABA National #1 to win back-to-back. Nic joins a very short list with David Herman, Josh Oie and Richie Anderson as the only Back-to-Back winners in ABA AM title history. Nic also wins a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for his efforts!
ABA National #1 Cruiser - Corey Cook - He's been close before and this year he got the job done. Corey also won a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for his cruiser title win!
ABA National #1 Girl - Jordan Nopens - Jordan was in the hunt all year long and now she is the 2008 ABA National #1 Girl. She grabs her first ABA title and a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike to go along with it!
ABA National #1 Girl Cruiser -Felicia Stancil - Felicia is a stand out rider on the circuit. She's been a front-runner for years and it all finally paid off for her in 2008. Felicia will be a top Olympic team candidate in the future. Felicia won a 2008 fuel-injected Suzuki RMZ 450 motocross bike for her cruiser title win!
ABA National #1 Factory Team - Intense/Phantom/On-Trac - This is the third title and $10,000 title bonus for Chuck and Donovan's crew. This is their third ABA Factory Team title in 4 years!
ABA National #1 Bike Shop Team – Extreme Sports/Answer - They've had a great season and the #1 Bike Shop Team Cup is theirs. $5,000 title bonus can't hurt either.
ABA National #1 Trophy Team - Holeshot - Nor-Cal's own Holeshot crew wins their first ABA CUP in the ultra-tough Trophy Team Division!
With the addition of UCI events and hosting the USAC Championship once again, we're looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2009.
ABA would like to thank all our great 2008 National Series sponsors: American Suzuki-(suzukicycles.com) Dan's Comp (danscomp.com) Jig-A-Loo-(jigaloo.com) Intense BMX-(intensebmx.com) T.H.E. (bmxthe.com) BAWLS Guarana (bawls.com) Bawlstyle (bawlstyle.com) Redline Bicycles-(www.redlinebicycles.com) FLY Racing-(flyracingbmx.com) Sponsorhouse-(sponsorhouse.com) Tangent-(tangentproducts.com) ABABMXRACERS- (ababmxracers.com) Fire Magic Premium Grills (rhpeterson.com/firemagic/) Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex (disneysports.com) GO211.com (go211.com)
Without your help, we couldn't make the ABA BMX racing season such a huge success.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.