Fred Yanke has the Walworth BMX field covered in 28+ expert ... is Fred a Grands darkhorse? We'll know Sunday afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Also, good luck to all of our volunteers and friends who have travelled to Tulsa Oklahoma for the ABA Grandnationals.

Right off the top of my head, here are a couple of local stories we'll be watching through the weekend.

Tim Eiring has a great shot at a Nag 1 plate in 28-35 expert, sitting just 13 points behind the ABA's all time leading amateur Brent (Pee-Wee) Lee (who has earned more than 500,000 points in his career !!!). On his cruiser, Tim is currently NAG 3 ... but, the leader, Jacob Hensley, from Folsom, CA, is likely out of Tim's reach. Tim has a couple of national wins this season on both bikes with perhaps the most impressive coming at Rockford's Midwest Nationals, which is one of the premier stops on the ABA national circuit. Guys who win Rockford can pretty much win anywhere.

Randy Behnke and I talked about his chances of a Nag 1 on his cruiser in the super competitive 31-31 cruiser class. He's 48 points out of the top spot, but his first straight pull will definitely put him in the mix come main time. Behnke has also scored a number of national wins this year, including two wins in January in Florida, had solid finishes at Rockford, won twice in Minnesota, won Sunday's Volunteer National in Tennessee and most recently scored a win and third at Brighton in August, the last time he raced a national. Behnke is also likely to have to get around "Pee Wee" Lee if is to earn the NAG #1 plate.

Curt Zizzo gave me a first hand demonstration last weekend at Elkhorn of why he's currently sitting in the #4 spot among the national age group leaders in the tough 36-40 cruiser class. Curt's starts rock and he's got the track skills to turn a holeshot into a national win. And, he's got a bunch of national wins this year. Curt doubled down at Rockford, then followed up with two wins each at St. Cloud, MN and Brighton, IL.

Bryan Dickerson is sitting 3rd in 41-45 cruiser and with the way he's riding at the moment ... it wouldn't suprise us at all if he didn't improve a couple of spots and land a #1 on his plate as well. Bryan's been in this position before, but, unfortunately was dinged up pretty badly at nationals time. This time he's healthy, pulling hard, and riding as well as I've ever seen him. No question, when the gate drops on Sunday's main ... Bryan will be not only in the mix, but a top contender.

This column is beginning to feel a bit like an advertisement for Direct-Link BMX as all four of those guys are on the Direct Link factory team. Together, they won several team trophies this season, but, they'll have their work cut out at the grands because of the massive rider counts in 16, 17, and 18 year old expert classes. Dickerson mentioned running a Direct-Link rider clinic at Milwaukee BMX next season ... we hope they will !!!

Fred Yanke, who's name and image you've seen in this column in the past, and has been absolutely, totally, freaking killing it in 28+ expert at Elkhorn this season, plans to race in 28-35 expert. Fred gave everyone who would notice a glimpse at the possibilities when he made the B-Main for the 30+ BS Stops open at Rockford this year. The BS Stops race typically has 50+ riders of all abilities, from Novice to Pro, vying for 16 spots on the gate through several qualification rounds, in an A-Main B-Main format. If Fred's got the legs to finish the grands track, and we think he does, he'll be on the gate late Sunday afternoon ... against 7 of the other top riders in the nation.

Fred is self-employed and runs a company called Sandpiper Landscaping and is a guy that we owe a lot to. His volunteer efforts helped enormously to buff out the Milwaukee BMX track, taking it from rough layout, to raceable condition, this summer.

Cody Caliendo, I'm sort of bummed that I haven't written about this kid yet. All he does is go to nationals and make just about every main he enters. Caliendo is sitting NAG #9 among 11 year olds and #5 on his cruiser. Caliendo is from Sussex and I imagine we'll see a fair amount of him in 2007.

The Grands track build is coming along well and looking like a really cool layout.

For those of you sticking around Wisconsin for the weekend, there is a single point race Sunday afternoon at Elkhorn. Registration, as always, closes right around noon and racing will begin ASAP after.

As always, keep the knobby side down and we'll see you at the races.

Kevin O'