Regular Monthly Club Meetings to RESUME

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Benno's in West Allis

All who have helped in the past and any newcomers are welcome to attend.

We'll be discussing and drafting our 2008 racing schedule at our first meeting. And, there's a nice multi-pointer that John received confirmation of at the Grands that we'll have on the '08 schedule. If you wanna know more, join us next Wednesday night. Or, you can read more on the announcement right here in a couple of weeks.

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Additional meetings will occur on the first Wednesday evening of each month (January 2nd, 2008; February 6th, 2008; March 5th, 2008) at 7:00 p.m. at Benno's in West Allis.

Grands Coverage LIVE !!!

Click here for live coverage of the ABA Grands (& pre-races)

Enjoy !!!

Grands Time !!!:

Allright you Milwaukee BMX'ers ... it's ABA Grand Nationals time ... who's going, what are your goals, and how have you prepared? I had a chance to talk to a few of you over the weekend, but hope that a few of you will take a few minutes to reply to this post with your own experiences in your own words. We look forward to reading your stories below.

Walworth Indoor BMX Videos:

These lame videos were shot with my KODAK D700 digital camera. They are grainy, but, what the heck ... we thought you might enjoy them anyway.

The first footage is the 36-40 and 41-45 cruiser mains, in which Curt Zizzo shows that he's still on top of his game by winning by nearly a straight over Milwaukee BMX regular Mark Kluth and Mike Coyne. Bryan Dickerson still has the pull in 41-45 cruiser and though chased all the way by a determined Ed Morris, who raced with us a lot this summer, hangs on for the win. Good stuff, you guys.

I'm posting the next video as another "sympathy" video to all you BMX mom's and dads. Earlier this summer, I wrote about how absolutely nerve racking it can be to send your little ones out there. With the amount of information we are asking 7, 6 or even 5 and under minds to process, it's just remarkable we get those kids on track at all.

The story here goes ... my son, Dane, who's a 7 novice, managed to qualify into the 7/8 open main last weekend at Elkhorn by winning his second moto. And, while it's easy for me to wrap my 40 year old brain around the fact that racing the fast kids is the way that you learn to step up your own game, I also realize, to a little kid, it's got to be intimidating as heck.

About 5 seconds after the gate drops, all heck breaks loose out there, and Dane, who's coming out of gate 6, winds up getting balled up with the fast kids coming in from the outside and another kid who is veering across from the inside, nearly out of control. Suddenly, there's little kids and little bikes, all coming to the same spot on the first jump. The fast kids, including Reece Rankins (who ran an awesome lap, finishing second) separate out, while the clump of kids somehow manages to separate itself, with everybody staying upright. (as a parent, this is where I breath my first huge sigh of relief). But, I can see that Dane is rattled, as riders move by him through the first turn and down the second straight.

As he crosses the line, I give him our customary thumbs up, but, he's not having anything to do with it. He's clearly bummed about finishing last. When I tell him how proud I am of him just for making that main, he breaks into tears. Not, like sniveling little tears of not getting his way, these were the waterfall style that typically seem reserved for life's biggest disappointments. Kids want to make their parents happy, and, at some point, Dane must have come to the conclusion that what makes me happy is him finishing well.

Of course, Dane's still got his "class" main to run, and, his main is coming up fast. Drying tears and giving my rider a pep talk in staging must have just been a strange scene to be sure. And, as I left him going into his staging lane, I had no idea what to expect from his lap. He started from gate 8, with the other riders down in 5 and 3 ... and gave a great chase all the way to the line ... to score the second ... (side note: to anybody who heard a giant whoosh as Dane finished that lap ... that was me finally taking a breath). Seems ironic that he did all the racing but at the end of the day I would speculate that I was just as exhausted as he was.

Nearly 25 years of BMX'ing now, it seems, and I just keep learning something new each time that I go to the track.

Kevin O'

BMX'er is SI Kids “Youth Athlete of the Year”



Brock Heffron from Gilbert, AZ was announced this weekend as Sports Illustrated for Kids 2007 “Youth Athlete of the Year”. Brock was featured on national television on the “CBS Early Show” Saturday morning where they unveiled the December cover of SI Kids featuring Brock posing with Superbowl MVP, Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. Brock flew to Indianapolis Colts Training Center earlier this month for a photo shoot with Peyton who is SI Kids “Athlete of the Year”.

Brock was chosen out or over 6,000 athletes for his many athletic accomplishments in football, baseball, and BMX as well as outstanding grades in school.

Brock's father John Heffron was asked by SI Kids, what makes your son so special? John stated “Brocks desire to do what ever it takes in practice to be #1” this is the #1 quality that makes a great athlete, with this attitude Brock will achieve great success in everything he attempts.
Brock is sitting #1 in the ABA BMX National Cruiser Title points, but will not be racing the ABA Grands due to an injury sustained playing football. Brock will be on hand to sign autographs for all the fans and cheer on his Redman Yamaha teammates.

Brock is the first ever SI for Kids "Youth Athlete of the Year". This award is a major accomplishment for Brock and a huge milestone for the sport of BMX. The ABA, on behalf of all Track operators and members would like to congratulate Brock and his family. Be sure to pick up a copy of the December SI Kids at the newsstands which not only features Brock on the cover but also a 2 page article and pull out poster. A link to the video footage from the "CBS Early Show" is below for your enjoyment.

http://aba.loopd.com/Members/BrocktherockHeffron/Default.aspx

Object Lesson: Don't Kill the Messenger
(*Besides, I hear this web dude over at MilwaukeeBMX.com already has a cracked rib.*)

Yeah, so, we've made calls to a few of you ... and heard from a few others who were bummed not to be able to make the season ending party this Sunday ... so, we made the call today to call it off.

We'll re-schedule ... with a venue and date to be determined.

We'll also request RSVP's (meaning, you tell us if you are planning to attend ... and, I'm not trying to talk down to anyone here ... but, figuring that I probably would have thought RSVP was a band, or, some sort of threat, when I was 14). So yeah ... look for details coming shortly ... hopefully we'll have something more to report on early next week.

As always ... keep the faith ... and we appreciate your patience with us.

Walworth Indoor
It was good to see a bunch of our regulars doing battle out there this past weekend ... and, I wish I could do a better job of giving updates on how our locals fared. But, after bailing hard in practice (later diagnosed with a cracked rib) and having my own little guy to shag around, I was simultaneously too sore (er, self absorbed, eh?) and busy to keep track of much else. Speaking of the wreck, I got word that Shane McNallie was involved in that crash ... and, I just want to communicate that I'm sorry about that. I'm pretty confident it was my shabby riding that led up to the wreck ... and, believe me ... I've been in your shoes ... somebody goes down in front of you and there's nowhere to go, nothing you can do. I just hope you are feeling okay.

I did really enjoy watching Curt Zizzo's young son Justin finishing 4th in the 5 and under novice class ... and, I'm pretty sure he's only 3 !!! He was all smiles and high fives at the finish line. It's pretty clear that the apple didn't fall very far from the tree in the house of DC. Great stuff.

Looking forward to heading back down this weekend for the Saturday evening single point / Sunday double point racing weekend for sure.

Kevin O'

End of Season Celebration Date is Set !!!

Please join us next Sunday afternoon (NOVEMBER 11th) from 4 to 8 p.m. (perfect for those of you on your way home from Walworth BMX) for the Milwaukee BMX end of season celebration.

We'll provide the primary eats (still deciding on Pizza or Party Subs) and encourage anyone who wants to to bring a side dish to pass.

Party will be held in the Crystal Ridge Lodge (next to the track). We'll be playing some BMX movies (no, probably not RAD!!!) for entertainment, doing a fair amount of bench racing and handing out a few season ending awards (so secret that not even I know much about them).

SWAP MEET TOO:

For $5 (all proceeds benefit Milwaukee BMX) you can rent an 8' table to sell a few of your odd and end BMX goodies at. We'll also be advertising this on CRAIGSLIST.com throughout the week to try and stimulate some interest outside of our normal racing crew.

Please RSVP to my attention by Friday of this week if you are interested in a swap meet table. lavacycles@sbcglobal.net

If anybody needs directions to Crystal ridge, click the link in the right hand column, right over there. ----------->>>>>>>>