NBL ELITE SERIES CHECKPOINT - NEW LEADERS EMERGING 3/18/2009
- NBL Elite Series
Checkpoint -
The NBL Elite BMX Series is gaining
momentum and after only four rounds in the chase, new leaders are
emerging. A favorite of both national
and international stars, the series, also known as the ‘League of Champions’,
continues to feature the country’s best races and world’s best riders. Here’s a peek at what happened at the NBL Jackpot Nationals from Nellis BMX
in Nevada,
March 14 & 15.
Free
Agent’s new star, Maris Strombergs,
who is both the Olympic and World Champion, continued his winning ways and now
boasts a 3-for-4 win ratio in the series. Strombergs, who has recently moved to America
and trains in California, took Saturday’s
Elite Men’s final beating out his team mate, Cristian Becerine and
Redline/TLD’s Robert de Wilde - All
three competed at the Olympics in Beijing
only 6 months ago. On Sunday, Becerine
took advantage of more congestion in turn one and rode to the big win ahead of Formula’s
SamWilloughby and Intense/BAWLS’ David
Herman. Strombergs leads the overall
series while last year’s champ, GHP’s Randy
Stumpfhauser, missed the cut both days and has dropped back to 3rd
in the standings.
In Elite
Women’s racing, Redline’s Alise Post
made her NBL season debut in Nellis and took the win ahead of current points leader,
Dominique Daniels (Formula). Daniels had troubles from the start and this
allowed Post to cruise to the win over Insieno’s Ashley Verhagen who outlasted Daniels to the line for 2nd. Daniels was not to be outdone again and took
the convincing win on Sunday with Post and Verhagen in tow. 2008 NBL champion, Race Place BMX’s Stephanie Barragan,
had an off weekend and dropped to 3rd overall on the season and she
now has her sights set on the NBL Easter Classic for revenge.
In Master’s
action, Free Agent’s Dale Holmes made
it 4-for-4 beating out a tough field both days. SE’s David ‘Outfield’ Bittner and
GT’s Eric Rupe each earned a 2nd
and kept pace in the standings. Holmes now has a solid lead going into the
Spring Break races in Florida.
Turn one
provided some extra drama in several of the mains and Super-Ex was no
exception. Morphine’s Gavin Lubbe came
out on top of a stacked Super-Ex class on Saturday in what was considered a
mild upset that left a few riders on the ground. Excalibur’s Josh Meyers and OFR/Pokerstars.net’s Matt Kelty were 2nd and 3rd. Matt Kelty then managed to win it all
on Sunday in a crash-filled final that saw the tables turned once again.
Clayborn’s Logan Collins and Dan’s Weston Pope were runners-up and the
overall standings are now tighter than ever.
Visit the NBL website www.nbl.org to see full results and standings. Next
Masters/Super-Ex Race: April 4-5, Gator
Nationals - High Springs BMX, FL. Next Elite Series Race: April 11-12, Easter Classic – St. Cloud BMX, FL.
