Racing in the US was a great experience for our family, everyone learnt a lot and made new friends and connections.
We recently had a successful trip to the USA BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Grands is the pinnacle event on the USA race calendar and approximately 5000 riders competed each day, making for some very long 16-hour race days with nearly 800 motos per round! The racing was aggressive and fast, with the top kids in the US and some of the world’s best BMXers competing for the coveted titles. The different race systems and age classi cations meant that Lily, Jack and Bennett were racing kids up to 2 years older, and doing 10-12 races per day over two classes.
The two competitions were held over three days, Race Of Champions on the Friday and Grands on the Saturday and Sunday, held in an enormous indoor events centre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The BMX track, built in the five days before the meet, took up 1/3 of the space while the rest was filled with pro shops and team pit areas with their huge trucks, trailers and luxurious hospitality. In true American style, the bigger the better! That applies to the trophies as well, the Grands winner having a 7 foot tall trophy to put in their luggage!
Everyone was pretty happy with their results, Bennett came away with a first-place spot in the ROC 13 expert class, 6th in the ROC 13-14 open and 4th in the Grands 13-14 open. Jack placed 2nd in the ROC 11-12 open and 5th in the ROC 11 expert class, and Lily placed 8th in the ROC 9 girls and 6th in the Grands 9-10 mixed class.
