ALBUQUERQUE— From June 5-7, riders from Durango and the surrounding area headed down to Duke City BMX to compete in the Spring Nationals BMX event, and the local riders came home with some impressive wins.
National events bring riders from across the nation to compete for national points and big trophies. Going into the weekend, Durango BMX’s, Louis Vito, 7, of Durango, had two wins coming from trips to Springfield, Missouri, for the “Show Me State National” and two at Chilliwack, British Columbia for the Canadian National race . Price Cloure, 10, of Bloomfield, had three wins coming from a weekend racing at the Music City Nationals in Nashville.
USA BMX rules and guidelines categorize racers by age and proficiency. When riders first start out in BMX, they start out in the novice proficiency and race other riders that are the same age bracket and are also novice, you then need 10 wins to move up to intermediate, and 20 to move up to expert.
There is a quicker way (although much harder) to move up, which is by winning races at a national race. You can move into intermediate by winning three nationals, and then to move to expert riders need five national wins. Each of the three days of nationals is its own race, giving the riders three different chances over the weekend to win and move up.
Racing started on June 5 with Vito in a competitive first moto, where he tried to go inside to go for the win but caught up in the barriers at the bottom of the track and had a crash. Cloure cruised to an easy victory on June 5 in his main event, leaving him with one more win.
June 6 brought a new round of racing with Vito and Cloure placing first in their respective first-round motos. With mom’s at the finish line with a silly string at the ready, first up was Vito ready for some redemption from his Friday evening crashes. Vito was able to get the holeshot right out of the gate and stayed in first to cruise to first place, and into being an expert. Cloure also got the holeshot and stayed easily in first place to move on to being an expert.
Sam Vito kept Durango BMX on the podium with a standout first nationals weekend, earning second place on Friday, taking first on Saturday, and finishing strong with another second place on Sunday in a race against 10-year-old novice riders.
Durango BMX racer Eli Hall turned in his strongest national performance to date. Hall kicked off the weekend on June 5 with a pair of third-place finishes in the highly competitive 9-10 open and cruiser classes while also qualifying for his class main event.
He continued his momentum on June 6 by capturing a first-place finish in 9-10 open and adding another third-place finish in cruiser. On June 7, Hall capped off an outstanding weekend by earning his second consecutive victory in 9-10 open after making a thrilling pass on the final straightaway, showcasing Hall's continued growth and competitiveness on the national stage.
Bode Dosch raced consistently throughout the weekend in the 9 intermediate class, earning a third-place finish on June 5.
Aaron Pawlicki, racing in the 36–40 novice class, put together a solid weekend of competition with a third-place finish on June 5, followed by an impressive second-place finish on Saturday, and another third-place finish on June 7.
