What’s that? A national in Florida that’s not NBL? Well, call it crazy but the ABA is after this hot territory, and you can’t blame them. Rumor has it that the ABA hopes to sanction 4 tracks next year, and 11 within the next three years. Will this change the NBL map in the Sunshine State? Will the ABA match the NBL’s super track layouts? Only time will tell. But let’s get onto my recent road trip.

Terminal C at Newark Airport is dope. It’s almost so cool that you don’t mind waiting around for your plane to arrive. I flew into Tampa and got my rental car and headed to the hotel. It was Thursday night and my buddies weren’t going to show until about 1 am, so I had no idea what I’d be doing. I met up with Jamie Staff in the hotel lobby and later went to dinner with him and Jason Donnell. Staff can eat a ton, so it’s no wonder he’s got some type of contraption in his mouth. We talked a bit about the upcoming Vans Triple Crown series. They are stoked about it, both about what the tracks may be like, but most of all the money. $15,000 to the winner, $40,000 for the overall title! Huge money for a pro BMXer, but little compared to the $400,000 the overall winner gets in the MX series. But hey, it’s a start.

My buddies on Team Dingo, Bill Young and Josh Fiegly, showed up just as I was teetering off to sleep. They had a long drive from Coral Springs and were pretty spent.

Florida hasn’t had rain in a while, but of course, the days leading up to this national the track was hammered with downpours. Colin, Dade’s track operator, was working overtime getting the track ready. And it was in great shape. The layout was LONG! Something like 1,800 feet! So there was a ton of lactic acid building up at the finish line. The layout of the track was pretty tame. No big jumps. No technical rhythm. Pretty much just a speed fest. The starting hill was super long and by the time you got to the bottom you were spinning out, almost out of control.

I decided to skip racing Friday night and accompany the boys to Mons Venus, the world-famous Gentlemen’s Club in Tampa. After a painful $20 cover charge we were greeted by Tampa’s finest exotic dancers. Overall, Mons didn’t live up to its reputation, but let’s get back to race action.

Saturday was owned by Christophe Leveque. He won both AA and Open classes. It was great watching him ride this track. Although there weren’t a lot of jumps or anything technical, he found a way to use whatever backsides he could find and accelerate just that much faster than anyone else, and that made the difference. He was also fortunate enough to survive the first turn carnage which claimed a lot of riders, Greg Romero especially. But Greg turned it around on Sunday to win all three AA mains to take the overall win. Leveque was right behind him in second. Jamie Staff is continuing his strong riding and took second in both AA and Open on Saturday, and took third in AA on Sunday. Jason Donnell took third in AA on Saturday to fill in the American slot on the podium, and Kevin Tomko took 3rd in Open.

The Haro team was swarming the pro class. Even though they dropped most of their amateurs, with the likes of Tomko, Donnell, Staff, and Brandt in the mains, they’re making up half the gate.

“Big Daddy” Eric Rupe held off Dingo’s Josh Fiegly for the A Pro win on Saturday by 1 point. On Sunday Fiegly once again came just short for the win due to a relentless Adam Scott, who after his next race will be AA Pro. Scott has moved to California and is doing clinics for Supercamp and is stoked about his new job.

I didn’t check out the MX race on Saturday night, but I heard there were a ton of riders. No top pros, but a lot of fast amateurs. And it was lucky for us that the race was going on the same weekend, otherwise we may not have had a concession stand to get some grub from. And here’s something I found extraordinarily strange: The public restrooms had bathroom attendants. You know, those guys who hang around bathrooms, hand you towels and expect a buck for it! At a race track?? I can understand having to pay to pee at Mons, but at the BMX track?

Sunday’s race was over at noon. Only 97 motos and they were ran fast. We packed up our tents and I got dropped back at the hotel. All alone, I decided to tan my pale ass at the pool. Team Powerlite was hanging out and plotting to throw Donny Robinson in the water. After talking about the Vans Triple Crown some more with Big E, he threw Donny (fully clothed) into the pool. Somehow in mid-flight, Donny managed to get his sneakers off and saved them from saturation.

I went to the restaurant next door and ate all alone like a loser. But the food was good and I was stuffed. Got back to my room, watched some more news reports about Elian Gonzolez and hit the sack.

So that was the weekend. Next stop: unknown.

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