Ok I stole this from JMORTON in the freestyle section but I thought it was a good Subject, so if it ends up a TOF give the shirt to JMORTON the rest is a copy and paste of JMORTON's thread

Sorry in advance if this topic has been dealt with before. Does anyone have tales of incredible riders who were never well known for their riding abilities? Who rarely or never got magazine or video coverage? Local legends? Unsung heroes? For whatever reason- maybe fame wasn't important to them, maybe they didn't live where the bmx media was, etc.

I can name a few guys who never got Magazine coverage, but the one who stands out is

Tom K from OHIO, he was NBL national #1 in 1984 or 85, and I can't remember Much of Him in the Mags as far as Pics go.

I raced His Brother Mike, they were Both Great riders and Nice people

I would say they Both deserved More Coverage in the Mags,

Scott Towne....hell, he still has a chance to make it big!

And, although he did get a Jag Sponsor and a little magazine time, Brian Barlow was huge in Michigan, super fast, stylish and a class act that deserved more.

Larson Manuelito from New Mexico. Didn't get much press. He raced mostly for bike shops. His biggest factory ride was with Raleigh in 1983 after going on a very impressive nationals winning streak, but he raced for SE near the start of his career as well. He went up against the likes of Jason Griggs, Matt Hadan, Robert MacPherson (who also got relatively little press at the time) and also Steve Veltman and Darwin Griffin when he moved up an age group in the middle of the year. Finished his career with Bicycle Harbor. He never did turn pro though. He dropped out of sight after the 1986 season. His biggest wins were with the USBA when he was 1985 15 Expert and 15 Cruiser National No.1. Have no idea what happened after he quit.

Oldtimer1980s

Mark Viel from Michigan he totally underrated never got too much press from bmxa or bmxplus. He used to win 13X and 14x and beat Robert Swick , Bubba McIntosh and Todd Lyons in most of the midwest Nat's.

Chase Digit was very fast and underated but he rode in the shadow of Shelby James, even though he beat Shelby for the #1 title one year.

My first national was in 1982 in New Hampshire and I raced a guy named Henderson Cho. I was pulling seconds in the motos behind him but he was pulling away from me all the way around the track. Saw him mentioned once in a mag with a little blk/wht pic. That guy was fast!

Crit Plate Factory rider Mike Savage.

Mike was more known for his jumping and style http://www.ctbike.com/MagazineCovers.htm than his racing but if you look at the class he raced in and the 17-18X BITD and his results he was just as good as anybody else in his class!

Mike is still racing (has not taken a break) and just won a series in Europe (Switzerland) he doesn't race US Nationals much anymore... Mostly overseas... He's freak'n nuts! http://www.ctbike.com/Savage.htm

Mike

Mike was spotted at Upstate BMX this weekend.


Popeye, Chase had crazy skills. I think he made a short come back in the late 90s.

Chase really wasnt underrated .He was a good friend of mine ,everyone who knew him or watched him ride knew how good he was .Shelby rarely ever reassembled his bike between races ,chase worked his a$$ off for what he got .
Hes one of my favorite riders from bitd .
Mike lausman would be a choice [even though he got coverage -he was underphotoed/hyped] .
Doug zimmer was another..

Henderson Cho was a sprint machine . Had to race him in trophy dash races indoors all the time . From what I hear henderson became a doctor .

I have some old pics of Chase and Henderson Ill have to dig up .

2 more racers i remember .Kerry knight and Derrick fink

Steve Smith I'm putting you into the mix!

Many times NBL national number plated single digit in class and cruiser. The best year was 1989 NBL #1 cruiser #2 twenty inch. Anybody with results from back then go look at the more covered stout comp in his class. That Ohio boy took it to 'em many times.

Rich Bartlet "The Butcher"

Rick you no I have to mention him

i will 2nd that,, Steve was very Under rated..

Yeah, Derrick Fink was fast. I'm looking for some pics I had of him in Decataur battling Craig Reynolds on MCS and Barry McManus. Those three went at it a lot. Derrick was fast as hell when he was 15 going up against us 18 year olds. Good guy too.

Chad Myers from Lexington, KY in the late 80's put in some solid national finishes and plate digits without much coverage.

More Kentucky racers like Paul and Kevin Nichols and NJ to KY transplants Paul and Laurie Prestis would get it done with some good results.


Derek Fink was one fast dude and his whole crew were cool.

Chase is back on a bike and racing ( a Haro complete) in PA. He came back this year half way through and only raced at Pottstown, which is really close to his house. He does plan on racing a bit more of the NBL national schedule in '09. He still has his skills and made his mains at the national both days at Potts finishing like 1st and 2nd if I recall correctly. He also ran the state races there and did really well.

ALL 3 hines bros from marietta ohio!

We had a guy in Soth FL named Donald Simpkins. He was eventually a b pro. Never had a major ride except for a brief stay on WP. He rode an old 78ish Mongoose with crappy parts just so people would underrrate him. He took second in B-pro at some nationals and made pro cruiser mains. He and Vince Asbury had some epic battles locally.

Ken

I remember donald .He and and vince and tom k battled when tom first turned up..and spanky cambell..

Great topic! Two very fast guys from my home track years ago were Gary Mack and Kenny Hogg. Gary destroyed everybody that came to Newbridge Road Bmx but the guy never went to nationals. Lost a national at our home track by an inch to Jarret Justice (factory CW) in 17x in 1985. Kenny Hogg was a year younger than Robbie Morales and kicked him around the track at will. Unsponsored he made his open and expert main at the 1985 ABA grandnationals and placed a 3rd and a 4th I believe. Throughout BMX history I don't know what it is but Long Island has breeded some of the fastest racers ever in BMX.

i would have to say dean laberge. he tripled at the 84 aba grands.

cam pepper...texas...he just came to our track to gather points[and visit his grandparents]...i was always depressed to see his name on my moto sheet......cool cat and fast....i bought a set of wheels from him a few years ago on ebay..not sure what he is doing now...

Me

dean laberge, he was factory Gt and still mixes it up today on the road bike scene

I visited with Dean and his lovely wife and kids a few years back when we were on vacation. They did up a nice BBQ for my whole family. Although he did have a good run at road bikes nationally he was out of the sport by then. We still talk ever now and again and I don't believe he is planning on making a comeback to the road scene. He quite when his wife wanted to finish her career and needed him to help out around the house and to take care of the kids. Dean and Wendy are living in the Napa area and I keep bugging him to get his kids racing BMX.

Dean was a great teammate for many years and having him still as a friend today, meeting his family and seeing his boys grow up is great. One of these days I'll get back to California for a race and see the whole crew again. Hopefully Roseville in 2009.

Lots of guys from Hawaii were underrated since we rarely got a chance to race any Nationals. Local Hero's like Rockne Tang, Moki Fernandez, Rory Ingano, Malvert Benigno, Scott Iha, Jason Chang, and John Llacuna could hang with the factory boys if they had more opportunities back then. Here's a pic of Rockne at the 80 Mongoose Grands in Long Beach. Not bad for an island boy.



jk

Click to view attachment
a pic of dean and me bitd

thats funny..i ran into him last summer 08 and 07 at masters USCF road nationals and he still rages, so he must be training somehwhat..tuff dude.

so thats where they moved too.
I lost contact with them after they stopped racing for a local bike shop in NJ.
they stopped racing earlier then my.
I think they stopped around 1985-86.
or maybe they moved and I never knew it.

he is me and Paul at the Lums Pond Del. NBL Championship in 1984.

Robert,
You have seen him since the last time I saw him. I believe the family vacation was 4 years ago and he wasn't racing. He did have plans on returning when his wife was done with her college courses. I'll have to give him a call to catch up. Seeing we haven't talked since shortly after the vacation and only exchange the usual Christmas cards each year.

Seems Dean has been road racing steady since 1999. He is a cat 1 racer(that means he's a pro) and from his results he looks to be a steady top 3 finisher. I found this pic of him.

Great pic of Dino. I told him about this site when i last visited him but never got him to venture on it. Maybe I can now!

When I saw him last his bikes were in storage although I did get a look at them and the wifey's career was taking over. Guess they worked out a schedule of races that work for both of them. I really had no clue he was still racing given our last visit.

What does his wife do that it consumes so much of their time? I understand that they have kids, but training schedules can be quite flexible.

She was headed back off to Nursing School if I remember correctly. His 3 boys were young at the time so between 2 full time jobs, 3 young boys, school, the boys sports there was no time for training let alone racing.

kids, jobs, wife, racing etc....... tough to handle.... but do able...that is with the right planning..
it was funny we were in the midst of the masters road race in seven springs in 07, and Dean (not know for his climbing skills, he's more of a crit racer)..I jokingly looked over at him on this crazy steep climb and said its MEAN DEAN from team GTeee he about fell over.. he was like DANG that was long time ago, how time flys when you get OLD...

Thanks for the mention. notice the pic of Rockne is in front of Poulson. Funny I would travel and be leading a lap and the only thing the anouncer would say Is Hawaii? Like it was some kind of misprint. So instead of a name I was just the guy from Hawaii.

Changstar