I'm going Sunday for the first time. I stopped by the track today and looked it over - very nice. It seems nicer than the Chesapeake track up in Severna Park. Reminds me of the NOVABMX track in Dale City, VA, in a way. Big jumps, big berms, big everything.
I've raced at a few NBL tracks over in VA with a buddy of mine over the last couple months, but I'm really over the 3 hour drive at this point, so I guess my "home" track is going to be ABA.
Is anyone here a regular at SOMDBMX? What's the 30+ crowd like? I'm getting back on a 20" after 22 years, and it's been a lot of fun so far. I'm fat, I'm slow, I can't jump anymore and I feel like I need oxygen by the end of the second motto - but it's a blast!!!
Anyone else race there?
Full Version: Southern Maryland BMX, ABA track
I race there every now and then. Wish I could make it more often. I think I have only raced there twice this year so far. Good track and good people.
The time I went for a local race, the older 20" class was a little sparse. I think it was 15 and over. There was a good sized cruiser class there though.
It is the closest ABA track to me but I tend to call Burlington N.C. my home track. They race on Fri. nights and the N.C. people are the best. The tracks in Va. have been so erratic about there schedules this year that its hard to plan where I am going to race. They worry way more about not scheduling races against nationals/regionals more than six hours away to ever get a good local program going. Just my opinion though.
The time I went for a local race, the older 20" class was a little sparse. I think it was 15 and over. There was a good sized cruiser class there though.
It is the closest ABA track to me but I tend to call Burlington N.C. my home track. They race on Fri. nights and the N.C. people are the best. The tracks in Va. have been so erratic about there schedules this year that its hard to plan where I am going to race. They worry way more about not scheduling races against nationals/regionals more than six hours away to ever get a good local program going. Just my opinion though.
Hey Popeye, thanks for the info. This race was the reason I didn't wander over to PW County on Saturday for the State race. I had one day to play this weekend, and honey-do's for the other, so I figured I might as well get it done Saturday since I wasn't racing in the State race.
First of all, awesome track. Great surface, very smooth and fast. Nice smooth berms, too. Turnout was a little sparse with only 7 mottos and maybe 10 minutes between mottos, and I ended up racing 20" with a trio of 16-18 experts. That sucks when you're a 37 novice getting back in after 20+ years. Plus ABA rules took a little getting used to.
After the first guy got the holeshot in the first motto, the other two guys basically started coasting. I fiqured, WTF, and made a pass to hop up to third - it's a "race", right? Next motto, the winner doesn't race - just everyone else, so the 3 of us go, and one of the kids crashes hard on the second jump and I basically roll to second. Third motto, it's me and kid who crashed, who recovered nicely in the 5 minutes between mottos, and he stomped me pretty good. So the main, which in NBL with only 4 riders in the class would have been all of us, was just the 3 top finishers.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. When you think about it, if you win the first motto, you sit and rest until the main. If you have to race 3 mottos to get a win, you go into the main way more tired than the guy who won the first motto - who, in addition to probably being better than you to begin with (he won the fisrt race afterall), now he's had more time to rest and hasn't put out as much as you. So unless he crashes or DQ's, you're NEVER going to beat that guy. So in a way, the first motto is THE most important race. If you win that, odds are you'll win the main, since, 1) you're probably faster to begin with, and 2) everyone esle will have raced at least once more than you, so you're better rested.
I should have brought my cruiser, since the 30+ cruiser class would've been a little better suited to me instead of the teeny bopper wolfpack I ended up racing.
I need to get back over to VA one more time this fall, too. I need to race you and Peanut in a cruiser class!!!
First of all, awesome track. Great surface, very smooth and fast. Nice smooth berms, too. Turnout was a little sparse with only 7 mottos and maybe 10 minutes between mottos, and I ended up racing 20" with a trio of 16-18 experts. That sucks when you're a 37 novice getting back in after 20+ years. Plus ABA rules took a little getting used to.
After the first guy got the holeshot in the first motto, the other two guys basically started coasting. I fiqured, WTF, and made a pass to hop up to third - it's a "race", right? Next motto, the winner doesn't race - just everyone else, so the 3 of us go, and one of the kids crashes hard on the second jump and I basically roll to second. Third motto, it's me and kid who crashed, who recovered nicely in the 5 minutes between mottos, and he stomped me pretty good. So the main, which in NBL with only 4 riders in the class would have been all of us, was just the 3 top finishers.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. When you think about it, if you win the first motto, you sit and rest until the main. If you have to race 3 mottos to get a win, you go into the main way more tired than the guy who won the first motto - who, in addition to probably being better than you to begin with (he won the fisrt race afterall), now he's had more time to rest and hasn't put out as much as you. So unless he crashes or DQ's, you're NEVER going to beat that guy. So in a way, the first motto is THE most important race. If you win that, odds are you'll win the main, since, 1) you're probably faster to begin with, and 2) everyone esle will have raced at least once more than you, so you're better rested.
I should have brought my cruiser, since the 30+ cruiser class would've been a little better suited to me instead of the teeny bopper wolfpack I ended up racing.
I need to get back over to VA one more time this fall, too. I need to race you and Peanut in a cruiser class!!!
If you can make the drive up to Severn, MD, Chesapeake BMX usually has a larger turnout. They have about 5-7 30+ cruiser riders, and on a good day, about 5 or so 28+ riders on 20".
http://www.chesapeakebmx.com
http://www.chesapeakebmx.com
QUOTE (kamau @ Nov 5 2009, 02:48 PM) 
If you can make the drive up to Severn, MD, Chesapeake BMX usually has a larger turnout. They have about 5-7 30+ cruiser riders, and on a good day, about 5 or so 28+ riders on 20".
http://www.chesapeakebmx.com
http://www.chesapeakebmx.com
I raced at Chesapeake for a little while back in the day. There was always a good amount of older riders.
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