Just wrapped up the second stop on the ABA National Series over the weekend in Desoto, Texas. Nic Long was back from a broken hand that had him sidelined for round 1, so it was good to have the team back in full force. Elite Men had enough riders for ¼ finals both days, while Elite Women only had 2 racks. The newly rebuilt Desoto track was pretty similar to the old track, a flat starting hill with shallow turns that had riders sliding out all weekend. The track itself was cool, but the flow was minimal because of the turns. On Saturday, Nic started off the day with a hole shot in the first round just seconds before taking a dirt sample into the second turn when he lost the front end over the triple. He hit his head pretty bad, and ruined his new helmet, but came back to win the next two rounds and qualified on to quarters. Khalen won his first two motos as well, and then slid out in the last turn in his 3rd round while winning. Brooke was lucky enough to stay off the ground, and won all of her qualifiers. Both Nic and Khalen cruised through their quarter finals and into the semi. Nic got a good start in the semi but nearly crashed in the first turn and went from 3rd to 6th, ending his day early. Khalen had a good lap in the semi and made the main where he went on to finish 8th after getting left out to dry in turn 1. Making the main in Elite Men was huge in itself. Congrats KY. Brooke didn’t have the day she hoped for, finishing 4th in the final and missing out on the podium for the first time in quite a while. She’s been sidelined with a back injury for a few weeks, and had Bronchitis all last week, so we’ll let her off easy on this one.
Sunday saw the boys running out front in all of their qualifiers again, but the day ended early for Khalen in his quarter final. Gate 8 was a rough start box and he was left out to dry in turn 1, again. Nic was on a mission as he cruised through his quarter and semi final pretty effortless. In the main, Nic was the lone American in a deep international field. He got a great start out of gate 4 and was 3rd to the first corner. In traffic, Nic moved back to 4th but was able to hold on and end the day on the lead group of a super stacked main event. Brooke finished 4th again, and although she wasn’t happy with her results, she rode really well considering the last month. In the spectrum of things, this race was low priority to what’s on the schedule next weekend in Chula Vista, California. Next weekend is the first UCI World Cup of 2012 and Olympic qualification kicks into high gear. The results of the first two World Cup events will play a big role in shaping the 3 man/2 women American Olympic Team. The next month will be exciting to say the least, and we’re looking forward to following our 3 riders on their road to London.
