Rockford Files: The 2022 MidWest Nationals

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When you pull into Rockford BMX for the Midwest Nationals, you first
drive thru the winding road of Searles Park, curving thru nice grassy
knolls full of motorhomes and then pulling in past the Tened campers.
Every time, it's packed to the hilt with BMX families, all set up for a
weekend full of fun and intense racing.
And every year, every time, I think to myself - "One of these years, I
want to camp out at this race." If there is one event on the schedule
I'd want to camp out at, it's The Rock. One of these years! It's on my
bucket list.

Judging by camper-row, campin' out under the shade trees and racing The
Rock is on a LOT of people's to-do lists - and this weekend's 240 moto
turnout amongst incredibly ridiculous gas prices, is a true testament
to everybody's deep love for USA BMX Racing! Nothing is going to stop
people from hitting up one of the best tracks on this planet ... not
even six bucks a gallon.
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The annual stop at Rockford has been a long-time tradition on the
National circuit - going on 35 years since that first dual-location
weekend in 1987 (Saturday's national was held in Janesville, WI and
Sunday's was in Rockford). Ever since '88, they've hosted the MidWest
Nationals or an ABA World Cup ever since. ...and TO's Jake & Candy
have been at the helm this entire time!

The newest addition to Rockford is a new barrell gate from Progate
(Made right here in Rockford, USA). Official Asst-to-Jake, Garrett
Rapp, created some killer new graphics for the front of it, making it
look even cooler. You've gotta love barrell gates for their
marketing/advertising space alone ...not to mention their safety
features. This gate replaced Rockford's wooden starting gate, which
they'd used for the last 30-some years - and could very well be the
last Wooden gate in the Sport of BMX. Could this officially be the End
of an Era?!
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There are two super unique features to Rockford that you won't find at
any other track: 1) the Drop at the Rock, and 2) the 100-foot flat-out
sprint to the Finishline. You'll want to boost your sprinting/pre-jump
skills to clear The Drop just right, and you'll definitely have to have
some juice in your reserves to keep powerin' all the way to the
finishline. Watching some riders run outta gas by the time they reach
the last tabletop jump, while others are still sprinting as fast as
they did out of the gate always reminds me of former Aussie Pro Wade
Bootes, who imagine the finishline 50 feet further than it was and keep
sprinting PAST the line here at Rockford.

If you're in second round or semi's, in that final transfer spot,
you've gotta be real careful about crankin' it all the way to the line
- as third place or whoever is behind ya, might just hit their NOS
button and get'cha at the line. More races have been lost here at
Rockford than any other track, by riders sittin' down too soon assuming
they've got it in the bag.
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If Friday night's racing was great - then Saturday's mains were GREATER
than GREAT! Things were getting tight as the older girls and older
experts got in the gate. Spectators who were lining the sidelines and
infield, and the thousands of viewers to our Online video feed, got to
witness some gnarly action - especially with 14x on up.



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This was a 3-day National weekend, and that meant we were all in for
some non-stop sprinting. Better yet, while the past years have ranged
the whole gamut of weather - from rain to extreme heat and humidity, do
Tornado-like winds and severe mud racing, Mother Nature was extra
special to us in 2022 and provided us the most perfect, pristine
weather conditions one oculd evewr ask for.

Seriously; this was a PERFECT weekend. Perhaps THEE BEST is has ever
been!


--- up 15 weeks, 6 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (24:150/1)