August 3, 2016 at 1:32 p.m.
Hodag BMX to showcase talents, track during tripleheader weekend
Hodag BMX to showcase talents, track during tripleheader weekend
BMX racing makes its Badger State Games debut Friday night at the Hodag BMX track, located at West Side Park in Rhinelander. That's only the tip of the iceberg, though, as the club hosts Wisconsin State and Gold Cup qualifiers Saturday and Sunday.
"It's three days of action-packed racing, awesome racing," track operator and Hodag BMX Club coach Rob Deede said. "I mean if you think the local racing is cool, wait until we invite all the fastest cats from the Midwest.
"It's going to be a crazy weekend. There's lots of points to be had, both for the regional, for the state and also for districts. We're going to see lots of riders."
The track's tripleheader weekend is later in the racing season than in years past. Deede hopes the change will help attract even more riders who are chasing state, national and district points within USABMX. Saturday will be the seventh of eight state qualifiers leading up to the championships later this month in Oshkosh and one of the final Gold Cup qualifiers before the Gold Cup Central final next month in Lincoln, Neb.
"People who are chasing points for the state qualifier Saturday night are going to be here because people are running out of places to get scored," Deede explained.
Friday night's Badger State Games race corresponds with the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics. There is synergy between the two events given that BMX will appear in its third Olympiad over the next fortnight. On the smaller scale, the Badger State Games' inclusion of BMX helps to legitimize the sport, Deede said.
"We're a young sport, but we're really trying to be recognized just like football, like baseball, basketball," he said. "It's a legitimate sport with legitimate athletes, with a coaching system, with structured events."
"We're racing and riding bikes, but that's not all we're doing," Deede added. "We're basically developing successful youth through the sport of BMX, teaching kids sportsmanship, teaching them that you might not always get first place, but you're winning something with every race. You're getting better on the track, better at life, better at taking on obstacles."
In addition to the Badger State Games, Friday night's race will also be the club's annual Race For Life event where racers, through pledges, raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
It's already been a great year for Hodag BMX, which remodeled and expanded its track prior to the start of the season. Deede said renovations will continue later this month as the club begins paving the track's three banked corners.
Riders as young as 1 and as old as 46 have competed at the track this year, though the majority of riders range between 5 and 18 years old.
Deede said the club is averaging between 40 and 50 riders for its local races, which are held most Mondays and Fridays throughout the summer. He said the club's participation numbers are the highest they have been in eight years.
"We're averaging very high rider counts, especially for the population size that we have," he said. "We're one of the smallest population density track in the (state) and we're pulling numbers of metropolitan areas, which is awesome."
And the caliber of competition has improved at the track, too.
"We're seeing 8, 9, 10-year olds doing stuff that 15, 16-year old kids can't do," Deede said. "It's so cool to see. We have a really strong mentoring program from people that have been national or state champions in BMX racing, in motocross, in snowmobile racing. They're taking that experience and success, translating it into BMX and teaching it to the next generation, which is huge."
Deede credited the success of the club to the volunteers who run the organization and the sponsors and donors who support it.
"It's just a community that cares about this track, cares about what we're doing and they see the success with their kids with what we're doing," he said.
Deede, who competes in the 28-35 Expert class, said he expects a number of local riders to fare well this weekend and that new track layout - because of its added length - gives Hodag BMX Club members a definite home course advantage.
"Our kids aren't tired when they get to the end of the track because our track is probably an extra couple hundred feet longer than any other track in the state," he said. "Plus we're old-school still. We don't have paved turns (yet). We don't have sealed track - where they use like a glued surface. There are a lot of things that can slow down a rider a little bit and our riders learn how to adjust for that and keep speed, even through the couple extra rocks in the dirt, the soft spots on the track. It's making them really good riders and very competitive."
While entry fees for riders will range from $20 to $30 - depending on the event - this weekend, admission is free for spectators. Concessions will also be available on the grounds.
"We really want to see the community come down and check this place out. That's what it's all about," Deede said.
To learn more about the Hodag BMX Club, visit www.Hodag
BMX.com or check out the club's Facebook page (www.facebook.
com/Hodag.BMX).
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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