The last two months for the young South African MTN Bmx Rider has been far from a routine for Sifiso “skizo” Nhlapo as per previous seasons. Missing out on the last two important European Rounds due to only being able to be in Europe for a 3 month period in 6 months left Nhlapo no choice but to come home. Skizo commented “I was a little disappointed at first but have learnt over my last year after my injury that any situation can be resolved and there is always a solution. I was home for a week which was perfect timing to race the MTN SA National Series and then headed out to USA before Worlds. USA will sort me out quickly I think as there are plenty fast riders there.”
The ABA Midwest National was the first stop for Skizo with his new race schedule. Arriving in the states on the Wednesday he had to sort his jetlag very quickly as practice started on Friday 18th. The track at Rockford was perfectly prepared, the weather was great and practice was running smoothly until a HUGE storm swept through the area and cancelled the Friday night Pre-Race.
Saturday the 19th brought a very hot and humid day in Rockford with the morning starting off with a bit of practice due to the time missed on Friday with the storm and tornado warnings.
Sifiso commented after practice,”the track is fun with a flat start gate, it kinda has an uphill first straight….just the way I like it!!”
After missing a lot of racing over the last two months it was finally time for Nhlapo to put his training and preparation to the test against a deep pool of talented & fast riders like Stromberg, Willoughby, Williers, Marino, Long, KY, Stein, Harris just to name a few.
In the first Moto the young South African got a nice WELCOME TO THE USA in the first turn and finished 6th. With about an hour between Moto’s Skizo knew he had to regroup and had made his day even harder if he wanted to transfer to the Semi. The second and third Moto Skizo did just that winning both of them and transferred to the Semi Final where he got a safe fourth putting him in the main.
In the Main Nhlapo had a little bit of bad luck and pulled his cleat out the pedal, he managed to make one pass and finished 7th for the day.
Sifiso commented after the day, ”I was happy to be in the main, I had a great pop out the gate the hole day, in the main I blew a pedal and watch the rest of the field pull away into the first turn. The field was really deep and the racing was hard but I’m looking forward to Sunday Day 2 racing and planning to stay clipped in this time.” Sunday 20th started with an early morning wake up ride at 5h30am for a little spin before eating breakfast. Practice was at 7h30am at Nhlapo did a nice little warm up with 4 easy gates and then went back to his rental and relaxed till the first Moto scheduled at 8h30.
The first Moto got under way and Skizo finished first in both Moto 1 & 2 and 4th in the third Moto. I managed to chat to him after the heats and he said, “these Moto’s have been like mains and really tough the line up Stromberg, Williers, Marino, Harris & Willoughby I am happy with my riding and just need to sort these pedals out as I pulled my cleat out the pedal again in the 3rd Moto.”
Sifiso was in Semi 1 which he won and transferring with him was Stromberg, Rogers & Marino. In the second Semi of the day Willoughby won and transferring with him was Williers, Long and KY so the boys where in for another stacked Main.
In the main Sifiso had a good gate but coming out Rogers and himself got caught up with some elbows pretty much ending the race right there, Willoughby went on to win ahead Williers and Long.
Skizo commented after the weekends racing, “I bombed my gate and bumped elbows straight out the gate with Rogers and lost some momentum. I kept pushing and managed to finish 5th today. Overall I felt good and got some good fast laps in after all that’s why I came to the USA to bump elbows and get some good laps in before Worlds in South Africa in 6 weeks. My next race is in Pittsburg South Park NBL the track there looks pretty fast and I think it’s a good track to work on track speed and race on. I’m looking forward to a better performance there. Thank you all for your supporting me during this new experience.”
Race results for both days:
Saturday: 1 MARIS STROMBERGS, FREE AGENT-ROCKSTAR, MURRIETA, CA 2 DENZEL STEIN 3 MARC WILLERS, NZL 4 SAM WILLOUGHBY, REDLINE, ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA, AU 5 RAMIRO MARINO, SUPERCROSS BMX, BUENOS AIRES, AN 6 RANDY STUMPFHAUSER 7 SIFISO NHLAPO, MTN, SOUTH AFRICA, ZAF 8 DAVID HERMAN
Sunday: 1 SAM WILLOUGHBY, REDLINE, ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA, AU 2 MARC WILLERS, , MURRIETA, CA 3 NIC LONG, HARO/ROCKSTAR, LAKESIDE, CA 4 MARIS STROMBERGS, FREE AGENT-ROCKSTAR, MURRIETA, CA 5 SIFISO NHLAPO, MTN, SOUTH AFRICA, ZAF 6 JASON ROGERS, HARO BIKE TEAM, MESQUITE, TX 7 KHALEN YOUNG, HARO/ROCKSTAR, MURRIETA, CA 8 RAMIRO MARINO, SUPERCROSS BMX, BUENOS AIRES, AN
Pictures can be found on www.bmxmania.com and you can watch a re-run of the AA Pro Finals Day 1 and 2 at http://www.go211.com/ababmx/abamidwestnationals2010
