Midwest Nationals

Chase/Redbull’s Joris Daudet looked right at home on the northern Illinois soil but he didn’t have an answer for Corben Sharrah this weekend.

[RIGHT] Emily Hayes came to Rockford looking to add a few wins. She’d finish up with two wins and a second.

 There are few places as legendary as the hallowed grounds of Rockford BMX. They’ve been at it since 1977 and it definitely shows. Early Friday morning 2.59 inches of rain fell on the track. By 10:30 am practice kicked off like it had never happened. Long time track operator Jake Karau and the crew have the drainage dialed in like clockwork. It is one of the many things that this facility has literally perfected over the years.

A Pro was the largest group of pros of the weekend with 22 riders on Friday night. Philly’s finest, Menardo Simon was on the gas all day long and chose gate one which at Rockford is the furthest from turn one, despite being on the inside. That wouldn’t matter though as he would holeshot on his Cult race frame and control the race from start to finish. Ecuadorian Nicolas Palacios cruised in right behind him for the second and Justin Knapper rounded out the podium for day one.

The second day brought more of the same with Simon controlling his laps for most of the day. He found himself back in gate one come main time, but once it hit the deck Ohio’s Brandon Roharik shot out of gate seven and into the lead. Simon settled into two and Layne Gainer muscled his way into third in the second turn and that’s how they’d finish.