2011 ABA GSL Nationals

Scalding heat in SLC marks the return of Bradford, Strombergs and Fields. Check the photos. Gallery

After a weird year missing some heavy hitters, Joey Bradford, Maris Strombergs and Connor Fields are all back from injury and looking FAST. This was Connor's first weekend as an "official" pro, finally sporting his new Chase BMX colors. Fields raced Single A on Saturday to get his feet wet, won it no problem, and stepped it up to Elite on Saturday -- where he got moto'd. He was looking strong though. Bradford was back and riding his new Prophecy carbon bike. He was dressed in all black (his gear hasn't arrived quite yet) and was looking quite ninja-ish. Maris Strombergs had a new custom gold Free Agent out on the track. It wasn't the same Maris as we are used to, but he was looking pretty strong, even managing to put himself on the podium at the end of day two.

Junior Elite Women
With the pool of Junior Women's just eight deep, the races were consistently the same. Haro's Brooke Crain dominated the class, but Dani George (Supercross) put up the good fight and won the odd lap. The two battled it out every lap of the weekend, start to finish. Tyler Schaefer (Intense) and Shelby Stacy (Speed) split the third spot on the podium and minimal payout. According to Crain via Twitter, "Totally sweet pay out in junior women. Thanks @ababmx, Would have rather got saver stamps." We can only assume there was a slight hint of sarcasm in the statement.

Junior Elite
The battle royale in the Junior Men's main on Saturday was hands down the most exciting race of the weekend. SE's Austin Hiatt battled it out with the usually untouchable Rusty Nesvig (Intense.) At the end of it, Hiatt had the energy to take it to the line, grabbing a win that he's been waiting for and Nesvig settled in for second. Nesvig wouldn't let that happen again though, powering back for the win on Sunday, and showing no restraint. Redman's Lain Van Ogle picked up the second spot, while third was split between Supercross rider Nate Padilla and Napa valler Crushes Blake Paulsen.

Elite Women
Alise Post (Redline) is back. In case she hasn't driven the point home yet, she took home two more wins this weekend. She missed going for the title last year due to injury, but she's in the running and already a favorite for 2011. Dominique Daniels ran into some bad luck Saturday, losing her front wheel going into turn one in a wreck that will have everyone double checking their front axles (her's exploded). And when it came main event time, she went down on the first straight and called it a weekend. That left Arielle Martin (Intense), Courtney Tomei (Supercross) and Ashley Verhagen (Crupi) to battle it out. Martin was the local favorite, and made some moves on Post. On day two, she had a solid run at the win before blowing out of her pedal, and would have to settle for matching seconds. Tomei and Verhagen would end up splitting the thirds.

Patrick NugentHaro's Brooke Crain. Launch Gallery »

Elite Men
Redline must be sneaking something into their riders water because Sam Willoughby did them proud and doubled up this weekend. Willers was on had to defend his points lead on Saturday, but got balled up in turn one when SE's Barry Nobles decided he didn't feel like finishing the lap. Willers blew out a brake pad that kept him out of Sunday's competition, but earned him a good night sleep and no 6 a.m. wake-up call. Saturday was all about team Australia, with Willougby clearing the way, Brian Kirkham (Intense) and Khalen Young (Haro/Rockstar) making their way to the second and third spots. In the end, it became an all-Australian Podium, and possibly the first in ABA history. I'd like to point out that Young quit drinking in January because he felt that he wasn't riding as good as he felt he should be, and in the last few months he has been looking FAST. Big ups to KY for taking care of things. The podium for Sunday was a bit more diverse: Australia's Sam Williughby still on top, but with him, David Herman (USA/Intense) in second and Maris Strombergs (Latvia/Free Agent) in third, making his first main event appearance since the Disney Cup in October 2010.