September 2011 - Newsletter

Track Director’s Words:

As I write this a lot of riders from Cape Coral BMX are getting ready to travel up to Louisville, Kentucky to race in the (LAST) NBL BMX Championship race. All of us here hope that you had safe travels and that you raced your best. We have some of the fastest BMX racers in the nation and we expect to see a lot of low number plates on the track soon.

We were saddened to lose another one of our BMX Dads last month. Mark Brilhart, Sr. had battled with diabetes for a long time. He passed away suddenly and he will be deeply missed by all of his BMX family. mark was a great dad, a good helper on the track and just a good guy. Our sympathies go to the family.

This month we will be holding the election of officers again. I hope all of you seriously consider volunteering for one of the positions. It takes a lot of parent time to make this track run smoothly. If you have the time and talent, please step up and put your name in for the election for one of the offices. If you don't run for an office, you can still help by volunteering for one of the non-elected offices or just helping out during races or during work parties. I've enjoyed being the Track Director for this last year. I've learned a lot doing it. Remember, we are ALL volunteers out here and it takes all of us doing our part so the kids have a BMX track to race at.

Thanks, everybody.
Paul Rieger

 

August Parent Council

President: Sherri Curry is acting president: There have been some questiona about whether we should seek to switch to the ABA. I called the ABA and received this information: (Sherri read an email that she sent out.) The bottom line was that the ABA will be merging into the USA-BMX Organization and will be picking up some of the NBL "way of doing things" and the ABA does not want any of the tracks to make any changes at this time. They do not plan on closing any tracks and they KNOW about Cape Coral! They want us as part of the new USA-BMX organization. Final word: sit tight for the time being. The SSA is running a Commissioners Cup race and Paul Rieger needs to know by September 10 if you are going to get things ordered. If you ARE going...talkk to him about it ASAP!

 

Vice President: Sherri Currie: Concession and been down because of the bad weather. Sherri will not be running for the VP position next year and wants someone to step forward to do it. She will help you into it and show you what needs to be done.

Track Director:Paul Rieger: The track is going through hard times due to the rain.Your help repairing the track is appreciated and sure has been needed. The fun races have been going well and everyone seems to be participating and having fun with them. Like Sherri said, I need the list of names of the riders going to the SSA Commissioner's Cup.

Clerk: Bernice Baker: Everything is going well. I will not be running for this position next year, so someone please volunteer for it. We cannot race if there isn't a Clerk of Course.

Secretary: Elisha Giulianno:Join Facebook to get quick updates. Please check the website for changes and check the web cam for the weather.

Treasurer: Sherri Matthews: We had about $2066 in income last month with about $715 profit. We spent $322 for the Volunteer Banquet last month. The checking and banking accounts are strong. the NBL owes us about $900 but we aren't expecting to receive it. We are now paying the USA-BMX for each race instead of the NBL. We are making a small profit from our own racers at this time.

Public Relations: Bob Fain: After 15 years as an active parent volunteer and doing the website and newsletter for 12 years it is time for me to step down. Kory started racing when he was 6 and he's 21 now and isn't racing...it's different when your boy isn't racing anymore. I'll miss this a lot and I will help whoever you elect to pick it up so the website and the newsletter keeps on running smoothly.

Old Business: The new hours for racing have been working out well. Everyone seems to be glad that we switched back.

New Business: the Por-Am races that we tried to run haven't worked out. We will return the money from the ONE race that was run. About the President's Cup Race money: There won't be a "President's Cup race" this year, but if you are invited to the "Race of Champions" instead, you will get your share of the money as long as you race there.

The next Parent Council meeting will be on Tuesday, September 13th at 7:15 PM.

Time To Say "Goodby"

I have worked as a parent volunteer at Cape Coral BMX since my son, Kory, started racing when he was 6 years old. That was 15 years ago. I was elected to the Public Relations office 12 years ago and started doing the newsletter that Smitty had started. I've helped on the track as the stager, the starter, the announcer, as a corner marshal and as a referee. Twelve years ago I picked up the website that Shane Dewitt had started. Three years ago we did a total rebuild of the website. What a job that was, but I had some great help from High Tech North. It's all been fun while Kory was racing.

I've seen a lot of changes at the track. I've seen three total track rebuilds (I think), and we hosted four large races...one National, two state qualifiers and one state championship (STILL the best one the state has ever had!). I've seen a lot of parents and riders come and go. I've seen a lot of young riders grow and excel at this sport. I've tried to stay away from the drama and gossip that is always present and have offered my help when I was asked. The SSA asked me to help rewrite their by-laws after we rewrote ours a few years ago. There are a lot of really good people in this sport.

It's time to let someone else enjoy all this. I plan on helping the next PR person and maybe Kory will come back to racing. I really miss the races...I REALLY miss the races! There are too many people to thank individually, but...thank YOU for giving me the opportunity to serve the riders and the track for so many years. I hope I've helped make Cape Coral BMX the best place to ride. Parents, get involved with the sport. Volunteer at something! Love every minute of it, because it does not last forever. Wow, when it's over, it really ends fast. God bless you and keep you safe in this great sport.

Warm regards, Bob Fain

Time for Officer Elections

Cape Coral BMX is a vollunteer run organization. The officers serve in unpaid positions for one year and carry the responsibility of operating the track and the Cape Coral BMX Association, Incorportated organization in a safe and ethical manner. Becasue the track is operating on property owned by the City of Cape Coral, all the volunteers must submit to and successfully pass a background check that the City pays for.

The people who have been nominated so far are:

President: two nominations; Paul Rieger and Evan Rosenberg

Vice President: NO NOMINATIONS, yet

Track Director: Paul Trombley

Registrar/Clerk: Ann Wells

Secretary: Elisha Giuliano

Treasurer: Sherri Matthews

Public Relations: Theresa Linn

Nominations will open up again at the next parent council meeting and then we will hold the election.

The riders and the parents will thank you and you will be greatly appreciated for what you do.

 

New Rider of the Month

RJ Paulinovic is one of those “boomerang” BMXers…He used to ride, left for a while, and then came back to the sport. RJ is racing in the 12 Challenger class. He rode BMX for about three years and then had a bad crash and broke his collarbone on the track here at CCBMX. After the bone healed, he had other interests and just didn’t get back into racing bicycles. BMX was still in his blood, however, and he started “bugging” his mom, Theresa Linn, to come back. She made him wait almost a year to be sure he really wanted to do it and then relented and bought him a new Redline…and he’s back on the track.

RJ attends the Bonita Springs Charter Academy and is in the seventh grade this year. RJ says, “I talk to my friends at school about BMX. They all know what it is and they think it’s really cool!” There’s so much to like about BMX. RJ says, “I think BMX is a lot of fun to do. I really like the excitement of racing in competition and I especially like jumping the hills. Jumping and catching air is great!”

He rides with Austin Bell and Casey McKee. When they race, RJ usually wins, but it isn’t easy. They all practice together and are friends but on the track everyone wants to get to the finish line first. They fight for it and it’s a race all the way to the end. For RJ, “It’s a battle right out of the gate. I have to ride as hard as I can all the way and never slow down or give up.” His favorite part of the track is the second straight because he’s good at the jumps and he has the speed to carry him fast and over them. He likes the rhythm section, too, where he can pump hard and fly through it to the finish line. “The hardest part for the track for me,” he says, “Is the third straight. It’s in between manualling and jumping and I don’t quite have the speed for jumping it, yet, but I’m working on it.”

RJ knows what it will take to gain that extra speed. He is at the track whenever the gate is unlocked. He likes the new track layout and he practices hard to be able to race faster. He is determined to gain strength and speed…and it’s coming along. He will race in the Championships for Florida this next year and has set a personal goal of ending up in the TOP 5 at the finish. He knows that the 13 year olds will be a tough group, but he knows that Austin is one of the fastest in the state and RJ says he can beat him. Austin will use that to ride faster, too, so this is definitely going to be an exciting season coming up!

 

 

Riders of the Month

 

A brother/sister pair make up the Rider of the Month for September. Justin Barbera is an 8 Rookie and his sister, Haley Barbera races in the 11 Challenger Girl class. Both race for All Out BMX, managed by their dad, Joe Barbera. They have been riding for about a year and a half. Justin is in the third grade at Palmetto Elementary in Naples and Haley is in the sixth grade at Cypress Palm Middle school in Naples. Cape Coral BMX is their home track.

Dad brought both kids to the track to see if they wanted to ride BMX. Haley says, “I was scared when I saw the track. The hills looked too big, too high, and too many of them, to me. I didn’t want to ride my bike there.” Justin says, “ I saw how high the hills were and couldn’t wait to ride over them! I went right out there the first time.” Sounds like a difference between the brother and the sister, but it didn’t last long. Justin came home with stories of how much fun it was and Haley said, “OK, maybe I need to take another look at this thing!” The next week, BOTH of them were riding their bike up and over all the hills and getting better every time around the track.

Justin likes the first straight with the excitement of the starting gate and the speed down the first straight into the turn. Haley likes the end of the track in the rhythm section leading to the finish line. She likes the pumping she does there and the feel of the bike accelerating in the small jumps. Both kids are competitive with really good attitudes. Justin says, “Sometimes I win and sometimes I don’t. Winning is great! When I don’t I have to try to figure what I can do to race faster or to make better moves on the track.” Haley races other girls her age and she says, “They are faster than me for now. I’m learning how to ride faster and I practice hard. I’m having fun whether I win or not, because the racing is what I’m here for.”

Even thought they hadn’t been racing for more than about 6 months, both raced in the Florida State Championship last year and both raced their 20 inch bikes and a cruiser bike. Results were good…VERY good! Justin won fourth in his 20 inch class and won the #3 plate in the cruiser class. Haley had a crash and still won the #8 plate in the 20 inch bike class and then came in SECOND with her cruiser bike! All Out is the name of their team and is how they go after the sport they love.

Watch this brother/sister team…next year will be even better.

Link to the August 2011 Newsletter