Track Attack

In the battle for biking supremacy, BMX-men (and women) fly over humps, through hairpin curves and sometimes into the dirt. Want to try it? C'mon, bring it on.

By JACKIE RIPLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

LUTZ -- Riders ready! Watch the gate!

With an ear-splitting buzz, a bank of lights blinks green, a foot-high metal plate drops flat and half-dozen helmeted bicyclists tear out from the starting gate as if the hounds of hell were at their backs.

"We have a blast," said Michael Keck, 44, of Seffner. "I used to race motorcycles."

On this particular Friday evening, Keck is at Lake Park's BMX track with his son, Michael Keck, Jr., enjoying a sport that attracts adults as well as children.

It's BMX racing on 1,200 feet of track, with enough bumps, twists and vertical inclines to challenge seasoned veterans like Keck, but not to intimidate 6-year-old Kenneth Fessel.

Kenneth has little to say about BMX racing, other than "it's fun," but at the starting gate his eyes said it all. Focused and intent, the first-grader at Denham Oaks Elementary School in Land O'Lakes speeds down the starting ramp and never misses a beat as he pedals over raised mounds of clay, leans around hairpin turns and cranks along steeply banked concrete curves.

"A friend was doing it; he tried it and loved it," says Shawn Fessel, Kenneth's mother.

Lake Park's BMX track developed informally in the mid 1970s. Now, it is nationally recognized, and site of the Florida state championships in 1996.

"These vertical walls are like mountains to these little kids," says Louis "Hap" Hutto, Lake Park BMX track director. "Our turns are the tallest in Tampa and the most vertical in the U.S."

When club members first covered the high clay banks with asphalt last year, it wouldn't stick because of the steep incline. So they sprayed on concrete, a process similar to how the sides of swimming pools are coated.

"The fast guys go to the very top," Hutto said. "You can get a lot of speed off that."

BMX racing, say enthusiasts, is a sport of extreme skill.

In motorcycle racing "it's the guy with the most money who wins," Hutto said. But with BMX racing "you can take a kid to Wal-Mart, put him on a Huffy and if he's good he'll win."

Not that many parents stop there. Keck said his son started on a $99 bike now has about $1,500 in the bicycle alone, not to mention safety gear.

"Bikes range in cost from about $169 to $1,400," said John Nighland, who runs a bicycle concession at BMX events as well as a bicycle shop in Oldsmar. And although most riders prefer BMX-style 20-inch bicycles, some also ride mountain bikes with larger wheels, Hutto said.

Helmets can cost from $60 to $400 and most riders wear specially designed BMX riding gear.

Members also pay $35 to join and $7 per race.

Statewide, there are 15 tracks and about 800 BMX members, grouped into three categories: rookie, novice and expert.

Lake Park BMX No. 1031 has 80 riders, mostly teens and preteens. A small percentage are adults, although those numbers increase during BMX season.

Nine are girls.

"My friends think I'm crazy," said Michele Peters, 15, who has been riding for five years.

So why does she do it? "The competition," said Peters, a junior at Gaither High. And "it's fun."

Peters' twin brother, M.J., also rides. But he can only claim four years' experience, having taken nearly a year off to recover from a broken elbow.

"This is only my second time back" M.J. Peters said. "My mom's a little worried. She's more worried now that I've broken my elbow."

Hutto said that although serious BMX injuries are rare, tumbles are not.

"You break bones," Hutto said. "Both my kids have broken bones." Hutto said his daughter Kelly, 12, is ranked first in Florida in her class; his 10-year-old son Charlie, 10, second.

"Get the kids on the track and they will be hooked," Hutto said. "It gives them confidence in what they can do. Any kid just loves it."

The official BMX season at Lake Park runs from January through May, but informal practices and races take place year round. In season, riders practice Wednesday and Friday evenings from 6 p.m. Races are held Friday nights.

Lake Park is west of N Dale Mabry Highway, about a half-mile south of Van Dyke Road. There is free parking, a concession stand and restrooms.

For information call (813) 265-1BMX.

Jackie Ripley can be reached at (813) 226-3468 or ripley@sptimes.com.

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