Month: June 2022

John Anderson – Volunteer of the Month, May 2022

The Hill BMX Management Group would like to announce that John Anderson has been voted Volunteer of the Month for May 2022!

We apologize this announcement is so late!

John was nominated by nearly all who submitted nominations. His hard work during preparations for our SCR and assistance to the whole maintenance team have not gone unnoticed. John started racing in the fall, and since his family arrived they have been deeply involved in making sure THE HILL succeeds.

John is an old timer, having raced The Hill BMX in the early 2000’s – his mother Mary worked with The Hill Management Team back then and has now come full circle to help Hill Management again. John will tell you that life came between him and BMX as he grew, but now he is reliving the BMX wonder through his boys.

Most recently, John has agreed to become more involved by joining the madness and assisting Andy with track maintenance.

It’s important to note that the only other nominations that came in were for “The Maintenance Team” – Our maintenance crew worked overtime getting ready for our SCR race. We see all the work that was put in, every time we are at the track, every time a rider rides, a family member sits on the bleachers, or a family hands out in their pit areas.

Our track is beautiful, and it’s because of our maintenance team. They are currently talking about completing the third turn. They don’t stop! And if we could give them all an award for May, we would, but trust us when we say we have big recognition plans for our maintenance team, in the future.

Please join with us in celebrating John, everything he has done, and will do in the future. Give him a ‘high five’ or ‘fist bump’ when you see him!

Thank you, John! You have been a blessing since you arrived, and Congratulations!

2022 Pro-Am

An annual staple, in the lead-up to the Midwest Nationals, The Hill Pro-Am has attracted top-talent from all spheres of the BMX community, in it’s many-years of running.

The Hill, it’s sponsors and volunteers work hard to bring-together a high-profile event, set among one of our weekly single-points races.

This is important to the crew, because it gives our local families an opportunity to see top-tier racers do their thing on our track–and plants the seed for all of our aspiring racers to see what’s possible in the sport of BMX Racing, when you “put the work in.”

For 2022, we had stacked-racks of these star riders, and it was awesome (as it always is) to see all our local riders’ eyes-glued to the track, cheering-on their favorite, among those who gated-up for the Big Show.

In the final gate-of-eight, we had (in order of finish)

Ethan Popovich
Olijuwon Davis
Noah Barton
Trevor Kotrba
Josh Sterling
Stefan Fahy
Nate Hathcock
Jeff Kiefer

There was contentious racing, in all four rounds, with pulse-quickening action for the fans–just as a top-flight Pro-Am should be.

Ethan “E-Pop” Popovich was fresh-off his win of the Junior Mens class, at the USA Cycling Elite National Championship race, held at the newly-opened USA BMX Hardesty National BMX Stadium in Tulsa, OK.

During the intermission, before the third round of Pro-Am Racing, Ethan was invited to address the crowd, to tell us of his experience at the race which earned him the lauded “flag” sleeve, for the next 12 months.

We will be cheering-him-on this month, as he heads to Nantes, France for the UCI BMX World Championships.

The other Podium finishers, Olijuwon “OD” Davis, and Noah Barton are both long-time fixtures at The Hill, and there was definitely a “Hill Pride” cheering section for them, and the other riders who call The Hill home.

The day started out with a “Captain” Nic Long clinic, which riders from several states came-in for, then stuck-around to race the evening program.

Liberty BMX offered a $100 “Holeshot Award” for the Pro-Am, and Nic DOUBLED it, just before the main event touched-off. E-Pop got that holeshot cash, in addition to the top-step check.

Big thanks to Amy Home Services (link below), who stepped-up to provide the purse…and to all riders, both local, and otherwise, who came out to make this one of the best Pro-Am races we have had.

We look forward to seeing the Top Guns again for our 2023 Pro-Am!

Please click, and learn about our sponsors:

Amy Home Services

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