Gettin' Down at the Derby

With certain races, including Derby City, spanning back decades, it's difficult to pin down our favorite year. But after packing up the red rig to leave the hollowed ground of Derby City BMX, we can confidently say 2026 is right at the top. Although the heat and humidity had us stocking up on Gold Bond, the energy kept us fully pinned throughout. With the first points added to the Olympic charge, racing under the lights, and over $55k headed to Pro and ABA Futures racers, the 2026 Derby City Nationals has moments we’ll remember for years to come.

Let's just say it now and get it out of the way: Cam Wood owns Derby City. The Phoenix product went out on Friday, blitzed through the first Olympic points opportunity, and held off a fast Elite Men Field to take the win. Cool, nice job, great weekend, except he wasn't done.

Saturday and Sunday, same story, different chapters. Shifting into the USA BMX side of the weekend, the action ramped up again, and Wood tackled the field. Big names lined up in those Semis and Mains, and while each had impressive laps Wood couldn’t be denied down the Derby City mountain. Three mains, three wins, zero mercy, the Cowboy headed back to the desert with Olympic points and two Sluggers to add to his collection.

The Elite Women and Women Pro finals belonged to Canada's Molly Simpson (Daylight/Hero), who put on an absolute clinic through every turn to take the win, with Daleny Vaughn, Lauren Reynolds and Payton "P-Nut" Ridenour rounding out the podium.

Then Sunday happened, and it was pure BMX theater. The pack charged into the first turn, and the ladies were prepared for the Carly Kane dive bomb the class had been plagued with all weekend. Supercross’s Lexis Colby defended the low-low line, but it came at a cost. The back of the pack exploded into a mangle of bikes and bodies, but at the same time, Lauren Reynolds saw a path to the top spot in Louisville. Elbows bump out of the turn, and Reynolds takes over with Molly Simpson off track. Reynolds didn't blink, rode away from the wreckage, with only one more racer in her hip pocket. Unable to reel in the Aussie speed, P-Nut Payton Ridenour backed up her Saturday podium with a second-place finish on Sunday, and Georgia's Alexis "AA" Alden snagged third. The class’s point battle is owned by Simpson, but each race we are reminded the entire class is hungry, making for must-watch action with chaos ready to show its face at any point around the track.

The coaches' class. Vet Pro is filled with knowledge and experience, and the field showed it firsthand throughout their weekend. Saturday belonged to Barry Nobles, who rode with the kind of Barry style fans have come to know. With the 95 out front, there was still plenty of action in the main event pack, with turn three adding some carnage to the Saturday excitement. Jeff Upshaw and Brandon Roharik followed in for the podium spots, and they weren’t done yet. Sunday, Big Jeff got his revenge. Upshaw reminded everyone why he's the defending champ, taking the Sunday win and bouncing back into the winner’s circle for the second time in 2026. Justin Riddell snuck into second, and Roharik backed up his Saturday podium with another third. The Vet Pro class might not be the most chaotic battle of the weekend, but they do bring the pure race craft true BMX lovers can’t get enough of.

Saturday was all Addison Thompson in ABA Futures Women; she cut through a tough 15-rider field to take the win over Preslie Gould and Kate Sifford, knowing the ladies were right on her back wheel, ready to capitalize.

Sunday flipped the script completely. Lily "Diamond Lil" Ashley put together, in her own words, basically, the lap of her life, grabbing the lead down the hill and never letting go for her first-ever ABA Futures Women main event win. Thompson had to settle for second this time, with Gould once again grabbing third. Two different winners, same level of speed, and a new winner to the ABA Futures ranks.

ABA Futures Men on Saturday was an absolute war in a monster 63-rider field. Marshall The Major Gehrke and Tommy Bruney went bar to bar all the way to the line, with Gehrke getting the nod in a photo finish; the Antioch local showed how much the win meant to him, dedicating it to Chippy.

Sunday, somebody new crashed the party. Evan "Easy E" Esposito came out of nowhere with a vicious final-turn pass on Bruney, stealing the win right at the line and sending Bruney to second for the second straight day, the Futures class continues to push the envelope along the USA BMX cicruit. This class might have the deepest talent pool at the entire event, three different names in the mix for the win across two days and every single one of them ready to do it again.

Three days, $55k, and about a thousand ways for a Labor Day weekend to deliver maximum drama. From Cam Wood sweep of the summer, the Women's field turning turn one into a demolition derby on Sunday, Vets proving age is just a number and elbows are still very much legal, to the Futures classes reminding everybody that the next generation of BMX are absolute savages.

Derby City delivered.

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Saturday Results

Men Pro

1. Cameron "Cowboy" Wood,  Mongoose USA BMX Foundation,  Phoenix, AZ, USA

2. Drew Polk, Factory Syndyt/LSG, Avon, IN, USA

3. Joshua "Jumpin Josh" Jolly, Time BMX, Meybo, TLD, Box BMX, Cardigan, VIC, Australia

4. Jeremy "J-Smooth" Smith, Aker Brand / MCC, Myakka City, FL, USA

5. Deegan "Downtown" Brown, Supercross BMX, San Jose, CA, USA

6. Gavin Stazetski, Factory Blackcrown BMX, Charleroi, PA, USA

7. Sean Day, Cycle Therapy Racing, Tacoma, WA, USA

8. Izaac Kennedy, Chase / Fly / Tioga / BRGstore.com, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Women Pro

1. Molly Simpson, Daylight/Hero, Red Deer County, AB, Canada

2. Daleny Vaughn, BioLab-DK, Tucson, AZ, USA

3. Payton "P-Nut" Ridenour, Chase / Razor / BRGstore.com, Tulsa, OK, USA

4. Lauren Reynolds, Factory Answer, San Diego, CA, Australia

5. Alexis "AA" Alden, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Peachtree City, GA, USA

6. Carly Kane, Huffy, Bell Helmets, Promax, Box Components, Harrison, OH, USA

7. Derin Merten, RaceInc, Box, Promax, ODI, 6D, Tempe, AZ, USA

8. Ava "The Flava" Corley, Factory Rift/Tangent, La Mirada, CA, USA

Vet Pro

1. Barry (#95) Nobles, Chase / Fly / BRGstore.com, Sterrett, AL, USA

2. Jeff "Big Jeff" Upshaw, Driven Cycling Academy/Crupi, Nampa, ID, USA

3. Brandon Roharik, Standard Byke Co, Akron, OH, USA

4. Christopher "Doctor" Mireles, Prophecy America, Zapopan, JAL, Mexico

5. Alan Hudson, Bike Boss and West Coast Bikes, Owasso, OK, USA

6. Tyler Smith, Corsa Racewear, Fort Pierce, FL, USA

7. KJ Romero, Factory Answer, Rock Hill, SC, USA

8. Justin Riddell, J&R Bicycles/Speedco/Avian/Mega Design, North Fort Myers, FL, USA

ABA Futures Women

1. Addison "Addi" Thompson, BMX Sharks, Belgrade, MT, USA

2. Preslie "The Piston" Gould, Factory Answer, Henderson, NV, USA

3. Kate "V8" Sifford, BioLab-Syndyt, Waddell, AZ, USA

4. Danica Appenzeller, Factory Rift/Tangent, Albuquerque, NM, USA

5. Natalia "Flash" Kovacs, ACC, Red Oak, TX, USA

6. Taya Boecker, Factory SSquared, Ham Lake, MN, USA

7. Lily "Diamond Lil" Ashley, Factory Hyper Bike Co., Midlothian, TX, USA

8. Landon Burian, Factory Rift/Tangent, Fountain Hills, AZ, USA

ABA Futures Men

1. Marshall "Major" Gehrke, Hyper Bicycles/EVS/Aker Brand, Antioch, IL, USA

2. Tommy Bruney, Full Tilt / Rift, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

3. Lucas Zhou, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Surrey, BC, Canada

4. Austin Cornbill, Dangerboy, Campbell River, BC, Canada

5. Gaige "The Rage" Gomolicke, Factory Supercross, Ukiah, CA, USA

6. Evan "Easy E" Esposito, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Palm Springs, FL, USA

7. Aidan Ragle, Factory SSquared, Apple Valley, CA, USA

8. Brayan "Shine" Querales, Time2Shine, Alpharetta, GA, USA

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Sunday Results

Men Pro

1. Cameron "Cowboy" Wood, USA BMX Foundation, Phoenix, AZ, USA

2. Izaac Kennedy, Chase / Fly / Tioga / BRGstore.com, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

3. Joshua "Jumpin Josh" Jolly, Time BMX, Meybo, TLD, Box BMX, Cardigan, VIC, Australia

4. Gavin Stazetski, Factory Blackcrown BMX, Charleroi, PA, USA

5. Curtis Krey, Daylight/Hero, Etobicoke, ON, Canada

6. Deegan "Downtown" Brown, Supercross BMX, San Jose, CA, USA

7. Kamren Larsen, Factory Answer, Charlotte, NC, USA

8. Weston Meurlot, Carbon Cartel, New Smyrna Beach, FL, USA

Women Pro

1. Lauren Reynolds, Factory Answer, San Diego, CA, Australia

2. Payton "P-Nut" Ridenour, Chase / Razor / BRGstore.com, Tulsa, OK, USA

3. Alexis "AA" Alden, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Peachtree City, GA, USA

4. Daleny Vaughn, BioLab-DK, Tucson, AZ, USA

5. Lexis "Lightning" Colby, Supercross BMX, Surprise, AZ, USA

6. Ava "The Flava" Corley, Factory Rift/Tangent, La Mirada, CA, USA

7. Carly Kane, Huffy, Bell Helmets, Promax, Box Components, Harrison, OH, USA 

8. Molly Simpson, Daylight/Hero, Red Deer County, AB, Canada

Vet Pro

1. Jeff "Big Jeff" Upshaw, Driven Cycling Academy/Crupi, Nampa, ID, USA

2. Justin Riddell, J&R Bicycles/Speedco/Avian/Mega Design, North Fort Myers, FL, USA

3. Brandon Roharik, Standard Byke Co, Akron, OH, USA

4. Marty Wisehart, Shelbyville, KY, USA

5. Christopher "Doctor" Mireles, Prophecy America, Zapopan, JAL, Mexico

6. Barry (#95) Nobles, Chase / Fly / BRGstore.com, Sterrett, AL, USA

7. Alan Hudson, Bike Boss and West Coast Bikes, Owasso, OK, USA

8. Tyler Smith, Corsa Racewear, Fort Pierce, FL, USA

ABA Futures Women

1. Lily "Diamond Lil" Ashley, Factory Hyper Bike Co., Midlothian, TX, USA

2. Addison "Addi" Thompson, BMX Sharks, Belgrade, MT, USA

3. Preslie "The Piston" Gould, Factory Answer, Henderson, NV, USA

4. Landon Burian, Factory Rift/Tangent, Fountain Hills, AZ, USA

5. Kate "V8" Sifford, BioLab-Syndyt, Waddell, AZ, USA

6. Natalia "Flash" Kovacs, ACC, Red Oak, TX, USA

7. Kira Boustead, BAD/Machinebmxtraining, Fairfield, CA, USA

8. Payton Duffy, Factory Syndyt/LSG, Spruce Grove, AB, Canada

ABA Futures Men

1. Evan "Easy E" Esposito, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Palm Springs, FL, USA

2. Tommy Bruney, Full Tilt / Rift, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

3. Marshall "Major" Gehrke, Hyper Bicycles/EVS/Aker Brand, Antioch, IL, USA

4. Lucas Zhou, Albe's-Zeronine-Box, Surrey, BC, Canada

5. Zakary Kaiser, Factory Syndyt/LSG, Greely, ON, Canada

6. Austin Cornbill, Dangerboy, Campbell River, BC, Canada

7. Gaige "The Rage" Gomolicke, Factory Supercross, Ukiah, CA, USA

8. Dallen Brereton-Stiles, Factory Rift/Tangent, Coquitlam, BC, Canada