After a long and nail biting year, the ABA season has come to close for the final time. Joining the NBL as a sanctioning body of the past, with USA BMX taking over the duties of both historical organizations, claiming the last of the ABA branded titles was on every riders bucket list. Unfortunately, it takes more then wanting a Pro Title to walk away with one, it has to be earned.

As with any season the battles break down from dozens of Pro riders to a handful, and from those, the points leaders emerge to do head to head battles into the end of the year.

In AA Pro Redline’s Sam Willoughby and Speed’s Marc Willers battled their way to the front of the points early on. Sam would ride hard all year to defend his #1 title, while Marc had a fire under him to take it away. When push came to shove, both riders made the main, but it would be Willers who would ultimately take the insurmountable points lead after Willoughby crashed in the third Pro main. Further establishing himself as what Mike Redman calls the “Fastest rider on the planet”, he will be the last AA Pro to hold the ABA title, but don’t expect him to stop there, we are pretty sure having the first ever USA BMX title will be high on his list for 2012.

In Girls Pro the fight to be number one started off strong with several ladies in the running, but injuries would soon plague the class, taking many of the top contenders out of the running. Not to let DFR’s Dominique Daniels have an unchallenged run at the title, Haro’s Brooke Crain stepped up and clawed her way up the points ladder until she was neck and neck with the defending champion. For these two the points were so close, one lap would decide it all, and with a crash in their final main the suspense couldn’t have been higher. First to her feet, Dominique got the jump on Brooke and while she crossed the line in seventh, her finish ahead of Brooke was all she needed to lock in the title.

For the Vet Pros a lot has changed in the 2011 season with many top AA Pro riders making the move up to class. Two of the most recognizable riders to do this were Dan’s Comp’s Matt Pohlkamp and SE’s Javier Colombo. Taking the class by storm, these two ran away with the point, unchallenged for most of the season by the defending title holder Kenth Fallen, racing for Supercross BMX, who had taken the year to focus on coaching riders for the Olympic team. This opened up the points gap so far, Javier and Matt ruled the roost, trading up wins all year. The resulting points were so close, Pohlkamp won the title and didn’t even know it. While Javier won the battle, winning two of the three Pro mains, emerging the victor for the day, Pohlkamp won the war, taking the title win.

For the full event coverage be sure to check the March 2012 issue of the magazine.