Date: Fri 09-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Ramsdell-BMX

Full Text:

Tommy and Trina Ramsdell/BMX Duo

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

A brand new school year is going to get started in just a few weeks, but for

Tommy and Trina Ramsdell of Pond Brook Road, school is just going to have to

wait. Kids across Newtown will be getting accustomed to their new classrooms

and new schedules, but for a few days in September, Tommy and Trina will be

getting accustomed to the track - and hopefully sailing across it - at the BMX

Grand Nationals in Kentucky.

Yep, the big race.

Tommy, 12, and Trina, 10, will be among several Newtown riders delaying their

schoolin' to race the motos and mains and find some way to become the best

rider - in their class - in the whole country.

Last year, Tommy finished 21st in one class and 19th in another.

" That wasn't too bad, " he said, " but this year I'm 32nd out of 70 riders in

12 Expert and 13th out of 21 riders in 12-13 Cruiser. I'm looking to do a lot

better than I did last year. Right now it looks like I might, but one day I

want to get up to National 1. "

Last year, Trina finished second in the nation out of eight riders.

" Everyone else fell, " said Trina, now ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in

the nation in her class, " well, except for me and one other girl. But I

slipped my pedal and the other girl got past me. "

This year . . .

" I'm going for No. 1, " she said. " I went from No. 3 to No. 2 and now I want

to be No. 1. "

Being the best in the state . . . the best in the country - lofty ambitions

indeed. Amazing, too, considering Tommy only started learning how to race

about five or six years ago and Trina only started three or four years ago.

In that respect, though, it helped the Ramsdells to have a neighbor like Troy

Simek, who started his BMX career and the ripe old age of two and quickly

became the best in whatever division he was riding.

It was Troy's deeds on the track that got Tommy involved and Tommy's deeds, in

turn, which got Trina involved.

Tommy remembered the time Troy brought him to a race.

" It looked like a lot of fun, " he said, " so I got a bike and went out and

did it. "

Trina remembered the first race she saw, too.

" At first, " she said, " I was scared of this one jump that went practically

straight down. I thought, no, I didn't want to do it. "

Now they are both in it . . . up to their knee pads and chin straps. Tommy and

Trina have been to New Jersey, Pittsburgh (the best, because of a nearby wave

pool that all the racers frequent), Ohio and Kentucky.

Trina has also been to Lake Michigan for the BMX Worlds and although she

didn't perform well enough in her motos to qualify for the main, she had fun

nonetheless. The Ramsdells - who both race for Performance Cycles in

Massachusetts and are locally sponsored, in part, by DDR Designs - have been

preparing for their Grand National with their weekly sojourns down to the BMX

track in Bethel, where a recent Nationals race was held.

Tommy finished sixth overall, a performance made even better by the fact that

he also beat the National No. 1 in the race. Trina, meanwhile, got a first and

a second on the first day of racing and a perfect (three firsts in a row) on

the second day.

Besides their weekly races in Bethel or Trumbull, the Ramsdells also will be

in Flemington, New Jersey, in a couple weeks for a Regional National tune-up

to the Grands.

But even when they aren't in Bethel or Trumbull or off somewhere competing,

you might find the Ramsdells down at the corner of Pond Brook Road and Hanover

Road, beneath the trees and beside the river, on a track that has been

constructed and reconstructed over the past six years.

It is a popular spot for the local riders - popular enough, too, that it's

acclaim has reached riders as far as New York . . . riders who actually made

the trip over to Newtown one day just to take some jumps.

When the Grand Nationals are over, there will be that big race in October and

maybe the indoor Nationals in Massachusetts this winter but in between it all

Tommy will return to the seventh grade at Newtown Middle School and Trina will

return to the fifth grade at St. Rose School.

And maybe one or both will be able to say that they finished first at the

Grand Nationals in Kentucky.

What a great way it would be to start a school year.