Napa’s Olympic star returns home
Robinson excited about future of local BMX racing
By Andy Wilcox
FOR THE WEEKLY CALISTOGAN
When he’s not competing around the country or the globe, Donny Robinson enjoys practicing at the North Bay BMX track in South Napa on a regular basis.
After all, he helped design the facility and its banked curves and numerous jumps.
When the track hosts a state championship qualifier with hundreds of riders and spectators, as it did Saturday, Robinson — who earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — especially likes to show his world-class skills.
After practicing in the morning and doing a Pro-Am race in the early afternoon, the 2001 Napa High graduate came back for a few more rides between motos, posing for photos and signing autographs.
“It pumps me up to ride better because we don’t see these people all the time,” he said. “We have races out here twice a week with local talent and it’s good fun. But when we have bigger races like this where you get more people from out of town, like the Stockton, Manteca and Roseville areas, it’s great. This is the first time I’ve been to this track for a big race like this since we rebuilt it, and I love seeing all these canopies and people we don’t see on a normal basis out here.
“I wish it could be like this every week. This track is fairly new and now that (out-of-towners) got the chance to come out and experience it, and know that they’re running a smooth race on a great track, I can’t imagine they won’t be coming back regularly.”
Robinson soaked up the adulation of young BMX racers. He likes the attention, especially if it helps BMX — which only made its Olympic debut last year — grow as a sport. He recently locked up an endorsement deal with Kicker Audio, and is featured on packages of the new Kicker EB141 Earbuds.
He also recently joined Olympic BMX silver medalist Mike Day in Chicago, which is bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, to help welcome the Olympics Evaluation Commission on a visit.
Robinson is looking forward to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
“Kyle Bennett,” he said of the first BMX rider chosen for the U.S. Olympic team, “was 29 in 2008 and he was the strongest rider. I’ll be 29 in 2012, and if I stay healthy I’ll definitely be trying to make a run of it. I had plenty of pressure from media and sponsors (last year) and I handled the racing and that pressure pretty good. But as a racer, I want the gold.
“Luckily we race the same dudes every year. As long as we stay in the mindset that it’s just another race, with the same competitors and same starting gates and the same track, you don’t have to get all caught up in the hype of the Olympics.”
Robinson said he’ll compete this coming weekend in the Summer Nationals PRO Series at Roseville’s Oak Creek BMX track, then head to South Jordan, Utah for the July 10-12 Great Salt Lake Nationals PRO Series race.
After taking a weekend off, he’ll head to South Australia for the UCI BMX World Championships, July 20-26 in Adelaide.
His globetrotting will resume Aug. 21-22 at Round 2 of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Round 3 will be Sept. 19-20 in Chula Vista. Robinson is the defending Supercross champion.