I am currently working on a more permanent racing schedule involving the US, and I can say that I am happy to be coming back to race very soon. But I had a quick five-hour tour of LA and spent some time at Venice Beach, which was really fun (above). I wanted to spend most of my time racing, so sightseeing was not high on the agenda. Outside of BMX events I became hooked on Taco Bell! I love those cheesy potato burritos. (Above: Kye at the 2016 USA BMX Great Northwest Nationals. I would like to thank team manager Scott Angus for this opportunity, and Kirk Morrison for his hospitality and spot under the J&R tent in Austin. A highlight at the Great Northwest Nationals was being asked to race for J&R Bicycles/Chase/Box for the weekend’s team sheet. I did a little better than that, finishing with three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes, three third-place finishes, one fourth-place and one fifth. I raced 15x and 15-16 open and the plan was to try and make every main.
After my first day of racing, I was awarded my own nickname- the “Dark Knight!” Some I heard were “Skittles,” “The Snake,” “Fireball,” “Wild Thing,” “Sugar Cookie,” “Slingshot,” “Ultra Violet,” “The Russian,” “Pistol Pete,” and more. The trophies, WOW! They are big, and I couldn’t believe one guy spends all day building trophies only to return the next day to build another mountain of them, I don’t want his job!Įveryone in America has a nickname, and it’s used by the BMX community everywhere. The tracks I rode were technical, but fast at the same time. In Australia we race the UCI format (three motos, total points) so we tend to do more laps on race day, but I really enjoyed the shorter transfer system, because it rewards your efforts, but the days are still really long. We needed help! Everyone we met was so helpful, maybe it was the way we spoke or the totally-confused look on our faces, but we were made to feel extremely welcome. The first thing that hit us in our USA BMX experience were the moto sheets. The atmosphere was amazing as everyone seemed to have a whole new level of passion for BMX Racing. It was my first trip to the USA to race and we had no idea what to expect. I raced the Lone Star Nationals in Texas and the Great Northwest Nationals in Oregon. We were out to experience new things and to see what it had to offer. “It’s sad, very sad.My dad and I recently traveled from Brisbane, Australia to race the USA BMX National Series. “Their board of directors didn’t want to be in California with the bad environment it has for manufacturing,” Coster said. The owners held out hope that the new owners would keep a presence in Redding. “It’s very important because when you spend much of your life developing a product line or brand, you don’t want it to go to China or down the tubes,” Stolz said. Stolz said he’s happy the Skyway name will carry on. Rein Stolz, 62, started working at Skyway 37 years ago and owned the company with Coster and Cremeans before they sold. The Indiana company makes solid urethane tires for the lawn and garden market and was looking at ways to enter the bike market. Coster said the deal was too good to pass on. “And the three of us, we wanted to make sure the Skyway name will be around for a long time.”Ĭustom Engineered Wheels’ offer to buy came “out of the blue” and after several visits with the company. “We’re not going to last forever, the owners,” the 61-year-old Coster said. Skyway had 14 employees but depending on demand for product, the operation in Redding employed as many as 80, Coster said. The machines were recently auctioned off, including to a company in Vietnam. The company employed multi-ton injection molding presses to make the wheels. “TUFF Wheels were always made in Redding and shipped all over the world,” Coster said, adding that many thought Skyway only housed its corporate offices in the North State. Under the terms of the deal, Custom Engineered Wheels will continue making Skyway-branded products like TUFF Wheels in the United States, said Ken Coster, Skyway’s former president who came to Redding in 1977 to work for the company.
The Indiana manufacturer also has plants in Mississippi and Mexico. Skyway employees have spent the past several weeks clearing out the Caterpillar Road plant and hope to have the job done by Wednesday.Ĭustom Engineered Wheels of Warsaw, Indiana, purchased Skyway in late March after first approaching the company in April 2016.
“But it means an opportunity to carry on more than it would have carried on in Redding.” “There’s a little bit of sadness because this was our whole life here,” said co-owner Parrey Cremeans, who started working at Skyway in 1979 as a mold operator after graduating from Enterprise High School. So the closure of its plant on Caterpillar Road after the sale of the company to a former customer and vendor in Indiana truly marks the end of an era.
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