Lane 8 BMX Podcast

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Holly Dunn is originally from Colorado. She started racing around 1982. Her Brother chad raced and she soon followed. Her first race was at Boothill BMX. 

Soon after she started racing her family moved to Arizona. Moving to AZ really kicked off her racing. The first team she rode for was Bike Barn. Dunn says she raced the boys most times. She says it was normal for her and her brother to hit three local races each day on weekends.  Dunn says hitting the national circuit soon followed. 

Her first factory team that sent all over the country was called ESP. Literally Dunn says she hit every race she could. The one thing she told she never worried about was burn out. Leaving ESP she went to Pedal Power for a short stint and eventually landed on the all girl team Titan. 

Eventually Dunn walked away from BMX. Before coming back in 2015 she would have two kids with freestyle legend Jim Burgess and living a bit of life. By 2018 Dunn said she enough is enough and moved on from BMX again. But like I say "Once BMX is in your blood it's hard to stay away." Dunn is back racing again on a part time bases. She even qualified for worlds this year. 

In this interview we also touch on her friendship with Robert Raymonde, losing Burgess, and her desire to continue racing. 

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Colin Stiles is one of the most colorful people in BMX. He's well known for the Transit videos series which I would think most of you world wide enjoyed. If I look in one of my bins in the garage I can guarantee you I would find probably two or three Transit videos. 

Stiles is the man behind "Stile Industries" with the cool t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts. He also has a long history of running BMX clinics all over the country. 

What you may not know is that Colin is a former A Pro and Vet Pro racer from right here in the Sunshine State. 

Colin has his own opinions about BMX and what I like about him is that no matter if his opinions are right or wrong he stands by them. 

This interview I really enjoyed and it's quite lengthy so I'll do this in two parts. Enjoy. 

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Colin Stiles is one of the most colorful people in BMX. He's well known for the Transit videos series which I would think most of you world wide enjoyed. If I look in one of my bins in the garage I can guarantee you I would find probably two or three Transit videos. 

Stiles is the man behind "Stile Industries" with the cool t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts. He also has a long history of running BMX clinics all over the country. 

What you may not know is that Colin is a former A Pro and Vet Pro racer from right here in the Sunshine State. 

Colin has his own opinions about BMX and what I like about him is that no matter if his opinions are right or wrong he stands by them. 

This interview I really enjoyed and it's quite lengthy so I'll do this in two parts. Enjoy. 

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Anthony Cox is originally from Australia. His first move to Japan was in 1992. Before he even flew over he studied the language for four years. He stayed for four years and went back home. He says it took him till 2008 to return to Japan and live for good. Cox says he simply feels more comfortable living in Japan. He says his values are more in line with the culture. 

Cox says the BMX community in Japan is relatively small. He says there's about twelve racing tracks throughout the entire country. Cox says surprisingly there are no tracks in Tokyo. He says the racing is growing quickly. Local races at one time would bring in around a hundred riders and now he says the number is up to three-hundred. 

Here's something you may have not known, Cox is the sole importer and distributor for Redline bikes in Japan. Alfonso Giganti, that's right, "Papa G," is helping with that situation. 

Cox returned to racing after thirty-five years in 2020. In 2023 he finished 2nd in the 30 and over division. He's planning to better that standing in 2024.

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I think it would be ok to say that Matthew Pohlkamp is a jack of all trades or rather a renaissance man. He went from having a great BMX career to becoming an established actor in Hollywood. 

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio he began his racing career at 11 years old. His dad bought him a Huffy bike from a grocery store. The first track he hit was River Star BMX. Pohlkamp got second in his first race. By the next year he was racing state races. When he turned expert by his own admission Pohlkamp says he got waxed. Hard work saw him eventually get picked up by the iconic brand S&M. Throughout his career he would ride for companies like DK, twice, Schwinn, Kuwahara, to Dan's Comp. Before his career ended Pohlkamp would race in the XGames and become a world champion. 

Pohlkamp got the acting bug after a friend encouraged him to take an acting class. From that day he's never looked back. He's done commercials, movies, and he recently finished work on the show "Grey's Anatomy." The episode is expected to run in April of this year. So, when I first said Pohlkamp is a jack of all trades I wasn't joking.  

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Tom Johnson calls Palm Coast, Florida home. Daytona BMX is his home track. At Grands in 2023 Johnson accomplished one out of two goals that season. He came away from the greatest race on earth as NAG #1 in the 56 and over class. He skillfully made it happen even after suffering a horrific crash that left him with broken ribs and blood clots weeks before Grands. He believes the rest he was forced to take actually helped him in Tulsa. I can't argue with that statement. 

Johnson says he started racing in 1981 at the age of thirteen in Connecticut. Johnson says he wasn't a natural at the sport but hard work pays off. He says he raced up down the coast from Connecticut to New York, New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Johnson would eventually stop racing in 1985. He would join a band and play guitar. Before he jumped back into the sport he would get married and have kids. In the 90's he would get back on the bike and eventually turn pro. Yes, he turned pro for SE Racing at the tender age of 30 years old. 

Johnson would eventually reclassify. A year out of the sport meant he would ride his bike but no racing. Around this time he moved to Florida and his racing would kick in. This guy has raced for some really cool teams like Standard, Yess, and now SSquared. 

This season Johnson is focused on one goal and that is two #1 plates at the end of Grands. I believe he's going to get what he's striving for. 

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August 11th 2022 Connor Fields announces he's retiring from BMX. He says it was a difficult decision to make. He says literally his career ended on a body board. He suffered a traumatic head injury during the Tokyo Olympics from a crash. Connor told me it's not the way he envisioned the way his career would end. He said there was a moment he considered coming back for one more race. In the end he decided the good didn't outweigh the bad. So, Connor decided it was time to move on with life. 

The three time Olympian says he learned multiple life lessons from sport. He says he's able to use those lessons in his daily life now. A few of those traits he uses daily are discipline and focus. 

At the moment he's working as the host of "Outdoor Nevada." The show is on the PBS station in Nevada. He says it covers various topics like a waterfalls, old abandon ghost towns to mountain biking . Connor says they shoot for a three month period all over the great state of Nevada. He also is working as an agent, doing some public speaking and coaching. On an elite level he's working with young pro Joey Leto. 

Connor says BMX came naturally to him. He won Grands in his first year. He says he was all skill till 18-19 years old. He then was able to build that power to balance things out. As an amateur he won two NAG titles plus a NAG title in cruiser. Before he even turned pro he won a World Cup at 16 years old. 

At the moment Fields says his sponsors, Chase Bicycles to Monster Energy drink continue to support him. Plus he's still working out to stay fit.  

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Jason Donnell is one of the most impressive racers in the history of BMX. It's rare to say someone was talented at BMX from jump street but he was.  Donnell's career spanned more than two decades. He raced on some iconic teams like GT, GHP, Redline and CW to name a few.  

In this episode of the "Lane 8 BMX Podcast" Donnell and I talk about the beginning of his career, the travel to burnout several times that nearly ended his career. 

These days he's helping his two boys with their cart racing, riding a mountain bike and simply enjoying life. 

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Christopher Diaz has been racing for a long time. He started racing in the 7th grade in New Jersey 1989. His first race he got second. He loved it he says. Diaz raced mostly local and state races with the occasional national.He says at the time he was more power than skill. One of his favorites races from back then was the NBL's Christmas Classic. Diaz says he eventually turned expert at seventeen. He admits for a while he did sandbag for a season. He wanted to get his state number one. Diaz says the transition to expert was difficult. 

financially Diaz says he couldn't get to many nationals. Things began to change when he started working for TNT. He says working at TNT was his best and worst job. Eventually the owner of TNT put him on the factory team. This allowed him to race two and a half full seasons of nationals. Then one day he called it quits. He says racing began feeling like a job. 

So, he moved to Arkansas with his wife at the time and didn't think about. But as the saying goes, "Once a racer always a racer." He started racing again and eventually moved back to Jersey.  He eventually began racing for TNT Bicycles and that's where he's been ever since. 

Now he's living in Colorado with his fiancé Susie Levan and his mom. Yes, he's still racing. 

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Tracer Finn started his racing career in 1975 with his older brother Mike. His first assigned number was #480. Finn and his brother would race on a regular basis at Desert Surf and Williams Raceway back in the day. He says he wasn't very good when he started. His first sponsor was his dad. His first idol was a racer by the name of Sam Meek. 

Finn started lighting up the tracks around Nevada. At one point he was ranked #2 rider in the nation for the now defunct NBA. At the same time he was ranked #1 in Nevada in 16 and over expert. With this kind of stature his good friend Mike Miranda put in a good word for him to get on the famous CW racing team. He was always known for his jumping skills. Finn had many "Hot Shot" features in BMX Action. 

Finn turned pro in 1983 but was already working in show business which is the family business as a lighting expert. For a while he promoted and ran mountain bike races, Police athletic league events, and even owned a bike shop. 

For four years Finn was the team manager for specialized. He says working with riders during the X Games gave him a chance to live his childhood all over again. 

Today Finn continues to work in show business. Plus, he's in the National BMX Hall of Fame.