Kyle Bennett

Cyclist infobox
ridername = Kyle Bennett


fullname = Kyle Bennett
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age |1979|9|25
height = 1.83m (6'0 Imperial)
weight = 77.11kg (170lbs. Imperial)
country = USA
currentteam = Free Agent BMX, UGP
discipline = Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
role = Racer
ridertype = Off Road
protourrank =
europetourrank =
amateuryears = 1991
1992-?
1994
1995-?
amateurteams = S&S Racing
R&C Racing
ODi
S&M Bicycles
proyears = 2000
2000-2003
2003-Present
proteams = OPRP/Standard Bykes
Nirve Sports
Free Agent BMX
majorwins =
updated = September 10, 2008 Kyle Bennett (born September 25, 1979 in Conroe, Texas U.S.) is an American professional "New/Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer and Dirt Jumper whose prime competitive years are from 1999 to the present. He has the moniker "Butter" for his smooth riding style. [ [http://www.bmxpros.com/kyleb.htm BMXpros.com bio] ] On May 10, 2008 he won a automatic spot on the very first US BMX Olympic team, a sport that is making its debut in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He made it into the finals and finishing sixth of the UCI World Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark after becoming the winner of USA Cycling's year long series of races as the highest ranking American. [ [http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/05/10/1480220-bmx-racer-kyle-bennett-clinches-us-olympic-berth newsvine.com May 10, 2008 article.] ] and becoming the first member of the BMX Olympic team. Jill Kintner became the second member of the team on June 2, 2008; Mike Day the third member on June 15, 2008; and Donny Robinson the fourth chosen on June 25, 2008. On August 22, 2008 Bennett's Olympic dream came up short and he didn't win a medal. Racing with a reset dislocated shoulder as a result of a Quarter Final crash two days prior, he came in sixth place in his Semi Finals and thusly did not qualify for the Medal Round. His teamates fared better. Jill Kintner won the Bronze, making her the first American and third person over all to win an Olympic medal in BMX due in part that the women's Final was run before the men. Mike Day became the second American (fifth person Overall) and highest ranking American with his winning the Silver medal; and Donny Robinson the third (sixth person overall) with his winning of the Bronze medal.

Racing career

Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.

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*In the NBL it was/is "B" Pro/Super Class/"A" Pro/Junior Men depending on the era; in the ABA it is "A" Pro.
**In the NBL it was/is "A" Pro/All Pros/Pro Class/"AA" Pro/Elite Men depending on the era; in the ABA it is "AA" Pro.

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

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Amateur/Junior Men

*S&S Racing (bicycle shop): April 1991- The ABA Heartland National in on May 11, 1991 was the first race with this sponsor and this was Kyle's first sponsor for months
*R&C Racing: 1992-
*ODi: 1994
*S&M (Greg "S"cott & Chris "M"oeller ["BMX Plus!" September 1989 Vol.12 No.9 pg.49] ) Bicycles: December 1995-

Professional/Elite Men

*ORP/Standard Bykes: -Late November 2000.
*Nirve Sports: Late November 2000-December 2003
*Free Agent BMX: Mid December 2003 [ [http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/dec03/dec23news December 2003 Cycling News Article; at bottom in "BMX contract News".] ] -Present

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in "italics". "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles.

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Amateur/Junior Men

National Bicycle Association (NBA)
*None (defunct)National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
*None (defunct)Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
*None International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
*None Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

*See note in professional section.

Professional/Elite Men

National Bicycle Association (NBA)
*None (defunct)National Bicycle League (NBL)
*2004 Elite Men Grandnational Champion
*"2002, 2004 & 2007 National No.1 Pro"American Bicycle Association (ABA)

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
*None (defunct)International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
*None (defunct)Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
*None (defunct. FIAC did not have a strictly professional division during its existence).Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
*"2002, 2003 & 2007 20" Elite Men World Champion"
*"2003 Intercontinental Pro Shootout Invitational Champion". [ [http://www.bmxultra.com/news/2003/news07.htm BMXultra.com news page] ]

*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1997 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.

USA Cycling
*"2008 Elite Men National Champion"
*On May 10, 2008 Kyle Bennett became the first member on the US BMX Olympic Team for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. He earned this first automatic spot when made the finals of the UCI World Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark on that date. He won USA Cycling circut's year long points race with that finish. [ [http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/05/10/1480220-bmx-racer-kyle-bennett-clinches-us-olympic-berth newsvine.com May 10, 2008 article.] ] Later Bennett would be joined on the Olympic squad by Jill Kintner, who won her spot when she came in sixth at the UCI World Championships in Elite Women on June 2, 2008 and Mike Day, who earned the last automatic spot when he won the Team Trial event held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California on June 14, 2008. The fourth member, Donny Robinson, earned his spot by being appointed to the team on the Team's coach former BMX and Mountain Bike racing pro Mike King discretion on June 25, 2008 on the strength of his second place finish behind Day and his performances on the NBL and UCI circuits.
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
:"Games of the XXIX Olympiad (2008 Summer Olympics)":USA BMX Teamates: Mike Day, Donny Robinson, Jill Kintner:Discipline: Men's BMX:Location: Laoshan BMX Field Beijing, China:Number of competitors: 32:Positions::"Event Results Wednesday August 20":"Men's First Seeding Run‡:" 36.491secs:"Men's Second Seeding Run:" 36.421secs:"Seconds behind leader:" +0.729 (12th place) :"Seeding Run leader:" Mike Day USA:Bennett advances to Quaterfinals:"Men's Quarter Finals (Overall after three motos Run 2):" Eighth place Qualifies for Semi Final†.:"Event Results Thursday August 21":Postponed due to rain. Rescheduled.:"Event Results Friday August 22":"Men's Semi Finals (Overall after three motos Run 1):" Sixth place. Did not qualify.:"Semi Final winner (Run 1):" Mike Day USA:"Men's Final (Medal Round; one run of Main):" Bennett did not qualify.:"Bronze medal winner:" Donny Robinson USA:"Silver medal winner:" Mike Day USA:"Gold medal winner:" Māris Štrombergs LAT

:‡ [http://www.nbcolympics.com/cycling/resultsandschedules/rsc=CBM001900/index.html Time Trial data from nbcolympics.com] :† [http://www.nbcolympics.com/cycling/resultsandschedules/rsc=CBM001300/index.html Quarter Finals data from nbcolympics.com] :* [http://www.nbcolympics.com/cycling/resultsandschedules/rsc=CBM001200/index.html Semi Finals data from nbcolympics.com] :** [http://www.nbcolympics.com/cycling/resultsandschedules/rsc=CBM001100/index.html Final (Medal round) data from nbcolympics.com]

Independent Pro Series Championships and invitationals

ignificant injuries

*Suffered a broken collarbone on the step down jump going into the first turn at the ABA Lancaster National in Lancaster, California on May 31, 2003. He was laid up for five weeks. [ [http://www.bmxonline.com/bmx/interviews/article/0,15737,456263,00.html June 3, 2003 bmxonline article.] ]
*Suffered a knee injury in October 2006 and had knee reconstructive surgery on a torn ACL in December 2006. [ [http://www.worldbboyer.com/BMX%20NEWS.htm WorldBoyer.com News section] ] His first race back was the NBL Gator Nationals in Sarasota, Florida on March 31, 2007. [ [http://www.daleholmes.com/ Daleholmes.com News blog for April 3, 2007.] ]

Racing Habits and Traits

Miscellaneous and trivia

*Kyle Bennett is the stepson of BMX pro racer John Purse. [ [http://www.gork-graphics.com/Pro-KyleBennett.htm gork-graphics.com Kyle Bennett page. Note: This page states that Kyle Bennett raced A pro in 1998. This is incorrect. The author of the page may be confusing Kyle Bennett and Kyle Bennit, an AA pro at the time.] ] This makes them technically the only father-son combination to win racing titles in BMX, professional or amateur. They both held the NBL National No. 1 pro title. Bennett won in 2002, 2004 and 2007; Purse won in 1995 and 1996. They also both won UCI Elite Men World Championships Purse in 1997 and Bennett in 2002, 2004 and 2007. When Purse was an up and coming pro and Bennet was an amateur at the beginning of his career, they were on the same team; S&S racing in 1991. It was a bicycle shop team.

BMX magazine covers

Note: (defunct) denotes that the magazine was out of business before the career of the racer started.

----"Bicycle Motocross News:"
*None (defunct)"Minicycle/BMX Action" & "Super BMX:"
*None"Bicycle Motocross Action" & "Go:"
*None"BMX Plus!:"

"Total BMX"
*None (defunct)"Bicycles and Dirt:"
*None (defunct)"Snap BMX Magazine" & "Transworld BMX:"

"Twenty BMX:"

"Moto Mag:"
*September/October 2002 Vol.1 No.2 in front of Warwick Stevenson.

"BMX World:"
*December 2005/January 2006 Vol.1 No.1 Premier issue."NBA World" & "NBmxA World" (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication):

"Bicycles Today" & "BMX Today" (The official NBL membership publication under two names):

"ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer" (The official ABA membership publication under three names):

"USBA Racer" (The official USBA membership publication):

BMX and general press magazine interviews and articles

End Notes

External links

* [http://www.ababmx.com/ The American Bicycle Association (ABA) Website.]
* [http://www.nbl.org/ The National Bicycle League (NBL) Website.]
* [http://www.bmxonline.com/bmx/interviews/article/0,15737,381624,00.html Brief BMXOnline.com December 1, 2000 interview with Kyle Bennet]
* [http://expn.go.com/athletes/bios/BENNETT_KYLE.html EXPN athlete bio.]
* [http://www.bmxmania.com/kyleb.htm October 1, 2004 BMXmania.com interview.]