Nick St.Lawrence

2004 NBL National #18 Superclass
2003 NBL National #4 18-20 Expert
2002 NBL National #9 18-20 Expert
2001 NBL National #1 17 Expert!
2000 NBL National #3 16 Expert

Elite Open 2004 NBL East Coast National

2002 NBL Christmas Classic, double perfect 18-20 Expert
Check out www.idcbmx.com

2001 Yankee National - 1st 16 & Over Open

Photo Credit - J Morgan www.njbmx.org

Nick St. Lawrence, day 2 18-20X Main Event winner NBL 2003 South Park National!

Nick at the South Park National 2001, where he won 17X both days, picking up two
perfects towards his national title.

St. Lawrence wins 2^nd U.S. BMX title

Warwick’s Nicholas St. Lawrence, a senior at Toll Gate High School, is a national champion for the second time.

Lawrence won the National bicycle League’s Grand National BMX Racing Championship in the age 17 expert,
20-inch-wheel division at Louisville, KY, which ended last Sunday on the quarter-mile course at Tom Sawyer Park.

The 5-foot-7, 140 pound BMX racer actually came in second in the main event championship race but he’s already
amassed enough points during the BMX series of races over the summer and in five of the previous championship
trial races at Louisville on Saturday and Sunday to place first overall by 11 points.

Still he remained extra cautious in all the races because “one slip, and I could have lost the title.”

This was in fact a four-month competitive ordeal, for he’d traveled from Las Vegas to Milton, Ontario to Rotterdam, NY
and Pittsburgh, PA and a few places in between to pursue the quest for his second racing title. By winning in Pittsburgh
and in Rotterdam, and by placing in the top three in all the other races, he had earned enough points (second nationally) to
put him in excellent position to compete for the title.

His other championship four years ago also was in Louisville but in the under-13, 24-inch-wheel division.

“This was the best racing weekend in my entire career,” he said of the championship, which included 70 of the nation’s
top-ranked racers, including eventual runner-up and defending champion, Tim Townshend of New York.

St. Lawrence road a black S&M Challenger Bicycle made of 41-30 chromoly, a strong metal alloy.

Racing since age 4, he has trained in Johnston, Wakefield, Mass, and Torrington, Conn.

During the past winter and off-season, he prepared harder than ever without a bike.

“Training with weights was the biggest reason for my success this year,” he said of his frequent workouts at World’s Gym
in Warwick.

As the weather got warmer, he rode with “my only training partners” three Toll Gate graduates – Chris Valois, 22,
David Bedford, 27 and Shawn DiPrete, 29, a professional rider. Each also attended the championships in Kentucky to cheer
on St. Lawrence.

Also on hand was his father, George Finch, whose support has been unwavering during his 14-year BMX racing career, as been
the support of his mother, Lori St. Lawrence.

Impressive as his racing has been, St. Lawrence has a longer and more impressive streak at school: He’s been an honor roll
student for five straight years. He’s eagerly looking forward to majoring in business management in college, perhaps at either
the University of Connecticut or URI.

“I consider myself a pro now,” he said, being no longer to race as an amateur after this race. Hoping to continue his relationship
with his current sponsor, Bizzarro Racing, of Mashpee, Mass, as a pro, he’ll probably need more sponsors for the costlier BMX
pro circuit.

He warns there’s another aspect of racing that would-be riders should be prepared for, “I’ve had millions of scrape and cuts and
bruises, a few broken bones and swelled up knees.”

On the other hand, there other rewards, too.

“You have to keep practicing,” he advises anyone who aspires to be a championship racer. “Though everyone says that training
is the only way to be a champion, self-confidence helps a lot, too.”

Story by Russ Waterman, "The Providence Journal"

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