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Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg of Hampton Bays won a pair of national titles at the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the week of Thanksgiving.
Eric Flagg with his wife Melissa after winning national BMX titles in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Eric Flagg has a knack for making big comebacks.
After a 15-year hiatus from motocross, the Hampton Bays resident made a successful return to the sport back in 2013 and placed third overall in the Vet B/C 30-plus division at the Red Bull AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships. Fast forward over eight years and Flagg, now 45, decided it was time to return to a sport he hadn’t competed in since he was a teenager, BMX racing.
Flagg found he’s still got it in that sport as well. Competing for the first time in over 30 years, Flagg entered the 2021 New York BMX Championships, held at Shoreham BMX in September, and he won his age group (41-45), qualifying for the 44th annual USA BMX Grands, one of the premier events for BMX in the world, held Thanksgiving week at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Flagg won not one, but two national titles, winning both the Race of Champions and Grands races in the 41-45 Novice division.
“It was very nice, very exciting, but also very nervous,” getting back on the bike, he said. “And that’s how I would explain what it was like being in Tulsa. Being new to the BMX world again, there’s a lot going on and it kind of puts you on the edge of your seat. Most of the trip, it was fun, but it was a lot.”
Flagg, a maintenance manager for the restaurant group that owns the Cowfish, Rumba and Flora properties, traveled to Tulsa with his wife, Melissa, and had a practice round to get acclimated to the track the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving, then he got right to competition on Thanksgiving Day. He won his ROC, or Race of Champions, race on Black Friday, then won his Grands title that following Sunday.
Flagg won every race he entered that week. He said it was the pandemic that actually got him back on a BMX bike.
“I found that if you want to do a lot of [motocross] racing and stuff you have to leave Long Island,” he explained. “I started training and practicing at BMX Shoreham — it’s like six bucks to do an open practice there every Thursday night, so I’m there religiously — and I saw that they were having some big races there, so I entered the state championships. After I won that, that kind of set me up going forward.
“My wife is in a good position where I can have fun with it and she backs me, as does my job,” Flagg added.
Flagg said after all of his success he will now make the jump from the novice to intermediate division, where he’ll be riding a much lighter and much faster bike. He plans on competing in more national events going forward.
“I’m very thankful for my wife, Melissa, and a big thanks to my entire family,” Flagg said.
