Eric Flagg Makes Jump to Higher Division, Places Fifth at USA BMX Grands

After winning a pair of national titles in the 41-45 Novice division at the USA BMX Grands — competing in the sport for the first time in over 30 years — Eric Flagg said he was going to take a step up and join the more competitive ranks in 2022.

The 1995 Hampton Bays High School graduate and now Flanders resident did just that, entering competition all over the country in the 46-50 Intermediate Division, and even with the jump in competition, Flagg returned to USA BMX Grands held once again Thanksgiving week at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While he didn’t return home to the East End with national titles, Flagg placed a highly respectable fifth, with a goal to build upon in the coming year.

“A little bittersweet,” Flagg said of his performance at Nationals this past year. “I went to Oklahoma last year and made the Race of Champions at Grands. I had won a bunch of qualifiers and heat races that I had to go through to get there this year, but I didn’t get a good start in my final race. I was in third, then fourth, and I got shuffled back to fifth, but I was there.

“I am motivated to start doing races all over the country,” he added. “I’ll be driving to races that are drivable and flying to individual races as well.”

Just like he had done in 2021, Flagg repeated as New York State Champion this past year this time in the 46-50 Intermediate Division, at Horseheads BMX in upstate Horseheads, New York, this past September, which solidified his trip to nationals.

And it was another qualifying process just to get to finals when he got to Oklahoma.

Over the course of four days, from November 23-27, Flagg started in a group of about 60 riders that were eventually dwindled down to eight through multiple qualifying rounds.

Flagg said the frustrating part about nationals is that he won so many qualifiers leading up to the finals.

“I won my qualifiers by a good amount, but they must have been slower qualifiers. And this may be a minor thing, but the track this year was shorter than it was last year,” he explained. “The straightaway last year was a bit longer, so you’ve got to separate yourself coming into the first corner. This year it was considerably shorter, so I think that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t do as well. I was also on the outside gate a lot. I would consistently be put seven and eight and that puts you at a little bit of a disadvantage as well. But the gate pick is random. They just tell you where to go.

“But I have definitely put the work in,” Flagg added. “As an athlete, I just want more.”

A maintenance manager for the restaurant group Rooted Hospitality Group, which owns the Cowfish, Fauna, Flora, Rhum and Rumba restaurant properties, Flagg is always on the lookout for potential sponsorship opportunities, which his employer does thankfully, he said. Flagg is also sponsored by J&R Bicycles out of Largo, Florida, but he’s hoping that some of his hometown businesses would be willing to help him out as he starts traveling all over the country and twice to Canada in a bid to return to Grands Thanksgiving week 2023.

Flagg can be found at StrongMX39 on Instagram.