Mike Day had plenty of support

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Mike Day acknowledged he spent much of the last week calling friends and family members, asking them to come out and support him at Saturday’s Olympic BMX trials. And more than 100 of them did, and many of them pulled on bright yellow Mike Day Fan Club T-shirts designed by fellow BMX rider Jill Kintner, the only U.S. female rider who will compete in Beijing.

And that support was rewarded with a dominating victory.

“We are so excited and so proud of him,” said Day’s aunt, Andrea Mathews, who drove down from Solvang, Calif. “I knew Mike would win it. He just rode like the wind today. He’s an awesome rider.”

Day also drew fans from among the resident athletes at the Olympic Training Center. One of them was Trevell Quinley, a hopeful for the U.S. long jump team who convinced his fellow jumpers to move Saturday afternoon’s scheduled competition to Friday night so they could come cheer Day in his trials.

“We’re good friends and we decided to come out and support him,” said Quinley, who won Friday’s event with a jump of 26 feet 9 inches – with some help from Day and one of his corporate sponsors.

“Mikey gave me a Red Bull yesterday before my competition and that helped me,” he said of the energy drink.

Quinley was among a dozen Olympic hopefuls who lined the track near the starting gate, each wearing a yellow Day T-shirt.

“We both have the same goal,” he said. “That’s the cool thing about the Olympic Training Center. You get to know people that are in other sports. A lot of the BMX riders came out and supported us last night. That was nice. So this is like tit for tat.”

Call me in the morning

Day, who cut his BMX teeth riding the tracks of Santa Clarita with his two brothers, turned pro six years ago while still enrolled at Valencia High. But he said his fellow students confused BMX racing with the freestyle events made popular during the X Games.

“I would say ‘No, I race. I try to go fast and go around the track,’ ” Day said.

Which is exactly what he did Saturday.

But even after clinching an automatic berth on the Olympic team, the accomplishment still hadn’t set in.

Asked how he felt about the honor, Day smiled and shook his head.

“Call me tomorrow morning and I’ll give you an answer,” he said.

Two hours later Day ate a late lunch with friends in the athletes’ cafeteria at the Training Center, his Olympic jersey still tied around his neck.

Not Cisar’s day

Saturday’s victory was somewhat bittersweet for Day because his friend, training partner and roommate Steve Cisar saw his hopes for a trip to Beijing dashed on the first “moto,” or heat.

Cisar, of Altadena, considered something of a darkhorse for the Olympic team, was second-quickest in the opening time trial Saturday and was out fast in the first heat when he overshot a jump on the second straightaway and landed hard. He remained prone on the track long after the heat finished. Two trainers came to his aid and eventually helped him from the track. Cisar placed fourth in the next heat and finished fifth in the competition with six points

“He said he didn’t remember the crash,” Day said later. “So he must have hit his head pretty good.”

Tough break

The USOC’s state-of-the-art Beijing-replica track at Chula Vista claimed its first victim before the trials even began when Bubba Harris of Goodyear, Ariz., broke his right foot during a spill on the second straightaway in one of the final practice sessions Thursday.

Harris, a provisional selection to the trials field, originally thought he had suffered a bad sprain, but doctors diagnosed it as a break Friday, dashing his hopes to make the first Olympic BMX team.

“It’s just one of those things,” Harris said. “I was ready for this race. It’s anybody’s race. I would have been one of those guys. [But] it is what it is. I’ll be back. This is the first Olympic BMX race, but it’s not the last race. I’ll be back.”

A world champion in 2005, Harris was hobbling around the trials venue Saturday morning in a walking cast. He missed much of the last two seasons because of injury, including a dislocation of his left foot and ankle last summer that nearly ended his career. But Harris rebounded to finish fourth in the Madrid supercross event in February, earning a place on the Long Team and an invitation to the trials.

“This is a way easier break than last time. I’ll be all right,” said Harris, who is expected to be ready to race again by August.

A good sign

A number of riders, including Kintner and top U.S. men’s rider Kyle Bennett, who secured his Olympic berth a month ago, followed Saturday’s competition by gathering behind a table set up on an adjoining soccer field to sign autographs.

Among those waiting patiently beneath an unforgiving sun were 6-year-old Shane Anderson and his 8-year-old brother, Gavin, both of Chandler, Ariz. The boys are nearing the end of a tour of California BMX tracks.

“We’re a BMX family,” the boys’ mother, Amy, explained.

The brothers were hoping to get Bennett’s signature, the only one they were missing.

“Sure it’s worth it,” their mother said. “Because it’s a historic event.”

Worth watching

A 90-minute taped version of Saturday’s trials will be shown on MSNBC this morning beginning at 9.

 kevin.baxter@latimes.com