As the U.S. East Coast’s first Olympic-caliber BMX track, Novant Health BMX in Rock Hill, SC offers national and world-level BMX racing events, with clear voice paging and high-quality music reinforcement delivered by a system headed by Community Professional R SERIES loudspeakers.
During the planning stages, the city of Rock Hill contacted Butch Bailey and Keith Ludlam of B&K Pro Audio and Lighting to design an audio system to cover the venue, which extends over several acres.
B&K chose R SERIES loudspeakers powered by Ashly KLR amplifiers, and managed by an Ashly Audio Protea digital processor. The system also incorporates a Behringer Ultra-Zone mixer, a TASCAM CD player and Audio Technica 3000 Series wireless microphone systems.
B&K installed the loudspeakers on the track’s welcome sign and in other supporting locations. They aimed a pair of Community R.5 loudspeakers at the BMX track, a second pair at the pump track and a single R.5 at the starting ramp, and added a pair of higher-power R2-94 loudspeakers to cover the bleachers along with a single R2-77 for a large overflow area. Announcements are made from the starting ramp, although the city plans to add an announcement booth on the bleachers.
Novant Health BMX celebrated its grand opening in late August, and Bailey says the new audio system exceeded the city’s expectations. The Rock Hill Herald reported that the event attracted an enthusiastic crowd of about 2,000 people, including seven top professional racers and a three-time national champion.
In 2015, Novant will host the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup Finals. This race will serve as the main qualification event for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The track has both an amateur and an elite supercross start hill as well as a pump track and offers amateur events and training. These features are expected to help Novant attract a large sports-tourism crowd.