The sport of BMX racing is enjoying a resurgence in the Nicola Valley — thanks in no small part to the success of a quartet of young pedal-pounders.
Merritt’s Luke Sowpal, Blake Klassen and brothers Corbin and Jaxsin Vaughan are all heavily into the sport that had its birth in California in the late ’70s and was officially introduced as an Olympic event in 2008.
The four boys recently returned from the Northern Lights BMX Nationals in Prince George, where they were competing with over 1,000 other racers from as far away as Ontario, Arizona and California.
The Merritt foursome did extremely well in PG, with each racer picking up multiple top-three finishes in their respective age groups and divisions.
Sowpal, the veteran of the group at age seven, picked up three second-place awards in the expert class.
“He’s had a love of bikes right from the get-go,” Luke’s father, Mike, said. “He was off training wheels at the age of two.”
The young Sowpal began actual BMX racing at the tender age of four.
Corbin Vaughan takes the lead. Photos submitted and courtesy of Lee Cejalvo and Justin Terwiel Photography
“He had seen pictures of me when I raced and kept bugging me to take him to the track,” Luke’s dad said. “When he saw the kids with number plates on their bikes, he immediately wanted to get one for his bike and begin racing.
“We went and tried once, and once very quickly turned into three to four times a week.”
Sowpal joined the Kamloops BMX club a couple of years ago and has never looked back. The sport has taken him all over B.C., into Washington and Oregon, and even as far as Vegas and Reno.
Next up for Sowpal will be a major competition in Richland, Wash. on the Sept. 14 weekend, followed by the Canadian Grand Nationals in Chilliwack at Thanksgiving.
“Luke is currently ranked number two in Canada,” his dad said.
It was Sowpal’s participation in BMX racing that brought the Vaughan twins on board. Their dads have been friends since elementary school.
Jaxsin Vaughan gets some air. Photo courtesy of Justin Terwiel Photography
“We went to see Luke race once when we were down at the Coast, and both boys immediately wanted to get involved,” said the brothers’ mom, Chelsea.
This is the Vaughans’ second season in the sport. They’ve enjoyed considerable success in a short period of time. Both have attained expert status already, and are amongst the best in their eight-year-old age class.
In Prince George, Jaxsin and Corbin finished one-two in Friday’s opening race. Saturday and Sunday, Corbin finished second and Jaxsin third each time. The only racer to beat them was Kaden ‘Bam Bam’ Lewis from Kingman, Arizona.
“The boys are getting more and more interested in the sport,” their mom said. “They’re having to work hard to get their placings. They like the challenge.”
The Vaughans were in Reno on this Labour Day weekend, racing at a big USA BMX Nationals. The results were not available prior to press time.
“The competition down there is really tough,” Vaughan said the day before their departure. “Often there are 30 or more in a class, and the racers have to do heats, quarters, semis and finals.”
Vaughan said that her boys like meeting all the kids from other places as much as they love the racing.
Both Vaughan boys are sponsored by Canadian Bike Supply out of Abbotsford.
Klassen, 8, is the relative rookie of the group, having begun BMX racing halfway through last year.
“He got started because of the Vaughan boys,” Blake’s mom, Vicki, said. “They’re our neighbours.
Luke Sowpal on the track. Photos submitted and courtesy of Lee Cejalvo and Justin Terwiel Photography
“It’s been great. Blake is a lot like his dad (Grant). He loves anything on two wheels.”
Competing in the intermediate division for his age in Prince George, Klassen picked up three third-place finishes.
“I like the sport a lot,” Blake’s mom said. “It’s simple and straight forward. You compete in single-age categories, and move up as soon as you change your age. Also, if you win a lot, you move up in class — from novice to intermediate to expert.”
Blake’s mom also likes the fact that BMX is an individual sport which allows her son to just “do his own thing.”
All four Merritt boys are currently members of the Kamloops BMX club. Up until this year, the club’s track had been at MacArthur Island, but the association is currently in the process of building a new facility on the North Shore.
“It’s meant a lot more travelling for all of us this summer,” Luke’s dad said. “On weekdays we’ve been regularly going over to Vernon and Kelowna for their race nights and to practice.”
In a few weeks time, the BMX season will begin to wind down. Sowpal and the Vaughan twins are all enthusiastic hockey players, and the Sowpals like to ski as a family on most weekends. Klassen is an avid soccer player who moves indoors during the fall and winter months.
You can bet, however, that when the snows melt in the spring and the tracks open, these four young lads will be more than ready to hop on their bikes and go racing again.
The rebirth of BMX
Ever since BMX racing was introduced at the 2008 Olympics, the sport has enjoyed a surge in worldwide popularity. It’s not the first time, however.
BMX, which stands for bicycle motocross, began in the early 1970s in Southern California. Kids too young to ride motorbikes would emulate their heroes by racing their pedal-driven two-wheelers off-road.
Merritt BMX racers (above, from left) Luke Sowpal, Blake Klassen, Corbin Vaughan and Jaxsin Vaughan display their trophy hardware from a successful weekend of racing in Prince George recently.
The sport caught on like wildfire, and rapidly spread across America and to nations around the globe.
By the mid ’70s, BMX achieved critical mass, and manufacturers began creating bicycles designed specifically for the sport.
A start-up organization, the National Bicycle League (NBL), soon morphed into the International BMX Federation. The first world championships were held in 1982.
In the late ’80s, the popularity of BMX plummeted. The reasons for the drop in interest are varied, but some speculate it was the rise of many other so-called extreme sports such as rollerblading and skateboarding that simply spread out the population of young and not-so-young thrill-seekers.
BMX proved to be resilient, however, and a steady resurgence began in the mid ’90s and has continued into the new millennium.
BMX’s debut as an Olympic sport in Beijing sealed the sport’s legitimacy, and today thousands of youngsters worldwide are jumping on board once more.
