Tim Pratt has established himself as one of the top young BMX riders in Canada.
His No. 1 national ranking in the 16 year-old 20-inch class and cruiser class would prove that.
However, he does most of his damage as an assailant on foreign tracks. This weekend was all about defending his turf at the Great West Adventure Park in Red Deer for the Canadian BMX Association Series and UCI International races.
“All of the B.C. riders came here and I usually have to go to B.C. to race them. But they all came here and also all of my local competition from Airdrie and Calgary,” said Pratt, 16, who took home gold in both the 20-inch class and cruiser class. “That level of competition — I love sports, and to get that No. 1 and be No.1 and to know I can go somewhere.”
Pratt has his sites set pretty high.
BMX became an Olympic sport at the last Summer Olympics in Beijing. Two years from now London will be hosting the world and in 2016 it will be Rio De Janero’s turn.
Pratt would like nothing better than to be at both.
But he knows he has a lot of work to get there.
“I need to get racing down in the States, because they don’t have the snow like we do,” said Pratt. “There are a lot of guys from Canada that go race down in the States during the winter just so they can pick their level of competition up.
“When I turn junior and start racing for money, that’s when I was going to go down there by myself with my family and start doing that.”
He doesn’t have to look far for motivation, however. His younger brother Cody is following close in his path, tearing up the 12-year-old division, winning gold in the 20” class this weekend.
It is a friendly competition that pushes them both.
“Now that he’s up there and racing, it’s kind of fun to come back with all gold and when there’s a silver or bronze there, we’ll be like ‘Ha ha, you got silver or bronze,’ and make fun of each other,” said Tim. “It’s a real big push because we know we thrive up here, but when we go down (to the States) we know it’s not going to be that fun anymore.”
Pratt also plays football for the Hunting Hills Lightning — fullback and defensive lineman — and also takes to the hardwood during the winter to help him stay in shape.
But his first love has always involved two spoked wheels and a dirt track.
“My dad saw an add in the paper — and this is two years after I started righting my bike — and I was like ‘Sick! That’s awesome, I want to do that,’” recalled Pratt of his introduction to the sport eight years ago.
Pratt spends three days a week down at the track practicing and then he’s in the gym lifting weights and working on cardio, speed and agility on off days
The weekend was actually shortened into Sunday thanks to Saturday’s rain, but the Red Deer BMX Club still managed to get both the pro UCI races and the CBA events in.
And while this wasn’t the best overall weekend for the club performance wise, there were still some memorable moments and solid finishes.
“Locally we did fairly well,“ said club president Wayne Muttitt. “We had one really good rider here that did crash — Sarah Stahl — but she came back and she took first from there on in. They don’t let these things get in their way. A crash is a crash, they get assessed and they get back on the track — girls or boys.
“The Pratts did very well this weekend — both Cody and Tim — and the Sekora’s — James and Janice — did very well. These are some of the diehards that are here every week. They are looking for district points. These are the ones that run provincial races, these are the ones that run national races, and obviously the big UCI races as well.”
The fact they were able to squeeze in a full weekend’s slate with roughly 200 contestants into one afternoon was a testament to the volunteers of the club — an afternoon that included a ceased air compressor.
But after the flood of 2005 that nearly wiped out the track altogether, not much about the club’s volunteer’s gameness surprises Muttitt anymore.
“We had more than our fair share of battles, but this club here has diehards, absolute diehards — they won’t quit until we quit,” said Muttitt.
One big change that helped make the weekend a success was the pro riders who stuck around for an extra day, tempted by a pot that grew from $10,000 to $15,000.
“Everyone of the riders I talked to that stayed, most of them had flights at 10 this morning in Calgary and cancelled them once they heard about that purse money — you can’t make that kind of money in circuit over the course of the year. You can do it in one race and you did it right here,” said Muttitt. “That’s a huge thing, you look at the hassle . . . and the cost of flights and they were prepared to forfeit that to be here for that pro purse money.”
Next up for the club is provincials down in Medicine Hat next weekend.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com