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Kristaps Veksa is originally from Latvia. Yep, the same country as Maris Strombergs is from.

He recently competed in the pump track world championships in Durban, South Africa. Ryan Gilchrist took home the rainbow jersey.

Veksa began racing around five years old in 1999 in Saldus, Latvia. He had a BMX track right behind the apartment building he lived in. So, of course he was at the track all the time. He finished sixth in his first race. Since then he's won the Latvian national championship multiple times.

He turned elite right after finishing school. It was a time when there was no U23 class so he jumped right into the deep end of racing with the big boys. He says it was a difficult time getting adjusted to the increased competition. Veksa says his break through moment came when he made the main of a euro cup in Latvia with Strombergs and Edzus Treimanis. He ended up fourth in that race.

Veksa says he decided to stop racing for a multitude of reasons. So, he decided to move to Germany. He never stopped riding but simply didn't race. Veksa began training kids on how to race. He got the bug to compete again but this time it was on a pump track. Hitting the pump track eventually led him back to a BMX track. This time he passed on racing in the elite category and went straight to the challenge class. The culmination of his hard work was winning worlds in 2023 in the 25-29 challenge class.

At the moment Veksa is working in a bike shop in Germany, riding for Radio frames, and he just proposed to his girlfriend.

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Justin Travis is the director of business development for USA BMX. He's got 17 years of experience in recreational programming of action sports. Sports like BMX racing, skateboarding to skydiving.

I've been looking forward to speaking with Justin about some of the upcoming tracks to built and where and exactly how BMX is doing across the country compared to other sports.

This interview is one of several discussions Justin and I plan to have about the sport we all love. I got lucky because he's so busy and travels quite a bit to get him when I did before Grands.

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According to the Cycling Museum of Minnesota, BMX became popular in the Land of 10,000 lakes in the 70's, with the first race in the state believed to have taken place at Rydjor Bike shop in Austin, Minnesota in 1974.

In the mid 80's is when I started racing in Minnesota. I grew up in a time where I raced on tracks from Eden Prairie, Albert Lea to Richfield, where the famous Taft Park track was and is now gone. Hell I even raced indoors at the Armory in Downtown Minneapolis during the winter.

In all that time I don't remember a state series. To me points were all about district points.

Presently Minnesota has a thriving Minnesota BMX scene and state series. The state has 10 tracks where every track gets a qualifier. The series begins In July and ends late August. The finals is held at the ever famous "Rum River BMX' in Isanti, Minnesota.

I recently sat down with Sam Falkowski and Tim Dobosenski who are on the committee that organize the series. It's the second year of the committee and they have big plans for the series.