ROCK SPRINGS – Local riders of the Southwest Wyoming Indoor BMX Series had the opportunity to ride against one of the best in the world this past weekend.

At only 12-years-old, Grand Junction, Colo.’s Reid Austin already sits on top of the world. Austin took down the world’s best in the 12 Cruiser. In BMX, the difference between a class and cruiser is the size of the tire they use to race. Cruiser is 24 inches while a Class is a few inches smaller.

So how does a 12-year-old topple the world competition?

“Lots of training and dedication,” Austin said.

After racing for points through the year in a series, Austin earned enough to go to Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. After racing through the Nation’s best and grabbing the top spot, Austin traveled to New Zealand to take on the world. When the dust cleared after three days of racing, Austin sat alone at the top.

“It’s weird because you don’t know who you are racing against,” Austin said. “You don’t know how they race or who’s out to get you.”

During his world championship trip, riders were treated to the best BMX riders taking center stage. Austin recalled one of the top professional and olympic BMX racers wrecked out of the gate and took out everybody. Austin said he watched as the racer got back up, continued to race and placed in the top ten.

“Watching that race taught me never to give up,” he said.

While Autin usually goes to Salt Lake to race, he said they woke up to several feet of snow at his house so they traveled to Rock Springs this past weekend to race.

“There are a lot of riders here which is cool,” Austin said. “I like the small town feel here in Rock Springs.”

Racing alongside Austin was one of Wyoming’s possible National and World Champions, Wesley Coffel from Casper. Currently Coffel sits as the No. 1 racer in track, district and state. He has raced at Grand Nationals, as well as Salt Lake, Reno and Las Vegas. Coffel said going to these big races is cool because you have to race a lot more riders and have a lot more challenges.

Coffel said he is thankful Rock Springs has an indoor track so Wyoming riders can keep racing through the winter. Rock Springs is the only indoor track in Wyoming. He said many California racers race all year and race of three different tracks a day. Without the indoor track to keep racing in the winter, many racers would fall behind.

One of Coffel’s goals this year is getting his NAG Plate. He explained to get this, you have to be in the top 10 in the nation in your age class. Another goal for him is to make it to Holland to race in World’s. To be able to race in Holland, Coffel said he will have to race in New Mexico and finish in the top 16.