Moses Lake BMX looking at continued growth

MOSES LAKE — Over the past few years Moses Lake BMX has been upgrading its track and building on turnouts of BMX riders from across the state; now the track is getting ready for what could be a big 2024 season with even more track improvements plus the addition program for beginning riders.

“The other tracks have taken notice that we’re putting the effort in, bringing the funding in and making major improvements to the track,” Moses Lake BMX Track Operator Jeff Niehenke said. 

The Larson BMX Track, which stands just behind the Larson Recreation Center, was recently renovated for the first time in nearly two decades, fixing obstacles and widening turns for riders. The project was done by Lance Maguire of Dirt Trendz in 2022.

“He rebuilt 80% of the track,” Niehenke said. “We brought in 40 loads of dirt to do the build, rebuilt all the obstacles. The biggest improvement we made was we made the turns much wider, so they’re a lot safer now for the riders. Really brought the track up to a current standard because the track was built in 2004, and had never been rebuilt.”

Despite regular maintenance, the time came to start anew.

“It keeps a lot of maintenance to keep it up, but at some point, it just makes sense to rebuild it, so that’s what we did last year,” Niehenke said.

In 2023, the track received a new safer starting gate, Niehenke said.

“It’s the same gate they use on the national circuit, and it’s completely safe; you can’t get hurt by this thing, it’s spring-driven instead of pneumatic-driven,” Niehenke said. 

USA BMX, Moses Lake BMX’s parent organization, has an annual fundraiser called Race for Life, where tracks all around the country raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It's a friendly competition between the four locations to see who can raise the most money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In its inaugural year, the series raised more than $18,000.

The Race for Life isn’t the only major race that Moses Lake BMX hosts each year; back in May, they hosted both a state-qualifying race and a Gold Cup-qualifying race, which brings in numerous riders. In 2024, Niehenke said Moses Lake BMX is looking to collaborate its state-qualifier race with Spokane BMX in hopes of bringing out more west-side riders.

“What we try to do is to incentivize the travelers, we try to make the most out of their trips,” Niehenke said. 

    BMX racing is not only good for drawing visitors, but is a great activity for young people who may not be interested in sports like football or basketball.
  

Niehenke said the state qualifier race brought in 1,200 people last year, with 1,100 coming from a distance further than 50 miles from Moses Lake. “It’s bringing a ton of people to the town, a lot of travelers,” Niehenke said. “The way we’re structuring it is we’re trying to have people stay in Moses Lake, especially the way we have it set up in 2024.”

In 2024, Moses Lake BMX is starting a race league for beginners, where riders will compete over six weeks to learn the inner workings of the sport. Equipment is available for new riders looking to get a start with BMX.

“It’s a USA BMX program, what’s limited us is we didn’t have storage at the track or the gear inventory,” Niehenke said. “We do have storage for bikes and we’ve been slowly accumulating those.”

With all the excitement in improving the track and a growing source of local riders at Moses Lake BMX, Niehenke said a goal for the track is to host a national race in the coming years.