Keanan Scott no longer thinks about the day he finally catches up to his older brother Dagan racing his BMX bike.
A few years ago, Dagan decided to leave the track and spend his time learning the fine art of trick riding on the concrete and steel surroundings at the Rotary skate park.
Keanan, 16, stuck with racing and he's glad he did.
Last year, he won the Supertrak BMX Club's most improved rider award and he's off to a great start again this season. Two weekends ago he entered three provincial races in the Okanagan and one in Kamloops, all within a two-day span, and posted two second-place and one third-place finishes in the 17-18-year-old expert class.
This past weekend on his home track at Carrie Jane Gray Park, the younger Scott made his way to the medal podium again with a third-place overall finish Sunday, taking on the likes of Brady Anderson, Cole Paterson and Tyler Braaten, the Supertrak club's top racers.
"I loved it this weekend, I got lots of good placements and had lots of fun racing," said Keanan. "I messed up once, but other than that had a good time. On the gate on Friday I just couldn't clip in (to his pedals) in time and I didn't make my main. I tried to beat Brady but I can't keep up with him."
Keanan has been in the BMX game a long time, introduced to the sport at age 4, the year his dad Mark got Dagan into racing.
"My dad saw it one day with my brother and they decided to ride the track," said Keanan. "Dagan raced from when he was six years old until he was 15. He was the first boy from our track to finish first in grand nationals. He did that when he was 13."
Keanan has watched Dagan take a few spills on his trick bike and says there's no doubt his 20-year-old brother is the daredevil of the family.
"He had his fair share of crashing in BMX - he was a very fearless rider," said Keanan. "He was not scared at all. I really wish I could be like that. He was just very into it and just tried as hard as he could. I'm so used to seeing him crash, he knows how to fall properly."
Keanan said he didn't get serious about making a dent on the provincial BMX racing scene until he turned 13. After that, all he wanted to do was practice and get better at racing.
"I was kind of slacking until I was 13 and then I started to have a lot more fun," he said. "It takes lots of practice and you have to try new things, and you have to travel. We used to do a lot of national and provincial races."
Keanan, who is just finishing his Grade 10 studies at College Heights secondary school, likes the fitness aspect of BMX racing. There's nowhere else but on the track where he can defy gravity by cranking his legs and feel so comfortable about doing it.
"It keeps me fit and I like the feeling of going fast," he said. "I like that I'm making progress and getting better."
But sometimes he has too much power going to the cranks at the wrong time, as he found out Friday during a warm-up lap on the Supertrak course. He was trying to manual, a BMX term for balancing on the back wheel with the front wheel off the ground, a key skill to master for gaining speed while riding the rhythm section, when he fell backwards on his back. Other than slightly aggravating an old wrist injury in the fall, he didn't hurt himself.
"Keanan is always pushing himself and obviously you can see that," said Anderson. "He's getting better and getting more skills and before you know it, maybe he will be beating me. He's already beaten me this year."
Close to 80 riders entered the three-day race event. The races Friday and Saturday were worth double the amount of points, which are counted in the provincial standings. Sunday's Race For Life event was a fundraiser for B.C. Children's Hospital. Last year, the Supertrak BMX Club collected $11,078.65 for the cause, second in the province only to Nanaimo's $11,099.50 total .
