Focused - USA BMX 2016 National No.1 Amateur

“It was Father’s Day in 2009,“ Jesse tells us.

That was the day he first discovered BMX, and raced for the very first time. But BMX wasn’t his first choice. Jesse originally wanted to try motocross racing. But his parents figured trying BMX first would be a good stepping-stone before going motorized. “I just wound up loving BMX more, and have stuck with it. Just fell in love with the whole scene.” And he hasn’t needed a throttle since.

Day two of Worlds practice had just ended, and Jesse Welch was leaving the Team USA “pep rally” (team meeting) at Winthrop University on Rock Hill, when we spoke with him. As one of our great hopes in the 15 Boys class, Welch was still mending from two crashes, three weeks earlier from South Park.

“(South Park) was going pretty good for me, up until my crash,” describes Jess Welch, about his South Park weekend, just weeks before the Worlds. “I won Friday, then on Saturday I was winning the main and got caught up in the last turn, and hurt my right shoulder. It was kind of hurting Sunday morning, but I figured let’s try to make it out first round. I was leading that moto and then ended up falling again - which hurt my left shoulder.”

With sore shoulders, and the Worlds coming up quickly, the reigning No.1 Amateur in USA BMX decided to sit out ‘Vegas, the following week. “I was planning on going, until that happened.”

It was likely the first break the kid has had all summer-long, as he’s been on the road with the Factory Throdwn team and his father, ever since school got out. “I was with Jim for a while, and then my Dad and I took a road trip to PA, then headed to Hornet’s Nest and Rock Hill for some Worlds training.”