Thrilling racing treats strong crowd at Warrnambool BMX Classic

That was until he fulfilled an ambition to take up BMX racing alongside his son.

Fast forward four enjoyable years and the passionate rider is busy racing all across the state.

On the weekend, Vincent was one of a large contingent of local competitors at the Warrnambool BMX Classic, which drew in strong crowds across the two-day event.

He finished second in his 50-plus men race on Saturday.

"I've been riding for about four years now, I took it up when my son had been riding for 18 months," he told The Standard.

"I got sick of just watching - I'm not a sportsman at all, think I played two games of footy when I was a kid in primary school, wasn't into it.

"I wanted to ride BMX and there was an opportunity to do it and here we are."

Vincent said there was so much to enjoy about the thrilling sport.

"It's the social aspect - we've seen more of Victoria in the last four years than I've seen in 40 years and I've met a lot of great people," he said.

"We look forward to going to racing to catch up with them. Usually after the race we go and have a drink at the pub and just chat, it's great."

With over 200 competitions, including 50 from the Warrnambool BMX Club, president Darren Mollenoyux said it was pleasing to be able to host the event, which saw races ranging across different classes.

One of those races was the Side Hack, in which the president himself raced to the win with veteran club member Luke Pretlove.

"It was very interesting, a bit unique - it was something that was probably popular in the 90s and it dwindled away a bit," Mollenoyux said of the Side Hack race.

"We got approached by an organiser to see if we'd have it at our event, and we gave it a go."

He added it was a lot of organisation to stage the event but was thrilled to be able to provide the opportunities to the youngsters coming through.

"It's a lot of organisation and it's great for the kids to be able to race on their home track and a lot of these kids race away often and have to adapt to tracks they've never been to," he said.

"To give them the chance to race at home is great.

"I think we've got over 50 club members riding (on Saturday) which is massive for the club. I don't think we've had that many members race at one time, so the amount that have come out and support is great.

"There's a lot of interest and hopefully we can generate more."

Warrnambool BMX Club committee member Lucinda Priestley said the classic was an important event for the club and said the sport continued to evolve.

"We had a state series round last year and fingers crossed we can have state titles this year and we look at things like these as sort of a practice run which is great," she said.

"We have a lot of father-sons, mother-daughter combinations at the club - since we've started it's been a really lovely family-friendly place."

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