PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — Friday night at the Barn, Peninsula Indoor BMX in Port Orchard and things are hopping on the dirt track with three hairpin turns and multiple moguls.
“It's amazing,” says David Christensen. “You'll have 20 to 30 races going. You have strider bike races with kids as young as one year old, and then you have a 51 and over class.
Here you see parents rooting for kids, kids rooting for parents, and everyone rooting for a Kingston first grader who goes by the nickname "Wy-Fi".
“Honestly the nickname is phonetic, “ says Wyatt’s dad, David. “When he was born we would call him “Wy” and then I think it was “Wy Wy” for a while and then it just progressed to Wy-Fi.
“Then when we saw a sign that said high-speed Wy-Fi, it kind of made sense to just run with it.”
Yep, this “Wy-Fi” does come with high speed. In February at the Gator Nationals in Florida, Christensen won the 7-8 open class. He’ll be representing Team USA at the world championships this summer in Belgium.
Christensen plans out every race before it starts.
“I'm thinking of a plan in my mind to get a good start and not make any mistakes,” he says. “I make myself think they could beat me, but they can't.”
“Honestly he could care less about the trophies,” his dad says. “He's really humble. He's a very humble kid.”
He’s also a role model for his siblings, Warren and Eleanor.
“In the sport sometimes the parents are driving the bus and the kids are kind of along for the ride,” says David Christensen. “On this one, we are totally along for the ride with Wyatt.”
It's a ride that has taken the Christensen family all over the country, the world and maybe someday, the Olympics.
“I think the way he has been progressing in the sport he is just going to keep getting better and better so the sky is really the limit for him,” says Christensen.
12 Under 12 is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.