Hayden Fletcher wrapped up the Australian National series with a second place finish at round seven in Bathurst today. It was enough to give him the overall series win in the hotly contested Junior Elite Men’s class.

Hayden comes from great breeding, his father, Paul, was a handy Pro BMXer back in the day who fulfilled his dream racing in the USA at an early age. Hayden followed in his father’s footsteps and they traveled together to a number of USABMX nationals where Hayden picked up a sponsorship with SSquared/Answer. His results in the USA and the new ride helped catapult Hayden’s confidence taking him from being a contender to one of the best Junior Elite riders in the country. His series win today confirms that he’s a real contender for the #1 Australia title that he will battle for on Saturday.

Hayden took a bit of time out after racing today to have a quick chat with us, check it out.

bmxultra.com: Firstly congratulations on the second place finish today and wrapping up the win for the national series. Tell us how you are feeling right now.
Hayden Fletcher: I am honestly just so relieved, I put a lot of pressure on myself to preform and I felt I went really well tonight.

bmxultra.com: You seem to be racing very confidently lately and stepped up to the challenge. What’s changed for you these past 6-12 months?
Hayden Fletcher: Well I am quoting Connor Fields here but BMX is 100% mental and maybe 20% physical, you have to be confident in your abilities and what you can achieve, so like my old man always tells me, you have put the hard work in, just go out and have fun racing.

bmxultra.com: How do you balance the pressure of racing consistently and still have fun?
Hayden Fletcher: I have fun winning, so all the pressure is to have fun and win.

bmxultra.com: How will you prepare now for the national championships on Saturday?
Hayden Fletcher: I have had a big dinner and now I’m ready for a big sleep and just relax and not do much tomorrow.

bmxultra.com: What do you think of the track at Bathurst?
Hayden Fletcher: It is great to see the Bathurst community get behind their local BMX track and create a Olympic standard facility. However I feel it had been rushed and there is a lot of changes to the track that need to be made to make it more user friendly.

bmxultra.com: How does it compare to say tracks you have raced in the USA?
Hayden Fletcher: It is well up there with some of the tracks in the USA but like I said I believe there needs to be a few adjustments made.

bmxultra.com: What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Hayden Fletcher: I head off to Argentina at the end of March for the first World Cup of the year, then I will be living in the USA with my American family (The Buchanans) then off to world championships in Columbia in late May. That’s all I have planned so far haha.

bmxultra.com: Will you be hitting up any of the USABMX domestic Supercross series?
Hayden Fletcher: Yes, I know I will be hitting up the Colorado, South Carolina ones and I have heard there is one in Texas I might race!

bmxultra.com: Awesome, we’ll be watching and cheering you on. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Hopefully we’ll have time for a longer interview some time in the future. Is there anyone you would like to thank before we let you go?
Hayden Fletcher: Thank you very much and that sounds great! There has been a lot of people that have backed me 110% to get me where I am today and although I’ll probably miss a couple I just want to give a big thank you to my mum and dad, family, friends, my state team coaches Josh Callan, Levi Collins, Simon Anderson and Frazier Tehiko, Jim Buchanan, all my American friends who stayed up till 4am to watch me race and my amazing team Factory SSquared for always making sure my bike is running on point with the best gear around! And thank you Jenko for this interview!