William Stobart always enjoyed biking, but he only started doing it competitively in seventh grade. Three years later, Stobart is headed to the USA Cycling Junior, Elite and Para-cycling Track National Championships to compete against bikers from across the country between the ages of 15 and 18.

He is a member of Star Track NYC, a free urban outreach program that teaches kids in the New York City area the fundamentals of track cycling at Kissena Velodrome in Queens. Through the program, he has been able to connect with elite riders from across the country and compete in many different events. Star Track racers have won more than 40 national championship awards and set several national records. Last year, Stobart traveled to the championships in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. This year’s event will be in Los Angeles from July 5-9.

“The sport is really about self-improvement, and that’s what motivates me to continue,” said Stobart. “I want to be better.”

At the championships, Stobart will be competing in the match sprinting event, which is a two-person knockout race in which he will race against an opponent, with the rider who crosses the line advancing to the next round. He will also race in a one-kilometer time trial, a four-lap competition where riders start one minute apart from each other and go for the fastest time.

There are two schools of thought, according to Stobart, either a rider paces themselves and risks getting a bad time or a rider sprints the whole time and loses masses amounts of energy.

“It is the most brutal event because it’s too short for people to pace themselves but too long for anyone to comfortably sprint at,” he said.

Stobart came in second in the New York State championships last year in the omnium, a four-race event spaced out over the course of two to three days. The rider who accumulates the most points wins the gold medal. Stobart has also won multiple Kissena Twilight Races, which were three-to-six-lap races held at the Queens velodrome in May and June. The competition was run every Wednesday night, and some of the Twilight Races were also multiple-race events.

Stobart said he loves the biking community and is very excited to see what the future brings him when it comes to racing.

The ultimate goal: Become a professional racer.