Route is excited to sponsor Joey Leto for another BMX season! 2024 is an Olympic year and Leto will be competing for a chance to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
There are 8 races this year that will count towards USA cycling’s Olympic points criteria. Those races include 6 World Cups, the World Championships, and the Continental Championship.
Route will be covering the entry fees for all of these races.
2024 USA BMX Pro series season opener
The Sunshine State Nationals were held at Joey Leto’s home track, Sarasota BMX. Having the season opener at Sarasota was in Leto’s favor, as he was comfortable on the track from training on it so frequently.
The season opener was also challenging because racers wanted to have a strong start to the season to build momentum early on. Leto felt the added pressure to do well at his home track which affected the way he rode on Friday.
“I was overthinking things on Friday and my performance showed it,” Leto recalled. “I felt like every lap I did had to be flawless. I was coming off my best season yet and felt like I had to back it up this season.”
Leto didn’t make the final on Friday and started his season with a win in the B main. “It was not the start I was looking for and not making the final at the first race of the season was a tough pill to swallow especially when all I could think about was winning. I was happy to at least end the day on a positive note with a B main win.”
Saturday was much better. Leto was less worried about being perfect and more locked in on racing the best he could. He rode great laps in qualifying rounds on Saturday and hit the podium for the first time in 2024 with a 2nd place finish in the final.
Sunday was a UCI race and Leto was confident heading into the day. He had great qualifying rounds on Sunday and ended up having 2nd gate pick in the final because of strong qualifying rounds. Leto placed 5th on Sunday.
“Even though I didn’t get a win on Sunday, I was still proud that I put myself in the position to win, and am more experienced in dealing with inside pressure now,” Leto said. “Overall, there were good and bad things about the weekend but I know my first career win is close and with the support of Route, I have a feeling it is coming this season.”
