Daniel Sprague

In the winter of 1992, Western Australian teenager Daniel Sprague was living every Australian BMXer’s best life. At the tender age of 18, Dan packed up his race bike, his helmet and a small suitcase and headed for the bright lights of the United States, seeking fame and fortune as a professional BMX rider on the world’s toughest stage.

Daniel and his good mate had saved themselves enough money to buy a van and start hitting up as many NBL and ABA race meets as they could find on the East Coast.  By mid-season Dan, a full factory sponsored Cyclecraft rider, led the rankings in the 18 plus class, and was hunting down the #1 plate for the top amateur rider in the US. What was originally pencilled in as a six-month trip to gain race experience, rapidly morphed into a four-year assault on the A Pro and AA Pro classes across the country. Sprague, along with a small band of other great Aussie riders like Wade Bootes and Anthony ‘Howie’ Waye were kicking down the door, against the world’s best professional BMX riders.

Daniel started racing in 1984 in Perth in the under eights. Using his talents as a tactical, skillful racer, he quickly progressed, claiming national and world titles by the time he was 10. In his junior racing career, Daniel appeared in an incredible eleven World Championship finals, winning twice, along with multiple national titles. By the age of 15, Dan had his level one BMX coaching certificate and had begun conducting BMX coaching sessions, sharing his expertise and his experience to improve the performance of the younger riders he was mentoring. It is a passion that he continues to this day, helping to develop the next generation of Australian BMX stars.

Daniel’s pro career in the US included touring and coaching, in addition to winning countless A Pro and AA Pro mains in both the NBL and ABA. In 1996, he won two AA pro mains and was a finalist on eleven other occasions during the season. He featured regularly in BMX Action, BMX Plus, Snap, and many other publications. Daniel returned to Australia in 1997 to continue racing in elite men’s and finally elite masters into his mid-30s. As if to place an exclamation point on the last race of his illustrious career, Daniel entered and won the Western Australia #1 plate in the elite men’s division.