Supporting and remembering

In the early 1990s, Ashton Jasperson would grab his bike, grab a shovel, and make himself a racetrack in the hills around Green River. Now, in Ashton's memory, kids throughout Sweetwater County will have a chance to race BMX. 

Ashton's family recently came together to donate multiple bikes to the Southwest Wyoming BMX Club to help start what will now be known as the Ashton Jasperson Bike Loaner Program. 

"That's going to allow us to not charge for bike rentals, so we'll be able to just loan a bike out if anybody needs it," David Miller explained. "That's a big deal to be able to offer that."

Miller, the club's track operator, explained that he's been wanting the club to start a bike loaner program for quite a while. The idea was to be able to provide bikes to kids who don't have one, are on the wrong size of bike, or generally don't have what they need to be able to race. 

"Being able to provide that was a big deal to me, but it was quite a financial burden for the track, because the bikes aren't cheap," Miller said. "So the bike loaner program has progressively kept getting pushed back."

The Southwest Wyoming BMX Club doesn't make much money outside of what goes back into making races possible, Miller explained. He noted that their indoor racing events usually end up just breaking even after they pay for the expenses needed to run the races. 

Still, Miller told people about his goal for the program when he could, even talking about the need and his desire to raise funds for it on social media platforms like Facebook. That's when Jon Jasperson saw one of Miller's videos and learned about the idea. 

"It just seemed like a good opportunity," Jon said. 

Jon used to race BMX with his cousin, Ashton, and when he heard about the bike loaner program, he saw a chance to honor his cousin's memory. Ashton's mother Rene Barnette got on board with the idea as well, and they and several other family members worked together to purchase ten new BMX bikes. The family donated nine of the bikes to the club for the loaner program, and the club raffled off the tenth to help raise more funds. 

"Our goal is to get kids on bikes," Miller said. "We can do that now."

Star photo by Hannah Romero

Southwest Wyoming BMX Track Manager David Miller presented the Jasperson family's donation of bikes for the Ashton Jasperson Bike Loaner Program.

The bike loaner program is one of the ways that the BMX club hopes to continue a trajectory of growth that they have been on for the past few years. The current board's goal is to help get the club back to where it was in the 90s, when it was especially strong. 

"That's when Ashton started, was in the 90s," Jon noted. 

Ashton himself started even before the club did, according to his dad J.D. Barnette. 

"Where the track is in Green River, originally we lived just up on the hill from there, so that's where he would practice," J.D. explained. "And he would grab a shovel, go down there, and he'd make whoops and turns, and the way the old pits were down there, it just kind of lent itself to a makeshift track. And that's where he kind of started. And, of course, all over Green River. And then they started the outdoor track here."

Once the BMX club got going, Ashton got going with it. He raced for six years between 1996 and 2002, according to J.D., participating in local races as well as traveling to race on other tracks and in other states. During that time, Ashton was a two-time State Champion locally and a one-time State Champion in Utah, and he raced in the Gold Cup in California. 

Ashton's cousins raced with him, including Jon, as well as Mekel Salinas, who was especially small at the time. J.D. fondly remembered Ashton and Mekel holding trophies, and one of the trophies being twice Mekel's size. 

Photo courtesy of Jon Jasperson

Mekel Salinas, left, and Ashton Jasperson, right, raced BMX together in the 90s.

Although Ashton quit racing after 2002, it remained important in the family.

"[Ashton] had just started getting his youngest boy involved in it," J.D. explained.

Ashton passed away in 2023 at the age of 38. Donating the bikes to help out a program and sport that he loved was his family's way of honoring his memory. 

"I can't thank them enough," Miller said. "It's such a massive donation and it's going to come in handy for years and years to come." 

The BMX Club continues to grow and expand in many ways, as was evident last weekend when the Bike Loaner Program and Ashton's family's donation was announced. The donation was a highlight during Saturday's registration and practice time, when riders were spending time on the indoor track at the Sweetwater Events Complex. 

Star photo by Hannah Romero

Kayden Martinez (#121, left), Tony Martinez (#266, center) and Liam Olivas (#312, right) take off to ride through the indoor track during Saturday's registration and practice time.

With several days of races, it was the last weekend for indoor track, Miller explained. On Saturday, the BMX Club hosted their first State qualifier event for the year. There will be another in Green River, as well as events throughout the state in towns like Casper and Gillette. On Sunday, the club also hosted a Gold Cup event. 

"It's the whole northwest United States, so there'll be people out of Washington, Idaho, Montana, all over the Northwest, coming to race here," Miller explained of the Gold Cup race. 

Following the end of the indoor season, the club will now be ramping up for their outdoor events for the summer. Miller noted that the club draws in riders of all ages to participate. And now, with the Ashton Jasperson Bike Loaner Program off the ground, the club can supply riders with what they need, so Miller noted "there's no excuse" for anyone to not get involved.