BMX racer Taylor Stephens has big dreams for a 13-year-old, including racing in the world championships and the Olympics.

But first, Stephens, of Redmond, will test his skills on the national level when he competes this weekend in the American Bicycle Association BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.

In BMX, or bicycle motocross, riders race on small bikes along a dirt course of roller jumps and tight, banked corners.

Stephens races in the Expert division on bikes with both 20-inch wheels (Class) and 24-inch wheels (Cruiser). He is ranked No. 1 in Oregon for his age group in Cruiser and No. 2 in Class. He is also ranked in the top 20 nationally for age 13 in Cruiser.

The eighth-grader at Obsidian Middle School has traveled throughout the Northwest as well as to California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada to compete in BMX the last several years.

But Stephens says this weekend’s Grand Nationals will be his biggest event yet.

“My goal is just to make the semis,” Stephens says. “There’ll be a lot of good riders there, a lot of the top ones in the country.”

Stephens began racing BMX in 2005 at age 8 at the Smith Rock BMX track in Redmond after a friend turned him on to the sport. He now races for the BMX Hex Northwest team and is sponsored by Aggro Bikes. Stephens says that traveling is one of his favorite aspects of the sport.

“I like all the people you meet, and just the different tracks you get to race on,” he says.

Stephens hopes to qualify in 2010 for the NAG (national age group) plate, which he can earn by finishing in the top 10 in the nation in his age group.

This weekend in Tulsa, Stephens will also compete in the Race of Champions, for which he qualified by finishing the season in the top 10 among age-13 Experts in Oregon.

“I eventually want to go to the world championships and possibly the Olympics,” Stephens says.

BMX was introduced as an Olympic sport at the Beijing Summer Games in 2008. As he watched the Olympics on television, Stephens saw some familiar BMX riders whom he had previously met at national races.

“The riders from the U.S., I’ve talked to them in real life,” Stephens says, “so it was really cool to watch them on TV.”