Local cyclist Dominic Suozzi has had a busy summer, recently winning four titles and two national championships.

Returning from competitions in Trexlertown, Pa., Suozzi came home with gold medals in the 200 and 500 meter sprints, as well as the team sprint, where he also earned a national title.

He was further named the overall omnium winner, earning another national champion.

Dominic’s dad, Ross, is clearly proud of his son, saying that it’s amazing to see a 16-year-old Fountain Hills resident do so well in cycling.

Ross went on to state that Dominic’s feats are even more impressive when you consider the fact that he has to travel to Los Angeles on a regular basis just to train, as Arizona does not have a proper track despite the thriving cycling community in the state.

Suozzi, who works at Peaks Athletic Club when he’s not in school or earning national titles, only got into the sport of cycling about three years ago.

Some things just come naturally to folks, though, and that’s exactly how Suozzi took to cycling.

The teen is now first in the country for his age group and seventh in the world. He recently competed as the youngest racer in the U.S. Elite National Championship, though results have not yet been provided.

He still has his eyes on a future Olympics showing and, if he continues to do this well, he might actually have a shot at it.

Suozzi said he’s just taking it a race at a time, though, and this summer has given him a lot of opportunities to hit the banked track.

“This summer was very, very busy,” Suozzi said.

“I went over to San Diego for a race week/vacation with my family.”

Suozzi raced in the California State Championships while there. As an out of state competitor, he could race, but he couldn’t officially medal. Despite that fact, he went on to cross the finish line first anyway.

“The next week I went on to the Larva Cup at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.,” he continued.

“That was basically just a one-day event and I ended up taking three out of the five races in the Elite Men’s Category One, which is like the pro division. So I ended up winning that day, too.”

Suozzi came home for just a few days before heading to Colorado Springs to train at the Olympic Training Center there to get in some conditioning in the junior development program.

He was the youngest participant by four years and ended up winning the ensuing scratch race against competitors from all over the world.

“That was the first big international race I’ve ever done,” Suozzi said.

“There were like 10 races overall and I won one of them, but that was plenty for me to win something like that.”

Eventually Suozzi wound up back in California to take part in the Nationals event.

Suozzi arrived a few days early to get in some extra training with coach Andy Lakatosh.

“Thank God he came,” Suozzi said.

“He helped so much. He showed me the track and went over all of the records and details so I wouldn’t be riding on it cold. It was a really good experience to get ready for the race and not just go in blind.”

The next couple of days were dedicated to the big event. Suozzi’s group began the day with the 200m flying time trial, which he won.

“I was the last one to go up, following last year’s national champion,” Suozzi said.

“He pulled an 11.999, which blew everyone’s mind. By the time I was up, nobody was paying attention anymore. They just assumed that he had won it.”

Suozzi went on to claim an 11.72, about a 25-foot gap over the previous champion.

“It went silent,” Suozzi added.

“Nobody knew who I was, so nobody expected that out of me.”

Later that day was the distance points race, built around endurance. Suozzi explained that racers are typically sprinters or endurance racers and, after winning the sprint, nobody expected him to come in and win his first heat, too.

Finally feeling a bit tired, Suozzi eventually finished 14th overall, the only top-five sprinter to finish in the winning pack.

Now that he was qualified for the match sprints, Suozzi went on to compete head-to-head against his fellow racers.

After besting the fourth place seed, Suozzi went on to race against the previous champion. Losing the first race out of three, Suozzi managed to claim a win in round two, leaving just the final race to determine the winner.

“This was one of the craziest races I’ve ever been in,” Suozzi said.

Beginning in the lead, Suozzie’s competitor eventually got the jump on him and sprinted out front.

“Now we’re on the back stretch of the track and he’s pulling away, and I see my coach is yelling at me to go get him, that I had to go now, now, now,” Suozzie said.

“I thought, you know, do I want second or first? So I did everything I could to get back on his wheel. It was a drag race to the finish line and I finally passed him by that much.”

Suozzi held his fingers up, mere inches apart.

The races continued through the weekend, though Suozzi was neck and neck with his closest competitor. In second place overall, Suozzi needed to finish first in his final event and his rival (currently in first) needed to finish no higher than fourth, which is exactly what happened.