By Paula Roberts
Farrin family) Zachary Farrin rounds a hairpin turn while racing his dirt bike in a motorcross race. (Photo courtesy Farrin family) |
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Zachary Farrin with his winning trophy and second place plaque won at Maine’s biggest Motorcross event, the MX 207, held in Lyman July 20. (Photo courtesy Farrin family) |
Twelve-year-old Zachary Farrin of Round Pond tore up the track last weekend to become the overall winner in the 85cc division of the MX 207 in Lyman. He also placed second
overall in the Junior Mini division.
Over 600 racers competed in the MX 207 July 19 and 20, Maine’s largest motorcross event. To put the importance of the race in perspective, this motorcross event is
the equivalent of racing in the Oxford 250.
Farrin is no stranger to the sport of motorcross. He began riding a dirt bike at age four, and has competed for eight years. He comes by it naturally, as his dad
Gary is an avid racer, competing in the 30 and 40 expert division.
Farrin races all over New England. He has accumulated so many trophies (nearly 200) that he has run out of room in his bedroom to store them all, so he displays them
on a rotating basis. This year alone he has won 30 trophies already, including 20 first place ones. In 2013, he was the champion of the Maine 85cc series.
The 85cc class is for riders aged 9 to 15, and the Junior Mini for ages 7 to 11. Next year, Farrin will move up to the amateur division.
Motorcross runs rain or shine. “The mud pretty much changes the race conditions a lot. You go from being the fastest to survival mode and just trying to stay up,”
Farrin said. “If you stay on two wheels most likely you will be in the top five. In good weather, you push all out to get to the front.”
The dirt track is usually a mile long and includes hairpin turns, rolling hills, jumps and whoops. Farrin estimated he soars 15 feet high and travels 60 horizontal
feet through the air. Racers whip or scrub their bikes sideways in the air on jumps.
“It is done on purpose to get the tires back to the ground quickly,” Zachary Farrin said.
“The tire is faster on the ground,” Gary Farrin said.
Whoops are rolling ridges where the object is to “get enough speed up so you can clip the tops. You want to skim the tops. You have to stay back on the bike, commit
to it and stay on the throttle,” Gary Farrin said.
When asked if one had to be really brave to keep the throttle on, Zachary responded, “Yeah.”
There are 40 gates (40 competitors lined up to race), but usually only 30 bikes compete in a race. “It is kind of scary sometimes. The scariest part is when the gate
drops and you’re all going into the corner at the same time,” Zachary Farrin said. “That is why you want to be the first one to the corner,” Gary chimed in.
Farrin has had two injuries during his racing career, neither of which came while racing. When he was 6 years old, he broke his left femur on a spill from his dirt
bike, and while practicing two years ago he “cross rutted” and “went sideways and landed on my head.”
“He got up and walked off the track,” Zachary’s mother Michelle Farrin said. “Thank God I was there. His dad would have brought him home.”
Michelle brought Zachary to the hospital where it was discovered he had two compressed vertebrae in his back, T4 and T5.
“That pretty much ended my year,” the younger Farrin said.
Zachary’s parents take injuries in stride. They wholeheartedly support their son and his love of the sport. Safety equipment makes a huge difference in limiting
injuries, the Farrins said. Zachary wears boots, knee pads, elbow pads, chest protector, a neck brace, helmet, goggles and gloves. “Most all the kids (90 to 95 percent) make it
through the course without wiping out,” Gary Farrin said.
Like any dedicated athlete, Farrin picked himself up, dusted himself off and was right back at it the next year. A three sport athlete, Farrin plays soccer and
basketball as well. “He plays basketball to get in shape for motorcross,” Gary said.
Racing motorcross is a huge time commitment, not only for the participant, but for the whole family. The Farrins travel all over New England every weekend mid-April
through October for an event.
“Typically races are on Sunday,” Michelle said. “We go to the track on Saturday. The kids go off and play and hang out. It is like one big family. It is the only
sport that I know of where the kids are very competitive on the track, but off the track they are all friends. There are not many sports where an 18- or 19-year-old kid is still
hanging out with his parents. It is a very family orientated sport.”
“But it is a sport; you have to be very committed to it,” Gary Farrin said.
“It is a fun sport. I’ve met a lot of my friends through motorcross. It is a physical and mental sport. Some people don’t call it a sport, but if they haven’t raced
it that is probably why,” Zachary said.
Zachary said he plans to keep racing until he “can’t take it anymore.” Gary said he plans to “keep going until Zach passes me and beats me on the track.”
Gary estimates his son will progress to a similarly powered bike when he is 17 or 18. “That is what I’m counting on,” he said.
“A big part of the racing for me is being with my mom, dad, and grandfather (Jerry Farrin),” Zachary Farrin said.
“We lost dad two years ago and sometimes he (Zachary) feels like he is right there on his shoulder racing with him,” Gary Farrin said.
The younger Farrin has two stickers on his front fenders that reed “R.I.P. Papa.” He completes a ritual before every race, by kissing both front fenders, a salute to
his beloved grandfather, lost but not forgotten.
