When it comes to motocross, eight-year-old Zachary Farrin of Round Pond is walking in his father Gary’s footsteps. Both took home first place trophies in November from the Skowhegan Motocross Series, and both will receive trophies in the Maine Motocross series in February.
Zachary won the 50cc Open Class (up to 9 years old), placed third in the 65cc motorcycle division and fifth in the 50cc motorcycle age 7-9 division in the Skowhegan point series. He placed third overall in the Maine Motocross points series.
A 15 year veteran racer, Gary won the Skowhegan series and two Maine Motocross points championship series, the 30 plus and 40 plus expert divisions on his 455cc bike.
In motocross, riders negotiate their bikes around a track that is one to one and a half miles in lengths. Races are four to five laps long. The track consists of turns, jumps, hills, dips, ruts and whoops. Whoops are a series of roller bumps on a straight stretch, similar to moguls in skiing.
“You get back on the bike as far as you can and try to bounce off the tops of them,” Gary said. Doing so cuts down on time, and reduces the amount of stress on the body.
Forty competitors line up behind gates, which drop simultaneously at the start, similar to a horse race. “The start is really big. A good start is the important thing, it makes it a lot easier. The faster you get out of the hole the better. The first turn is a bad spot to be if you’re in the back,” Gary said.
Adults negotiate the track in about two and a half minutes at speeds of about 55 mph. “The kids are almost a minute different,’ Gary commented. He estimates the “kids” run a “maximum of 35 mph.”
“My son is doing a really good job,” said the proud father, Gary.
Zachary broke his femur two years ago racing, and Gary broke a couple of ribs racing this year in New Hampshire. Zachary has been racing since he was four years old. When Gary was asked if it was scary to watch his son compete, he responded, no, not for me, but it is for his mother. “I’m a nervous wreck,” his mother Michelle Farrin said.
Gary said that he would “very much” encourage families to get involved with motocross. “It is a very family orientated sport. We buy the best protective gear we can get for him,” Gary said. While he acknowledges injuries are inevitable, the rewards are tremendous. Zachary “must have 200 friends (he has met through racing) from many different states.”
The racing series start the end of April and run through October. “It is something we do as a family every weekend,” Michelle said.
The sport is expensive, and the Farrin’s could not do it without the support of their sponsors, including Farrin’s Boat Shop, Pat Farrin & Sons Excavating, SF Prentice and Heating, GRH Storage, Pemaquid Vinyl Lettering, David and Denise Carr, Nanny Mank, Poppa Farrin and Mammy and Pops.
“We would really like to thank our sponsors,” Michelle said.
If anyone would like to be a sponsor, please call Gary at 631-0736.