<Bt-5z66>Youngsters off to the 'Super Bowl' of motocross racing
Father of the two riders, Shawn Mitchell, said: “Jyire rides 50cc and 65cc bikes while Senoj rides a 50cc bike.”
Although Shawn was not a rider himself, he said when Jyire was only three years old he dragged his dad into the sport.
“My oldest one pulled me into the sport — we went down to Coney Island to watch a motocross event when he was about three years old. And it started from there. We just stopped to watch a race and after that he begged me and begged me for a bike. That Christmas we bought him his first bike.”
And after Jyire started racing, his younger brother Senoj soon got the racing bug.
“The youngest one got pulled in because the older one was competing. Jyire started competing when he was four-years-old. We had to get special permission and papers signed for him to ride and compete at that age because the age limit was actually five-years-old at the time.”
It didn’t take long for Jyire to find that winning mentality.
“He won his first race at four,” said his proud father.
“We realised he had some talent. And then Senoj started racing when he was four.”
For Jyire this will be his third time competing at the Loretta Lynn championships. “But it will be the first time for Senoj — I think it is great that a tiny place like Bermuda can have not one but two riders qualify for the championships and the fact that they are both brothers makes it even more special,” said Shawn.
He added: “But it has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifices for them to get there. They had to go to numerous qualifying events and they made it through. Most of the riders are from the United States but there will also be riders from Australia, the UK and Hawaii.
“This championship is really the Super Bowl of motocross. A lot of the super stars who you see on TV (riding professionally) started at the Loretta Lynn championships.”
Shawn has been taking the youngsters to the US a fair bit to compete. “We want to keep them on par with the American riders,” he said adding that the kids also went to the US for some intense coaching as well. “That was a real eye-opener — even for me,” he said adding that the time spent at the Loretta Lynn championships will be a “week of living at the track and breathing racing”.
His wife Melody will also be travelling. Asked if she gets nervous when her young sons race, he laughed and said: “She used to but not anymore.”
The championships is an MX Sports produced event is the world’s largest amateur motocross race. It has been hosted annually since 1982 at the home of country music star Loretta Lynn in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
Last year over 32,000 entries attempted to qualify in 33 classes for the 1,320 available gates at the national. As proof of the significance of winning an AMA Amateur National Championship title, most of today’s top motocross and supercross stars, including Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, won championships at Loretta Lynn’s before turning pro.The Bermuda Government also realised how well the young riders were doing. In fact earlier this year Jyire was the youngest athlete ever to be named in the National Junior Athlete Sponsorship Programme.
The Warwick Academy student was given $4,964 by Government to be used to travel to three overseas events as well as to attend the Gary Bailey MX School and to also purchase a 65cc KTM Stocked Bike.
That 65cc KTM Stocked Bike is left in the United States permanently so he can compete on it when he travels to top events.
Leaving the bike in the US proved to be lucky as last week thieves targeted the two bikes in Bermuda stealing one from the lock-up at the Southside race Track and the other from Shawn’s shop Added Speed & Accessories behind the Green Lantern in Pembroke.
Earlier this week Police found the bike stolen from Southside.
Brothers off to the Super Bowl of motocross
