Last night I accompanied Kyle and 4 of his friends to his second motocross race. His first race was 2 weeks ago. The races are just like dog shows: Some people have huge fancy rigs and know the drill and others (us) have a minivan and a friend bringing the bike.

Kyle has YZ 125, which is the second biggest type of motorcycle. He glued his own numbers on, so it looks a little homemade, but it seems like a good racing bike. He has all of the protective gear, which is almost more expensive than the bike.

So anyway last night we drove 2 hours north to Chilton, WI., where the race was held. It was dark, cold and a little rainy. We did not bring lights so we held flashlights and used the headlights to get ready. I drove 3 people, and another friend drove a van with 3 bikes and another person. We arrived after I got lost twice, just in time for open practice. The track is always a winding, serpentiny hilly course. This track has sharp banked curves which are famous for dirty tricks. Spectators perch on bleachers all around the track.

In his first race (2 weeks ago) he won 30th out of 41, and this time he got 19th out of 30. Both times he stalled the bike at the start, which secretly made me happy because he wasn’t a part of the scary first turn, where there is often a crash. His friends race in a different class and all placed, and one won.

I got lost twice on the way home, too, and got home at 2 in the morning. The kid driving the van made it home in record time but he was speeding and I chose not to try to follow him, Later, I wondered how I thought a 16 year old champion motocross racer would drive a van.