httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ULDrb7prc
Page Jones
Sports
For a typical New Canaan athlete, a pre-game routine before a weekend away game is pretty standard. Wake up at a reasonable hour, pick up the usual Mississippi from Tony’s, and get on the bus to one of the other high schools in the FCIAC. But for juniors Noah Hedley and Wilson Fleming this scenario is far-fetched from their pre-race routine.
On the day of a motocross race, Wilson normally wakes up at 5 A.M and with the help of his dad, loads up the trailer. “We make sure all the gear is packed, attach the trailer, and head off to the track,” said Wilson. “The whole process takes about an hour, and getting to the tracks takes anywhere from one to four hours.”
When it comes to practice, he belongs to a club in Milford where he can go with his dad to practice periodically. Wilson, who was introduced to the sport when he was three years old by his father, has been racing since he can remember.
Noah father was also the one to introduce him to motocross. “ There are so many aspects to getting better,” Noah said. “From how you handle corners to your positioning on the bike, and just your physical strength. There is always areas you can improve on.”
“Motocross is like a non stop sprint,” Noah said. Motocross formally defined as racing in an enclosed circuit with a combination of natural and man made jumps and turns. Unlike other sports at the high school, motocross is self-driven. It does not involve referees, substitutions, half times, or time outs. It is a form of racing, involving up to forty racers going around a track a certain amount of times depending on the race. To many at the high school, the sport motocross may just sound like a hidden hobby, but for Wilson and Noah it has become a way of life.
“The only way to get better, is for your self to get better,” Noah said. “On a football team you could be a kid who was benched the whole season, but still end up with an FCIAC title.” But in motocross the only way you will win a title is if you make it happen your self.
While motocross may differ from other sports with its individuality, its focus on rituals relates to other sports. Every team or individual player has some kind of pre game ritual whether it be a cheer, mascot or prayer they exist everywhere even in motocross. “I get dressed with the left side first of everything,” Wilson said. “The left sock, the left knee pad, the left pant leg and glove all go first.”
Noah, who just started racing competitively in 2011, found that the most memorable experience was in his second season of racing he was already competing with well-experienced racers of eight years. “I was participating in a whole shot race, which is a race to see whoever can get to the corner first,” he said. “I finished in fifth place over all next to guys who have been doing this for eight years,” he said.
For Wilson, the most memorable moment he recalls was when he came extremely close to qualifying for the National Amateurs competition, where the top forty qualified riders from across the nation compete. “You have to qualify in three different races I qualified in the first two, but in the third race, fell at the start and couldn’t finish,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.”
Like all sports, motocross teaches hard work, dedication, and concentration. But what makes it so different is that in the end it comes down to individuality. “If you are not committed it will show in your results,” Wilson said. “We really want people to realize what we do, because it is just not a sport, it is a way of life.”
