Most 9- and 11-year-old kids pedal around on their bikes.
Cameron and Palmer King are a little different — their bikes have motors.
Cameron, 11, and Palmer, 9, are competitive motorcycle racers who ride in off-road and motorcross events.
They aren’t new to racing either. Both Vinewood Elementary School students started riding about six years ago with their parents Jeff and Lori. All four ride and all four compete in American Motorcyclist Association events.
“We all bought dirt bikes about six years ago,” Jeff King said. “It looked like fun, so we just started racing.”
Most of the year, except for the summer, Cameron and Palmer complete in off-road racing. The races average about an hour in length and involve around six laps on courses five to six miles long. The courses are like mountain bike courses, filled with rocks, hills, bumps, logs, rivers, mud pits and more.
Cameron prefers the off-road racing to motorcross, which involves shorter, enclosed circuits with small hills and jumps.
“It feels fun,” Cameron said. “It is exciting and fast and bumpy.”
Palmer said he likes motorcross better, which is what they compete in during the summer.
“I like it because it has more jumps,” he said.
Nearly every weekend, the Kings pack up their bikes and journey all over California and beyond to compete. While all four Kings ride together for fun, Jeff no longer competes in races as he has turned his attention to being his boys’ lead mechanic. Even though he works in agriculture, he is quickly learning how to maintain dirt bikes.
“I am learning how to be a mechanic,” said Jeff, who added that he frequently calls shops that sponsor his boys to ask for advice on how to repair the bikes. “It’s a lot of work. Every night it is a couple of hours.”
Cameron and Palmer compete in the AMA Racing West Hare Scrambles Championship Series, and are ranked No. 3 in their respective divisions, 86-B and 85-B.
The boys are on their bikes about four days a week. Often, Lori will pick them up after school with dirt bikes in tow and head out to ride. While Lori stays busy managing the boys schedules, she also completes in the diva 35-and-over women’s division and often rides with the boys as they train.
“It’s been fun. I have really enjoyed being able to go and ride with these guys,” she said. “I can’t keep up with them. I am always in the back eating their dirt, but it is a great thing for us to do together. It has been challenging, but it is fun.”
During training, the boys work with pro riders to learn how to effectively and safely handle their bikes on different kinds of terrain. They practice figure-eights, tight turns, braking, catching air and landing.
“It is a lot of fun, but it is very tiring,” Cameron said. “Your arms are tired because you are always picking up your bike.”
Safety is a top priority for the Kings. When they are riding they are decked out in full protective gear from head to toe. While both have had their fair share of crashes, neither have suffered any serious injuries on their dirt bikes. In fact, their only broken bones have come from other toys — like when Cameron broke his nose pogo sticking.
The boys continue to improve and move up divisions and both have aspirations of riding professionally when they get older. If the wooden shed that houses their bikes in their backyard is any indication of their future, they are on the right track as they have won so many trophies they have filled every inch of the shed’s shelf space.
