There’s an open field and steep hill overlooking Lac la Hache on Hamilton Road where two little boys ride with big courage.
After all, Connor, 7, and Mason Szatmari, 4, are motocross racers, fearless ones.
The pair fire up their bikes and rip around the family property in Lac la Hache like there’s nothing else in the world except to ride their bikes that way. Each turn is quicker than the last and each jump higher.
They spent the summer racing in the British Columbia Motocross Association (BCMA) circuit, which was split into a North and South series this season with races in places like Ashcroft, Williams Lake, Smithers, Terrace and Quesnel.
“I raced 100 times already,” Mason says, embellishing some 90 times, while straddling his little red Honda in the driveway before taking it for a spin.
He hangs off the side of the bike and grips the handlebars and tells another story.
“One time I turned, I went so sharp, I was like: ‘Whaaaaaaa! Vraaaaaaaaaa!’ … It was fun.”
Mason first got on a dirt bike when he was three, moments after shedding the training wheels on his pedal bike. He started in the BCMA one day after turning four, the minimum age for racing. He was the youngest out there. He doesn’t even go to school yet. Turns are his favourite thing, he says.
Is he ever scared?
“No.”
Has he ever crashed?
“No.”
“You crashed a lot,” interjects Connor, from the garage were he is, with the help of his mom, getting into his green racing gear.
“But, just like 10 times,” Mason clarifies.
Winning and jumps are Connor’s favourite. He’s going into Grade 2. Connor is fast and he has the trophies to prove it.
Connor, who only recently turned seven, finished first after eight races in the BCMA South’s 50cc (aged four to six) division. Mason was second in that division. In the BCMA North series, Connor finished second overall, while Mason finished fourth.
“Connor is the very competitive one,” explains Jennifer Szatmari, the boys’ mom. “Mason just likes to go out there.”
The pair got the idea to start racing motocross after watching events in Kamloops and Williams Lake. The BCMA circuit takes the Szatmari family all over B.C. They bought a trailer to spend weekends at different racetracks throughout the summer.
While it was nerve-racking in the beginning seeing the boys race, it’s gotten to be a lot of fun, Jennifer says.
“Some of the tracks are a bit harder for these little bikes,” she explains. “They can be really muddy, really sandy. When these little guys are on the track, parents kind of take a corner and everyone helps everybody else’s kids get up.”
At this stage in the boys’ racing careers, everyone is just out there having fun, Jennifer adds.
“It’s a good group of people.”
The boys’ bio page on the BCMA website have “Mom and Dad” as sponsors. (Dad is Tom Szatmari.)
Have they ever been hurt out there?
“Connor had a pretty good wipeout the last time right at the finish line,” Jennifer answers.
He’s got a lot more power [with a new bike] than the bike he was riding at first. He took a big jump and crashed.”
But, so far, there have been no major injuries.
Are they ‘sure’ it’s not a scary thing to crash?
No, the boys reiterate.
“I just keep riding,” Mason adds.
