Tyler Sirles, Zeta Pi/Old Dominion 2017, started racing motorcycles at the age of seven. His uncle owned a motocross track and convinced Sirles' parents to buy him a motorcycle so he could start riding and racing.
“For the past few years I had been racing every weekend until I started college,” said Sirles. “I have traveled throughout the east coast to race in nationals from Tennessee to Florida, but more frequently the races I participate in are closer to home – pretty much all around Virginia and North Carolina. Since I started college, I have only been able to race about once a month if that,” he continued.
In September, Sirles became the Virginia State Motocross Champion in the 250B and Collegeboy classes after competing in the championship races at South Fork Competition Park in Disputanta, VA.
“In motocross, classes are broken up into age groups, bike size and/or skill level based on the class,” said Sirles. “250B is technically the intermediate class for the 250cc motorcycles and can be any age. The Collegeboy class is for 16-24 year-olds and is an open class – meaning you can run anything from a 125cc bike to a 450cc bike,” he added.
The championship races are run on a mile and a half dirt track and consist of two races. Each race is 4-6 laps.
“I was in two classes so I ran four races in all,” said Sirles. “I won three of the four races which gave me the best average in my classes. The race winners for each class are determined by who has the best average finish between the two races.”
How does one prepare to participate in a motocross race?
“Usually the best training is to ride as much as possible,” said Sirles. “I go mountain biking, do a little cross fit, and swim every once in awhile – mainly anything that requires a lot of movement is good training,” he said.
“As far as preparing for Virginia States, I hadn't raced in almost a year, and had only ridden a handful of times before racing that weekend. But I was in the gym as much as I could be mainly doing cardio and endurance training. When I got to the race I just acted like I never stopped racing, almost made myself confident I was going to win,” said Sirles. “When the start gate dropped I just put my head down and rode like I knew I could and it all fell into place for me,” he said.