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The Official Student Paper of Riverside Poly High School

Need for Speed

Jan 30, 2015

MOTOCROSS: Even though Poly’s once-prominent motocross team disbanded, a new program aims to resurrect it.

By Timothy Chen, Sports Editor

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Poly had a thriving motocross culture; however, it ended with the closure of the campus auto shop. Now, a recent program has been initiated to revive it. Divided into two parts, this Poly motocross program, tailored for riders and students alike, strives to expose students to real world experience. The academic part, already underway, involves the integration of motocross and other action sports into the school curriculum. A coalition of multivariable calculus students, physics students and active motocross riders have already been tasked with designing a track of their own.

The second part consists of the actual motocross club and is not only geared towards students who race regularly, but also beginning riders. “It brings the sport to younger ages. The average age of a rider is 37,” Brockton Troutman (10) said. Motocross is a very expensive sport, with bikes costing upwards of $5,000. With safety equipment, transportation, gas and tires, this may well exceed $10,000. In establishing connections to motocross companies for support, the program hopes to make the sport more accessible to students who may not be able to afford it. “It’s not a cheap sport, but to those who have gone through it, it’s a huge family sport,” Principal Dr. Michael Roe said. With over 80 students expressing interest in the club and around 17 competitive riders, the program has already been offered rider discounts at the local Malcolm Smith shop.

Because of liability issues regarding safety, equipment and machinery, motocross has little chance of becoming a CIF sport. But by gathering more information as to how many teens actively race motocross competitively, Poly’s motocross club would work hand in hand with local tracks and organize a high-school-exclusive race series outside of school. “We want to encourage participation and celebrate those that are already doing it,” Roe said. In the course of working with local tracks, the program hopes to one day establish a home track. The process of earning a varsity letter in motocross is still in the works as several factors are still being considered.

Many are optimistic for the future of Poly’s motocross program. “I hope that the motocross team will become a true school sport that students can come and cheer for just like any other sport,” Cole Parker (11) expressed.

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