Hitting jumps and roosting corners, Kyle Bengelsdorf is riding his way up the motocross food chain.

Bengelsdorf races a 2016 Yamaha yz250f dirt bike in the intermediate 250 class. All the riders start out at a dead stop and wait for the gait to drop at the beginning of a race.

Why did you start riding dirt bikes?

“I tried riding one time with one of my friends, and immediately I was hooked. There’s no other thrill like opening up on the throttle and sending a huge jump,” said Bengelsdorf.

Kyle is also the president of the Motocross here at San Juan Hills High School, and is a member of the SJHHS Mountain Bike club.

Because he started when he was five years old, Kyle has been riding for almost 10 years now,. He is the only one in his family who rides and is interested in dirt bikes.

Even though Kyle is the only one in his family that rides, he and his dad always go to the track together for Kyle’s races or practice runs.

Three years ago, during a race, Kyle had his worst crash of his career so far.

“My worst crash was when I got ran over during a race and I cracked three ribs.” Instead of giving into the fear of crashing again, “it just made me want to try harder in the next race.”

Kyle still rides dirt bikes, and he has some big race series coming up.

He will be racing Mammoth Motocross and he will also be racing at Loretta Lynn’s.