Australian motocross has often seen successful families in racing. Names like Jay and Ryan Marmont, Craig and Danny Anderson to more recently Mitch and Richie Evans, have all enjoyed success on the race track and done it has a family as they travel the country enjoying a sport and hobby they all love.
And that tradition is set to continue as another family of racing begins to climb the ladder. Based in Goulbourn, New South Wales, Ryder and Kayd Kingsford are starting to make waves in the junior racing as they spend their weekends travelling the country in search of events and competition.
Ryder, the oldest brother at age 14, is the 2019 Australian 12-14 years 85cc champion and backed that up with a third place in the 13-14 years 125cc class. For 2020, he ,makes the full transition onto the bigger bikes and will be contesting the 125 and 250cc divisions.
And his talent is not just on a motocross track, he is pretty handy inside the stadiums on a supercross track where he also won the 85cc class at the 2019 Australian Supercross Championships.
Ryder was also selected to represent Australia at the world junior titles in 2019 and the family travelled to Italy where he finished a very respectable 13th place in the 85cc class.
“2019 was a great year on my 85 and I was able to win a few things but I’m really excited about racing the 250 this year and contesting as many events as we can,” Ryder explains. “The YZ250F is such an awesome bike and once I got on it, I didn’t want to get off and its been so much fun to learn how to ride a four stroke properly.
“My goal this year to race both the 125 and 250 classes and I would love to win a national championship on both.”
Kayd, now 12, has moved from the 65 and 85cc small wheel classes to focus on the 85cc big wheel and a YZ125 isn’t too far off into the future. Kayd was one of the few selected riders to represent Yamaha and the YZ65 when the bike was released in mid 2018 and he has achieved significant success on the bike but is now looking forward to racing the bigger machines.
Both riders have been important members of the GYTR Yamaha Junior Racing Team since joining in 2017 and haven grown into great ambassadors for the brand and feisty competitors on the track.
“The last few years with Yamaha Junior Racing has been amazing,” comments their father and team leader, Scott. “We have been humbled by the amount of support we receive from not just Yamaha but also the team sponsors and our NSW guru, Darren Thompson, as running two riders can be costly and time consuming.
“We have been fortunate in the last couple of years that while Kayd has been racing two bikes, the 65 and the 85, Ryder had been just on one, the 85, but now both guys can contest two classes at most events, so I will be a busy man with the pressure washer and the airfilter changes between races.”
Living in the country also allows the family to have a track in their back yard to practice and train on. Both riders are still attending school, but once they are home and the homework is done, the hit the track several times away in preparation for up coming events.
“Having the luxury to access a track at any time has been great and it frees up so much time,” Scott continues. “Both of them are self-motivated and will ride from dawn to dusk but we have a few rules in place to make sure their schoolwork is done as is any chores around the house.”
With restrictions beginning to end, the family are eyeing off the coming race season and look forward to a hectic finish to the year.
“The down time has been good, but like most racing families, we are all desperate to get back to the track and start racing again. The boys miss their mates, they miss racing and we miss the camaraderie from it so hopefully things get back on track and we can do what we love, as a family,” Scott ends.
Words and Pics: Yamaha Motor Australia
