Hayden Wolff most likely won't get a new bike from Kawasaki this year but there's a good chance of a $3,000 cheque coming his way once the Prince George Motocross Association season wraps up this weekend in Quesnel.
The 14-year-old Prince George rider has a healthy lead over Joey Parkes of Nanaimo in the Team Green point race, leading the Canadian Motorsport Racing Club (CMRC) provincial series by 300 points over Parkes, and that's a testament to Wolff's consistency this season in the Junior MX-2, MX-3 and Schoolboy classes. He's on top of the CMRC standings in all three classes in the northern and southern provincial series.
Wolff showed his versatility Saturday morning in his first moto in the Printwerx Cup B.C. Motocross Association championship race event on a soupy track at Blackwater Motocross Park. Overnight rain turned the course into a quagmire and Wolff fought from the back of the pack in the MX-2 class to win his race.
He also won his MX-3 moto before the lunch break, making a move to take over the lead from Brad Perron of Lac La Hache on the third lap of a six-lap race.
"It was pretty muddy in the morning but it's starting to get really good now," said Wolff, now in his fifth season of motocross.
"I got a horrible start in my first MX-2 moto when I spun in the gate and I kind of came back. By the second lap I was up to second and in the third lap I got [Fort St. James rider] Sara King."
Wolff said he missed having Gabe Elmore of Telkwa around. They've been pushing each other all season but Elmore broke his wrist last week in training and was unable to race in Prince George. Heading into the Blackwater races, Wolff was coming off his best weekend of the season, a PGMA event a couple weeks ago in Williams Lake, where he won all 12 of his races.
Kawasaki set up the Team Green program to support amateur riders. In 2012, Wolff was the Team Green rider of the year and won a 2013 Kawasaki KX250F. Last year, Parker Engel of Prince George won a new bike.
Wolff entered the weekend tied in the national standings with Dawson Tracey of Ontario, each with 400 points. But Wolff doesn't like his chances with just one weekend left on the race calendar, while Tracey has two more weekends ahead of him this season.
This is the second year for Wolff racing the 250 bike and he says it's getting easier for him to handle all that power. He's been following a cross-fit exercise routine and his muscles are showing the effects of all that off-season training. Wolff knows he has to be in top shape physically to keep up with the gut-wrenching demands of his sport.
"The bike is awesome, it feels so cool, the bike setup is amazing," said Wolff, a Grade 9 student enrolled at College Heights secondary school. "I've grown a couple inches since last year and it's way easier to handle because I'm taller and can manoeuvre it better. I'm just stronger."
