Unlike Prince George, where winter's white remains a metre deep around Dylan Dupuis' house north of the city, there was no snow for him to plow through last weekend on the motocross track in Kelowna.
Just lots of loosely-packed dirt for the 15-year-old to show he's a quick study when it comes handling the ferocious power of his 250cc motorbike.
The 15-year-old Dupuis left the BCMA/CMRC-sanctioned Kelowna Dirt Bike Club races last weekend with an armload of trophies, winning three of six motos in the MX2 beginner and Grand Prix beginner classes. He also placed second twice and was fifth in a class of 16 riders in another race despite a crash. It was an impressive start to the season for the rookie rider, competing in only his second motocross event.
"I didn't think I'd do that well, especially going up there with no ride time," said Dupuis. "The track in Kelowna has been open for awhile but around here we're still buried in three feet of snow.
"The bike is pretty hard to hold onto sometimes.The first race I was hurting, because of no conditioning and no time on the bike, but I'm alright now."
Dupuis was introduced to dirt-biking at a young age when his father Don bought him a 50cc ride. After a couple of years, he moved up to a 65cc bike and a quad and was contemplating racing the quad on the local scene when he found out there weren't any other four-wheelers to race on the local scene. The family invested in a KTM SFX-250 last summer and after a month of practice, mostly at the BCR site, he entered the Interior Motorcycle Association races last September at Blackwater Motorcycle Park. He was fifth in his first race and climbed to second place in his next MX2 moto. That was the only time he raced, until he made the trip to Kelowna.
"I've always just gone for it, until I hurt myself and then I'll slow it down, but usually it's no fear," Dupuis said. "I crashed on the little bike and bent the bars but that's it, I've never been seriously hurt and I'll try to keep that up as long as I can.
"I liked the Kelowna track and it was an enjoyable weekend. At first I was scared, just nervousness sitting on the gate, but that went away after I rode a couple laps."
At five-foot-six, 180 pounds, Dupuis has a rugby player's build and he spent some time playing that sport when he was attending Heather Park junior secondary school.
Now a Grade 10 student at Kelly Road secondary school, Dupuis has a B-plus average, and as long as he maintains that he's got the green light from his parents to ride. That could mean 15 or 16 weekends of racing, so he'll be busy this summer.
Dupuis already has a long list of sponsors behind him, including Forest Power Sports, On The Run Trucking, Something Old Something New, Aces Pawn Shop and P.G. New and Used, printwerx.ca , Northern Lites Technology, Terrance Warawa Chiropractic Inc., OK Tire and various family members.
"After racing in Kelowna I just want to ride again, but there's too much snow," Dupuis said.
The lingering winter has postponed a scheduled race April 16 in Quesnel. The next race is on April 30 in Terrace.
See page 11 for more local rider results from the Kelowna races.
