Need for speed: West Haven boy qualifies for national amateur motocross championships
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- In this undated photo, 8-year-old Halston Sandoval of West Haven competes in a motocross event.
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- In a northwest regional event in Washington, 8-year-old Halston Sandoval of West Haven qualified for the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn Ranch in Tennessee.
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- In this undated photo, 8-year-old Halston Sandoval of West Haven competes in a motocross event.
WEST HAVEN — At just 8 years old, a Weber County boy is defying the conventional wisdom about what a kid can accomplish as a competitor on the regional amateur motocross circuit.
Last weekend, Halston Sandoval — a soon-to-be second-grader at Haven Bay Elementary School — competed in events at the Northwestern Regional Championship at Washougal MX Park in Washington state. In doing so, he rode a Cobra CX5E electric minibike to a second-place finish in the Micro-E Limited class, besting racers from as far away as Florida and British Columbia.
That result qualified him for a spot in the Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, which will be held July 28-Aug. 2.
For Sandoval, earning a spot at the national championship represented the fulfillment of a longtime goal and the payoff for the bumps, bruises and countless hours of training he had accrued over the years.
“I worked really hard and it was like a once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity),” Sandoval told the Standard-Examiner of his achievement.
He credits his father, Ryan Sandoval, and trainer, Hayden Roberts of Rep MX, for helping him grow and advance in the sport.
“It’s very exciting. It can be very nerve-wracking,” Ryan Sandoval said of watching his son compete. “I think that, at the starting line, a lot of times, I probably am more nervous than he is because, you know, you want your kid to do the best that they can.”
While perhaps not an obvious pastime for young children, motocross was a natural fit for Halston, who has had the need for speed from an early age. Off the track, he enjoys trips to the sand dunes and is a fan of snowmobiling, skiing, wake surfing and kneeboarding.
“At the beginning, you’re gonna feel scared and nervous, but when you start doing it more, you’re not gonna feel scared,” Halston, who also races in gas-powered classes, said of his first steps into the motocross world.
Ryan Sandoval confessed that Halston attempts “jumps bigger than I dare to hit as a 40-year-old.” However, Halston and others like him undergo training to ensure they are using proper technique and exercising due caution when riding.
“For me to go try to do a back handspring, I would probably fall on my head and, I would immediately think of the consequences of me failing. I probably just wouldn’t even try to do that. I’m just going to hurt myself,” Ryan Sandoval said. “These young kids, you try to teach them that that kind of stuff can be normal and done safely. And they just do it — it’s very impressive.”
Halston can spend as much as eight or nine hours on the track every week and, even at the qualifier, he got into a handful of wrecks. However, he continues to impress with his will to keep going.
“That’s the best part about him,” Ryan Sandoval said. “Some kids, once they wreck, it kind of ruins the whole weekend. He perseveres very well. He gets back on the bike and, the next race, he goes out and pushes just as hard, tries to not make any mistakes and has fun.”
He’s constantly making new friends with racers from across the country, too, regardless of what happens on the track.
“We still play with each other — no matter what,” Halston said.
