July 17, 2020
By: Bill Conger
Whenever Kolton Slager jumps for joy, it’s likely higher than other teen boys. That’s because the 13-year-old takes into the air atop a KTM bike. Slager and his younger brother, Kolby, 12, of Alexandria compete in motocross, a type of off-road motorcycling race that takes place on gravel, muds, or grassy tracks.
“I had seen it on television before, but I never really knew it was something I wanted to try,” says Kolton. “The first time [I raced] I was very nervous. Once you do your first race, you get hooked.”
Their parents, Wesley Slager, a Firefighter/EMT-IV with the Murfreesboro Fire Department and his wife, Valerie, an LPN, take their sons across Tennessee and to surrounding states many weekends to ride in races.
“This is a fairly new adventure to us,” says Wesley. “They have only been racing since last summer.”
“They have always been outdoor boys, and I came across a good deal on a small Yamaha PW50 dirt bike when they were little. So I picked it up, and they have been riding ever since.”
In 2019 the siblings entered their first competition.
“I was nervous because I didn’t know what to do,” Kolby says of joining racing after see his older brother with the rest of the pack. “You get used to it, but when you go somewhere new, you get more nervous because you don’t really know the place and the track.”
The boys ride outdoors for motocross (MX), but when they race inside on small tracks, the sport is called arena cross (AX).
“The sport is somewhat seasonal, but you can ride year around if you travel,” the elder Slager explains. “We go all over for competitions. Arena cross and Motocross tracks tend to be spread out pretty far apart.”
The Slager boys line up behind starting gates, the first challenge of the race.
“If you start too early, you will hit the gate and get stuck in it,” says Kolton. “So you have to back up and take off again.”
Other hurdles the guys must navigate on the course can vary depending on the location and type of track, and the people they’re racing.
“You have to work on turns, coordinating jumps, starting, and to exercise your body to get ready. You do have to train really hard if you want to be very good at this sport.”
“When it’s rough conditions [on the track], you can’t ride as good,” adds Kolby. “You have to focus on other people too.”
“You’ll hit a bunch of people a lot during it [the race],” Kolton says. “You try not to, but most of the time you can’t help it, especially at the start, when there are 20 guys or more lined up.”
Kolton has escaped injury so far, but he has to have a watchful eye.
“When so many bikes go through a corner, they create big ruts,” he says. If you don’t hit the rut right, you have a possibility of crashing. I’ve seen ruts that were half way up to my dad’s waist. They’re very challenging.”
The jumps are one obstacle brother Kolby faces.
“Some I like, and some I don’t,” Kolby says. “I haven’t really got used to jumping yet, so I like the smaller ones now. When you jump, it feels like you’re flying for a little bit, and then you hit the ground, and you start going again. If you don’t have the right suspension, you’re either going to bounce off or your bike is going to get swirly and fall over.”
The brothers are starting to see their efforts in the sport pay off. Both are anywhere from 2nd to 5th place in the point standings with the series they run.