For Ryder Tartamella, his passion for racing began while dirt biking out in Madaket with his stepfather on trails. From there, Tartamella got a larger bike and continued to ride on trails and a track on-island until he learned racing was an option for him off-island.
“I started motocross during the spring in late March or early April because I thought ‘why not?’,” said Tartamella,13. “That is just kind of what I have been doing ever since.”
Tartamella participated in round six of the New England Motocross Series last weekend at Capeway Rovers, entering the weekend ranked third out of 12 ranked racers and over 30 racers overall. He jumped up to the second ranked racer after his performance at Capeway Rovers.
“I think the weekend went pretty good,” Tartamella said. “I think what I like most about the series is the competition and it is just another chance to ride. I do really like the competition and trying to get faster than other people. It is also another chance to ride different tracks too all over different states and stuff like New Hampshire and Massachusetts.”
Tartamella said there are about ten rounds in the series. His next race will be at New Hampshire Motocross Park in Lempster, NH on October 2nd. He said he embraces every chance he has to ride given the limited opportunities here on the island.
“There are paths and there is a track but with my bike it is larger and you don’t really want to annoy people,” he said. “The track is on about three acres of land. They don’t do any races there but that is where I started riding. Taking the boat on and off in the summer can be busy and it can be hard to get boats. But I love racing. It is a lot different from anything else. I just want to go as far as I can with this.”
