'Baby Bumble Bee' flies through BMX track
Quinn Carlon, 12, races around a turn at the Moses Lake BMX track Saturday.
MOSES LAKE - Little Sophia Benson, just 3 years old, rides her BMX bike like she's been doing it for years. With the wings on her back, they call her the "Baby Bumble Bee."
Sophia, with her dad Scott Benson and sister Alexandria, made the trip down from Coeur d'Alene Saturday to race at the Moses Lake BMX Track. Sophia will compete in her first national race in Redmond, Oregon in the coming weeks.
In between races, Sophia takes off her helmet and sits with her sister, both smiling as the sun begins to shine on a cloudy morning. She plays around, throwing dirt and messing her hair, like any 3-year-old. But on the track, there's no training wheels. She doesn't need help getting to the finish line. Most children her age haven't yet learned how to ride a bike.
Her dad Scott said she started riding a no-pedal strider bike when she was 1 and moved up to the racer bike by 2.
"The strider bike really helped her," he said.
He said having another daughter that races helped Sophia.
Moses Lake was the first stop for the Benson family on Saturday, heading to another race in Richland in the afternoon and back to Moses Lake for Sunday's race before returning to Coeur d'Alene.
Saturday's race was the second race of the season at the Moses Lake track, located at the Larson Recreation Center. Mostly local riders come to the smaller races, but a June state-qualifier race brings competitors from across the Northwest.
The area will fill up with motor homes and campers for the weekend. Racers range from 3 to 60 years of age, and older.
Track Operator Rob Hahlgren, who has been involved with the track for six years, said they've had more members so far this year.
"We have up and down years," he said. "Last year, membership fell off quite a bit. This year, it's already starting to come back up."
About 15 racers were competing Saturday, with Dominic Dodge winning the 10-year-old intermediate group, Quinn Carlon winning the 12-year-old expert group, Alexandria Benson winning the 14-year-old girls group, and Brandon Love winning the 19- to 27-year-old group.
Events are held about every weekend leading up to the state-qualifier race June 15.