New London second-grader competes in national motocross races

HURRICANE MILLS, TN. — New London second-grader Jackson Blow-Smith, 7, will compete with the top motocross racers across the nation in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, this week.

Beginning Tuesday evening, Jackson will take to the track at the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship in competition with the top 42 youth motocross riders in his class from across the nation.

Jackson successfully qualifying for this national race did not just happen overnight.

“I had dirt bikes all growing up,” his mom Parrish Blow-Smith shared. “We just thought, what a good idea! We had the means to do it, so we did.”

According to Jackson’s parents, only a few months after learning how to ride a bicycle, a 2-year-old Jackson started riding dirt bikes. His 3-year-old brother has followed his lead as he recently started riding his PW 50 dirt bike around the backyard, too.

“Jackson started on a Honda XR 50 when he was two years old, and after about two weeks, he moved up to a PW 50, which is what Yamaha makes,” Jackson’s dad Brady Smith said.

“He just got started, and we took him to his first race in Cedar Rapids, and he liked it, and ever since then, we’ve just been getting bigger and bigger,” Parrish said.

According to Jackson, he competed in that first race at just 4-years-old.

“It was a rough start,” Brady said. “It was a learning experience. It was just a lot of sounds. A lot of chaos that he wasn't used to.”

Despite not winning his first race, Jackson kept pushing.

“But it didn't take long for him to get right back on it and get after it, so it was a little bit of a learning curve at first, but he's pretty much a natural, so it just came to him,” Brady said.

Once Brady and Parrish saw Jackson’s love for the sport, they knew they needed to really pour into him to help him do his best with the natural abilities they immediately saw in him.

“At first, I really worked with him a lot,” Parrish said. “Then as it's gotten bigger, he's been to multiple trainings in Oklahoma and Indiana …. He’s had trainers.”

Some of Jackson’s other trainings include time at Game Moto with Greg Albertson and a SSR training in Rantoul, Il. where he worked in one-on-one trainings and in groups to grow in his technique, throttle control, and speed.

Additionally, Jackson trains his body for endurance to compete well with exercise like CrossFit.

After three years of training and competing, this year, Jackson didn’t hold anything back as he earned first place in his final race of the three-moto-series regional qualifier for AMA Amateur National at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch.

“It was kind of rough,” Jackson described his regional racetrack. “There were a lot of ruts and straight ways downhills and a lot of jumps, too.”

The track didn’t trip Jackson up, though as he said the key to his 34-second-lead finish was “going faster and just holding the throttle wide-open.”

According to Jackson, standing throughout most of the race and avoiding ruts and wrecks also made a big contribution to his success.

Wrecking, however, doesn’t stop Jackson from getting back up, even if it can feel a little scary.

Jackson says he tries not to crash, but when he does, he says he gets back up as fast as he can, “and I still make it wide-open, keep pushing, and never give up.”

“We've worked with him throughout these last few years is the never give up mentality,” Brady said. “Always push, regardless of the elements rain, mud, sand, Jackson's always got his front tire on the starting gate.”

Jackson and his family are excited for him to take to the AMA Amateur National Racetrack this week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Not only will only 42 youth from Jackson’s class compete, but the whole competition features only 37 classes total from across the nation.

“I’m feeling excited and kind of nervous about it,” Jackson said with a big smile.

“I couldn't be more proud of him,” Brady said. “ … we're just a small town family from Iowa. We don't live on dirt bikes. We don't do this full time. We just do this as a hobby. We like to have fun with it.”

“The boy puts out all the effort that we ever ask,” the dad said with pride. “This has been our goal for the whole year. So, as far as how I feel as dad, our goal was to get here. He did it on his own. He made it. He got this family here. So now that we're here, we're just going to enjoy our time, relax, and it'll be what it'll be on race day. It's up to him.”

Jackson’s mom, Parrish, says she is proud of his abilities to compete with other kids that are able to put in more time and have weather more agreeable to year-round practices.

“living in Iowa, you can't in winter times, just go outside and ride,” she said. “Whereas these other kids are Florida, California, Texas, they get to do this all the time.”

“He's able to compete with the best because you're one of the best,” she said to Jackson.

While Jackson would like to win first, second, or third place and get on the podium at the end of this national competition, he says he’d be pretty happy if he could just get in the top six and take home of the coveted trophies showing off his skills, hard work, and determination.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com