The family that races together, stays together

(Originally published October 5, 2004.)

There may be no shortage of kids wanting to go off-roading in Hesperia, but few take it to the level of the three Bohannan boys have.

Cody, Kyle and Tyler, ages 15, 14 and 10, have been riding most of their lives, and now have a house full of trophies as a result.

“Very seldom we’re out of the top 10,” father Brian Bohannan said. “Usually we’re in the top five.”

Cody, a 10th grader at Hesperia High School, recently came in 9th place in the World Minis in the 125 Novice division, racing against 45 other bikes. Kyle, an 8th grader at Hesperia Junior High School, won the Outdoor Nationals race for 85 14-16 year olds a few weeks ago. And Tyler, a 5th grader at Mesquite Trails Elementary, who will be 11 years old next week, came in second in the Outdoor Nationals competition for 65 Beginners.

“We used to race every weekend,” Cody said. “We used to race, and race again.”

Racing just came naturally to the Bohannan boys, their mother Kay said.

“My husband used to do it. I met my husband when he was 17 and he raced. If I’d had girls, they’d have ridden horses. I have boys and they got motorcycles.” The Amateur Motorcyclist Association at one time ranked Brian as one of the top 100 amateurs in the world.

And when his boys were born, they grew up on motorcycles. As babies, if they were colicky, a ride in the back of the car wouldn’t necessarily calm them down, but a motorcycle ride would.

“I used to throw them on the back of the bike and go for a ride, and they’d be sound asleep by the time they got back,” Brian said.

With one son ranked number nine in the world in his division, and others winning big in theirs, one might be tempted to think the Bohannan boys’ success is just due to good genes. Not so.

“They didn’t start off good,” Brian said. “They used to spend hours a day practicing.”

But that just serves to keep them out of trouble, he said.

“Kids need something to do in this town. My kids could be in front of Stater Brothers on skateboards, but they’re not.” And the love of racing also serves to keep their schoolwork on course: “Our guys, if they wanna race, they have to keep up the grades. Sponsors don’t want to see bad grades.”

In fact, Kyle is on the honor roll at Hesperia Junior High School.

Team Bohannan’s success isn’t a big deal in their schools, they say.

“I just hang out with the guys who ride motorcycles,” Cody said. “No one really cares.”

Hesperia’s new ordinance prohibiting riding on private property or within 200 feet of an occupied building without written permission has cut into the boys’ riding time.

“We used to ride right out of our garage,” Cody said. Now they go see friends who have personal tracks in other neighboring communities.

“Now, when this new track opens ...” his mother said, referring to the Competitive Edge MX Park proposal that recently cleared the planning commission. The commercial off-roading track proposal should come before the city council in October.

The boys’ racing costs the family roughly $50,000 a year, Brian estimates, with no prize money coming in, because of the boys’ amateur status. They do have sponsorships and discounts from local stores to help out.

“And Dad works a lot,” Kay said. “He works seven days a week.” And in his off-time, he works in the family’s motorcycle shop (their garage), working on the bikes for all three sons.

“They enjoy it, so pretty much every penny we make goes into it,” Brian said. “We pay the bills and buy motorcycle parts.”

“I hope so,” Kay said. “If not tell me now. See that [motorcycle] trailer outside? That’d be a boat instead.”

“If they wanted to do something else, they’d do it,” Brian said. “We tried baseball.”

In fact, Tyler didn’t initially like motorcycles, and preferred BMX biking and his brother Cody plays on the Hesperia High School golf team, much to the chagrin of his coach.

“He told me to choose motorcycles or golf,” Cody said. “I told him I wasn’t ready yet.”

And, of course, motorcycles can’t get in the way of meeting girls.

“You can still do that,” 15-year-old Cody said, his mother shaking her head behind him as he spoke. “There’s lots of girls at the track.”

While some parents might find the off-road competition track to not be the place they want their child - much less three of them - the Bohannans aren’t too worried.

“There’s always something in the back of your mind when they’re 30 feet in the air, covering a 100 foot jump,” Brian said. “But we’ve only had a broken knee, a broken wrist and a broken pelvis.”

Although Cody has only had one broken bone to date, his brother Kyle “has a wing named after him at St. Mary’s,” according to their mother. Despite that, she’s all for them racing.

“You can’t meet better people than at the motorcycle track,” Kay said. And, perhaps more importantly, “I feel lucky that I have a 16 year old that I know where he is on a Friday night.”

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at beau@hesperiastar.com or 956-7108.