Personal History
Alex Bell is 7 years old and lives in Vernon, Alabama. He attends the local public elementary school and will be in the 2nd grade starting August 2010. Alex is an "A" student and is at the top of his class, understanding the importance of his education, since not everybody will become a famous MX star.
When school is out and the homework's done, riding is the main hobby. Alex trains hard for a kid and is progressing at a consistent rate. He has learned many important values from riding, such as learing to make smart decisions at a moment's notice and how to respect dangerous machinery, and above all, safety through wearing the proper equipment when riding.
Twice a week, Karate is the word at the local dojo. This helps alex build character and boosts his stamina. It also will hopefully keep him from getting his butt kicked one day.
Other than that, he's like any other normal kid. He likes swimming, video games and playing in the dirt, and of course, cartoons.
Alex is a very fortunate kid to have some of the friends that he has. He spends time through the week with his friend Dylan Wilson, an upcoming supermini racer who will soon be a name recognized. He also is friends with AMA champion Thomas Covington (Kawasaki Team Green), who is originally from our town, who made it possible for Alex to meet Christian Craig, son of the legendary Mike "The Stingray" Craig.
Riding Goals
Our goal for the remainder of 2010 is to continue to practice and gain seat time. If the budget permits, we hope to attend the Branson Missouri race and even Mini-O's in Florida, but it's too soon to be sure.
We will more than likely do some races in the arenacross series that run in the states surrounding us when the weather turns cold. There are several series that operate in nearby states that offer good competition for 50 riders and make those boring winter weekends more interesting.
Our 2011 agenda of course is to make the big races just like we managed to do in 2010. Ponca Nationals in Oklahoma was a blast, as was the Freestone Regional Championship in Texas and all other big races we managed to attend this year. Ponca city was our overall favorite and it will be our primary goal to qualify for this event. The competition was fierce due to the "eliminations" format that was similar to a regional AMA race and a national event rolled up into one. All the biggest names were there in each class and we got our shot to see how we did against the best of the best.
Outside of racing, the important goals are of course to make good grades in school and to learn the everyday responsibilites that kids should learn.
Competitive Highlights
Alex has acheived several memorable racing moments in his short riding career to date, and nearly all of them are on video.
Alex was the only kid at the AMA qualifier at Gravity Alley in early 2010 in the 7-8 50cc class that was able to clear the finish-line jump successfully, and the ONLY kid that could clear the finish line jump at Bowling green, Ky. at the following AMA qualifier 2wks later.
He has dished out numerous holeshots to date, and nearly all of them on video. Alex has sucessfully managed to pull at least one holeshot per 2 races on the average. You just have to see it to believe it. He even got a holeshot at the huge Bowling Green, Ky. AMA qualifier earlier this summer.
He has met the up and coming stars such as Thomas Covington, Zach Bell, Chase Bell, Dylan Wilson, Christain Craig, Jake Lowry, Chad Ward, Cooper Webb, Adam Cianciarulo, and many others.
250 pro rider Jake Lowry from Prentiss, Ms. held a training seminar during the early summer of 2010 that Alex was able to attend, which dramatically changed his riding characteristic and boosted his personal ego as a rider.
Alex attended the Ponca Grand National in Ponca City, Oklahoma in July 2010. Aside from getting a great training experience, he managed to finish 15th division 1 Mod class while riding a "bone-stock" bike, and 21st in stock class division 1 with a nasty gate jump to start things out.
The most important highlight of his career is the learning of the term, "never give up."