On Nov. 9 a Bowie teen competed at the 2019 American Motorcyclist Association Texas Statewide Championship in Houston.
Mason Reed is a 17-year-old who attends Bowie High School. He finished third overall in the two-stroke open amateur class and 10th overall in 125C class. The different classes depend on the specific type of motorcycle.
The son of James and Ashley Reed, Nov. 9 was the culmination of many years of commitment to the sport that started when Reed was just old enough to ride a regular bicycle let alone a dirt bike.
“I was a five-year-old when I first started riding,” Reed said. “I started racing when I was around 12 or 13.”
An admitted adrenaline junky who is never afraid to back down from doing something slightly dangerous, Reed found the perfect sport for him.
“Just jumping and going through corners is a thrill,” Reed said.
With riding motocross come concerns with crashing and injuries. So far Reed has avoided breaking any bones besides a slight fracture, although he has had his fair share of muscle strains and a concussion earlier in the year kept him out for a short while.
Reed’s parents had no experience in the motocross world as they call it.
“It’s a good group and people help each other out,” James said. “I’m gone a lot so we have our moto-family. They help out with the bike if something is wrong. When it’s time to race, it’s dog-eat-dog, but once they come off they are high-fiving each other.”
Having to travel across the state on weekends has gotten the family out of the small town bubble as well.
“It open’s your world to a lot of new things, new people,” Ashley said. “People you thought you would never have anything in common with. It’s a family-based sport.”
The closest race track Reed rides at is Oak Hill MX in Alvord once or twice a week to balance school. Reed has expressed an interest in working on dirt bikes after high school.
While Reed has a couple of sponsors, the family wanted to make sure to mention Bowie’s Allen’s Texaco and Adventure Cycles along with its owner, Gary Vieth.
“Gary helps us out a lot because sometimes I am gone and that bike is not ready to rock and roll,” James said. “We can just pull up in there and Gary knows what needs to get done because he used to race.”
While becoming a pro rider like his hero Austin Forkner is the long-term goal, the biggest dream for Reed to climb first is making it to the Mecca of amateur motocross, Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Championship in Tennessee.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.