Well here it is, my first ever blog. I’ve thought about this for a long time but just never got around to it. First off a quick intro, my name is Stacey Masciangelo and I’m a stay at home mom of two wonderful kids; three year old Brooklyn and seven year old Preston. I’ve been a motocross mom for almost five years now.
If anyone had told me back in 2006 when my son was born that I was going to be spending every weekend at a dirt bike track I would have said they were crazy. Before I met my husband Justin, he had raced pro downhill mountain bikes so competing was always in the back of his mind. I had never had any experience whatsoever with racing, so right from the start all of this has been new to me. When my son was one my husband bought a dirt bike just to go out and ‘play’ on. I never knew that moment would change our lives forever, right from the start my son was obsessed. He could barely talk, and yet he wanted to ride. His face would just light up when he got to go for a ride on daddy’s bike. We bought him a little pedal bike that looked like a dirt bike, we’d have to push him everywhere on it because he was too small to pedal. One night I came home to him going off a ramp on our drive way. He still couldn’t pedal but if he went to the top of the drive he could make the bike get enough speed to go off the ramp.
When Preston turned three my husband came home with a little Honda CRF50 with training wheels. Preston was over the moon, but I was still freaking out! How could I let my precious baby get on a real dirt bike. I was and still am your typical over protective mom. Nothing has changed, only now he goes faster, alot faster! I used to sit at the track amazed that he could do jumps with is training wheels, not knowing that within a matter of years he’d be winning championships. In his four years of racing he’s accomplished more than I could have ever imagined. The winter before he turned 4 we let him start racing the Chesterman’s Indoor Series in Tillsonburg, Ontario. Even though he came in last in his first race, as a mom, I was bursting with pride. How could someone so young understand racing. When we look back at pictures from that race, he WAS a baby! I can’t believe I let him do that. (laughs)
The next spring he was so excited to race again. It was a busy one as my daughter was born. Everyone knew me that summer as the mom running around the track with a baby in a sling attached to the front of her. Baby or not, I had to be right there watching and helping. Brooklyn is now almost four and Preston’s number one cheerleader. She isn’t quite as eager to get on a bike yet, but we’re working on it. This past summer at the Transcan she won the strider race. Again, I’m the one at the side of the track hiding the tears behind my sunglasses.
Preston flying through a Walton corner on his way to the 2013 50cc 4-6 Parts Canada TransCan Championship.
So, not that many years have passed since 2006 and now I do spend every weekend at a track. What started out as us as a family watching our kid ride, quickly progressed into us as a team. We’ve done this as a family from the beginning and will continue to do that until we decide that we don’t want to, but I don’t see that happening for a long time. It takes hard work and dedication from everyone, not just the racer. It truly is a way of life and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. So many emotions take over your body as your waiting for the gate to drop. I’m scared, feel like I could faint, I want to throw up, sometimes I can’t even watch but most of all I couldn’t be more proud. Preston’s passion has taken us places I could never have imagined. This past year alone we’ve raced all over Ontario, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Las Vegas. I will always be there watching. I love being a motocross mom. Thank you to MXP for giving me this opportunity to share some of my experiences as a motocross mom. Please stay tuned for more of my stories in 2014.