Meet The Urquharts

Where Motocross Is A Family Affair

It's not very often that you come across a family where two members are top motocross plate holders, so when we learned of Kimberly (right) and Kevin Urquhart in Kent, Washington, we just had to find out more.

Years ago Mike Urquhart spent many a weekend racing hydroplanes with his parents and siblings near Las Vegas. Growing up, this was a regular part of their lives and it instilled a family bond through sporting, as happens with many families.

But hydroplane racing is not a typical sport you would pass through generations as some would with tennis, or baseball and other, more popular sports. Neither is motocross, but somehow Mike's own family he and his wife Cory assembled, now wind up playing in the dirt every weekend.  And winning big!

It all began just a short time after their son Kevin (left), the younger of two children, had his first taste of dirt taking off on a JR 50 at the age of four. Mike and Cory saw Kevin's potential and enrolled him into pee-wee track racing shortly after. "Some friends of ours suggested we check out the program at Evergreen Raceway," he says, as we take an interview at a rowdy after-hours gathering during the Dealers Challenge at SIR last July.  

Kevin arrived at the track and saw the 125 class racing. Looking up at his parents he said "I'm not going to do that." Once he realized that was the larger class and watched the first round of pee wee racing, his mind changed and he was in.

Since then, he hasn't been out as he continues to rack up wins in the 80 and 125 classes throughout the region. He's also raced quads on a flat track in the short span of just a few years.

And the quads is where older sister Kimberly got the bug. She hopped on one and was hooked. But the four wheel fling didn't last for long, as she soon traded over to a CR-80. And she, too, began racking up top positions across the Northwest in the Women's Sportsmen class.

But the parents don't just drive the kids to and from the track. Each plays a role with Mike refereeing a number of the races and Cory watching over the pee-wee class, coordinating much of their activity. Grandma and Grandpa longed for that sports-like bond they had with Mike in their younger years, and now act as the pit crew for both kids. "It's a great way for our family to spend time together and we enjoy the company of the other racers," says Mike.  

Mike has also been instrumental in putting together the sponsorships that lighten the economic load of keeping two kids racing full time during the season. RMC Motorsports has sponsored the bikes each of the kids ride and there's also been support through Answer and WD40.

In the winter months the kids ride arena cross and when they're not up in the air on their bikes, they're up in the air on the slopes skiing. "The kids are great skiers," says Mike, who purposely takes the family away from motocross racing occasionally to give everyone a break.

When asked for her wisdom to other women who want to ride motocross, Kimberly replies, "You have to be brave and you have to be tough."  Depending on whether you're asking Kimberly, or her mother, she's broken between 2-13 bones during competition. Corey notes, "The kids don't usually ride over their heads and have a good grasp of their skills as riders." 

By 2002 Kimberly will be on her way to college, "But I'd like to keep racing," and has her hopes set on going to school in California as she'd like to be riding there. Brother Kevin fancies the idea of being an airline pilot. That's all in the future, but today there are three generations of Urquhart's at the track giving the rest of the Northwest a run for their money.

Tom Mehren/Summer 00