With a push from dad, boy motorcyclist flying high

By Xu Lin (China Daily)

Updated: 2013-08-29

Wang Ke hopes to compete with world-class motorcyclists one day. Provided to China Daily

The boy accelerated on his motorbike and flew from one earth slope to another, making a perfect landing. It's Wang Ke's debut as a guest performer at the 2013 FIM (Federation of International Motorcycling) Freestyle MX World Championship, in Beijing's MasterCard Center on Aug 17.

"My dream is to be a world champion. I like the feeling of flying," says Wang, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from Anhui province who started to ride motorbikes at the age of 4. Under his father Wang Yukun's training, he has won many awards including the teenager group's championship at the 2012 China National Motocross Tournament at the age of 10.

Wang Ke got his start with off-road racing, and began to learn freestyle motorcycling in April. In that extreme sport, motorcyclists try to impress judges with jumps and stunts such as doing a backflip in the air.

He has to jump from the take-off ramp with his motorcycle and land on the other ramp. It's more dangerous than motocross, which is organized on enclosed off-road circuits.

Wang Yukun says that while motorcycle sport in China is at a low ebb - there is no professional freestyle motorcyclist in China - it is popular abroad.

In April, when Wang Ke practiced freestyle for the first time, his father mistakenly estimated the distance between the two ramps as 8 meters. Wang Ke flew farther than that, landing on the ground directly rather than the ramp and breaking his motorbike.

He fell off again when the distance was increased to 10 meters. It hurt so much that he felt dizzy and couldn't stand still. So he told his father just to estimate the farthest distance he could fly and arrange the ramps.

• 0