Sterling High School's Chris Buyers doubles as a pro motorcycle racer

Submitted photo Sterling's Chris Buyers takes a turn at about 80 mph during a race in Macomb last year. Buyers who won the race, is trying to qualify for professional flat-track motorcycle racing's highest circuit at just 18 years old.

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The gravel sprayed out, dispersed in a wall of pale dust as the motorcycles sped around the curves at the fairgrounds in Morrison. Many in the crowd looked on, unaffected by the small rocks that skipped across the ground till finding a temporary resting spot on the track. A young Chris Buyers was captivated.

Watching the flat-track racing with his father catalyzed Buyers to make his first big left turn in life.

"Up to then, I hadn't had any interest in bikes," Buyers said. "I had been into a lot of other sports growing up. My dad was excited when I said that I wanted to race bikes. We went out and got a bike, and I started to learn."

His father, John, was a pro flat-track racer in the 1960s and had always hoped to sway his son toward the sport.

After that day in Morrison, no convincing was needed and it didn't take long to see that racing was in his blood after taking second in his first race shortly after learning to ride.

For the last eight years, Buyers has been racing. At the beginning of last season, he entered the pro-sport ranks and by the end of the season had accumulated enough points to move up to the pro-sport expert rank.

There are three levels to professional flat track racing - pro sport, pro sport expert and grand national. Every racer starts in the pro-sport class. A rider accumulates points by racing in events and by displaying expert ability. Points are also awarded for where riders finish in races.

The fact that Buyers was able to move up to the second level in one season is nearly unheard of in the world of flat-track racing, especially for someone that is 18 years old.

"It's rare for someone to make expert as young as Chris," John Buyers said. "To move up like that as fast as he did really shows the type of talent he has and the hard work that he has put into it."

Buyers will begin his bid to join the grand national tier of flat-track racing later this spring, once he is able to get both of his motorcycles ready for the season. To move up, Chris will need to gain 100 points and qualify for a grand national main event.

"Hopefully, I'll turn grand national sometime in the next few years," Buyers said. "It'll be tough. You're racing with the big boys, and that makes it very hard to do. I am going work on getting fast enough to run with big guys and try and make a name for myself."

Right now, Buyers is trying to balance his dream of pro bike racing with the realities of school, work and bills. Buyers also has moved out on his own and is renting an apartment in Sterling.

To pay the bills, Buyers works two part-time jobs at McDonald's and K-Mart while trying to get his high school diploma from Sterling High School. Buyers is in the alternative education program, which allows him to attend school half the day while working in the afternoons and evenings.

"To tell you the truth, school has never really been my thing," Buyers said. "I guess it's just a little too slow-paced for me. I'll get through, though, before I try and make racing my full-time job."

It's easy to understand how a classroom chair can be considered low-speed compared to the 125 mph Buyers can reach on the bikes he currently runs with 450cc engines. Eventually, he will move up to a 750cc bike, which will increase his speed upwards of 150 mph.

In a usual week during the off-season, Buyers will spend nearly 40 hours working. During the summers, his weekend job at K-Mart takes a backseat to the track.

"K-Mart has been really supportive," Buyers said. "They love the fact that I race, and they have used some of my racing pictures for promotions. They always give me the time off I need to race on weekends."

Money is also at the core of maintaining success in the pro ranks. A quality bike will cost up to $10,000, and maintaining that bike from year-to-year can cost from $3,000 to $4,000.

Buyers currently has two bikes, which he and his father have put time and money into. Both bikes are currently having new engines dropped in them for the upcoming season.

Buyers depends heavily upon sponsors, including Gieson Motorsports in Rock Falls. He hopes as he races in more grand national events to pick up national sponsors such as Suzuki to provide bikes and equipment for him.

"It's amazing, we've called up a few places seeing if they are interested and they already know my name," Buyers said. "Now it's just a matter of getting out there more and doing well in bigger races."

Danger is the last major hurdle every racer must conquer. A lot of motocross riders take one look at the flat track racers taking tight turns at 80 mph and turn back to the hills of motocross. It's a fast sport where one wrong move can be fatal.

Buyers has witnessed seven deaths on the track in his eight years, and four years ago he broke both his arms in a racing accident. The day after his fall he was back on his bike, riding in the backyard with casts on both arms.

"I'll be at this forever," Buyers said. "There's really nothing that will keep me from it. I don't worry about the risk, because if you race smart you can almost always avoid the problems."

If injury were to force Buyers from racing, he hopes to be able to fall back on his racing experience and his welding ability to set up his own shop and someday own a race team.