Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Like his resume states, Jake DuPont is “18-years-old and currently a senior at Forest Lake High School.”

The uniquely cool part about DuPont even having a resume seven months before he graduates goes about three layers deep in charming contradictions. And these contradictions are genuine inconsistencies that should accompany every teenager who is about to make it on his/her own as a real-life adult.

DuPont has this newly completed resume because he’s interested in obtaining sponsorships that would subsidize his interests and abilities in motocross racing. There had better be some takers because DuPont is coming off a 2007 season in which he took first place in the 16-24C class of the Amateur Riders Motorcycle Association (ARMCA) State District 23.

He also finished in first in the Central Series at Staples, MN in 16-24C class; grabbed 10th place in ARMCA State District 23 for 125C class; pulled in a sixth place finish in the Central Series for 125 C class; and then added six more finishes in the top spot; a pair of seconds and a quartet of thirds, just to name a few.

So after all that success and the desire to race next summer, DuPont concludes the Biography portion of personal profile with this: “I started casually riding when I was 13-years-old, and then got interested in racing around the age of 15. Ever since then, it has become a huge hobby of mine.”

Everyone should be so fortunate to have his list of qualifications and achievements, and DuPont’s only been doing this for four years. What sounds so pleasantly unusual is how DuPont is doing this strictly for fun. He’s not targeting the professional ranks or pursuing a spot in the X-Games — he just wants to ride.

“It’ll just be a hobby,” he says. “I’m not fast enough to turn pro.”

DuPont points out that most of the competitors start on a bike when they were six or seven. Yet here comes Jake, almost backing into the sport after a friend invited him on a ride when he was 13, and already he’s the class of the C class in Minnesota.

On that trial run, so to speak, in 2002, DuPont was on a wee-little small bike that had been collecting dust over the years. Jake went home and pleaded with his mother Sandy, in hopes of getting something bigger.

A couple of upgrades later and Jake was starting to get hooked.

“I went and watched a few races, and I went to practice on a few tracks, and I’m like, This is fun. I like this,” he says.

By 2004 he was racing, even though he admits there were some anxious moments that came along with his new hobby.

“Now, it’s like, bring it on,” he shares with a grin. “I mean, flying 80 feet through the air is really fun, I think.”

Perhaps reluctantly at first, Sandy was there in support of her son. As time went on, Jake observed a change in his mom’s attitude.

“At first she was really, really nervous. Now she’s like, ‘Go out there and win,’” he says.

Contributing to Jake’s development in the sport has come from Frank Jackson. Also from Forest Lake, Jackson is the fastest in the state at the A level and he and DuPont have become sort of a team when they travel to the different tracks in northern Minnesota.

“I ride with him once or twice a week, and I follow him to the races and just kind of listen to his advice, so that helps a lot,” DuPont says.

Until the 2008 season begins next April, DuPont will take care of his senior year, apply to colleges, find sponsors and continue his relationship with Waldoch Sports.

The plan is to attend college with an eye on architecture, race three or four times per month, practice twice a week, and promote those sponsorships. All for something that’s simply a student’s hobby, in which he has a resume to deal with the financial realities of the sport, where he started competing just four years ago, yet is now one of the best in the uh, “business,” as they say.

For DuPont, these contradictions in motocross have turned out to be one heckuva ride.

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