THROUGH THE RANKS: BEN PARSONS
“I was like a gorilla on a tricycle”
Photo by Darrin Chapman Racing runs strong in the Parsons’ family. David Parsons, Ben’s father, raced motocross at a high-level and it is fair to say his talents were passed on to his three boys; Kyle, Luke and Ben. The boys first got their start riding at an early age. Ben, the youngest, began riding just before his fourth birthday on a hand-me-down Yamaha PW50. Soon after, Ben entered his first race at Bithlo (now Orlando MX), he was hooked. After racing motocross, the Parsons’ family decided to try their hand at FTR Hare Scrambles. Ben immediately had success going from Peewee C to Peewee A in just two races. Ben attributed his success to having
two older brothers to compete with, “I was always chasing my older brothers around, my main goal was to beat Kyle and Luke,” says Ben. The competitive nature between the boys obviously helped, all three boys have raced in the AA class in FTR. Surprisingly, in all his years racing FTR, Ben was only able to grab one FTR Championship, Mini B, although he came close many times. Ben grew up racing some tough competition with the likes of Lewis Dellarco, Dylan Rash, Max Coughlin, Trevor McCabe, Zach Muchard and Cole Barrett. “When it came to Mini A I was like a gorilla on a tricycle, I would always finish behind Dylan (Rash) and Max FLORIDA TRAIL RIDERS
(Coughlin), says Ben. Once Ben got on a big bike he really started to shine as he moved through the A ranks on Sunday’s. After a few years of racing the local Florida GNCC Ben decided to give the entire series a shot.
