THOUSAND OAKS POWERSPORTS COLTON SANDERS TURNS "PRO" AT 16

by Erek Kudla - photosbygrumpy.com

Colton Sanders has made huge waves in the offroad racing scene over the last two years going from dominating the USDR mini expert class in 2007 to Overalling the PRO race in 2010 at age 16.

Born in Bakersfield, Ca, Colton started at a very young age hopping on his first bike at 2 years old and entering his first race at 3 because he loved to "jump". He just kept pushing racing moto cross untill 2007 when a good family friend, the late Rich Caselli, told him "its hard to make a career in moto, you should try out WORCS". Colton entered his first WORCS race in 07 and loved it deciding to race it full time.

Getting brief tastes of Offroad in 2001 at the Adalento GP and in early 2007 at an Alta Vista Event he knew that this was the direction he was destined to go in. Late in 07 he entered his 1st US Desert Racing event and took both the Mini Expert win and Lites Amateur win with no problem. In 2008 he started racing desert and off-road full time and won the 2008 National Hare and Hound 250 B Championship and the 2009 US Desert Racing Lites Championship.

In 2010, after domintaing the USDR Lites class and finishing in the top 3 overall he decided to bump up to the PRO class on a KTM 450 XC. The first round was "bittersweet". He was running a strong 3rd overall and crashed on a road crossing getting a concussion and losing a lot of his memory of the race. He was still able to bring it home in 4th overall but lost most of what happened.

The next round was more then what Colton ever asked for. He took the early lead and lead all the way to the wire taking his first overall win by nearly 45 seconds over Nick Burson. At the finish he was agast "I still can't even believe it. Its the best feeling to get out there and have everything go your way!" At 16 years old Colton has become the youngest rider in USDR history to take an overall win.

Colton's sucess has come with lots of hard work and a lot of bad luck in the past. He's suffered pin holes in the radiator, the kick starter falling off, a rock bouncing up and breaking off his petcock, his chain bouncing and breaking his clutch pump along with many amazing craches. In Toutle Washington at a WORCS race he hit some chop just right at full speed and kicked his back end out catching a log and throwing him on the ground. He lost 2 hours of memory and broke a rid. Miraculously he was able to come back the next day and win his race by almost a minute.

In 2010 Colton is chasing the USDR PRO Championship and hopes to finish in the top 5 in the National Hare and Hound series. The more experience he gets on the 450 the better and he is only getting faster and faster.

He wouldn't be able to race as hard as he does with out the support of Thousand Oaks Powersports, Maxima, FMF, TBT racing, Dunlop, Answer, Pro Taper, GPR, Gaerne, Scott USA, EVS, Twin Air, and Epic Action Video Cam. "I really want to thank Anthony Dibasilio for everything hes done at the track and just for the little things I need help with. Also Kurt Caselli for helping me stay on the right track as far as training and staying mentally prepared and Chris Blais for helping me with the bike and helping out. Ronnie Lechien at Maxima and Jef at Thousand Oaks, if it wasnt for them I definately wouldnt be riding this year."