Berkshires Rider To Make Winter X Games Debut
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| Robert Graeber will head to the Winter X Games in Colorado at the end of the month. [Photos courtesy of Bruce Gaspardi] |
But for one local rider, the 2008 Winter X Games are also an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream.
"I can't believe it," said Robert Graeber, 17, who will travel to Aspen, Colo., at the end of the month to compete with the best of the best in the snocross competition. "This has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I would watch the X Games, just wanting to do it and be there and now I am."
<L4>Part of Team Southside, an eight-member snowmobile racing team sponsored and managed by Southside Sales and Service, Graeber has been an avid racer for more than 10 years. Originally competing in motorcycle races, Graeber took up riding snowmobiles at the age of 9 in his home state of Alaska, quickly learning what it takes to get to the national level.
Graeber came to the Berkshires last year to compete in the New England snocross circuit for the winter, giving the teenager an opportunity to try out new terrain. Team Southside, one of the biggest teams sponsored by Polaris (a snowmobile and off-road vehicle maker) on the East Coast, had recently lost a rider and was happy to take on new talent.
"We had a really successful team for the last four years and we lost a guy and Robert filled the gap," said Bruce Gaspardi, owner of Southside Sales and Service and the team's manager. "He's a great racer and he has a natural talent for snocross racing. He always gives 110 percent when he's on the track, or even when he is off it, just working on the sleds."
<R2>Slated to face 32 competitors on Jan. 23 through Jan. 26, Graeber said he's confident going into a race with riders he's idolized over the years.
"I knew I could make it [to the X Games]. I knew I could do it deep down but to make it at age 17, I'm pretty happy about it. I didn't think it would happen yet," he said.
Graeber qualified for the nationally-televised competition after finishing first place in a race held at Black Mountain of Maine ski area in Rumford last month. Graeber beat out three other contestants on the Rock Maple Racing circuit to seize the spot, according to Gaspardi.
"It's definitely an accomplishment," Gaspardi said.
<L3>With plans to build a whole new sled for Graeber in the weeks leading up to the competition, Team Southside is fully behind their young rider, even though some of the team members must stay behind to compete in their own meets during the X Games.
"We're making a 2,000-mile trek across the country," Gaspardi said.
Most of the team's athletes range in age from 16 to 18 years old, though new recruit Tomoharu Yamamichi, from Japan, is 21. Other members are Bradford Davis, David Livingston, Melanie Acker, Chris Ackerman, Derek Graham and Bruce Gaspardi Jr.
<R5>Graeber, who comes from a racing family, said "the need for speed" was in his blood. With a chance to race alongside some of the biggest names in the sport, Graeber said he expects to be starstruck.
"I'm looking forward to racing against my longtime idols," he said. "I'm sure it will make me a better racer."
The Winter X Games air on ESPN and ABS. A blog of Graeber and Team Southside's adventures will be chronicled on "From Adams to Aspen."
