Liam's Quad Racing

by Sharon
(UK)

It's been a while since I put anything on here about Liam and his racing.

During 2011 he finished 4th in the Nora Mx championship, had two 2nd's in grass track championships which was remarkable considering the stress he would go through just to get to the tracks because he had a fear of getting lost.

However towards the end of 2011 we noticed Liam was getting a bit bored racing his quad and wanted to move up a class so we made the decision to buy him a geared quad and were praying he would be able to ride it.

The first time we took him out on it he mastered the gears within 1 hour and was riding like a pro.

We decided that we were going to enter him in the 100cc geared class and see how he got on. The first couple of races were hard for him because he was getting used to all the gears but after about the 3rd event he was really getting to grips with it.

Halfway through the season he became one of Autism Mx's team riders which is an organization based in California that raises awareness about autism through motocross racing.

The founder, a gentleman called Mathew Dalton, also has a son who is autistic and he runs day camps for autistic children to experience what it is like to ride a motocross bike or quad.

You can find him via his website called the Autism MX Project.

When Liam raced in the British Championship he went out there with his autism mx graphics on his quad and his kit and showed everyone who had doubted him what he was made of and came home with 3rd in his class.

We even had an apology from the licensing board who issued the racing licenses who originally refused to give him a license which nearly went to court for disability discrimination.

We now know that the most important thing we need, to help Liam, is to keep him racing. It has helped him try to get over his fear of getting lost, of crowds of people and loud noises, but most importantly helped with his social interaction.

He also went on to win his class in the Nora Mx championship.

Now he is such a happy boy and a joy to be around, he isn't ashamed of being autistic anymore and now wants to raise as much awareness about autism through his racing as he can.

2012 was a great year for us as a family and also for Liam and we could not be more proud of his achievements.

We are even in the process of writing a book about how he copes with his racing on and off the track.

We hope you have all enjoyed reading about Liam and manage to achieve the same sucess with your own children. We could never have done this if it hadn't been for the help we received from a wonderful lady named Lesley and I hope you all manage to find your own guardian angel.

Every autistic child we have met is special in different ways and each has a talent which will exceed your expectations - with Liam it's quad racing.

Here's a video/slideshow of his 2012 highlights.