ST. CLAIRSVILLE resident Carter Gray is pictured with one of his motorcycles and his two tickets to the 41st annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tn. from Aug. 1-6. He has qualified in the 65cc 7-9 year-old and 65cc 7-9 year-old classes.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – A healthy Carter Gray is expecting a spot, or spots, on the podium when the 41st annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship rolls off the starting gate at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tn. He has qualified in two different classifications for the event which runs from Aug. 1-6.

Last summer the now 10-year-year-old St. Clairsville resident suffered a broken wrist just prior to the competition, but still finished in the Top 10 in both of his classes for the second time.

“I need to get a good start and keep pushing ahead. I need to hit the corners better and not break my wrist two weeks before Loretta’s,” he said of what he learned from a year ago. “We will get a day or two of practice on the track before the race, so that will also help.

“The key is not getting into the ruts and falling down. I did that too much last year, but this year I’ve been able to keep the bike upright.

“My goal is to get on the top step of the podium. The goal is to win.”

Gray has been dominant this summer on his 65cc GasGas in the 7-9 year old and 7-9 limited classes.

In qualifying at the Northeast Regional at Dublin Gap MX in Shippensburg, Pa., Gray took the checkered flag in all three of his 15-minute motos in the 7-9 year-old division, while finishing second, fourth and first for an overall placing of second in the 7-9 limited division.

“I’ve been faster and faster and faster as the summer has gone by,” he noted. “It’s been a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work to achieve my accomplishments.”

The hard work comes from not only training on the track, but off it, as well.

“I train a lot. I train at 10 Mile in Georgia with Clay Elliott and Jason O’Connell and at MAAS Training in St. Clairsville,” he said. “I also started doing GNCC Cross Training this summer which has helped with my cardio and endurance.”

“He lives it … he breathes it,” his father, Scott, said.

Gray will be a fifth grader in the fall at OnTrackSchool. com, a K-12 Distance Learning School that is based in California.

“If you graduate from OnTrackSchool.com, you get to graduate at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch,” his father noted.

There will be 42 competitors in each of his two classes. Each race will consist of three 20-minute motos.

His mother, Morgan, brothers – Cooper, Cameron and Cruz – along with grandparents, Todd and Mary Beth Schambach, will accompany Gray to Tennessee.

While preparing for the nationals, Gray won all four of his races on Father’s Day weekend during the two-moto format at the “Battle of Ohio” at Malvern MX in Waynesburg, Oh.

Gray, and his family, want to thank the many sponsors for all their support over the years. The three major sponsors are The Barton Trap, IC Staffing Solutions and Sonny Boy Restaurant.

A couple of fundraisers are planned to help off-set the rising cost of gasoline, travel expenses and entry fees.

The major fundraiser is a Cabbage Roll Dinner on July 17 at the Barton Trap. It will be held from noon until 3 p.m. and the cost is $12, which includes two cabbage rolls, real mashed potatoes, green beans and a roll.

Only 100 dinners will be sold. It is a dine-in or carryout event.

A 50/50 raffle is being held. Tickets are six for $5.

Additionally, a “Basket of Beverages” will also be sold. It will contain 20 bottles of adult beverages. Tickets are $5 each.

Call Mary Beth at (740) 325-6247 or Todd at (304) 281-2205 for pre-ordering dinners and information concerning the raffles, both of which will be given away during the dinner. Tickets for each drawing can be purchased at The Barton Trap or the Italian-American Club on North Fifth Street in Martins Ferry. Winners need not be present for either drawing.