DADE CITY, Fla. — Cody Bryce lives for motocross and has the trophies to show for it.
“You eat. You think. You sleep and drink about motocross. That’s all there is to it. And if you don’t, you aren’t going to be successful,” said the 15-year-old.
Cody started competing at five years old and loves the sport, just like his brothers and father.
“Once pee wee football is over, a new coach takes over. Dad is no longer the coach. And it never goes back to that. Motocross is always the family,” said his father, Chris Bryce.
Dade City Motocross is their home track and they were there moments after an 11-year-old boy was injured while practicing Sunday.
Dade City police said the boy tried to pick up his dirt bike after a crash, but that’s when another racer jumped the same hill and hit him.
He was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.
“You expect to see injuries. This is motocross. You are going to hit the ground. You expect a broken arm. Something like this is rare, almost unheard of,” said Chris Bryce.
Authorities haven’t released the name of the child that died.
According to Motorsport Memorial, the last fatal crash at Dade City Motocross happened in May 1999, when a 17-year-old boy from Plant City died. That was the first crash at the track in 20 years.
I reached out to the owner of Dade City Motocross, who said he wanted to talk with the boy’s family before speaking publicly about what happened.
Cody and his family said they’ve always felt safe racing here and safety is taken very seriously.
“They try their hardest to make sure this never happens with a lot of super hard and set blanket rules so that you don’t go fast in the pits so that you can be careful on the track. They separate all the classes so that you can separate the fast guys from the intermediate,” said Cody.
Police said this was a just terrible accident and it doesn’t appear there will be any criminal charges against anyone.
