It’s tough sledding, but local racer shows he’s got the stuff
Relatively new to the snowcross circuit, Heidelberg’s Taylor Stewart has been racking up podium finishes aplenty. He heads into the the final event of the season with an eye on top spot
A NATURAL TALENT FOR
the sport and the guts to go with it has helped propel a local snowcross racer into the thick of a national championship run, despite being fairly new to the circuit.
Nineteen-year-old Taylor Stewart, an EDSS grad who calls Heidelberg home, is currently sitting in firstand second-place in his rookie year of Sport 600 1 Sport 600 2, respectively, on the Canadian Snowcross Racing Association’s competitive circuit, racing against riders with years of experience on the sled.
CSRA competitions in Canada are held primarily within Ontario and Quebec, with the race season running October through April. Today’s most popular form of snowmobile racing, snowcross has high-flying aerial displays and compact track designs that sees competitors race around tracks with tight turns, banked corners and a variety of jumps.
Last weekend Stewart competed in the Rockstar Energy National Snowcross races at Chicopee Ski Resort in Kitchener in front of a big home crowd of friends and family. He’s had a very successful season that has seen him on the podium on many occasions. Ahead of this past weekend, he was sitting in second and third respectively.
Over the two-day event he won the Sport 600 1 and Sport 600 2 races on Saturday. On Sunday, he came first overall again in Sport 600 2. And despite crashing on the course, he was still able to come third overall in Sport 600 1.
Stewart has been riding snowmobiles since he was young, however it wasn’t until he was introduced to racing that he caught the snowcross bug.
“I went to my first snowmobile race at Chicopee, actually, just to watch with my dad,” said Stewart. “Ever since I went to watch that, I was bugging my dad to go try it, and I did.”
Going from that initial zeal to standing on a podium at Chicopee was a somewhat surreal experience, he notes.
“It was really cool for
me,” he said. “I have competed there previous years, but this year I am doing really well in my division so it was nice to be able to be in front of my family, friends and local people and show them what I am doing.”
Having started racing a few years ago, Stewart quickly gained attention last year from the Ski-Doo racing department, who offered him a position on the Ski-Doo X team, the next level up being professional riding.
“He has done exceptionally,” said Taylor’s mom, Susan. “A lot of the kids that he competes against, they have been racing for years and years and years. He has been driving since he was probably 6 or 7 years old, but he has only been racing for a short period of time – so there are guts and a gift there.”
Last year Taylor competed in Trail Sport 600, before making the jump up to Sport 600 1 and 2 this season.
“It’s definitely more competitive and there are definitely a lot more experienced riders in this category,” he said. “Most of the people that I have been racing against have been doing it from a young age and have been competing in the series for a bunch of years.”
Currently, thanks to his success this past weekend, Stewart is tied for first with Pack Polito with 243 points in Sport 600 1 and is sitting in second place with 680 points in Sport 600 2 in the CSRA national standings.
His success has not come as a surprise to his mom.
“As a kid, he was four when he had his training wheels off and was going off of the curbs the same day. I don’t know when that starts or whether you’re born that way – that’s something I think is in you,” she said of his daredevil nature.
By the same token, she’s aware that the extreme sport also comes with its risks that other competitions don’t.
“I mean it’s amazing, I am super proud, but at the same time it’s a nail-biter. I definitely hold my breath and pray, but you have to be in a certain head space to do this and I am there to support him,” she said. “If he’s got it in him to do it, and you provide all of the tools and the safety gear, then I think you’re set to go. But you have to have the guts and then there is the gift, the gift of being able to ride.”
While this week comes with a bit of a breather, Taylor and his team will be heading to the Mystik Lubricants National Championships at the Horseshoe Valley Resort this weekend where he will be racing to see if he can edge out the competition and take that top spot.
“This weekend is our last race of the year,” he said. “So everyone usually tries to put everything they have into it, especially in my category because the points right now are really close.”
Regardless of the outcome, his success is exceptional given that he’s been in the sport for but a few years. While right now he is working towards that top spot for this year’s season, he does hope that with