Daredevil River Mathias is the UK’s youngest motorcross racer – aged just FOUR.<br /><br />The fearless youngster started riding motorbikes before he could even walk and now races against kids more than twice his size and age.<br /><br />River tears up the tracks hitting speeds of 25mph on his souped-up electric dirt bike worth £4,000.<br /><br />The bike-riding fanatic, from Kempsey, Worcs., wants to follow in the footsteps of petrol-head dad Craig who also races motorcross.<br /><br />Craig, 37, said: “It started when it was his first birthday, I bought him an electric quadbike. He just got on and rode it. <br /><br />“From then I got him a push bike with stabilisers and he could ride it no problems. <br /><br />“Like any dad would I took them off and he could ride it without stabilisers. He couldn’t touch the ground but he could balance. <br /><br />“He started racing at three on an outdoor track. He had a big crash with a kid on a petrol bike. <br /><br />“At that point we had to review it and ask if he wanted to do this as it was scary to watch. <br /><br />“He got back up on the bike and just said he wanted to do it. <br /><br />“We told him, ‘you do it until you don’t want to do it.’ <br /><br />“He does think he’s the fastest thing in the world. <br /><br />“He is fearless but I am quite nervous watching him because he's another level. It's scary and amazing at the same time. He has no fear whatsoever. <br /><br />"He's crazy - fearless and crazy, a little daredevil.”<br /><br />River finished an impressive second at his most recent race, beating hundreds of other competitors at the SX Worx indoor motorcross track in Sheffield.<br /><br />Despite standing just over 3ft-tall, the mini-bike fan is now being tipped as a future star in the electric motorcross category of the sport.<br /><br />Craig, a hairdresser, added: “Electric motorcross is quite new, he’s the first generation of kids doing it. <br /><br />“The racers ride on an adult track. It's steep and they do crash. The bikes will go 25pmh which is rapid.”<br /><br />Craig and his wife Emma, 35, travel in their campervan to tracks up and down the country with their daughter Isla, ten, and River. <br /><br />Craig, a hairdresser, added: “I race motocross so he grew up on the track. I didn’t want to push him into it as it’s dangerous. <br /><br />“It was always do what you want. <br /><br />“He just wants to do motocross. It's a family thing, we meet other families there. We travel around there a lot in the van. <br /><br />“Motocross as a combustion engine sport is on the decline, due to the noise as they’re always in rural areas. <br /><br />“The electric is what’s saving the sport, they’re quiet and don’t make any noise. <br /><br />“The electric is growing and these kids are the first kids of their age to ride it. <br /><br />“We just spent £4,000 on a bike. The petrol one was the same price but a risk. <br /><br />“He has lots of friends that can’t ride push bikes yet and here he is tearing around at 25mph. <br /><br />“He loves the sport, I can tell that he loves it. The future plan is to go until it’s no longer fun. We tell River to just have fun.”
