EAU CLAIRE — Mason Czech discovered his sport early — at age 9.

The 17-year-old Eau Claire resident has been dedicated to it ever since.

“My dad was into trail-riding on dirt bikes with his buddies,” Czech said. “I started riding when I was 3.

“By the time I was 9, I began to ride competitively. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I don’t play any other sports. I’m cyber-schooled. I live and breathe motocross.”

That’s as in year-round.

Czech practices indoors at Switchback during the winter months. He travels to Cincinnati, North Carolina, Kentucky, etc. to compete in indoor events during the winter.

“That’s the time of year you have to travel to find the facilities,” he said. “The rest of the year, we generally keep our race schedule between two and four hours of traveling distance.”

There’s a notable exception to that this year.

Czech has qualified for the 35th annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., Aug. 1 to 6. This year marks his first venture to this prestigious event.

“It’s where everyone who does this at my level wants to be,” Czech said.

Czech will compete in the School Boy 2 class and also is registered as an alternate in the 450B Limited Class. He expects to participate in both races.

Qualifying for this event began with more than 22,000 hopefuls vying for 1,482 qualifying spots. Riders had to finish among the top eight in their respective division at a local qualifier to advance to a regional qualifier. Only the top six riders in each division from the regional get to make the trip to Hurricane Mills.

The course contains a wide variety of jumps, corners and other obstacles. The races are usually contested in extremely hot weather.

The latter fact is not lost on Czech.

“Down there, it’s about a 20-minute motocross,” he said. “I’ve been training by doing a lot of 30-minute rides up here.

“I’m into cardio training and running, too. I try to run for about an hour at a pretty good pace to build up my stamina.”

Regardless of his intense workouts, Czech anticipates being at a disadvantage at the nationals.

“I’ve only been in heavy training for this for a couple of months,” he said. “Some kids down south have been training for this all year round. I’m gonna have to have the speed to keep up, simple as that.”

He already knows about the mental toughness that goes with racing dirt bikes.

“The injuries are nonstop. You’re always battling something,” he said. “You learn to stay on the bike, continue training and racing ... You just deal with the injuries. Push through.”

Czech hopes to get his pro license in 2018. His long-range goal is to become a top-20 ranked professional dirt bike racer.

He admits that’s a long way off.

“All I want to do is keep working at it and keep getting better,” Czech said. “I’m doing everything I can right now to get ready for nationals.”

Czech’s family will be making the trip as well. Besides the races, the week-long event hosts family-friendly activities including swimming, talent show, concerts and live entertainment.

Race action will be broadcast daily on www.RacerTV.com.