All in the family

July 23 – If you ask the Stiles or Swain families at the AMA Amateur Road Race Grand Championships, they’ll tell you that the family that RACES together stays together.

Mark Stiles, 39, is racing a Yamaha TZ250 in the Grand Championships, being held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. His daughter, 17-year-old Meghan, is aboard a Yamaha TZ125.

Mark’s wife, Jane, helps around the pits and takes lap times.

Mark and Meghan have been racing together for four years.

"It’s fun traveling together and –with the motorhome breaking down – you have traveling adventures," Mark says. "There aren’t that many sports that you can participate in together as a family.

"It’s not just the racing that’s fun, it’s the whole experience," he adds.

Mark feels comfortable with his daughter on the track, saying racing motorcycles is safe because it’s a controlled environment and there are medical personnel around in case anyone gets hurt.

Meghan is thrilled to be able to travel with mom and dad and race. She decided early on to be a racer.

"My dad’s been racing since I was 3, so I thought ‘why not keep it in the family?’ I love my parents. They’re the greatest.

"I’ve raced dad on 250s and 125s," she says. "Have I beat him? No."

While Meghan may be one of he youngest racers at the track, Wes and his wife, Jan (right), may be among the oldest.

Wes is 47 and races a Suzuki SV650. Jan is also 47, and races an EX500.

On the first day of the Grand Championships, Jan trophied, Wes didn’t.

"We’ve been riding motorcycles together since 1981," Wes says. "Then we took a Keith Code Superbike School together in 1995 for a wedding anniversary. We liked it" and got into racing.

Jan said she was a little concerned when she first got into racing because she thought racers would be "a lot of hotshots. But they’re nice people."