The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Classifieds

Third-grader has a need for SPEED

11/4/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ERIN PERCIFIELD Tanner Percified on his 65-cc Kawasaki
PictureTanner Percifield during a competition
By Sherri Coner
Southsider Voice correspondent
  
A few Christmases ago, Chris and Erin Percifield were shocked when their son, Tanner, turned his nose up at a small four-wheeler, his most special gift from Santa. 

Tanner had his eye on his older sister’s bigger and faster four-wheeler.

“He always wanted to see how fast he could make it go,” Erin Percifield said of Tanner, now 10. “He always stopped really fast too, so he could make it skid. He was just barely 2 years old.”  

It is no surprise to the family that Tanner has graduated from stomping on the go pedal of a battery-operated four-wheeler to revving the engine of his 65-cc Kawasaki. 

   Last year, Tanner began his racing career in the beginner class of Mid-American Cross Country Racing. He placed second in the regional championship competition. 

When this season of Motocross racing began in March, Tanner was again in the mix. But this year he is an intermediate competitor with Indiana Cross Country Racing. 

While competing at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in July, Tanner lost control of his bike after a jump.
“I didn’t think I would go down, it just happened,” he said of that unfortunate moment. 
Once on the ground, Tanner immediately realized that he was injured. 

But he says his first thought was, “How long am I gonna be out?”
Erin says she isn’t an over-protective worry wart. But from her perch in the bleachers, her motherly instinct immediately kicked into high gear.

“As soon as I saw Tanner struggle to stand and wave his little hand at me, I knew he was in trouble,” she said. 
Tanner’s right foot was broken in two places, requiring surgery. 

However, a rest-of-the-summer bout with a couple of casts didn’t dampen this third-grader’s need for speed. 
Recently, doctors finally allowed him to return to the sport he loves. 

Just as they did before Tanner was injured, his parents still arm themselves with walkie-talkies and watch the competition from opposite ends of the 1.5-mile course. 

Some parts of the race take Tanner into wooded areas where he and other competitors are no longer visible to the majority of onlookers. So that area is exactly where Chris Percifield watches the race and communicates with Erin and Tanner’s older sister, 13-year-old Olyviah.

“It is a 45-minute race and my heart is beating out of my chest the whole time,” Erin said.
With waiting for that green flag, he is usually nervous, Tanner said of how he feels right before a race. “But I’m always ready to go.”   
​
In his younger years, Chris Percifield raced BMX bikes; Erin ran track and cross country. 
“I guess racing is kind of in Tanner’s blood,” Erin said with a laugh. 

Picture
Tanner was born to ride as he is seen with sister Olyviah as a toddler.
Picture
Chris and Erin Percifield with Tanner, 10 and Olyviah, 13.
1 Comment
Billy rust link
2/27/2016 07:46:18 pm

Lets go tanner!!!!!!!! You must got some dirt bike skills like the lebron only your dirt biking. So cool dude.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Arts & Entertainment
    Lead Story
    Sports: 500
    Sports: Basketball
    Sports: Track

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187, Indianapolis, IN 46217

ads@southsidervoice.com | news@southsidervoice.com
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.