Yellowknife snowmobiler heads to national snowcross races

A Yellowknife man is heading to Ontario with this snowmobile today to compete against Canada's best snowcross racers.

For the next four months, Brandon Bradbury will be racing in up to 80 events in an attempt to become a national champion snowmobiler.

“We’re going through big bumps, jumping like 30 feet in the air,” Bradbury says. “It’s basically like motocross, but on snow.”

Bradbury says racing is also very physically demanding.

“You’ve got to worry about 14 to 15 other people that are racing with you that are doing the same thing you're doing, so it can get pretty scary sometimes,” he says. “But that`s one of the things that I like about it. It's really intense and it's an extreme sport.”

Bradbury, 21, grew up around racing. His grandmother and father both raced snowmobiles. Bradbury's first competition was when he was four years old.

His dad, Colin, says Brandon loved the sport from the beginning.

“You know he's chasing his dreams,” Colin says. “It’s something that he's always wanted to do as a young child. He wanted to race and now that he's…a young adult, he's still chasing and following his dreams.”

Brandon says support from family and local sponsors has been a key part to his success.

“If I make the final, I'm looking for first place,” he says. “I want to win as many races as possible this year. That's my goal — to win.”

Brandon says he eventually wants to compete at the X-games and on the international racing circuit.

His first race of the season is next Saturday.

Watch Brandon compete at a race in B.C. earlier this year. 

And here's his dad's view of the same event.