Submitted photos – Davin Cain traveled to compete in the Amateur National Motocross Championships in Tennessee last week.

By Ray Hamill — McKinleyville’s Davin Cain got to enjoy the experience of a lifetime this summer as he continues to make a name for himself in the world of motocross.

Last week, the soon-to-be high school junior traveled to Loretta Lynn’s Farm in Tennessee to compete in the Amateur National Motocross Championships, fulfilling an ambition he has had for several years.

Cain placed 15th out of 42 riders in the 125C class, but beyond his impressive performance on the national stage, it was the experience that he says he will remember the most.

“It was fun,” Cain said, before adding with a chuckle, “There were a lot of people there. A lot more than I expected.”

This was the fourth year the young North Coast resident attempted to qualify for the prestigious event, and he finally got the breakthrough he was waiting on.

But it wasn’t easy.

To get there, Cain had to go through a series of qualifying races including the Area qualifiers back in February and three rounds of Regional qualifying, traveling as far north as Washington and as far south as Los Angeles.

But after placing third during Regional qualification, Cain advanced to the national championships.

It’s been a long time coming.

Cain competed in a lot of sports as a kid, including soccer, basketball and baseball, but didn’t really take to any of them.

Instead, he fell in love with motor sports, first taking up quad racing when his father Tavis — who is a former pro quad racer — built a track for him in their own back yard when Davin was just 6-years-old.

“I got into it because of my dad,” said Davin, who first began competing in quad races at the Redwood Acres when he was just “9 or 10” and began competing in motocross shortly after that.

He says he loves the individual competition as opposed to team sports.

“That is for sure part of it,” the 16-year-old said. “I’ve always enjoyed it and I grew up around it. My whole life I’ve enjoyed it more than other sports.”

About four years ago, after enjoying some success in the sport, he began to take it more seriously with eyes on taking it as far as he could, including qualifying for the national championships..

“I was kind of getting older and started going to more races,” he said. “And it kind of started clicking.”

After qualifying for the national championships, the young Cain traveled to Georgia to train for the event for three weeks leading up to it.

And that clearly paid dividends after his strong showing in Tennessee.

As for what the future holds, Davin is enjoying the moment and is hoping to keep competing for as long as he can before walking away.

“Honestly, I’m not the fastest, but I get a lot of fun doing it,” he said. “I want to do it for a few more years.”