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It’s all about the mud, according to Thomas Hay, who at just seven years old is already a sponsored motocross rider aiming high in his sport.

Down at the track surrounded by the intense noise of motorbikes leaping into the air, the mozzie buzz of Tom’s LEM motorbike is as incongruous as the serious blond boy pulling on his enormous helmet and strutting about coated in body armour.

Its been raining and his little bike gets bogged in the mud on the steep jumps. He has to abandon the ”big” track for the junior track for practise. Not that he minds. He’s there to have fun riding his bike and practising gear changes around the turns. But it will take his parents three to four hours to clean all the mud off.

From an early age Tom showed great coordination and balance. When other kids were still using training wheels Tom was “poppin’ wheelies” says Tom’s dad, Paul Hay. Tom’s interest in motorbikes started when he was just two years old.

“I had an old XR and he was always round the back, sitting on that making motorbike noises,” say Paul. At three years old, Tom’s dad bought him his first bike, a KTM, and a year later he started racing. Initially he was riding once a month at Yarra Glen, on the outskirts of Melbourne, then he joined the Nunawading club.

“When he first started I was a bit daunted,” says Tom’s mum, Jo Middlehurst. “But he enjoyed it and he was good at it. It seemed a natural thing for him to do.”

Rob Hoyle from Rah Motorcycles has been following Tom all along, from when Paul first came in to buy a second hand bike, which Tom took to “like a duck to water”. Rob says Paul and he have become good mates. Rob laughs at how green Paul was to motorbikes, to racing, to tracks to everything. It was Rob who suggested Paul enter Tom in a few races “just for fun”.

When Rob first saw Tom racing, he didn’t have the best bike and wasn’t winning lots of races. But it wasn’t just Tom that Rob was looking at. “I knew Jo and Paul were going through a rough patch. But whatever Jo and Paul’s problems are – they don’t have any problems so far as Tom’s concerned. They’re prepared to sacrifice, whether it’s financially or whatever for Tom, so I just wanted to help them out,” says Rob.

“When you’ve been in the business 38 years and I’ve sponsored a lot of kids, you know it’s not just about the fastest kid on the fastest bike, you look at the whole family. Are the parents dedicated? Are they going to get the kid to the track at six in the morning.”

Rob proposed sponsoring Tom, much to his parent’s shock and excitement. The sponsorship includes the use of two automatic bikes plus all mechanical repairs, fuels, oils, clothes and safety equipment. Last year Rob spent $28,000 on the two boys he sponsors- Tom and an eleven-year-old, Troy. Around $11,000 would have been spent on Tom.

“I think he’s very fortunate; if we had to pay for all that there’s just no way we could do it,” says Paul.

Sponsorship doesn’t cover all the costs and there are still significant expenses, such as licences, competition fees and travel. There’s a lot of time required too, in preparations, equipment checks and cleaning.

Tom has competed in three major events this year travelling across Victoria from Warrnambool to Traralgon. As Tom’s skills develop and he grows into bigger bikes there will probably be trips interstate and competitions at a national level. “I never ever thought it would be this involved,” says Paul.

Rob thinks Tom has what it takes to go all the way. “I don’t think there’s much doubt he’ll be a Victorian Title Holder and I think by the time he’s fourteen, he’ll have an Australian Title under his belt. He just got that determination to win.”

Tom has a healthy blend of wins and losses. The combination of his size, equipment and the various competition categories means sometimes he dominates his class while other times he competes against much bigger nine year old kids.

Despite the size differences, he still comes in at the “pointy end”, according to Paul. It might be good for him to lose now and then but Tom finds it frustrating, he likes to win. “He’s very hard on himself,” says Jo.

When Tom first started school last year, the other kids didn’t believe that he rode motorbikes on weekends. That was soon cleared up when he brought some of his 51 trophies to school. “Now they all want motorbikes,” Tom giggles.

Tom’s life isn’t just motorbike riding either. He proudly shows off his recent birthday present “Mousetrap” and he enjoys other sports like football and tennis, even just running around in the backyard with his dog.

Motocross can be a dangerous sport. There are often ambulances at the track on race days for scrapes and breaks. But Tom says he doesn’t get scared racing, although he used to when he was “little”. He might not be worried but his parents are.

Paul can’t eat on race days from nerves and Jo admits Tom being hurt is her greatest fear. “Last week he wiped out right in front of me,” says Paul. “You could’ve put your hands out and caught him as he flew through the air. Then he hits the ground and he’s screaming and blood’s pumping out his nose and its’ like ‘Why? Why are you doing this?’”

“It would’ve felt so much more nice if somebody had catched me,” Tom pipes up with a laugh. “It would have felt nice if there’d been a trampoline there.”

Tom’s already starting to live the life of a celebrity recently staring in advertisements for Rat Clothing but according to Jo, he takes it all in his stride.

Despite Tom’s obvious talent and potential both Jo and Paul agree it’s up to Tom whether he keeps up the sport. Paul says, “Basically from now, if he wants to be number one, like he keeps on blabbing about, then its up to him, it’s not up to anyone else.”