Tuesday Toolbox: Charlie and Sadie Welch

The Welch siblings, Charlie and Sadie,  have wondered what it would be like if they both won a race on the same day in their respective classes. Well, at Loretta Lynn's they finally did it! Charlie and Sadie may be separated by a few years, but they are very supportive of each other, even if they have the usual sibling rivalry.

Charlie! I hear it's your birthday! Happy Birthday! Thanks! I turned 12 yesterday.

Did you just get out of school? How was it? It was long. Some people knew it was my birthday, and they asked if I had brought in cupcakes.

Well, did you? Yes! Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing.

Those sound yummy! It was your sister, Sadie's birthday the other day wasn't it? Yup! She turned 10 the day before my birthday.

It was really exciting to see you both take wins in your classes at Loretta's. That hasn't happened before has it? That was pretty cool. We were talking about it on the way down about Jay and Cheyenne Shadron getting double wins. We were saying how cool it would be if we both won. That was pretty cool that we did it that weekend! We've never even done it at a local race before.

You've had some bad luck this year, so it was nice to see you get that win. How did you feel about your first win of the season? After winning 8 out of 13 and 7 in the class, I came in pretty confident this year. We didn't go to Florida, but I had a good run in Georgia. Then, I crashed in North Carolina, and I got my 6th concussion. Then, I tried the Cobra at South Carolina but it broke down on me. But then we came into Tennessee, I was confident back on the DRR. I got the holeshot and led from there.

What was different about this race? Do you like those muddy, rainy conditions? I really like Loretta's, the terrain, how it's rcoky, hilly and wide open. I just really like it there.

Had you won at Loretta's before? It was my first win there. That's pretty cool. I need to win at four more races until I've won at every track.

Is that a goal you keep in mind then? Winning at every track? I think about it here and there. But my dad always thinks about it.

What's your favorite track? This is hard. Let me think. Do I have to have one?

How about top 3? Unadilla, Yadkinville, And Loretta Lynn's.

What are the four tracks you still need to win? Unadilla, The Titan, Ironman, Powerline Park. Every year we have family come to Ironman since it's less than an hour away from us. But I always break down there.

You said you switched to a Cobra for the South Carolina race. Any particular reason why you decided to do that? Hunter Hart seemed to all of a sudden be really winning races and winning overalls on his Cobra. It was JD Welch's Cobra. His dad has always been really nice to me. After NC, told my dad he'd like to put me on a Cobra to give me a better chance against Hunter. We'll try it again at one of these races, probably in Pennsylvania.

How's your season on the bike side going? It's ok. I kind of haven't been paying as much attention because I've been trying to win on four wheelers.

Let's talk about what it's like to race with Sadie. Do you guys race against each other when you're practicing? I'll hop on the four wheeler and she'll be on hers, and we'll try to push her since I'm stronger, older and more experienced. I think she wants to be behind me. It's fun riding with her.

At Loretta Lynn's, we were coming over the finish line, it was my last lap, and I just came hooting and hollering behind her and she went to get over, and there were some spectators that were laughing that she let me by. Sometimes she won't let me around and it makes me mad.  But she's a good sister period, and a good sister to race with.

I bet you were really excited to see her get a win, too. I was excited for her. She wasn't very excited, though, to me. She wouldn't really talk to me about it. But she explained the whole race to my dad! I think she's getting better. It started out with the last XCR race, she's always wanted to impress people and mainly get up there and beat the other boys. She was the only one in the 70 class, so she was going to go into the stock 90 class. She raced with 19 other stock boys and beat them and she got a lot of confidence that way. And now she won. She's doing a lot better.

Sadie has definitely improved, she definitely seems very brave, too! I try to be the brave one, like Travis Pastrana. He's one of my role models, and I've tried to be braver then her, but she'll do anything. Whenever she broke a bone, she was like "I got triple dog dared!"  She's had 8 casts and 16 broken bones. But they've done bone tests and everything, and she doesn't have bone problems. So it's kind of weird. With Sadie's broken bones, I've only had two of the parts on the top of my foot broken and my ribs. I try to be the brave one but I don't break any bones. I don't get it. She gets dared, but I try to jump everything. Let me count how many bikes in my garage that are broken from jumping 1-2-3-4-5 and two broken scooters. I just got a bike from my dad for my birthday. He's like, "You know Charlie, I am being serious, I spent money on this bike and I don't want you to break it! Try to keep it as perfect as possible."

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about Charlie? Am I talking too much?

No of course not! Talk as much as you'd like! Sadie got a lot of confidence SICC Racing. They're a big group of guys we race with.  Todd, Garron, Fred, Michael and  Josh. They always come to the starting line and watch us at the start. But I've been getting really nervous this year. I don't know if it's because I'm on a faster bike. I don't know if it's because I don't want to crash. The Cobra, after the race, I told Todd, he's in the pro class, number 23, and I told him how the carburetor came loose, and he said, yeah boy you probably shook it at the starting line. But anyways, they just give us so much confidence. They'll do anything for, Lenny, Vincent and Matthew Harris. We park for them every race. Everybody is here for us. It's like a family when we go. They're all great racing friends. Lenny's always working on our four wheelers with our dads and Ty and so is Brayden Shick and all those guys.

Ok Charlie, thanks for talking to us!

Thanks, Rachel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok Sadie, it's your turn. How are you doing today? I'm good.

You and your brother both won at Loretta's. How was your race? Yeah that was my first win. Well, like I was in second and then I got stuck and they all passed me. On the second to last lap knew I was fast. I got scared because I thought Tyler McConnaughey was going to pass me but he didn't.

You looked like you were having fun at Lorettas! You were pretty brave jumping into the creek. Yeah but the water was really cold! They were trying to push me in but I did not let them push me in! It was kind of scary though.  I'm the daredevil. The person who's not scared to do anything. Charlie's the chicken. Well, put it like this, He's the rain, I'm the thunder.

(Laughs) That's a good way to put it!  You were one of the only girls jumping into the creek, and now you're beating all those same boys in your class. What do you think of competing against these boys? It's cool because I'm faster than them. My mom always said to go fast to pass the boys butts. But she says the bad word!

I know you have time but have you given any though about which class you'll race in next? Do you think you'll move to the Girls class or the 90 Mod with the boys? I like racing against the boys so I'll race with them. I'll race with the girls when I move to the pro class.

Why do you want to keep racing with the boys? When I let them by, I always try to stay with them, instead of stopping and letting them by. I try to keep up with them.  I was trying to call earlier because I dance 4-8 the next three days.

That's right! I was out hiking when you called. I'm glad I caught you. I didn't know you dance too! This weekend I had a dance competition and I won first overall in my solo.

Congratulations! That's awesome. How long have you been dancing? Since I was 18 months old. I really don't know how to dance. I was still in diapers, my mom said. I used to do pageants so that was kind of dancing.

Why did you decided to race after dancing for so long? My brother was always racing and he always got all the attention in the house. People would come over and watch him ride. I wanted to start racing and then I was in pageants, and I started noticing that I liked racing and I didn't like all the makeup and getting my hair done. But when I broke my foot, I won a pageant and 10 thousand dollars, so I liked that one! Sometimes you get points deducted for broken bones and casts but I won the whole thing. I bought my brother and I dune buggies with the pageant money. Five thousand went to college but I got a blue dune buggy for me and a red one for my brother.

Do you like racing as much as dance? Yeah! Sometimes it's hard to choose when I have a competition when I have a race. It really depends on my points in racing. If I was 8th I'd probably be able to go to the dance competition.

How did you feel about you and Charlie both winning? I was excited for him, right when I got off the bike, I saw him on the podium, so I went over. He's a good rider!

You seem pretty supportive of each other. Yeah, but when we are home we fight constantly. He wants all the living room floor to himself. And, he's grumpy.

What are your goals for the rest of the year? I want to get top 5 by the banquet. I always get 9th, 8th or 7th.

Your brother said you are much more confident this year? Why do you think that is? When I'm in the woods and when I pass people and nobody is there I try to go as fast as I can. It makes me feel so good because Kirie Brafford, she got me a license plate that says "You've just gotten passed by a girl," so I always laugh when I pass a boy. Read this!

My mom wants me to say why I break so many bones, well it's what the doctor said, really. But he said that I have the muscles of a 15 year old girl, but the skeletal frame of a 9 year old. So when I jump, the power of my musicles are so hard on my bones.

Do you work out? Or do you just play to get in shape? Well I play , but dance on Thursday is a 30 minute workout class. People think they're going to die but they're still living!

Alright, Sadie! Thanks for talking! Good luck this weekend! Thanks, Rachel!