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Date: 7/20/2023
SOUTHWICK — Their hearts are racing, the adrenaline is pumping, but they’re completely focused, because for each of them, that millisecond before the gate drops, everything the privateer motocross racers have done before has prepared them for this moment.
And 30 minutes later, after giving it everything they have pounding around The Wick 338’s sand track, it’s over.
For most of the local racers during July 8’s Southwick National of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, years of preparation on and off the track wasn’t enough. Nearly 200 riders entered in two classes of competition. Only 40 riders in the 450 Class, and 40 riders in the 250 Class, qualified for the afternoon races. The rest, including most of the non-professional riders, packed up after a short consolation race.
“I just try to stay positive,” said Southwick resident Austin Brooks, 25, who started riding a dirt bike when he was only 4 years old, while sitting under a small canopy tent cooling off minutes after missing the qualifying time by less than a second.
Just how close was he to notching a spot in the afternoon motos?
Of the 89 racers who set qualifying times in the 250 Class, only the top 36 gained automatic berths in the 250 Class competition. The 36th qualifier had a lap time of 2:16.134.
Brooks’ time was 2:16.958 — 0.825 seconds slower.
“It could have been anything,” Brooks said about missing the cutoff by less than a second.
“Maybe in a corner, braking, clutching … those milliseconds add up,” he said.
He explained just how difficult it can be for privateers to qualify for the afternoon competition at any of the Pro Motocross Championship races at venues around the country.
When he arrives with his team at a track, even those he has raced on before, he gets one chance — a “sight lap” — to figure out the best lines through the course.
And just like every other competitor, that’s it.
The next time he lines up in the starting gate, the times count and the difference between advancing and going home can be measured in inches.
But it’s that moment at the starting line that makes all the difference for Brooks.
“That feeling you get on the line is incredible. It’s wild,” he said.
But Brooks, who is sponsored by Team Justice, Crestview Construction, Ryan’s Tree Service, Custom Homes by Hamelin Framing, R2 MX Graphics, A’s Auto & Truck Repair, and Genden Auto Parts, where he works as an operations manager, is one of the few local racers that has had some success at the National, qualifying for the Southwick National three times.
Of the eight competitors from Southwick and Westfield who participated in the Crestview Construction Southwick National on July 8, only Westfield’s Nicholas McDonnell posted a good enough time to line up at the starting gate, with a lap time of 2:14.309 in the 250 Class.
“It was the first time I ever made it through qualifying,” McDonnell said. Like Brooks, he began riding at a young age. He’s 27 now and has been at for 21 years.
Southwick’s Robert Bombard Jr., who like most of the privateer racers hopped on a dirt bike only a couple of years after being potty trained, is still working to make it to afternoon motos.
“I just want to make one,” said Bombard, who missed the 250 Class cutoff this year by 1.2 seconds.
When asked what it’s going to take to make it survive past qualifying, he was succinct: “I just have to go faster,” he said with a wry smile while cooling off in his pit and eating a piece of chicken.
Like nearly all the privateers, Bombard, 25, has a full-time job, as a mechanic at K-Max Helicopters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. And like all the privateers, Bombard couldn’t get to the starting line without generous sponsors. He thanked Monty’s Motorsports, NextGen Roofing, and Genden Auto Parts for their support.
Southwick’s Kristopher Corey has reached the afternoon motos in a number of national events, including last year’s Southwick National, when he finished first during his qualifying run in the 450 Class. This year his time placed 39th, but he benefited from a strong performance in the consolation race. The top four finishers in that midday race advance and join the 36 qualifiers in their class to make a 40-rider lineup in the afternoon motos. Corey finished fifth, and was told to stand by as an alternate, in case a qualifying rider were injured or otherwise unable to line up. He was able to participate in the 450 Class second moto.
With success, even momentarily, so fleeting, Corey, 29, explained why he continues to chase his dream.
“I love it. It’s time consuming, but it’s worth it,” he said pointing to the scars that serve as visible reminders the sport’s inherent dangers.
To show how easily a racer can be injured, he said he had spent a couple of hours practicing in the week before the National, and then opened his left hand and in his palm was a silver-dollar-sized blister.
“I didn’t even know it was there until I took my glove off,” he said.
There’s also the challenge of competing against the best off-road motorcyclists in the world.
“I’m out there with some of the fastest dudes on the planet,” he said while pointing in the direction of the factory rigs for the likes of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and KTM, a spacious and shiny contrast to the small box trucks or vans with canopy tents brought by the privateer teams. “We’re chasing it, just trying to live the dream.”
These days, Corey is joined on the road and in the pits by his wife Brittany, who is seven months pregnant. Corey also works full-time as a construction supervisor for the Connecticut-based Avery Construction Co. He is sponsored by TPR, Klim, which provides personal gear, and Edelmann Sales & Service.
Like all the privateers, Corey doesn’t often get to the track to practice, but being in superior physical condition is nearly a mandatory requirement to compete as they blast around tracks wrestling with a 70- to 90-pound piece of machinery and other racers. The privateer riders each said they’re lucky to get to the track once a week — mostly because they have jobs, to help pay the bills for racing, and taking care of their families.
And all the racers spend hours in the gym, additional hours riding bicycles and watch what they eat to stay in top form.
“I’m pedaling for hours … running in the heat,” said Corey, who has been riding since he was five. “I’ve learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
In fact, his physical conditioning is so good, when he broke his leg a couple of years ago in a work-related accident, his heartbeat was so low — a resting 42 beats per minute — doctors at first thought he might have had a condition unrelated to the fracture.
They may never reach their goal of competing with the professionals, some of the world’s best off-road motorcyclists — Corey finished 26th out of 40 in his one moto on July 8, and McDonnell finished 29th in the first moto, and did not finish the second one — but they keep at it.
“We just try to stay positive and mentally strong,” Brooks said.