Local Former Marine, 53, to live dream on dirt bike

 

Qualifies for national event in sport dominated by youth

Houston County resident Steve Fredericks, 53, has qualified to compete in the American Motorcycle Association’s Amateur National Motocross Championship July 27 through Aug. 2 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.(Photo: The leaf-chronicle/Mark Hicks)

 

CUMBERLAND CITY, Tenn. – In a sport where riders in their late 20s are referred to as “old men,” Steve Fredericks has defied the odds to achieve a dream.

The 53-year-old Houston County dirt-bike racer has qualified for the largest amateur motocross race in the world, the 33rd Annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship.

“This has been a lifelong goal of mine,” he said, adding that qualifying can be very expensive and very exclusive for only the top-level riders. “But I knew if I didn’t at least try, I would never forgive myself.”

More than 20,000 riders from across America have competed in regional and area qualifying races to earn one of just 1,446 qualifying positions in the national race to be held July 27 through Aug. 2, at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

Motocross racing is one of the more physically grueling sports around, where rider and machine are constantly pounded from landing jumps, negotiating washboard sections of the dirt course, and making tight turns with competitors just inches away.

While the majority of those on the course with Fredericks will be half his age, he spent 22 years as a U.S. Marine and six years training Marines as a contractor after he retired, enabling him physically to compete.

“If it wasn’t for that, I’d never be able to keep up with these guys,” he said.

But to complicate his training for the rigorous sport, Fredericks said he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome when he was an endurance athlete competing in events like triathlons.

“That just makes training worse,” he said. “I can’t work out now because it makes me sick. I can only ride and practice on tracks around here to prepare for races, but I have to be careful doing that because I can get sick and not be able to race.”

At age 15, Fredericks began motocross racing in Indiana in 1974. He dreamed of being a professional racer, until the farm where he was working closed down operations. So with a wife and son, he decided to join the Marines in 1984.

Putting aside his dreams for his family, he told his wife his enlistment was for the long haul – at least 20 years. And during his time in the Marines, Fredericks did not own or ride a motorcycle.

But when he retired from the military in 2006, he was in southern California, which is a hotbed for motocross.

“I bought a bike and won the first race I entered,” he said. “But it was a beginner class, which they gave me a hard time about that, because I was so much faster than everyone else.”

Fredericks was content with racing and dirt riding with his two grown sons in So Cal until he and his wife finally found a place to settle after nine years of looking. Their search landed them on a 22-acre farm off Highway 13 in Houston County, which met such criteria as being near a major military installation and four seasons of weather without harsh winters.

So after moving to Tennessee a couple years ago, he realized his proximity to Hurricane Mills and its famous motocross race, so his quest began to qualify for the Amateur National Motocross Championship. He made the field by winning two area and two regional qualifying events.

“My first one was a disaster,” he said of his qualifying tries. “Everything went wrong; I got knocked right away. I had trouble with the bike. It was almost comedic.”

In the meantime, sponsors such as Heartland Racing, MB1, Cylinderworks, Dunlop, Acerbis, Utopia, GoPro, One Industries, DRD, Hinson, Twin Air, Gaerne, Factory Backing, Leatt, Innerzyme, Hot Cams, and PivotWorkshelp pay his way to the races.

The Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship is billed as the world's largest and most prestigious amateur motocross racing program.

The national qualifying program consists of 52 Area Qualifiers (February through May) and 12 Regional Championships (June), hosted at select motocross facilities across the country. The qualifying system culminates in the National Final (first week of August), hosted annually since 1982 at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch.

Nearly 20,000 racers attempt to qualify in 36 classes for the 1,446 available positions in what has been called "The World's Greatest Motocross Vacation."

“The Amateur Nationals at Loretta Lynn’s is the event every motocross racer in the country wants to compete in,” event director Tim Cotter said in a news release. “A win at the Amateur Nationals gives a rider instant national notoriety and can serve as a springboard to a lucrative professional motocross career.”

Fredericks isn’t looking to launch a professional motocross career at age 53, but he was realistic in his assessment of the upcoming race last week after loading his bike in his pickup for a practice session at a track in Lebanon.

“I’ll be very happy to place in the top 10,” he said. “I’ve already won just by qualifying.”

Mark Hicks, The Leaf-Chronicle

mhicks22@gannett.com