Hollister Motor Sports donates new motorcycle to 14-year-old
Briar McCorkle
He’s only 14 but Hollister’s
”
Blazin
”
Briar McCorkle appears to be on the fast track to becoming a
professional motocross racer
– and Hollister Motor Sports is helping him get there.
Recently the Hollister company gave McCorkle a 2006 Kawasaki 250
F motorcycle that he will be competing in when he returns to the
track on Jan. 14 in Sacramento. The retail price of the bike is
$5,800.
Hollister Motor Sports donates new motorcycle to 14-year-old Briar McCorkle
He’s only 14 but Hollister’s “Blazin” Briar McCorkle appears to be on the fast track to becoming a professional motocross racer – and Hollister Motor Sports is helping him get there.
Recently the Hollister company gave McCorkle a 2006 Kawasaki 250 F motorcycle that he will be competing in when he returns to the track on Jan. 14 in Sacramento. The retail price of the bike is $5,800.
McCorkle was awarded the bike because of his loyalty in using the shop to purchase equipment as well as for his impressive resume on the track.
“I knew I was going to get it and my dad just brought it home,” said McCorkle, who along with his younger brother Spencer have been competing in the sport since they were 4 years old. “It’s nice and has a four-stroke motor so it’s more fun to ride and has more power.”
With more power McCorkle could be looking at more trophies in the coming years. But it would be hard to keep pace with what he has already accomplished at such a young age.
In the past year, Briar won eight different series championships. In the California Motorcycle Association, he won all five series that he competed in.
He also competes in the AMP/GFI Top Gun Series as well as the AMP/GFI fall series.
McCorkle competes in a number of different divisions in the different series, and he competes throughout Northern California.
Those divisions include the 85cc Novice Division, the 85cc Open, X Class, Super Mini and 125cc Beginner divisions.
“He races year-round,” said his mother Audra McCorkle. “The season never ends.”
And neither does the high costs of racing, which can run the McCorkle family upwards of $1,500 per month – if nothing major goes wrong with the bike.
That’s just one of the reasons why getting a brand new dirt bike was so special for the McCorkles.
“We were ecstatic when they gave it to him,” his mother said. “That showed that they had enough confidence in Briar to honor him that way.”
Although he has the bike, there is still some fine-tuning that needs to be done to make it race ready and custom fit to his stature. His dad Randy is a mechanic by trade and also handles most of the work on the bikes.
On the new bike Randy is switching out the handlebars and adjusting the suspension to fit his riding style, and new brakes will be added as well.
Graphics from his sponsors will also be added to the bike. They include Morgan Hill’s Fox Racing, which provides McCorkle with discounted apparel; Twin Air, which supplies air filters and Pro Taper handle bars.
And hopefully with more wins will come more benefits for the eighth-grader from Cienega Middle School.
In addition to the new bike, McCorkle is also sponsored by Kawasaki in a roundabout way, as he has a credit-card-like account with the company.
When he wins a race or a series, Kawasaki ads money to the account that Briar can use to purchase items and gear to keep his dream alive. The amount added to his account ranges from $50 to roughly $200, depending on the significance of the race or series.
Every little bit helps.
“Right now when he wins he gets a trophy. If he wins a series, he might get a trophy and certificates for equipment,” Audra McCorkle said. “If he becomes a top professional rider they can earn in the millions.”
Briar does it because he loves it.
“I like the rush, the adrenaline,” he said.
But he also knows that it’s dangerous – and sometimes he has no control over what happens on the track. He once separated his shoulder after the rider in front of him crashed when he was in mid-air coming off of a jump.
“There was nothing he could do but land on the bike,” said his mother, who had another scare this past May when Briar’s 13-year-old brother Spencer suffered a compound fracture of his little finger after a crash. He had to have two surgeries and skin graphs to repair the finger that also required eight stitches.
“I was terrified,” Audra McCorkle said. “The paramedics started to take off his glove and they saw what had happened and said, ‘We can either rush him to the hospital or you can.'”
Since the crash, Spencer’s riding capability has not been affected but he has been mentally impacted by the crash, and has slowly got back into racing, his mother said.
Briar is still going full speed ahead.
“Someday I want to be a factory Super Cross rider.”
A factory rider means that he gets paid by companies like Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda to ride their bikes.
Briar practices four times a week at various locations – from Hollister Hills to the Mutant Motor Sports track in San Jose and his family’s three-quarter mile track on their property in the foothills.
“He’s been practicing a lot lately at the San Jose track because Steve Karmann, who does the preparation work, prepares the track perfectly,” his mother said.
During practice or during a race both brothers, who race in different classes, whip around the dirt tracks as jumps sling-shot them 25 feet in the air, and they land with wheels still rolling some 75 feet away – ready to tackle the next obstacle on the challenging track.
On race day it’s a similar situation – only a lot more crowded with upwards of 20 other competitors depending on the event.
All of them are vying for the first-place trophy, which makes it common to see contact on the tight, snaking tracks.
Already Briar has broken his foot once and separated his shoulder. He has also suffered a slight fracture of the collarbone and received 15 stitches on his leg. Like Briar, Spencer hasn’t escaped without injury. He has already broken his foot twice and sprained his wrist a few times in addition to the broken finger.
