Warsaw resident Adam Lock is realizing a lifelong dream.
Introduced to the sport of Motocross as a child, Lock will be competing in the 30th annual Red Bull AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. next week.
“I’m anxious,” Lock said about competing in the national tournament. “It’s going to be a vacation, but at the same time, I know what my expectations are and where my mind needs to be. I’ll do my best and have fun, but getting a pro card is the ultimate goal.”
A top 20 finish at the tournament would hand Lock his professional card, meaning he could get sponsors and travel the country racing. However, he says his life wouldn’t change all that much.
“I’d probably stick around here,” he said from his Warsaw home. “It’s nice to pick up sponsors, but I’m guessing I’ll still be living here.”
Lock grew up in Warsaw, racing motor bikes with his brother Tyler, but after his older brother moved to Fort Worth, Texas, Adam was left practicing and racing on his own.
Without his brother, who has actually qualified for two national amateur championships, the 21-year-old Adam bought a new Kawasaki this year, and had kind of prepared himself to make one last run at a trip to nationals.
“I told myself, ‘Here it is,’” Lock said. “I wouldn’t say it was my last shot, but I really put it all on the line.”
Taking courses at Ivy Tech and running his own business, Hoosier Power Wash and Home Maintenance, with a friend, racing can’t control his life now, but he’s not ready to quit anytime soon.
“It’s something I’ve done my whole life,” he said.
Lock missed the 2007 season following a knee surgery and then had to sit out the beginning of the 2009 campaign with a broken wrist. So, coming into this season, Lock was going for broke and he did it by qualifying out of the regional stage with a 16th-place finish at Red Bud in Buchanan, Mich.
At regionals, the top 12 riders advance to nationals, but because a number of riders used their qualifying times from different regional courses, Lock’s 16th-place finish was bumped up and he was invited to nationals.
At the regional, riders average out their placings between the three races they take part in, with Lock finishing 20th, 14th and 6th in his three attempts out of 42 racers.
“I had some bad luck at regionals,” Luck said. “I had some bad starts. In the A Class, you can’t really work your way up.”
Racing in the highest class, which is the 450 A, Luck’s regional competition began by getting involved in a pileup around the first turn.
In the melee, Luck was hit by another rider, which actually tore the leg of the pants he had been wearing. Once he was back on the bike, Luck managed to get 20th and he did better after that, eventually doing enough to qualify for nationals.
However, instead of knowing if he had qualified automatically, Luck had to keep checking the mxsports.com website to see which riders ahead of him had dropped out. If they had, or if they used times from the other regionals they may have participated in, Luck could sneak into the tournament.
“I was checking everyday,” he said. “I was anxious.”
Eventually, his named appeared on the site, and he’s ready to see if he can match, if not better, what his brother did on the national stage.
“He finished 28th, so I’d love to beat that,” Lock said. “It’s a brotherly love thing.”
Luck will leave with his girlfriend and father Friday, before practicing Monday and beginning competition Tuesday. After taking Wednesday off, he’ll be back on the track Thursday to see if he can indeed become a professional rider.
“I don’t know what to expect there, but I do know I want to finish in the top 20,” he said. “That’s what I have my sights set on.
