Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308130189
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Two years ago, her 14-year-old son, Chap, was an up-and-comer on the motocross circuit, an exclusive fraternity of young male riders and their crews who race lightweight motorcycles over a cross-country course.
Jamie Harkrader, however, was the only crew her son had. She paid the bills, hauled the bike, washed the clothes.
Still, Chap hung his head sheepishly whenever his mother made an appearance on race days. Sometimes, more dirt flew off the track than on it.
When Chap won one of his first races in Mount Airy, N.C., a competitor saw the opening for a dig.
"Looks like you won, huh, `momma's boy,' " the young rider said.
"Yeah," Chap replied. "This momma's boy just blew your wheels off."
Chap Harkrader left behind more than just a bunch of kids on motorbikes that day. When he crossed the finish line, it marked a new beginning for himself and his mother.
"Me and Chap are very best friends," she said. "Sometimes I forget we're a mother and a son."
"We're definitely a team," Chap added.
A very successful team, at that. When Chap, now 16 and a rising junior at Christiansburg High School, sits atop his Suzuki 125, he's considered one of the best young motocross riders in this area.
The Harkrader living room is adorned with 32 trophies Chap has won in just two years of competition.
One of those awards came last month in Budds Creek, Md., when he won the United States Grand Prix motocross world championship in the 125 Class C division for amateurs.
Chap has also placed in the top 15 at the Motocross Olympics and has won many regional titles, but the Grand Prix was the biggest prize yet for a kid who has virtually grown up on race tracks.
Jamie Harkrader has 10 years of experience in publicity and marketing for short tracks such as New River Valley Speedway in Radford. She passed her love of racing on to her son.
The past two years have been tough ones for the Harkraders, with most of their time and money going toward Chap's racing.
In 1991, Jamie saw her first motocross race while visiting friends in Tennessee. She was so impressed with what she saw - the frightening chases into the tight turns, the breathtaking high jumping - she took Chap to a national competition in Axton.
"I traded in my trail bike for a Suzuki 80 the next week," Chap said.
Jamie's next task was to make sure Chap received proper instruction from experienced riders. Chap enrolled in motocross school in Florida - he learned from pro riders Billy and Johnny Cox of Snowville - and he attended supercross racing sessions in East Bend, N.C.
"Some parents have asked me, `How can you let your kid do this?' " his mother said. "Motocross is only dangerous if you don't [go to motocross] school, don't practice, and don't take what you do seriously."
During the lessons in supercross - an indoor version of motocross that features more jumps on shorter, tighter tracks - the Harkraders met Shane Templeton, a pro rider who has become Chap's personal instructor. The duo practice together regulary at the Powerline Motocross Playground in Willis.
Templeton, who lives in the Carroll County community of Sylvatus, likes what he sees in the tall, slender Harkrader.
"He's one of the smoothest riders I've ever seen," said Templeton. "He's got a lot of natural racing talent. Some [racers] look like they're beating themselves to death out there, but Chap just looks smooth.
"His riding style reminds me a lot of my own. With me working with him, I think he can become one of the top riders in the world."
If that happens, he will make the biggest jump of his life - over tax brackets instead of hills. The elite riders earn millions of dollars per year in endorsements and corporate sponsorships.
Chap Harkrader hopes to have clothes and tire sponsors lined up next season. He now has just one sponsor - his biggest fan, Jamie.
"Sometimes I'm his mother, bike washer and hauler," she said. "But I'm always his sponsor."
That's good, because motocross racing isn't a free ride. The bike cost about $3,500. His uniform, helmet, goggles, chest protector, boots and other padding add up to about $800. The weekly bike repair tab regularly runs $200.
The physical cost, however, is what usually drives riders out of competitive racing at a relatively young age.
Motocross is definitely not a noncontact sport. The jumps and rough riding take their toll on riders. A race lasts anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes and consists of as many as eight laps.
Some mornings, Chap Harkrader said, he's too sore and stiff to get out of bed.
"You can't [race motocross] when you're 30 years old," he said. "Some guys ride longer than that, but it gets pretty rough on you after a while. I've even been run over a couple of times."
Body or bike?
"Both."
To prepare himself physically, Harkrader runs two miles every day, swims and practices a couple of times a week with either Templeton or Jeremy West, his best friend. West, from Riner, leads the Mega Series 125 division in this district.
Harkrader's father, Gary, and stepmother, Ellen, live in Christiansburg and they support his racing and occasionally watch him compete when he rides nearby.
Harkrader has raced at tracks in Wytheville, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina and Maryland. Approximately 15 riders and their families from this region travel together to races.
"We're a bunch of gypsies, basically," said Jamie Harkrader.
"We just love being around racing. If you see motocross just once, you're hooked."
Chap Harkrader plans to be around racing all his life. When his motocross days are behind him, he hopes to race stock cars.
"I'd rather race motocross all my life," Harkrader said. "Either that or go-carts.
"I love anything with wheels on it."
Like mother, like son.
by CNB