Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230094
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But CHAP HARKRADER has many reasons to be thankful about being in Florida this week.
Harkrader is competing at the Motocross Mini Olympics. In just his third year in the sport, the Christiansburg youth has gone from being a complete novice to a series champion.
The championship came this season in the Unlimited Division of the Ultra Series. At 17, Harkrader was the youngest racer in the series. Riding a Honda CR 125, he had as small an engine as anyone in the series. And the weekend trips to races ranged between 61/2 and 81/2 hours to the events in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
"I just kept consistent," said Harkrader, who also finished second in the 125C Class in the series. "I would place in the top five every race and I won a few. That was pretty much the way I did it."
Harkrader also went to school - not just Christiansburg High School, where is a senior this year, but on the track as well, where he learned from the more-experienced competitors.
"They were good to him," said JAMIE HARKRADER, Chap's mother and sometime mechanic as well as an editor/photographer for the KnobbyNews, a motocross newspaper based in Gaffney, S.C. "This is a place where you learn [from them] or you don't survive. But I don't think they [the veteran riders] expected Chap to beat them."
Harkrader also attended a couple of racing schools during the year: the Mike Andrews Motocross School in North Carolina and Dr. Medsker's School in South Carolina.
"Before Dr. Medsker's, I wasn't mentally into it [racing]," said Harkrader. "Sometimes, I'd lose the race before I even got to the track. After it, I went out and won four straight. I had my confidence built up."
Harkrader will have a chance to learn even more in 1995. He has been accepted at Dr. Medsker's Competitive Supercross and Motocross Racing School. Only a dozen applicants are accepted for each two-year program in Quinby, S.C.
Also next year, Harkrader will move up to B Division racing and plans to hire a part-time mechanic to help on race weekends when he might enter as many as four motos in a day. His goal is to become a professional rider at the A Division level. Harkrader now is an amateur, competing mostly for contingency money which can be used at Jim's Honda of Kingsport, Tenn., one of his supporters.
Others who help Harkrader include Dr. Dennis Medsker and Thor Racegear of California. And, of course, his mother, who makes sure he remembers all the reasons he has to be thankful.
"We started out with virtually nothing but we've worked our way up," she said. "It's something he won't ever forget and I won't let him forget. And if you don't forget where you came from, you will always know where you are going."
FISH TALES: Southwest Virginia Bassmasters will hold its annual Casting Kids event Dec. 4 at New River Valley Mall.
Activities will be held at in the mall's food court at 1 p.m. Registration and practice sessions will take place beforehand. There is no charge.
Boys and girls ages 7-14 are eligible to compete. The winners in the two age groups will advance to the Bassarama on Jan. 25 in Richmond.
All youths who enter will be shown the pitching, flipping and casting techniques used during the competition.
GRAPPLING WITH IT: Registration continues through Dec. 9 for the Christiansburg youth wrestling league.
The sport is open to youths ages 6-13 (as of March 1, 1995, and not in the eighth grade). The cost is $20 for town residents and $25 for nonresidents.
The league is cosponsored with Radford, Blacksburg, Pulaski, Dublin and Carroll County.
Invitational matches will be held on weekends (and require an additional fee), while league matches will be during the week.
Competitors will be paired by age and weight. The official weigh-in is to be announced.
For more information, call CHUCK MUNCY, the supervisor of athletics for the Christiansburg Parks and Recreation Department, at 382-2349.
TIMES A-CHANGIN': Evening aerobics classes in Blacksburg resume today, just in time to get in shape for the holidays.
Classes will be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at 5:30. The cost is $12 for eight one-hour classes. The instructor is WENDY LOVERN.
For more information, call the recreation center at 961-1135.
The community and aquatic centers in Blacksburg have announced their holiday weekend schedule.
Today, Kipps Elementary and the Community Center close at 10 p.m.; the Aquatic Center closes at 9 p.m.
Thursday, all facilities are closed for Thanksgiving.
Friday, Kipps and the Community Center are open 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; the Aquatic Center 6 a.m.-9 p.m. However, all offices are closed.
Saturday, Kipps and the Community Center are open noon-6 p.m.; the Aquatic Center 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, all facilities are open 1-6 p.m.
Regular schedules resume Monday.
SPORTS CLUBBING: The Blacksburg Sports Club holds meetings every Wednesday at noon at the Custom Catering Center at 902 Patrick Henry Drive.
Each luncheon meeting features a speaker from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg High School or other local or national sports figure.
Reservations can be made by calling DEAN FARMER at 953-0388. The hot luncheon buffet is $6.50. The optional garden salad is $5.
by CNB