Motocross is one of the most physical and intense sports out there, but it’s not like the average stick-and-ball sport.

Davey Coombs grew up watching motocross and is president of MX Sports Pro Racing. He believes motocross racing is a sporting experience unlike any other.

“Motocross racing is an incredibly dynamic sport. It’s not one ball or one puck or anything like that. It’s 40 motorcycles all racing together,” he said. “There are no timeouts. There are no red flags. There are no cautions where everyone slows down. It’s just all out for 35 minutes, so it can be intense when you first watch it.”

The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship celebrates its 50th season in 2022 and comes to Greene County’s High Point Raceway on Saturday.

Last year, motocross gained popularity as it was one of the first sports that allowed fans post-pandemic. The sport’s popularity continues to increase.

“Last year was kind of a surprisingly successful year for us and especially for bike sales across the board,” Coombs said. “In 2022, we’re three rounds into the series, and we’ve seen about a 20% jump with each event as far as where they were last year and then pre-pandemic.”

Coombs was introduced to the sport at a young age because his father, Dave Coombs Sr., was an influential promoter. Starting in 1972, the elder Coombs helped promote the series into what it is today.

Coombs Sr. died in 1998 and Davey and his sister, Carrie Russell, continued the series. They took over the rights to the series in 2009 and are excited to start up the fourth round of 12 this season in Mt. Morris.

“Mt. Morris is one of the real centerpieces of the series, and for motorcycle racing and activity in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia,” Coombs said. “This whole tri-state area has always been really strong, and this event serves as the center of it all.”

Brock Papi from Venetia in Washington County is one of the riders in the 250 class competing at High Point. Papi, who has raced at the track twice before, is excited to race in front of his hometown crowd.

Despite only being 21, Papi is no stranger to the spotlight. In 2013, at just the age of 13, Papi competed in the KTM Supermini in front of 40,000 fans in Las Vegas.

Papi began racing when he was 4, and he was influenced by his sister, Rhea, and his father, Dave Papi, who also raced competitively. Every time he races, he thinks of all the times his family sacrificed for him, so he continues to work on his craft.

He did not compete in the previous three rounds but is poised to get back into race shape. Papi looks to make the top 20 riders, who tally points toward their total for the championship.

Papi rides as a privateer, which means he is not backed by manufacturer brands. Privateers buy some or all their parts and are paid based off their performance.

“The main thing is to get as many points as you can get,” Papi said. “If you’re in the top 20 as a privateer, especially in the 250 class, I think is a great accomplishment because these factory riders have bikes that are unbelievable.”

The 250 class is loaded with talent, and Papi acknowledges that there are great factory riders and privateers in the field. Papi is looking to race in five to seven rounds out of the 12. He tries to not burn too much energy in practice before the 35 minutes of nonstop action.

“Just start out slow, get some points and just keep getting points. You get five points the first weekend. Well, let’s try to get eight the next weekend,” Papi said. “That’s the goal: Just by the end of the route, being able to fight for a top-10 finish would be the goal for sure.”

In the 250 class, Papi will be going up against a pool of talent that includes Jett Lawrence, who is first in the 2022 overall standings; Jo Shimoda; Levi Kitchen and Hunter Lawrence, who is the older brother of Jett.

Jett Lawrence, who is just 18, has won the first three rounds of the series.

Brandon Short, the media relations manager for the series, said he is impressed with Lawrence’s success at such a young age.

“He’s a very young athlete. He’s only in his third season. It’s all very still kind of new,” Short said. “He’s still figuring out who he is as a racer and figuring out his skill set, so that’s why it’s even more impressive what he’s doing.”

Lawrence is from Australia and is the reigning series champion. Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis won 450 class last year, which makes it the first time two international riders are the defending champs.

“Having international talent is what makes this sport really special,” Short said. “Having two international champions has never been done before, and it’s definitely really exciting to kind of just see the global footprint and the energy that we’re getting from this series.”

Ferrandis has missed the opening rounds this season, and it is uncertain if he will return by the end of the year. Short said the sport is physically demanding as racers are running two motos for 30 minutes and two more laps after that.

“You’re going over jumps. You’re going over very rough terrain. You’re going through corners. … And so the athletes themselves are incredibly fit,” Short said. “They have to have a very unique skill set, in terms of cardiovascular ability, since you’re basically pushing your max heart rate for a sustained amount of times upwards of 40 minutes for these races.”

The series is also unpredictable, and riders easily can have a difficult race. For the 450 class, there have been three winners in the first three rounds. Jason Anderson won in Carson City, Chase Sexton won at the Fox Raceway National, and Ken Roczen won at Thunder Valley.

Short looks forward to seeing the next nine rounds and knows anything can happen as the points accumulate.

“Just last week we had a rider that looked like he was well on his way to winning the race, and with about two or three turns to go, he kicked over and he crashed and he gave up the win,” Short said. “That’s the kind of thing that can happen in our sport. It goes all the way down to the finish, and you just really never know what could happen.”

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