Livin' life: Josh Stover heads to Tennessee in search of national title

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 27, 2015 7:18 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

It sounded like a great family fun day.

Everyone climbed into the truck and buckled their seat belts. Two dirt bikes were secured in the truck bed as the group headed toward Sanford.

Just 71⁄2 years old, Josh Stover and a good friend couldn't wait to pop some wheelies, throw up some dirt in the corners of the track and see how high they could get as they jumped a few hills.

Stover's mom, Tiffany Langston. gasped when they arrived at the track.

"Holy cow, my baby is getting ready to be on this thing," she said.

The regulation American Motocross Association (AMA) track challenged bikers with tight "S" turns, steep hills and other obstacles. The layout intimidated Langston and she wondered if her son's 50cc bike could handle the terrain. Several of the younger and smaller riders took routes around the steep hills, including her son.

Not surprisingly, Stover easily handled the track.

"From that point on, he was addicted," Langston said just moments before her son popped a wheelie while going through a practice run at Busco Beach earlier this week. "He said 'this is what I want.' They went to a track a couple of months later and it progressively became more and more."

Stover started moving up the Southern Motocross (SMX) ranks with solid performances on tracks around the Jacksonville and New Bern area, He received his AMA status, but Langston expected her son's interest in the sport would wane once he reached 10 or 11 years old.

"He was supposed to be my little quarterback, I wanted him to play football," said Langston as she flexed her muscles in a joking manner. "My step-dad (Mike Schaffter) got him hooked on this."

Stover couldn't imagine not riding a bike.

Besides the adrenaline rush, it gave him a sense of freedom to do anything he wanted without limits. An unbridled drive, passion and determination burned deep within his soul despite the dangers surrounding a sport that can cause enormous wear and tear on the body.

He soon encountered two major injuries.

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During an SMX event in Jacksonville, Stover lost control of his bike and wrecked. Langston expected to see her son get back up and restart his bike, but he didn't. On the same side of the track, she immediately ran to him and once they got off of the track, he appeared to have a broken wrist.

The family drove back home and Stover began to experience a sharp pain in his right side. Langston took him to the hospital and X-rays revealed he had knicked his spleen. The small tear bled, but eventually stopped on its own. Stover remained in the hospital for observation.

His doctor cleared him two weeks later.

It wasn't too long before Stover suffered another injury through no fault of his own.

While attending his next meet, he had stopped away from the track to talk with another rider. Thinking he wasn't in any danger, a biker lost control and T-boned him. Stover stuck his right arm out to catch himself when he fell, but snapped the humerus bone in his shoulder.

Stover missed three months of action.

But the memory of writing that "bucket list" at 11 years old crept into his mind. Besides the normal things a kid wanted to do, his number one goal was to reach the "Loretta Lynn Nationals," the most-prestigious amateur MX event that attracts riders from the across the world in different age/bike divisions.

"I never really thought about not riding again," Stover said. "You always have that thought deep down in your mind that's always going to hold you back. I love this sport. This is my life, I wasn't going to back out just because I hurt myself.

"I never let that injury ruin my mentality."

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Stover climbed back onto his bike.

His mom, grandfather and grandmother, Dori, continued to support him.

"Over the years, there's been a little pushing I think because he's always said this what he wants," Langston said. "We've all encouraged him, but my step-dad's been the one who has helped him with the things he needs to correct. The desire? That's all him."

Grand-dad takes care of rebuilding the bike's engine. Stover usually takes it for a test run and comes back to let him know about the bike's tendencies while he was on the track. It's an expensive sport, but his grandparents and mom have shouldered most of the financial burden that has nearly reached six figures in expenditures during the past 81⁄2 years.

Stover also receives gracious equipment discounts from different sponsors including Tyler Brewer of Henderson, Alias EVS sports (protective gear), Vertex Pistons, East Coast Wings, 100 Percent Goggles and tires from a local bike shop.

"The support around me has been unbelievable," Stover said. "Like any relationship, granddad and I have our ups and downs at times, moments when we disagree on things -- but I mean in the end, he does all of this stuff for me to make sure I can still race the next weekend and help me achieve my dreams.

"I can't thank him enough for that."

He's also had to live by Langston's rule -- school first, dirt bike second.

Stover has managed to balance an eight-hour day at Princeton High School, homework and gym workouts. During spring break, he attended a week-long training school -- Millsaps Training School -- in Cairo, Ga. During the past three weeks, he's gone through a stringent workout routine at South of the Border just across the North Carolina state line. Stover hoped those two-a-day workouts that included three 20-minute motos in each session would prove beneficial.

Did the hard work pay off?

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It seemed so until nearly a month ago.

Stover suffered a shoulder injury when he got run over during a moto at the Gatorbacks in Florida. His grandparents sent his mom a picture via cell phone.

"It was pretty narly," Langston recalled.

Stover complained of mild shoulder pain during the week after the race. But also knew he had one last chance -- the Northeast Regionals in New York -- to qualify for the Loretta Lynn Nationals in Hurricane Hills, Tenn., and to complete that top goal on his bucket list.

Langston said if Stover could raise his arm above his shoulder without wincing, she'd clear him for the trip.

He did.

Armed with confidence and eager to apply his training on the track, Stover stayed within striking distance -- seventh place -- through the first two motos. However, he needed to finish among the top to six to reach nationals. Thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain threatened to cancel the third moto.

"I lined up on that gate for the third moto ... it was either do it or don't," Stover said. "Either I finally qualify and make my dream of getting to Lorettas, or I don't ride any more knowing that I came this close and couldn't do it."

Stover finished among the top six.

His dream was no longer a fantasy.

"You always hear about how proud parents are when their kids accomplish something," said Langston, who had her fingernails painted with Stover's number (16) and colors (blue and white) of his bike.

"You really don't know what that feeling is like until it happens. Knowing that he accomplished a goal he set for himself at 11 years old ... an amazing feeling and it helps me look past all of the worries."

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Stover will compete in the 250c (12-16) Limited class with 41 other bikers from 26 different states in the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National MotoX Championship. He is the lone North Carolina representative in the group.

Unlike district and regional competitions where some bikers have the advantage of racing on their home course, every rider will be on an even keel at the nationals. Track officials change the design each season to keep it fair to determine a "true" national champion.

Racing begins at 7:30 a.m. each day beginning on Tuesday. The week-long event ends Saturday with the crowning of national champions in numerous weight classes.

The challenge, however, is finding the smooth lines when the 42-rider gate drops. One wrong move in the chaos could lead to either disaster or a five-to-six-second deficit behind the biker in front of you.

"Everyone will be running two or three seconds on every lap of each other ... people around you trying to get around you, and at the same time you're trying to find smooth lines to stay ahead of them," Stover said. "(But) we're all coming in there under even standards, and honestly, especially with the way I've been riding the last two weeks, I'm very optimistic that I can do top 10 or better.

"From the moment that I started riding dirt bikes, this is something that I always wanted to do. I want to be able to say one day that I was top 40 in the world in the amateurs."

Of course, there is a bigger picture.

Riders at the national level gain attention from some of the more prestigious MotoX racing organizations and sponsors. Stover would love nothing more than to earn a sponsorship and continue his career into his mid-20s. His ultimate goal is to compete with Team Red Bull.

"I don't want to do small stuff, I want to live life," Stover said. "I don't want to be 80 or 90 years old on my deathbed and say I regret not doing that. I want to live life."

So far, he has.