David Bowe
October 24, 2007Gary Price
October 26, 2007
Brett Bourg has sacrificed his body to the altar of Motocross on numerous occasions.
And despite multiple injuries, the intrepid 16-year-old from Houma keeps coming back for more.
The accolades help. Bourg has only been riding for a little under three years but is already ranked in the top 41 of the 125-Lights B division and has won a slew of trophies.
Bourg (who is sponsored by Performance Suzuki of Houma and JM Racing) is currently nursing a broken collarbone, an injury sustained at the Loretta Lynn Nation Championships in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. last month.
Nonetheless, he’s counting the days until he’ll be allowed back on his bike.
The Sports Net caught up with Bourg to discuss a little “danger.”
Sports Net: How’s the collarbone healing?
Brett Bourg: It’s doing good. Went to a doctor last Wednesday, and he said it was healing up really good. I was in a sling, and I still wear it when I go places. But when I’m at home I just sit around and don’t do anything.
SN: Besides getting a lot of TV-watching in?
BB: Yeah, pretty much.
SN: I’m guessing you get in a lot of injuries as a Motocross racer?
BB: When I first started riding, I had a bad crash in Hammond. They started the race and a little kid (from a younger division) took off on his bike in front of a long corner and pulled out from nowhere. Everyone else put on their breaks, but I hit him.
His race was just finishing. One of the parents tried to grab him but missed. I broke my jaw in three places and knocked out five teeth. My helmet broke in half when I hit him and I bit into my top lip. I ended up having to get plastic surgery on it.
SN: Lots of blood?
BB: Lots. Oh, and I also broke my femur, too, and had to get a steel rod put in. Last year at the National Championship in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., I broke my collarbone in practice for the first time. Five weeks after that, I started riding again and went to a local race and fell over in the corner and broke it again.
SN: So the collarbone is pretty fragile?
BB: Yeah.
SN: So your parents are cool with this motocross business, even though it’s extremely dangerous?
BB: Yeah, they love it. They have so many friends at the track. My mom and dad love it a lot. They worry, but it’s a sport. They just make sure I have all of my safety gear on.
SN: How did you get your start in the sport in the first place?
BB: One of my friends down the street had a dirt bike and was telling me about it at school. So I started asking my mom and dad to buy me one, and they were like “There’s no way we’re getting you a dirt bike – it’s too dangerous.”
So, I started going to my buddy’s house after school and started riding his bike. I got my dad to bring it to the track one day and he kind of liked it. He and my mom started talking about it and he bought me and my brother one for Christmas.
SN: Did the bike feel like a natural fit right off the bat or did it take a long period of adjustment?
BB: I used to ride BMX so I was kinda good at it. I had good balance and caught on to it really fast. When I got my first dirt bike, I got my dad to bring me to a race. I was on a bike that was a lot slower than the bikes I was racing against, but I was beating them. So he got me a faster bike, a Honda CR-85.
SN: What kind of a bike are you riding these days?
BB: I switched to Suzuki RMZ-250F.
SN: You baby it a lot?
BB: No. I try to take care of it at my house, but they kind of get trashed and you have to buy a lot of parts and stuff.
SN: You’ve been in the sport nearly three years and already own a national ranking. Why have you picked it up so quickly?
BB: I just liked it a lot and I wasn’t scared to jump and go really fast. And I wasn’t scared to get hurt. You can’t be scared to hang it out, because you have a thousand kids who don’t care. They just ride. They just go all out. And that’s what you have to do to win.
SN: Have any goals set in place about your future in Motocross?
BB: I want to become pro in about two to three years. It depends on how I do.
SN: What would you say to any parent that thinks this sport is too dangerous for their kids?
BB: Just wear the safety gear and they’ll be all right. I’ve gotten a few people into riding. They weren’t really into it, but came to the track with their parents and started liking it a lot more than they thought. That’s how a lot of parents are when they come. They don’t see how much fun it is until they go.
SN: With that said, do you expect to absorb many more injuries in the future?
BB: Hope not, no.
SN: Even if you did, would it ever make you quit?
BB: No. I don’t think I can get messed up any more than I already have. I’ve pretty much been through it all , and I love it so much that I’ll never stop.
Photo courtesy of Brett Bourg Brett Bourg isn’t scared of a little speed…or heights as a Motocross racers.
