Stover motocross rider Josh Brotherton skipped a weekend of events at Challenge Trax in Kingsville – where he class points leader – to finish third in a heat race and wipe out in a feature Sunday, Aug. 15 at the State Fair Arena in Sedalia.
He could not have been happier.
Brotherton, 16, has raced in one other state event, and was enthusiastic to make his return to a state-level stage at the Missouri State Fair.
“We were going to try and do more state races,” Brotherton said. “They had one state race at Challenge Trax, and I did decent in that one. But I wanted to come out here. I’ve always wanted to come out here.
“It’s the one thing I wanted to do, out of everything. I can skip both championships, this is what I wanted to do.”
Brotherton has two feature wins in the 85cc, age 12-15 division and one in the 85 open at Kingsville, with an additional runner-up finish in May. Amid local success, he’s looking ahead. Brotherton is outgrowing his No. 41 2007 Honda, and will soon elevate to the 250 class – a more popular class among adult riders.
“I know the challenge is going to get pretty rough,” Brotherton said. “Hopefully I can just do what I did with this bike, and it’ll flow and go nicely.”
Despite an imminent promotion to tougher competition – sorry, Bulldogs – there is little chance Brotherton joins a more traditional sport at Morgan County R-1 School. He played football for Versailles and basketball for Stover in the past, but is presently committed to motocross.
“I had the choice to put my loyalty to this, or do I put my loyalty to doing basketball and other sports,” Brotherton said. “I chose this because I do this more than anything else. This is my main hobby. My main thing to do.”
Jaxon Lindsay beat out Eastin Burgher in the 85cc 12-15 feature Sunday, while Burgher edged Lindsay for the the 85 open.
