Despite a gruelling race and a 25-hour drive home, Williams Lake motocross athlete Brock Hoyer is celebrating.
He and Team Canada emerged the gold medal winners at the 40th Annual World Vet Motocross Championships held Saturday, Nov. 2 and Sunday, Nov. 3 in San Bernardino, California at the Glen Helen Raceway.
The race features riders ranging from 25 to 80 years old, from beginners to pros.
"It is one of the biggest races in the world," he told the Tribune. "There were 1,700 entries from all over the place."
This was Hoyer's first time competing at the championship. He said there had been talk about them going last year at the last minute, but this time they decided to make a plan.
"We went down with a group of our Outlaw Motorsports team out of Kamloops. John Sethen from Outlaw was a huge person for that. He pretty much made it happen. If it wasn't for John I don't think we would have gone."
Hoyer said the race is a two-moto format, which means they competed in one moto Saturday and another one on Sunday.
Joining him for the Team Canada race were Julian Cerny from Alberta as the plus-50 rider and Todd Minnie from Prince George as the plus-40 rider.
Hoyer as the plus-30 rider rolled up to the gate and started the team off on the race.
The plus-40 rider, Minnie, rolled up behind him 10 seconds later to start and was then followed by plus-50 rider Cerny 10 seconds after that.
There was anywhere from 70 to 110 riders on the track at once, Hoyer explained.
His lap times were about two minutes and 52 seconds and the race lasted about 20 minutes.
"You're catching lappers and working through people," he said. "The track, was probably the roughest track I've ever raced in my entire career. It's one of the toughest tracks in the world. It's big, big uphills and big, big downhills and it gets super rough."
There were so many 'braking bumps' because of the 1,700 riders competing over the two days.
"Some of the competitors are doing multiple entries. There were 20 motos a day times 80 riders doing an average of four laps. The track gets beat up pretty quickly. It's a big boy and big girl track for sure."
Galvin Hoyer, Brock's uncle, also competed, earning a silver in the 55 Intermediate.
"I had a good race. I got first, second and third which gave me a second place overall."
He was disappointed as he lost with only two corners to go to the finish.
"That kind of hurt, but the track was absolutely brutal. When he passed me, I had nothing for him," he said of the rider who got ahead of him.
On Tuesday morning Brock told the Tribune his body was still feeling the impact from the racing.
"My shoulders, my glutes, my thighs are sore from so much pull."
The weather there, he said, was not as warm as he anticipated, They had temperatures of 8 C in the morning and 23 to 24 C in the afternoon and the skies were partially cloudy.
When asked what is next for him he said trying to get some rest and then begin to prepare for snow biking season.
"There have been scheduled a couple of races and we are starting to get some started in B.C. too. It's kind of up in the air right now, planning wise. I definitely have some southern stuff to go do in the U.S. again. Hopefully we get a good winter."
Hoyer will also be attending round one of Arenacross in Chilliwack at the end of November.
