Hoffman High student competing at Sears Centre motocross event
This weekend’s motocross event at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates promises fans will see riders propelled as high as 70 feet into the air.
Hoffman Estates High School student Matt Rohlfing will have one of the best seats in the house.
But Rohlfing, a 17-year-old senior, won’t just be watching the Bad Boys of Arenacross event, he’ll be a part of it. For the second time, Rohlfing will be racing among some of the best riders in the country around the arena’s dirt track.
“My favorite part is just getting to ride my bike and not thinking about anything else,” the teenager said Friday as he geared up for the event’s first day of racing.
Rohlfing started racing eight years ago, and his father now serves as his bike mechanic. Last season he won the Megacross championship for his 14- to 24-year age group.
Racing has taken him as far away as California to compete, but there’s nothing like racing in front of the home crowd.
“It’s a definite adrenaline rush,” he said.
After high school, Rohlfing hopes to attend college and continue racing. He’d like to eventually make a living off the sport, but realizes he’s got competition.
Rohlfing, who says he listens to music by bands like Nickelback to get ready for a race, knows the sport is not without its dangers. He recalls a crash about two years ago in which he was knocked unconscious and broke his collarbone, shoulder blade and three ribs.
It took two months of recovery before Rohlfing was racing again.
“It’s not a question of if you crash, but when,” he said.
That risk factor is a concern for his mother, Tammi, as well as his golf coach at Hoffman Estates High. As the captain of the varsity golf team, his coach doesn’t want to see his star player on the injured list.
While high school baseball players can talk to other players at school about their experiences, it’s a little different for motocross.
“It’s not really a big topic I talk about in school,” Rohlfing explained.
Saturday is the second and last day of the Bad Boys of Arenacross stop in Hoffman Estates. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. For tickets go to searscentre.com or call (888) Sears-TIX.