INTRODUCING...Casey Schriock
Author: Justin Fisk	Introducing | Wednesday, 01 October 2008 03:55

Words: Justin Fisk Photos: Justin Fisk/Reiss Leonard

Casey Schriock sits at his desk in front of his triple-monitor computer set-up, his eyes darting back-and-forth rapidly as he jumps from one program to another. Some of his closest friends enjoy referring to him as "The Computer Hacker" but his skills are by no means limited to the confines of an office chair. Casey seriously hauls on a dirt bike. Born and raised in North Dakota-a place often overlooked for motocross talent-his desire to make it to the pro ranks is only rivaled by his abundance of natural talent aboard a motorcycle. I've been lucky enough to witness his progression from the beginning; when he was a quiet four-year-old with a knack for pinning it. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to ...Casey Schriock.

 

Casey, can you give us the rundown.

Well, I'm Casey Schriock. I ride KTMs for KTMhutt.com. I'm sixteen years-old and pretty tall. My dad got me started and I remember when I first got a Pee Wee, he wanted me to pack these corners that went around some tires and I didn't want to do it. I got pissed at him and took off across a field, pinned! He started chasing after me and yelling and I crashed into a ditch and across a road. I got all scraped up and he just laughed at me. That's pretty much how I got my start riding.

 

What have you been up to since the outdoor season has started to come to a close?

After the outdoor season, my dad started building up the arenacross track and totally re-did it. We've got some pretty technical sections on it. But, I've just been practicing up for Des Moines so hopefully I'll be in shape and ready to do the whole main event.

 

You did some Canadian nationals this summer, right?

Yeah. I went up to Morden [Manitoba] for my first one but had some bad luck. My motor blew up on the second lap of practice and I didn't have my spare that week. So, I went up to Regina [Saskatchewan] on a fresh bike and did really good. I pulled a really good start in the second moto. I was up in the top-four for a couple of laps; up there with Eric Nye and all those guys and, you know, I just wasn't in the best physical shape that I've been in and I started to fade a little bit and ended up getting 12^th.

 

How did the rest of the summer go for you then?

Actually, after Regina, we went up to Edmonton [Alberta] and had some bad luck; some more motor problems. I ended up crashing and getting hurt and was out for a couple weeks. After that I just kind of finished it off with a couple of local races and then just got into arenacross training.

 

What did you injure when you crashed in Edmonton?

I pulled my groin and was out for a while. It was pretty hard to just walk and it just seemed like it didn't heal for a while. Every time I went out and rode it just got irritated so I had to take a couple weeks off and let it heal fully.

 

Have you been riding the arenacross track quite a bit since your dad re-built it?

Yea, I've been riding it pretty much every day for the last week, I mean, it just got finished. It's pretty sick. There's a sweet sand section that'll change it up a little bit and some pretty gnarly triples and the rhythm section is crazy this year. It should be pretty good training for arenacross.

 

Des Moines is coming up pretty fast in early November. What are your goals coming into the AX season?

I definitely want to get on the podium, for sure, in a couple of them (main events). You know, I'm trying to get my points for supercross and I plan on maybe racing one or two supercrosses if I get my pro license. So, that's the plan.

 

Have you thought of outdoors '09 yet, or are you focusing on the winter first?

We're just looking to see how the winter goes. But, if I get my supercross license, we're going to be training hard to do the outdoors after them too. So, that's what's going on.

 

What's it like trying to break in to professional motocross as a kid growing up in North Dakota?

You know, it's pretty tough but it can happen. I mean, look at Ryan Dungey. He's from Minnesota and, I mean, I go over there and ride sometimes and they've got the same weather as us. They can only ride so-many months out of the year but it's tough. You can only ride so-much and you can go do arenacrosses but there's not that many close to North Dakota so you kind of have to travel.

 

Do you think your drive to succeed increases during the off-time in the winter?

I definitely think that helps. Once the snow melts, you get out there and you haven't ridden for so long that you want to go out there and put in as many motos as you can. It seems like its way more fun in the spring, you know. You haven't been on a bike that long and you just get out there and it's just crazy how fun it is!

 

Who gets you to the races? Who do you want to thank?

I definitely want to thank my parents [Todd and Lisa]. Without them, I wouldn't even be racing. The Cycle Hutt and KTMhutt.com and Steve Drewlo with KTM helped me out a lot. Then, Ride PG, Amsoil, Thor, Steve at DBcustoms.com, Gravel Products, Twin Air, FMF, PR2 Mods, Factory Connection, Asterisk, VP Race Fuels and everyone else that I'm forgetting.

 

Thanks, buddy!

Yep, thanks.