Fifteen year old Shawn Rife has been knocked down with injury on more than one occasion. But as we find with most riders of Shawn's caliber, he keeps getting up. His resilience deserves respect and his unique ability deserves recognition. 

Hailing from Ohio, Shawn is one of but a handful of riders from the East coast with the natural talent to make it in this sport. But staying healthy will be important in his quest to do so. A torn ACL/MCL in Ponca City last year kept Rife off the bike for most of the last year. He was ousted at Oak Hill last year, as well, with a broken arm, forcing him to sit out the World Mini. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Rife has grown stronger and smarter as result of his injuries and is ready to take on the responsibility of being a leader in this sport.

We are glad to see Rife back on the track, and even more excited about what he can do while on it. While the restraints of Number Check limited us to a mere seven questions with Mr. Rife, we are more than positive this isn't the last you'll hear from the #700.

I think the last time I saw you ride was at Oak Hill last year. You were having a good week and then got injured. I know you hurt your knee at Ponca as well. What's been going on since then and how long have you been off the bike?
At my regional at Sunday Creek I messed up my knee. I didn't think it was that bad, so I just got some good braces. If I would catch my foot wrong it would pop out, but it was doing pretty good. It hadn't popped out for a couple weeks, so we went to Ponca. It was muddy the first few days there and heading into the big sweeper after the start my foot slipped off the peg, hit the ground and ripped my knee up. I ended up sitting out the rest of the week because of it. I went to Loretta's and tried to ride my first Supermini moto, but it didn't go that good. There was an orthopedic specialist there that said if he drained some of the fluid off my knee then it would feel better. He drained the fluid out of my knee because he didn't think it was that bad, but it actually made it a lot worse. After that we went home and I had surgery on September 5th. I had a total ACL and MCL reconstruction.

That injury takes a lot of rehab to come back from. Exactly how long were you out?
I had the surgery in September and I started riding again on March 7th. Then I went down to [Tyler] McSwain's to ride for a while and the second day I was there I broke my arm. I didn't even crash, I just overshot a jump and my suspension was too soft. It was just a small fracture, so it wasn't that bad. I was supposed to get it off last Monday, but the doctor was out of town, so I just cut it off and went to the area qualifier last weekend. I just basically qualified on the first day, and the second day I got 2nd behind Barcia and won the 125 class.  

You've had a tough run with injuries over the past year or so. Now that you are back on the bike are you cautious of that at all?
No, I actually feel that the break helped me out a lot. It made me rethink a lot of things. I have a lot of confidence and control on my big bikes.

So you have qualified for your regional, right?
Yeah, I qualified at Highpoint and at Fast Track.

 What are the plans for the rest of the season? Will you be back competing at all the amateur nationals?
Yeah, for sure, I will definitely be at Ponca and all of that stuff. I was going to come back for Vegas, but when I hurt my arm we decided to hold off.

Coming back from injury I don't feel as if anyone is expecting you to run the pace of the top two or three guys right off the rip. But you've always been one of the top guys in the past. How long do you feel it will take for you to find that pace again?
Actually, I don't think it will take long. I was on a bone stock 250F [at the area qualifier] and Barcia was on his mod bike and I wasn't that far off the pace. I was also running the pace of guys like Sunny Drake and Alex Hindle, so I know I can do it.  

Are you still receiving support from many of the same sponsors?
Yeah, everything is still pretty much the same. Fox, Honda, Scott, Cernics, Cyrca, Pro Circuit, Factory Connection, Dunlop and Renthal are all still helping me out a ton.