A Story of Perseverance
ClubMX will retain the highly coveted #69
CHESTERFIELD, SC – December 11, 2023: They say the difference between major and minor surgery is… minor surgery happens to someone else. The same is true when you hear of someone getting terminated from their job. It is not a big deal until it happens to you. November 13, 2023, was that pivotal moment in the career of Coty Schock. He was let go from his current professional ride and reached a crossroad in life with no apparent direction. Before we reach the finish line of this story, let’s look back at Schock’s racing career to this point.
The Delaware native started racing at the young age of eight years old in the popular Delmarva MX series and District 7. As time went on and success followed, the family started traveling as far as five hours away so they could race and still be back at work on Monday. The story is the same for many families, but Schock had something special in the desire to compete at the highest level. Even at a young age he displayed his “full send” style that stays with him to this day. With Justin Barcia as his idol and role model, the puzzle pieces were starting to make sense. It was not just racing all the time, however. Schock still pursued his college education and received his CAD degree.
By the time 2016 rolled around and with some success at Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National, the decision was made to turn professional and took the first opportunity to race the 250 class at Unadilla. The rookie debut went well by qualifying straight into the main event by qualifying 36th overall. A huge accomplishment by any measure. Cooper Webb went on to win the race that day, but Schock was hooked and knew he wanted to go all in.
Throughout his career Schock bounced back and forth between the 250 and 450 and had some real highlights with nine top ten finishes in between classes. Motocross was his focus and really never planned on racing supercross but in 2019 the opportunity came about to race and like everything else in his life, he went “all in” to learn it. There is a certain amount of pride that comes along with racing the most prestigious racing series in the world and Schock embraced the challenge and became a real threat for the podium.
THE REST OF THE STORY: Like so many other racers, he endured many ups and downs throughout his career and to this point does not really care where he was, only where he is going. Are there hurdles? – yes, can it be painful? – yes, Is he going to quit? – NO! Coty Schock has the good fortune to be training at ClubMX on a full-time basis. When the news came down in mid-November that he was out of a ride, the timing could not be worse. Every team is full, and budgets are closed at that point. He showed up for training that day on his own 250 2-stoke just to stay active and start to build his plan to race the Supercross Eastern Regional series as a solo privateer effort.
ClubMX team owner Brandon Hass explained: “ClubMX was founded on giving guys an opportunity to race at the highest level that were overlooked or underfunded. Coty is a good guy and currently rides better than he has ever ridden in his life. Unfortunately, the timing was horrible and like everyone else, budgets are closed. We gave him the shop bike to ride on the moto track to stay in shape and he was very grateful. Then, I thought about it for a couple of days and decided to let the team vote on it. It was going to be added work for the crew, the shop, the motor department and so on. During our Wednesday staff meeting I outlined the situation, opened it up for discussion, questions and then a vote. Apparently, the crew was seeing the same thing that I saw because it was unanimous to figure out a way to help him. We went to work making calls to Muc-Off, FXR and Yamaha and put a program together to get him racing for our team for Supercross.”
On December 11th Coty Schock signed to race for ClubMX for the 2024 Supercross season.
When finding out the news Schock said: “I am overwhelmed. I am already training at the best place in the world and really had no expectations this was going to happen. They let me borrow a bike and helped me get more gear to keep going but never said they were working on a ride for me. Now I get to ride their bike, which is a freakin’ rocket ship. It is hard to put into words how grateful I am, but they all know I am going to prove them right. I will be working my ass off to pay them back with results. When one door closes, another one opens and this one takes me to the big time.”
Follow him in Instagram: @cotyschock_ and ClubMX: @clubmx
