Well on his way
Sheffield’s Nic Confer rides to ATV state titleBy JOSH COTTON and JON SITLER editorial@timesobserver.com
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Nic Confer is on his way.
It's not often that a state champion in anything comes from Warren County.
It's even less often when a state champion comes from Warren County ... and it goes under the radar.
Such is the case with the 14-year-old ATV motocross racer, who, with a second-place finish Oct. 11 at Sugar Grove's Mapleshade MX Raceway, clinched a Pennsylvania Association of Motocross (PAMX) 2009 Grand Championship Series title in the 8-to-15-year-old division.
But state championships don't come out of nowhere. Nic's father, Rob Confer, has been a major influence. As has local professional racer Matt White. And there's been numerous sponsors and friends helping along the way.
"My dad would take me to races when I was younger," said Nic. "One day, I told him that I wanted to start racing and my dad went out and got me a bike for me to get started on."
It wasn't that simple, but nothing ever is.
Rob was 24 years old when he started racing - a Yamaha Blaster at Fox Raceway in Marienville, a track his friend Dana Hennessey owned. In 2004, Rob finished second in the nation in the air-cooled quad motocross classification.
After Rob had open heart surgery, "I raced less, he was racing more," he said of Nic, who started racing when he was seven, and that's even starting late, according to Rob.
Nic has played basketball, basketball, football, and he bowls.
"He always has the choice," said Rob. "Nic chose to give up football this year to concentrate on racing. He loves it. He always says he'd love to turn pro in the future, but he wonders if he's good enough."
At 13 or 14 years old, "you really don't know," Rob said.
But that's the goal. Well, just one of many goals.
There were three specific goals last season. The first goal was to win the PAMX 2009 Grand Championship Series state title on his 90cc (horsepower) quad - specifically the ATV 90 Production CVT 8-15 class (seems like a foreign language to most).
The second goal was to win a PAMX Regional Championship Series points title; Nic finished third.
The third goal was to win a local Mapleshade Raceway points title, but Nic's travel schedule conflicted with races there, and he finished third in the Mini Quads 8-to-15 division. You've heard of local youth racer Maccoy Shine; Shine won the Mapleshade title, and was second to Confer in the PAMX state championship points race.
The Confer family travels all over Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia - their farthest trip - for Nic to compete. They own three bikes and take two to races. Nic said he "has one bike that I ride in all of my races, but we take another bike so that we have a spare in case we need it."
Over the summer, there are races almost every weekend.
When and if Nic wins a race, he gets to choose whether he wants a trophy or what's called "track bucks," which can be redeemed for time to practice on the track. So, even on the weekends there are no races, Nic's using up his "track bucks."
Things don't stop when the snow flies; during the winter months, he travels to Ohio to an indoor track.
All this costs money, thousands of dollars, for which the family is grateful for sponsors and friends; these include Rich and Michelle Hetrick of Hetrick Racing, which built their Quad engines "from the ground up," said Rob. There's Dana and Bob Hennessey of Fox and Son Excavating, and Nate McNett of McNett Performance.
Nic won the state title by over 100 points in a scoring system similar to NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. The fact there are racers in his division from Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Canadian province of Ontario makes this accomplishment that much more impressive.
But the goals don't stop there.
Next up, "winning a national championship," said Nic, who turned 14 last week.
Goals are his thing.
"Nic had a goal a couple years ago," said his father. "When he turned 14, he wanted to do the national season. So, we started two years ago getting a motor ready only for Mapleshade, then the following year, we'd do states. (This year), we will be doing nationals. We will be leaving in March for Alabama. His goal is to finish in the top five at nationals."
The AMA ATV Motocross Championship summer schedule for Nic will consist of traveling over 32,000 miles to tracks. Dad checked MapQuest.
"Most of the time the reasons why they don't do it is they can't afford it," said Rob. "I work two full-time jobs to do it. This week alone I've worked 100 hours. A lot of people say I can't see traveling that far for a race. I'll fly to Paris if I have to if he wants to race."
Be careful what you wish for.
Rob's youngest son, four-year-old Ethan, is starting to take a liking to the the vroom-vroom.
If Nic doesn't make it pro, and he'll know better by the time he's 16, maybe he'll end up Ethan's crew chief.
But who's to say he won't go pro?
Youngsville's Matt White did.
"We owe a lot to Matt White," said Rob. "He's such a good role model. I don't think he realizes what kind of influence he is on these kids."
What better motivation than someone standing right in front of you telling you how to get it done.
A point not missed by 14-year-old Nic Confer, who has already switched his number from 16 to No. 32 - Matt White's number.
