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Arenacross racer from New Philly is scratched after crash last week
Photo
Start your engines: Professional Arenacross riders vie for a shot at the championship. Above, Brock Sellards flies through the air.
Brock Sellards was having another strong year on the Arenacross circuit, until last week.
That’s when he got into an accident that all but knocked him out of the points race.
Sellards, a native of the New Philadelphia area and one of several Ohioans on the Arenacross tour, explained what happened in an interview this week.
“I was in fourth place [in a 25-lap race],” he said. “On the last lap, with one turn left, I caught a hay bale, and it ripped me off my bike. I knocked myself out and broke my hand and got a concussion.”
As a result, Sellards will not be able to race this weekend when Arenacross comes to Covelli Centre for three days.
Sellards was in fifth place in total points before last weekend’s crash in Tulsa, Okla., with 119 points. The 31-year-old routinely finishes the season in the top five and came within a hair of being the champion in 2009 and 2006.
Having to sit out the Youngstown races is a huge disappointment for him.
“It’s a bummer because I have been at the professional level since 1997, and so many people [in the New Philadelphia area] have always wanted to see me race as a pro [in the local area],” he said. “I finally get to race locally, and everyone wanted to come, and I get hurt. There were probably a couple of hundred people who wanted to come up here to watch me.”
Sellards will still be on hand at the Covelli to sign autographs, greet fans and cheer on his teammates.
The Youngstown races — Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday morning — are the sixth of the current season and mark the midway point.
Points are awarded according to finish (the winner gets 25, second place 22, third 20, fourth 18, fifth 16, sixth 15, and so on). With Sellards missing at least two races, and maybe more, it will be hard for him to climb back into contention.
“In my entire pro career, I have never broken a bone, until now,” he said.
Ohio is considered a hotbed of dirtbike racing, having twice as many tracks as any other state. Sellards grew up in this environment and got involved in the sport at a young age.
“I started the day I turned 4,” he said. “My dad bought me my first bike that day. I totaled it the next day, and it was another month before we got it going again.”
He began racing at tracks in the New Philadelphia area, including Malvern.
Sellards has since raced all over the world on both indoor and outdoor courses.
Not surprisingly, he also dabbles in another extreme sport: experimental aircraft flying.
“I am a pilot,” he said. “I build the engines and fly the planes. I have my own hangar and runway at my house [in New Philadelphia].”
if you go
What: Arenacross
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. Sunday
Where: Covelli Centre, Youngstown
Tickets: $27 and $22 ($27 and $12 for children) at the box office. All tickets are $2 more the day of the show