Huck Jenkins of House Springs will be one of 14 amateur dirt bike riders representing the U.S. in the International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) competition.
The event will be held Monday, Aug. 29, through Saturday, Sept. 3, in Le Puy-en-Velay, a town in southern France.
Huck, 18, left on Aug. 22 for Europe and is expected to return on Sept. 3.
“Top professional teams from each country come to participate,” he said. “Riding with the professionals is also a team of seven amateurs from each coast. So, I qualified under the seven amateurs from the East Coast, and there are also seven amateurs from the West Coast.”
Huck said he’s excited for the trip and the competition.
“It’s just an amazing opportunity to be able to do in any sport,” he said. “You do it because you love it, not because you want anything out of it.”
Huck’s father, Doug Jenkins, 59, will accompany his son.
“I would expect him to finish very strong,” Doug said. “He is a hard worker and will be a solid representative for the country.”
To make it into the competition, Huck said he had to race in three regional qualifiers, which were held in Louisiana in February, South Carolina in March and Michigan in May. He said he raced six times at each qualifier, and four of the races counted toward qualifying.
He said people who want to qualify for the ISDE must sign a letter of intent, and the top seven racers qualify.
“Originally, I ranked eighth,” he said. “I had a few bike troubles.”
Huck said the person who was ranked in second place ended up not being able to attend ISDE, so Huck was bumped up a notch, which landed him a qualifying spot.
“It was probably the biggest step in my career,” he said.
Huck said he’s most excited about getting the chance to race with new people he has never competed against.
Doug said Huck is focused on the sport.
“He comes home from work in the afternoon, and he does nothing but train, work on his motorcycles, take care of paperwork for owning the motorcycles and getting everything together for ISDE,” he said.
Huck said he rides a KTM 350 4-Stroke dirt bike for most of his races, which are run on trails.
“It’s wider and steeper, most of the time, than a hiking trail,” he said.
On trails with long straightaways, he can ride at speeds of up to 70 mph, but his average speed in the woods is about 25 to 30 mph.
Huck said each race lasts 8 to 12 minutes, but he said he could be faster with more practice.
Huck said he plans to arrive early in France to check on his bike, which he shipped from the American Motorcyclist Association in Ohio on June 20 to France. He said he purchased a brand-new bike for the six-day competition.
“I had to put my dirt bike in a shipping container,” he said. “I shipped over a brand-new one, with extra parts. The reliability (of a new bike) is just a little bit better. You want the best advantage you got.”
One of Huck’s friends, Megan Kennon, 30, of Festus, plans to attend the ISDE, too.
She said she met him at one of his first dirt bike races.
“He’s kind of an incredible kid to begin with, because he’s so talented, but he has to work really hard for a lot of his racing,” Kennon said. “Huck has a good support team behind him, and he has the drive, so I think he is going to go pretty far.”
Love of dirt bikes
Huck said he got his first dirt bike when he was 12, after his dad suggested he take up a hobby to keep him out of trouble.
“I was not one of those kids who was really thriving in school,” he said. “My dad wanted to keep me out of juvie.”
Huck said he bought his first dirt bike with money he earned from working in an auto body shop.
“After a whole school year, I had $3,000 saved up,” he said. “I rode it around the yard and fell in love.
“Most of the kids I’m racing have been riding since they were 4 years old. I got a little bit of a late start, but I still love it.”
Doug said Huck was a quarrelsome child, but his interest in dirt bikes improved his outlook.
“He didn’t want to do math, he didn’t want to do English, he didn’t want to do social studies, he didn’t want to do violin, he didn’t want to clean his room. We started the motorcycle program, and he had something he liked.”
Doug said he used Huck’s love of motorcycles to motivate him in other areas.
“I’ve been able to play Jedi mind tricks on him and tell him, ‘Hey, you need to fold your socks like a champion. You need to eat breakfast like a champion,’” Doug said.
Huck said he competed in his first race in 2016, and it wasn’t long before he started to get some attention from sponsors.
“A (dirt bike) dealer in Jefferson City offered me a really great opportunity. They would supply me with a bike and a ride to all the national events,” he said. “I started taking it seriously when I was 15.”
Huck said his parents started homeschooling him so he could focus on racing. Huck said he recently finished high school.
“(Racing) helped a lot because I had somewhere to focus my energy,” he said.
Huck said the freedom he feels on the bike is what keeps him hooked.
“When I’m on a dirt bike, I don’t have to think about anything else,” he said. “It’s just me and my bike and the trail.”
When Huck is not on his bike, he works for his dad as an operator and mechanic for Big River Timber.
Huck also plays violin and guitar.
“Music is a really great escape,” he said.