VOLUME 57 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 15, 2020 P103
he only hit the rounds close to
him, he didn't contest the entire
10-round series, but he was
able to ride five of them, winning
three and finishing second in the
final two races. Thus, he earned
fourth in final points.
That was his last year on minis.
In 2014, he jumped up to the
200cc A class with his YZ125
and followed the series, winning
seven of the 10 rounds to clinch
that championship before sea-
son's end. For the final round,
he rode 250cc A to get a taste
of the competition in that class,
finishing second.
But that wasn't the only
series he chased. In addition,
he scored the Rocky Mountain
ATV-MC World Off-Road Cham-
pionship Series (WORCS) 125cc
A Sportsman championship, the
AMA District 37 Big 6 Grand Prix
Lightweight II (200cc) Expert
title and first in AMA District 37's
Desert Lightweight II (200cc)
Expert.
However, he skipped going
for the 250cc A-class hare and
hound crown in 2015, instead
leaping headlong into the Pro
250s where he won seven of the
eight rounds (finishing second
in the only race he didn't win) to
easily cart away that number-one
plate as well.
Shirey was definitely on a roll
and a bright future seemed to lie
ahead.
Unfortunately, a knee injury
put him on the sidelines for the
better part of a year in 2017.
He'd apparently torn an ACL and
the meniscus in one knee when
he was 14 when he crashed off a
jump at a local track.
"My dad never took me in [to
the doctor]; he thought I was
being a wimp," Shirey says. "I
didn't get it fixed for a long time—
I just kind of dealt with it until I
was 17 or 18 and that was the
first year I was on a 450."
Hyper-extending the problem
knee in a simple tip-over spill
made medical attention a must
and the resulting surgery kept
him from racing for almost a year.
DAD QUITS PAYING
While his dad warned him that
he'd need to get a sponsor or
pay for his own racing once he
was 18, Shirey's championships
to that point were enough to
secure a ride from Zip-Ty Racing
in Hesperia, California.
"I was 17 years old playing
football up at Mammoth and
my brother lived up there at the
time and I was in the middle of a
game," Shirey remembers. "My
dad called my brother Preston
and told him about the sponsor-
ship offer and Preston came up to
me and congratulated me at the
game for getting a ride. I had no
idea what he was talking about.
"Then he told me the whole
story and I was like, 'No way!
Really?'
"He went, 'Yeah, after the
game call dad!'"
For 2014, Shirey moved
up to a full-sized bike—
his YZ125—and enjoyed
success in four series,
dominating the 200cc
Experts in the H&H
Nationals as well as
earning championships in
WORCS, AMA District 37
Big 6 GP and AMA District
37 Desert.
