Burlington graduate Kole King crowned national champion in motorcycle racing event
Kole King is just 25 years old (he will turn 26 on Feb. 25), but the 2014 Burlington High School graduate already is on top of the world.
King, who competed in the 2019 X Games, reached the pinnacle in the sport of flat-track motorcycle racing last month when he won the Grand National Hooligan Championship in Florida.
King put a tidy bow on his banner season in Pensacola, Florida. In four days at the Panhandle Clash World Finals King had three wins, an overall championship globe and topped it off with the GNHC championship, the granddaddy of them all.
In 13 races in the 2021 season, King came away with eight wins, taking the title by 34 points.
At the tender age of 25, the underground utilities construction worker from Burlington is on top of the flat-track motorcycle racing world.
"We had a really good year," King said. "We built a new bike, a KTM 790 Duke. Our first race was in Lima, Ohio, and we won. It was amazing how well the bike handled. It worked really well.
"We ended up hurting the first motor in it, so we bought a new motor for it. It took a while to get the bugs worked out for the bike. We bought it as a street version and set it up for short tracks."
King's season took him to Tennessee, where he got to race at Loretta Lynn's ranch.
"I ended up getting third there," King said. "It was a really neat opportunity to race down there."
The third race of the season, scheduled for Joliet, Illinois, was rained out, so King and his team — his parents and his fiancé, Allison — packed up and headed to Neoga, Illinois, where he picked up another win.
The following weekend he won a big race in Galesburg, Illinois, then drove to Elk Horn, Illinois the next day for a race, where he finished third.
But the big weekend came in Florida, where King completed his dominating season in style.
At 25, he already is on top of the world.
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Kole King's road to becoming the Grand National Hooligan Champion
But not all has been a bed of roses. Nor has anything come easy. It takes plenty of hard work, endurance and guts to get to where King is.
"I've been racing since I was five and riding since I was four," King said. "Right now I have 21 years of experience under my belt. They say you have to do something for 10,000 hours to be considered a professional. I definitely have 10,000 hours on a bike. I can't stop doing it. Once you do it, it gets in your blood. It's so enjoyable. I can't get enough of it."
Racing has taken its toll on King's body, from bumps and bruises to aches and pains. He estimates he has had 26 fractures through the years, including two broken vertebrae in the front of his neck when he hit a concrete wall. While he suffered neck and back pain from the collision, the fractures weren't discovered for four or five years.
King hasn't broken any bones since 2011, but he took a nasty spill in Pensacola which drew blood. He was able to shake that off.
"I feel older than I should, but if I keep moving I'm fine," King said of his latest spill. "I don't ride above my head like some guys do. I try to stay above the ground."
King has big plans for the future. He will have the No. 1 plate for the 2022 season as the defending Grand National Hooligan champion.
"The Grand National Hooligan Championship Series is getting bigger next year. They are going to have a Midwest Series, an East Series and a Southern Series. All of them will have a winner. Then at the end of the year the top 10 from each series will go to one race to determine which series has the best riders. That will be one of my goals," King said. "I also want to try the Bagger Racing League. They have Harley-Davidsons which they turn into racers. They do a lot of road racing stuff. That's kind of up in the air right now."
King has one other goal in mind. After finishing third in the 2019 X Games in Minnesota in Hooligan racing, King wants a second chance to prove himself.
"I wrecked there, but I didn't get hurt," King said. "I want a chance at redemption in the X Games."
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Burlington's Kole King wins motorcycle racing championship
