Longmont's Brown making a name for himself in motocross
Nov. 13—The first time Maddox Brown sat atop a motocross bike, a passion emerged that has taken him all over the country.
Earlier this year, the 17-year-old Longmont resident's talent on the track led him to his first-ever amateur nationals race, which each year is held at Loretta Lynn's ranch in Tennessee. He'd been chasing that dream since he first began the sport at age 9.
"It was a super cool experience. It's probably one of the coolest races you can do in amateur motocross," Brown said. "Unfortunately, I didn't perform very well. I think I got seventh overall, which is OK. It definitely wasn't my goal. I expected to do a lot better. It's a really hard race to be 100% mentally at because this is the race you've been training for since you were a little kid. You dream about winning here, so it's super easy to get in your head and underperform. And the track is just absolutely brutal. There's nothing like it."
The course at the famous country singer's family home gave riders an unforgiving challenge that rainy day in August, as the course offered no shortage of mud, large braking bumps and deep ruts. Brown earned his spot there by winning his regional in Wortham, Texas, at Freestone Raceway National Track earlier in the year.
"I was honestly pretty surprised that I won," he explained. "You do three races and then you get your overall result and my first moto, it wasn't very good. I actually remember coming off the track being pretty mad, thinking I just screwed myself over with a bad first moto, and then I got second in my next two. Typically, that wouldn't set you up for an overall win, but I pulled under the tent when the race was done, and they were like, 'Oh, get up on the podium. You won.' So I was pretty surprised, but it was also really exciting because that was my first championship."
Brown first picked up a bike after his parents, who run a tree service in Longmont, moved into a shop that had a dirt track behind it. He began his career with smaller, local races before he decided to take his talents to a more national stage at age 14.
A global pandemic gave him just the motivation he needed to make the leap forward.
"In 2020, COVID hit, and we chose to homeschool the kids at that point," his mother Brandy said. "In February of 2021, we went to Texas to stay at a training facility. Because I was homeschooling the kids, that gave us a lot of freedom, and motocross was all outside, so the kids were able to have a normal kind of childhood life. They were around other kids and everybody was outside, so it was safe."
Brandy noted that that experience "opened the floodgates for him," and led him to sponsorships with Moose Racing, EKS Brand Goggles, Defy Graphics, MotoAdventure Kawasaki, Mika Metals, and more.
Now that he has a taste of the national stage, Maddox hopes he can take his dream even further, perhaps even going pro one day. For now, he's focusing his energy on the Mesquite Thanksgiving Classic that will take place in Nevada later this month.
"The feeling you get when you're on top of the podium or qualifying for Loretta's, it's incomparable," Maddox said. "You're just constantly chasing that thrill of victory."
