If only the start of his rookie season as a pro motocross racer had begun as well as it ended, there's no telling what Jess Pettis could have accomplished.
It certainly would have been much less painful.
Pettis put his injury woes behind him last weekend in Walton, Ont., in the final event of the Rockstar Energy Drink Pro Nationals CMRC Pro MX-2 class series and posted a pair of top-10 finishes while racing against the best sponsored riders in Canada and the U.S.
Riding for the Thor Kawasaki Leading Edge team, the 17-year-old from Prince George was ninth in both motos and finished 10th overall among 33 riders.
"It definitely couldn't have gone any better - my plan was to get into the top 15 and every round I went into I was pretty much in the top 10," said Pettis.
"Walton is the final and biggest round of the year, and I got off to two great starts in both motos. A lot of Americans come up for the final round, so there were a few more extra fast guys in the class and it felt like I belonged there."
For Pettis, it was the highlight of a seven-week tour of Eastern Canada in which he reeled off four top-10 results.
"That was the best round I've ever had," he said. "Being able to come back off a broken limb like that and do the best I've done in four years, I'm super-excited about it."
Pettis broke his wrist in a crash three laps into his first pro race on the CMRC circuit May 31 in Nanaimo and that put him out of action for six weeks. But as he's proven many times before, he heals quickly and he and his dad Doug loaded up their motorhome and drove across the country to resume racing in the CMRC Eastern Canadian series
On a muddy track July 26 in Deschambault, Que., he finished 10th and 11th for a ninth overall result. The next race, Aug. 2 in Moncton, N.B., was a bit of a nightmare for Pettis when his bike slipped into neutral on his first lap riding through the whoops section and he was launched over the handlebars and re-injured his wrist. Despite his pain, he got back on his bike and fought back from dead-last in the 41-rider pack to finish 19th. He sat out the second moto and was taken to hospital for X-rays, but his wrist bone was still intact and he was ready to race the following weekend in Ulverton, Que.
In the first moto he nearly beat CMRC champion Kaiven Benoit of Quebec for the hole shot and placed eighth. Pettis's bike stalled on him in the next race, which dropped him from seventh place into 15th and he ended up 11th overall in the two motos combined, heading to Walton.
Pettis has had more than his share of serious injuries over the past two years. He took a hard landing last October in an arenacross race in Chilliwack and broke both tibias (shin bones) and both fibulas (calf bones), which left him in a wheelchair for a month. He also broke ribs and sustained a concussion in an arenacross crash two winters ago and missed two months in the spring of 2013 with a broken foot.
"I'll try not to get hurt anymore, but it's a super high-risk sport when you hit the ground going at that speed," Pettis said. "I put so much effort and work into it the past 10 years, it's not worth giving it up now, so I'll keep plugging away and see where it takes me."
Pettis was the highest-finishing Kawasaki rider in MX-2 in Walton and after so much uncertainty whether he'd race at all this summer Thor Kawasaki Leading Edge team owner Jason Hughes was ecstatic with Pettis's results. Now Pettis has several teams and other manufacturers interested in him.
"With me finishing off the year good it kind of opens the doors for a [sponsored] ride for next year," he said.
Pettis felt like a bit of a rock star when he returned to his spot in the pits in Walton after his second race to find 30 kids lined up for his autograph. He'll have a rare opportunity to race at home this weekend at Blackwater Motocross Park in the B.C. Motocross Association Printwerx Cup. Close to 120 riders from B.C. and Alberta will be racing on Saturday and Sunday.
"It's nice to come home, and after driving 70 hours one way to race, be only a couple minutes away and in front of your home crowd," he said.
