Missouri’s Broc French Defines Commitment In More Ways Than One
Cover photo: Robin Nordmeyer
It takes a certain breed of individual to dedicate the necessary resources to compete for a season championship, especially at the national level. Besides the desire and drive; time, money, blood, sweat and tears are all key ingredients. But there is also a huge sacrifice of the little things like weekends at the lake or random outings with friends, that most folks take for granted.
Otterville, Missouri’s Broc French is a regular competitor in the National enduro series and their new Beta Cup championship, who knows all about sacrifice and commitment.
To say French is dedicated would be an understatement. However, in this case, his primary commitment is not to his bike, or two a championship, but to his county. You see Broc is a Technical Seargent in the U.S. Air Force and in addition to his day job overseeing a crew of 23 men who maintain the roads and much of the infrastructure at Whiteman AFB, he is also a veteran of the 819th Red Horse Squadron which is a self-sufficient, civil engineer-based rapid deploy unit on constant standby to go anywhere at anytime and develop runways, roads and other startup components when the Marines or Army need a new stopping off point.
French is originally from the off-road hotbed of southern Ohio and followed in the bootsteps of his racing father, first jumping on a bike at age five. He competed in Ohio’s district 11 through high school with the likes of Cory Buttrick and Thad Duvall, until making the decision to join the Air Force immediately upon gradution.
“I knew I didn’t want to go to college,” said French. It meant having to give up racing for about seven years, but now I have two college degrees and am certified to operate industrial cranes and just about every piece of heavy equipment there is and I didn’t have to pay for any of it.”
After his initial assigment as a Red Horse in Montana, French and wife Lindsay settled in to their lives in Missouri where he was able to scratch the racing itch again. As Broc pointed out, “there are three local series in Missouri, including the Hillbilly GP series which races all winter. We are also centrally located to many of the national enduros.
My dad was a big Yamaha guy but I’ve always liked to do things a little different and I always liked Cory Buttrick, so I bought a Beta 390 from Bonecutter Off-Road and raced the B class my first year back.”
French had good success right away and quickly moved up the ranks until finding himself among the front row starters. Without a lot of free time to ride during the week, Broc continues to race local events when time allows, but has focused on the NEPG tour going on three years.
He missed a good part of last season with an injury but has been on a torrid pace with his new Beta 125 this year, finishing third and second the last two rounds. “People thought I was crazy going from the 390 to the 125, but like I said, I’ve always liked to try different things and I honestly love the small bore bike.”
Broc and Lindsay recently welcomed their first child, a boy Kash, which has made this season even more special. And that brings us back to commitment.
“This one will definitely be different and a little tougher,” said French. But it is part of the deal and it is what we signed up for and what we do to keep our country safe. Hopefully with all of today’s technology I’ll be somewhere where we can facetime and I’ll be able to see him on a regular basis.”
With 12 years of service behind him, French has a big picture target of retiring with 20 years, but also has notions of a second career in the powersports industry. Two years ago he formed a relationship with Fasstco in Utah and has become a race and event rep fort the brand. “Cole Townsend and his staff are really great people to work with and it would be cool to see that turn into something more one day.
For the time being, French has a few more months to keep twisiting the throttle while representing all of his sponsors including: Beta, Bonecutter Off-Road, Fasstco, Shock Zone Suspension, Kenda, Bulletproof Design, FXR, EKS Brand goggles, Sidi, Mobius and Source MX Graphics.
