Local talent Russell Bobbitt and Andrew Matusek have one big thing in common, their passion for off-road motorcycling. Friends on and off their bikes, they train together and occasionally race together, traveling to near and distant places across the U.S.

Bobbitt started riding a Yamaha PW50 when he was four years old. Matusek rode an ATV when he was two and moved up to a two-wheeled Suzuki JR50 when he was 3. In 1994, when Matusek was 6 years old, he won his first amateur motocross national title, flying with his Delta Airlines dad (and mechanic), John.

Bobbitt started racing in enduros, a different type of motorcycle event, when he was about 10, traveling to different points in the Southeast with his dad, Bo, who owns Cycle Specialty in Fayetteville.

Currently, Matusek is the only east coast amateur Kawasaki team rider. He is presently the top amateur rider in the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series, the largest off-road racing series in the U.S., where he competes in the four-stroke A Lites class on his Kawasaki KX250F. He has won an amateur title in this series the last four years in a row. He is also the 2007 Southeastern Enduro and Trail Riders Association (SETRA) Hare Scrambles Champion.

In addition to the GNCC series, Matusek competes in the Southern Off-road Championship Series (SORCS).

As a Red Bull KTM factory rider, Bobbitt is the 2006 National Enduro Series Champion, was on the 2006 International Six Days Enduro World Champion U.S. Junior Trophy Team, and is the 2006 and 2007 SETRA Enduro Champion, the 2006 SETRA Hare Scrambles Champion, and the 2006 Florida Trail Riders Enduro Champion.

He will be competing in two rounds of the World Enduro Championship in New York and Ontario, Canada, in July, and is also competing in the National Enduro Series and in the GNCC Series in the XC1 class. He will again represent the U.S. on the U.S. Junior Trophy Team at this year’s ISDE in Chile in November.

How do they perform at peak levels? Both riders train, oftentimes together. They practice riding two to three times per week and also ride road bikes to cross train.

Bobbitt includes some trials motorcycling when he can (precision, low-speed, technical riding over and around obstacles on a trials bike) and aerobic exercise and stability training, working with trainer Mark Anderson of Bicycles Unlimited in Peachtree City. Matusek’s personal trainer is professional motocrosser Shae Bentley.

Matusek is a 2005 graduate of McIntosh High School and a Fayette County resident. Bobbitt attended Fayette County schools and graduated from the Heritage School in Newnan in 2004.
To follow these riders’ series, go to www.gnccracing.com or www.nationalenduro.com.

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