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Engine trouble had caused Spaeth’s motorbike to shut off, airborne after a double jump, slamming the eighth-grader from St. Charles into her handlebars upon impact. Spaeth was up in an instant, pleading with a track official to get her back in the race.
Alas, the bike was shot and Spaeth was forced to the sidelines.
Spaeth spent the next hour or so miffed at her misfortune, but otherwise no worse for wear. Until a friend pointed out Spaeth’s right shoulder was hanging noticeably lower than the left. Turned out the crash had popped it out of joint.
“They popped it back in right there,” she said.
For whatever reason — disappointment, grit, adrenaline — she hadn’t even noticed.
“I was in third when I crashed,” Spaeth said. “I was just mad that I didn’t get on the podium.”
Nearly six months later, Spaeth wrapped up a top 10 finish Friday at the largest amateur motocross race in the world, the Air Nautiques/AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.
Spaeth finished ninth in the girls 9-13 age class. She improved with each of her three runs, taking 20th — the result of three crashes — seventh and fifth, for a ninth-place composite finish. Last year, the first year Spaeth qualified for Loretta Lynn’s Nationals, she finished 21st overall.
“I just knew that the crash was over,” Spaeth said of her first run and subsequent improvements. “So I had to stay up and be relaxed. Be strong.”
The top-10 finish marked a major step for the young rider who hopes to turn pro at 16, when motocross regulations allow for the transition.
“It meant a lot to me,” Spaeth said. “I’m glad because I know I have the speed to get up to top five next year. It makes me feel good.
“When you succeed it makes you a better rider. It makes you train harder because you know you can do it.”
