Brian Karlsbrotten is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and motocross racer. His interests range from racing to maintenance/repairs to development of products specific to the motorcycle/motocross arenas. His best-known product, Moto 192, is engineered with Tufoil Technology to create extreme lubricity in order to survive the harshest riding conditions.
Brian sponsors a professional motocross competitor, Collin Reinhart. At 22, Collin is relatively new to the Pro Motocross Circuit. Here, in his words, Brian explains how they began working together.
I first met Collin after he had been tossed off his dirt bike in a rough section of a motocross track. I hurried over to where he was laying on the track to check on him and he appeared to be dazed and confused. His crash resulted in a mild concussion. I didn’t know him at the time, but I found out later on that he didn’t live too far from me, so he and his family were kind of neighbors. I called his parents’ house later on that evening to check on his condition and his mom (a nurse) confirmed he indeed did have a concussion. So, I guess you could say we met by accident. Collin was about 13 years old at the time.
A short time later, Collin and his father stopped in at my shop and asked if I would be willing to work on Collin’s dirt bike and I agreed. This was about the 2010 – 2011 timeframe. As time went on, Collin and I became friends and I was soon overhauling the engine and servicing the suspension on his bike.
Collin continued to improve his riding skills and I could see he had a special talent and the desire to race professional. In his senior yearbook, he wrote that his goal for the future was to get his pro license and race pro motocross. A year later, he did just that.
Motocross is high risk, high reward sport that is often labeled as the most physically demanding sport in the world. The effort that it takes to race pro motocross is no different than any other sport. You give it all, you live it every day, and give everything you have to the sport in order to reach your goals.
I can relate to Collin’s goals because I had the same goals when I was his age. However, at the time I was trying to race pro, I would have needed to go to California to make it into the pro circuit as there weren’t any pro races in this area. So, I raced, and qualified to race at the amateur nationals in hopes of getting recognized by the factory race teams. I got some sponsorship from a local shop, but not enough support to go pro. Instead, I focused on my mechanical skills and became a certified Honda motorcycle technician in hopes of becoming a factory race team mechanic. Again, I would have needed to move to California to get a job in the industry.
After 52 years of racing, I have won many races and have raced and ridden in 13 states throughout the United States, but now I focus mainly on helping other riders reach their goals by working on their dirt bikes and coaching them on improving their riding skills.
