Williams Lake’s Brock Hoyer is now a double medalist in snow bike at the Winter X Games.
Hoyer raced to a silver medal Saturday in Aspen, CO., at the 2018 Games, finishing behind friend and rival in the sport, Cody Matechuk of Cochrane, Alta. in the 20-lap main event.
The pair were the front runners heading into Saturday’s final where both lived up to the hype.
Hoyer, 30, and last year’s inaugural gold medalist at the event, entered Saturday’s final with the fastest qualifying time, however, a hangup at the start allowed Matechuk to jump out to an early lead.
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Hoyer, ultimately, wasn’t able to close the gap despite gaining steady ground during the final 10 laps of the race, to settle for the silver medal. Kody Kamm of Wisconsin, took the bronze.
“It was a good race,” Hoyer told the Tribune. “It was definitely a gnarlier track — bigger, longer, bigger jumps.
“I’m stoked to get a silver medal and bring it home. Any medal down there is awesome>’
READ MORE: X Games champion Brock Hoyer sends a message from Aspen
Back in Williams Lake, friends, supporters and family — including Brock’s mom Debbie and son Deakin — were on hand a Spectra Power Sports (SPS) to show their support.
“It’s all about the start,” said Rick Seibert of SPS after the race. “And Brock got, you know, not a poor start but not a good one and he battled with that second-place guy for too many laps.
“When you’re racing at that level you can’t make up that sort of distance.”
Brock agreed, and said the start was the key factor in the race, along with lapper traffic.
“I think that was the biggest factor, the lappers,” he said. “It’s just one of those things where everyone has to ride around all the lappers and we made the best of it.”
Matechuk and Hoyer have been two of the fledgling sport of snowbike’s biggest pioneers since its inception. Hoyer has influenced many to make the transition from motocross to snow bike racing through his multiple backcountry films — several featuring Yank’s Peak here in the Cariboo.
“Those two, they’ve been battling since they started in the sport,” Seibert said. “Cody’s dad is Brock’s suspension tuner.”
Following the race, Hoyer rushed over to Matechuk to tackle him in the snow in a friendly show of sportsmanship and congratulation.
Hoyer’s three-year-old son Deakin, who was sporting a Yamaha jersey with his dad’s No.2 on the front, said his dad’s still the best.
“It’s pretty cool [to watch my dad],” said Deakin, who already has his own motorbike and sled.
“I’ll do that one day.”
