Everyone loves Coty Schock. The friendly Delaware racer was a revelation just a few years ago, going from a guy struggling to qualify for supercross races to a guy running up front at them, and then really turning up the heat on a 450 in Pro Motocross with a string of top-ten finishes. Expectations were high that Coty could continue that level of progression. There have been ups and downs since, mostly through injury but ending with him losing his spot on the Phoenix Honda team. Coty got picked up by Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha for this supercross season, and his head is above water again. With 4-8-6 finishes, he’s been the rare consistent rider in 250SX East, and that leaves him just four points out of the series lead after three rounds.
Because the points are stacked so close, four points off the lead currently means sixth overall in the standings. But the consistency has been on purpose, and it continued in Daytona.
“This track, I knew it would be not how fast you could go, but how consistent you could be,” he said to Steve Matthes after the race. “That was my main focus. I know I have speed, but I don’t need to go balls to the wall and risk it. Tonight, was also about managing the bike, I don’t know how many people talked about it, but it was easy to get that clutch hot, because of how much load it was putting on the engine. The ground was so soft, it was just eating up everything. For me, I was trying to save it.”
A few years ago, Shock nailed a good start at Daytona and ran like crazy for a few laps. He’s playing a much different game now.
“At the halfway mark, I was like, ‘It’s not about how fast you’re going. Be smooth and carry that flow.’ I was stoked to do that and found myself in sixth. That’s a hell of a ride for me.”
Coty still has skill and speed he can flash here and there. We saw it at Daytona press day and throughout Saturday, when he was really dialing in that quad that confounded some of the best 450 riders in the world. Coty aired it out on his 250, no problem. But he didn’t want to get too crazy in other areas of the track. For example, he played it smart in the whoops.
“Clay whoops and a paddle [tire] don’t really go well together!” he said with a laugh. “They don’t go hand in hand. I was like, I’m gonna go 2-2-2 and then a little skim and call it a day. I had a practice crash in the first qualifier through them. Banged myself up a little bit. After that, I was like ‘I’m not risking it.’ I was very thankful I did that.”
Coty mentions that he’s been quick at Daytona before. He was ninth in 2021 and eighth in 2023. Then he laughed, “This year I got sixth. We’re making progress!”
![“Clay whoops and a paddle [tire] don’t really go well together!” -Schock](http://rxi.iscdn.net/2024/03/283566_schockalignmediasx24daytona032.jpg)
For Schock, it’s almost like 2024 has become a bit of a rebuild. He’s trying to get back to all that promise he showed a few years ago.
“As we all know, I had a really big trajectory, and I was doing pretty well, but I feel like the last two years I was a little stagnant,” he says. “A lot of that could have been the overall setup. I am seriously so happy with where I’m at, bike wise, team wise and just the environment. It’s like happy wife, happy life. I have a good home life! When I go to ClubMX, it’s not like I’m going to work. It’s like I’m going to see the boys.”
With ClubMX, Schock has stayed consistent and stayed close in an absolutely crazy championship fight. That’s good. But this team scored some podiums in 250SX West with Garrett Marchbanks. Can Coty get to that level this year? It’s that ceiling that entices. How far can Coty Schock go? We’re getting some answers right now.
