Kurtis McCabe has made a name for himself in the world of motocross.
The Cedar Rapids native claimed is his first title, winning the 2009 AMA Arenacross Lites Central Region Championship. His success has earned him a spot as a character in a video game being released this week.
McCabe, a native of Cedar Rapids and 2002 Center Point-Urbana grad, won the series crown by one point. A lot of hard work went into reaching the longtime goal.
“It was awesome,” said McCabe, who turned 26 today. “I really put a lot of time and effort into it and it paid off.”
The success has continued for McCabe, got a jump-start on the 2010 AMA Arenacross Series season that begins Jan. 8-10 at Grand Rapids, Mich. He led the entire 18-lap main event to win the AMA Arenacross Lites title at the Des Moines Arenacross prequel.
“I was really excited to start off the season that way,” said McCabe, who will ride as a member of Storm Lake Honda. “I hope it gets better as we go on.”
He has aspirations to compete against the best riders from all over. He has plans to transfer to East Coast Supercross after the Arenacross year.
“The Arenacross is kind of a steppingstone to Supercross which is pretty much our major leagues,” McCabe said. “That’s the fastest guys in the world.”
Climbing the ranks could allow McCabe to focus solely on racing. Currently, he juggles racing, a job laying floors and spending time with family, including his newlywed wife, Megan.
“It’s a lot of work,” said McCabe, who was racing in a non-series Arenacross event at Brookings, S.D., this weekend. “The more I get away and do more racing the better I get so hopefully coming up soon I won’t have to do a day-to-day job for a while.”
McCabe’s ability and style will be featured in the new video game THQ’s MX vs. ATV Reflex for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox game systems.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” McCabe said. “It’s a pretty big deal. Not everybody gets to be in a video game. Now I don’t have to download my own player.”
The game will be available Dec. 1. McCabe liked what he saw, describing it as “cool.”
“I got to see my character about a month ago,” McCabe said. “Seeing my bike and my number and my name on there is really awesome.”
McCabe, who won four track championships at Hawkeye Downs, began racing at age 10 and then began traveling to year-round competitions two years later.
“I love racing,” McCabe said. “I really love short tracks with a lot of jumps and very technical.”
That technique will be on display in the video game released Tuesday.