In the early 1990s, on the drive home from a local hare scramble, Steve Leivan turned to his father for advice. He’d lost again, to the same riders. Steve was new to the AA class, full of desire and youth. He understood motorcycles and how to make them go fast inside the rocky woods of Missouri. He’d won often among the amateur ranks and knew the feeling of a promoter announcing his name and handing over the tallest trophy. He wanted that again. He possessed the talent to hold court with the fastest riders, but his speed was raw. Time and again, others finished in front. He asked Frank Leivan why he wasn’t winning.
“They’re better than you.”
The words, direct and honest, changed Steve Leivan. His father explained that the winners, all older and more seasoned, had learned to be as good at the end of the race as the beginning. They memorized courses, chose risks carefully, strengthened their bodies and won races. Leivan decided he would do the same. His physical conditioning improved and he sharpened his racing mind. Predictably, in 1992, an overall Missouri Hare Scrambles Championship followed. Leivan would win the title again in 1994 and then defend it an astounding 15 years in a row.
Missouri’s “Greatest of All Time” might now be considered a Super Senior in some racing circles, but age has meant little in his pursuit of championships. After his 17th Missouri hare scramble title in 2009, Leivan began competing in age group classes at various regional and national off-road events. Leivan has now won eight NEPG national enduro series titles, including the A +45 class in 2021. Off-road motorcycle racing brings out a competitiveness in Leivan, embedded like the code in the device on which you’re reading these words. He is simply programmed to race.
This code is far from unique. In Illinois, Ryan Moss shares a similar passion and a racing tenure almost as lengthy as Leivan’s. Following a successful BMX career, Moss transitioned to off-road motorcycle racing around the age of 12. Wins accumulated quickly, starting in the junior ranks and expanding to various 200cc classes in AMA District 17. His father Greg, a longtime off-roader with the self-explanatory nickname “Ol Nine Toes”, supported Ryan in his pursuit of AMA National Hare Scrambles class titles. He came away with back-to-back 200A championships in 1995 and 1996. The experience wasn’t especially fun. “My dad and I would drive straight through (to the events), do the races, then a long drive home. It was hard.” Moss shifted focus to regional enduros and spent the next 20 years winning overall titles across a half-dozen AMA districts.
Moss mapped out his 2021 season with no particular objective other than to enjoy racing in age group classes. His previous season was reduced by a broken leg while racing against much younger riders. Moss described the experience of competing in what would be his final year in the AA class: “Looking across the starting line, I realized I’d raced against some of those guys’ dads.” His instincts were at odds with the realities of a 45-year-old body. “I’d pin the throttle and keep up with the kids, but sometimes it was hard to hold on. I went down at a race in June, got run over and broke my tibia.” The joy of racing was slipping away.
His leg injury opened Moss to a different goal for 2021. Instead of lining up with Millennials in the AA class and racing for points, he would try out a novel concept: Enjoy the ride. This began with an odd choice of race bike. Moss inquired at his main sponsor, Woodstock KTM, if they might have a 125XC. “I wanted to have fun, and the 125 is a fun bike,” he explained. The dealership obliged. Moss then constructed his race schedule around his most favorite venues. Gone were the days of chasing a series championship.
Or so he thought.
Moss kicked off his 2021 season at the opening round of the NEPG national enduro series at Sumter, South Carolina. He made the trip with friends from his local Forest City Riders club and finished 2nd in A 40+. He followed with a solo trip to the Cajun Classic in Louisiana and walked away with the top spot in his class, winning all 5 tests. His goals suddenly changed. National enduros were fun, the 125XC was a blast to ride, and his near-burnout in 2020 was a distant memory. Moss would compete for an NEPG title in the A 40+ class. He was no stranger to pursuing national class titles, but life had changed in the 25 years since his last attempt. Ol Nine Toes, his travel companion and pit boss for most of his racing years, had passed away in 2013. Moss had raised a son and was now an empty-nester with his wife Jennifer, who was uneasy about solo racing trips to faraway places. She agreed to be his co-driver. “Jen loves to travel, but these probably weren’t the kind of road trips she envisioned,” said Moss with a grin.
Moss and Leivan found themselves at each of the 9 rounds of the NEPG series. Leivan’s schedule was also open for the first few rounds of the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series, so he added those events. Soon enough, Leivan found himself on top of the A 45+ podium at The General in Georgia, and in an instant his competitive code took control. He would race the GNCC and NEPG series concurrently in 2021. He added 36,000 miles to his bike haulers and put his two Sherco SEFs through 21 national races. Moss, with his NEPG travels and other regional events, drove his cargo van 20,000 miles. Despite the costs and sacrifices, both agreed the 2021 season enhanced their passion for racing.
For Leivan, the GNCC format was a new challenge. “They’re a lot different than enduros,” Leivan explained. “At an enduro, you start each test with the same 5 guys. You know who you’ll catch up to in the rows ahead and when you’ll pass, and you know who will catch you from behind.” GNCC’s, on the other hand, are “total chaos in the first part of the race, with so many riders on the track.” Early-race mayhem in a hare scramble format was nothing new to Leivan, but after focusing on enduros for so many years, he found it exciting to relearn how to navigate through the madness of a GNCC dead-engine start.
Moss found joy in racing a variety of terrain and setting a new goal to achieve. His 125XC proved itself an enjoyable and surprisingly competitive race bike, even in the tall hills of the Lumberjack Enduro. “At the Ohio race, when some of the guys in my class saw me on a 125, they just wished me luck,” said Moss. He finished third in class, less than 90 seconds behind the winner. “They were a little surprised,” he added. The diminutive KTM demonstrated its limits in the tricky rocks of the Rattlesnake Enduro in Pennsylvania, where Moss finished a distant 6th in class, but everywhere else the 125 shined.
At a stage in life where AARP solicitations dominate the daily mail, Leivan shows no signs of scaling back his racing. Moss, a few years shy of the half-century mark, also talks little of slowing down. Piloting motorcycles through rugged terrain is what they do better than most humans, and they intend to continue this indefinitely. “Most people never find that one thing they’re good at,” explained Leivan, who like Moss, made this discovery early in life. For Moss, winning in the junior ranks was a strong indication he’d found what he was good at, but beating local legend Dave Edsall confirmed it. At an AMA District 17 hare scramble in 1993, Moss passed Edsall easily, thinking the past champion was having mechanical problems. Edsall’s bike was working just fine, and Moss became the new champ.
Leivan’s breakthrough arrived when he displaced Jim Stanfield and Rusty Reynard as the man all challengers had to beat. During the period in which he amassed what seems an unbreakable record for Missouri hare scramble championships, Leivan says none of the titles came easily. “There was always someone fast,” with overall victories often determined at the final race of the season. He speaks respectfully of his battles with Chris Thiele, a talented Missouri rider who regularly pushed Leivan to his limits. Over the years, however, expectations gradually weighed on Leivan, leading up to his final run for the championship in 2009. By that time, he explained, “Everyone expects you to win. I’d finish 2nd or 3rd and people would ask what was wrong.” He also felt an obligation to defend his home turf, whenever a fast guy from another region dropped in to show the Missouri boys how to ride. Leivan’s joy for racing diminished, and he realized his days as a regular in the Missouri hare scramble circuit were finished.
Today, with different goals and expectations, Moss and Leivan embrace their roles in the off-road community. Both have become elder statesmen of their respective regions, offering advice and guidance to younger riders, as well as organizing events. Their passion for racing is matched by a responsibility for giving back to the sport. Moss is the current Vice President of AMA District 17 and was the district’s enduro director for many years. His website, MidwestEnduros.com, maintains the unofficial enduro and dual sport calendar for several AMA regions. Leivan established Missouri’s MORE off-road series in 2011 and quickly found a large audience for its family-friendly atmosphere. He is decidedly determined to ensure the next generation of Missouri riders will enjoy an active off-road scene.
In 2022, Leivan and Moss are both eligible to move into older age group classes at NEPG and GNCC events. Whether they do this, or even complete a full national series this year, remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: This pair of Midwestern racers will continue to find new ways to feed a passion for that one thing they’re good at. Moss appropriately summed up his joy of off-road racing:
“Ask a person to tell you, in less than five seconds, what their most favorite thing to do is. A lot of people can’t.”
He paused, briefly.
“I can do it.”
