JUSTIN HOEFT
Tragedy struck the family during their trip to Texas for the AMA
Spring Championship in 2015, as his younger brother, Tyler,
passed away as a result of injuries sustained in a crash. The
incident was felt throughout the sport, but Justin continued on
with little concern. “Right after we flew home from Texas, it was
gnarly,” Hoeft says, reflecting on the past. “All that we know is
riding, so I never stopped. Two days later, my friends and I were
all riding at a track by my house for fun.” A second massive set-
back came just a few weeks later, as Justin suffered broken ver-
tebra, internal bleeding, and lacerations to his kidneys, pancre-
as, and spleen during a qualifying race for that year’s running
of Loretta’s. “After that I was over it mentally and physically. I
had been injured so many times, then my brother, and being
in the hospital for three weeks, it was overwhelming. I thought
it was time to get away from racing and to be a normal kid.”028 KICKSTART BY MICHAEL ANTONOVICH
For nearly a year, Hoeft spent time
with his family and friends in Southern
California as he finished out high school
and saw other things that life had to
offer. “Stepping away from racing and
coming back was the best thing that
could have ever happened to me,” he
claims two years later. “I learned to be
a normal kid again and know that life
isn’t all about racing. There are other
ways to make a living and have fun than
just riding a dirt bike.” The desire to race
remained, though, and midway through
2016 Hoeft worked with TLD Team
Manager Tyler Keefe on a comeback. “I
didn’t have a bike, so Tyler Keefe told
me that he wanted two solid months of
training for me to prove myself before
I started riding,” he notes. “I agreed to
it, did the full two months, and kept a
logbook of it all.” It was decided that
Hoeft would compete aboard a race
bike during the final round of the 2016
Monster Energy FIM Motocross World
Championship at Glen Helen Raceway,
with hopes of earning a full-time profes-
sional contract for 2017. “Three weeks
before the GP I got the bike. I feel like
he [Keefe] was obligated to do it be-
cause of all the things that he told me.
I was told that depending on my results
at the GP would be if I was signed for
the following year or not. I thought by
my results at the GP I deserved to be
signed since no one on the team did
better than I did.” Unfortunately, the
contract did not come and the two par-
ties went their separate ways soon after.
With no set support for 2017, Hoeft
quickly worked to build some sort of
program with the Fasthouse brand for
his rookie season in Supercross. “I had
talked to Kenny Alexander [Fasthouse
owner] about doing something for Su-
percross, just for the West Coast, but
with the budget and how much it would
have cost, it was too expensive to go
racing that soon,” Hoeft says. Later came
an opportunity with the newly formed
IB Corp/Ryno Power Racing team, but
things did not pan out for the full sea-
son. “I tested with them in December,
right before the start of the season. They
told me that they didn’t have the budget
for another rider, but halfway through
one rider [Martin Castelo] got sent back
to Ecuador, so they called me again.”