Coty Schock Reacts to Best Career AMA Finish in Arlington

Sometimes, it’s not always the guy on the center step with the biggest celebration.

For Coty Schock, Arlington was a night that will stay etched in his memory forever.

Schock, 27, put on a display of consistency and focus amid a fog of chaos within Round 5 of the Western Divisional 250SX Class Championship. A second in the first round of the Arlington Triple Crown and a fourth in the second race put him in contention for the overall with a good finish in the third Main Event. Only three competitors had two finishes of fourth or better.

Sixth place may not seem like much but after two strong finishes, he held the tiebreaker advantage over Michael Mosiman in the Olympic-style point structure by beating him in the last race. He ended up second overall to secure his first career podium and best AMA career finish in his 10th season of professional competition.

Schock had five words to summarize how he felt.

“I want more of it,” said Schock with a chuckle.

Schock had one top five finish from Anaheim 2 earlier this season, and two top fives in last year's 250SX East division. He also finished third in the 250SX East championship last year.

At the time, Schock admitted he had no idea his pace was in position for the better side of the box.

“No, I didn’t know (the battle was also for the overall position),” Schock said, then leaning over the table to look at Mosiman. “I just knew I wanted to beat him, with all due respect.”

“I knew it was,” Mosiman responded with a grin.

That wasn’t the only laugh that Schock had to celebrate.

“Being from Delaware, no one’s really ever done anything from Delaware,” joked the Dover native. “Nobody even knows that Delaware’s a state, so let’s be honest. There’s two motorcycle dealerships, I think, and nobody really knows what moto is, so I come from a place where it’s really not meant to be. I’m having a blast, so it’s pretty cool.”

It wasn’t just Schock. The entire Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team celebrated with their first career podium finish. And the story of how Schock got the opportunity with them was one filled with inspiration for all to hear.

“When I was on previous teams, I would look at that club and be like, ‘Man, they’ve got a solid platform going on, and they want to win,’” he shared. “So there’s no excuses. When I got dumped from the previous team, I had to go searching and honestly, that’s where I wanted to go. So I went there first, showed up on my two-stroke one day, and Mike B (Bonacci, team manager) gave me the opportunity, and he was like, ‘Hey, come into the office and have a conversation.’ Ever since then, it’s kind of changed my life in a way. That’s a solid group of guys with that whole crew. We’re not a factory team, but they put in the work. We’re still figuring things out. We’re proving that it works. In previous years, they had J-Mart (Jeremy Martin) on it and Phil (Nicoletti) and Garrett (Marchbanks), and they’ve put in some solid results in the years.

“So it’s been proven, so for me to sign with these guys, it’s like, ‘Okay, I know they see something in me before I even see it in myself,’ and I feel like that’s been my biggest struggle this year. I believe in myself, but how much? Just trying to take it to that next step. P2 tonight, it’s pretty sick. It’s good for me and good for the team.”

Having a team filled with ground crew all the way up through management believing in him gave him the confidence to come out swinging. In the first five races, Schock has not finished outside the top 10, with his worst finish of eighth. He had similar numbers last year where the only finish outside the top 10 of the 250SX East division was a 12th at Nashville’s East/West Showdown.

Before 2024, Schock only had four top 10 finishes. The numbers don’t lie that the confidence has been both a moral boost and a performance boost.

“I always knew I could ride a motorcycle well, but I never really had the structure growing up,” reflected Schock. “I’ve had to really lock down these last few years, and I’ve checked off everything that I’ve wanted to accomplish, so now I’m making new goals and I’ve gotten this far so how far can I go? I’m living my dream and want to keep going and see how far we can go at the end of the day.”

Unlike the rest of his class, Schock won’t have a weekend off as he will be competing at Daytona Int’l Speedway for Round 8 of the SMX World Championship and the indoor stadium season of Monster Energy AMA Supercross next weekend on Mar. 1.

For now, he gets to celebrate with his dad and fiancée who were both in attendance and go through all his text messages and voicemails from friends and family sending their congratulations.

“Un-freakin-believable,” said Schock. “For me, it hasn’t sunk in yet. I think it’s because we’re all wanting more. Everyone’s just stoked. It’s a dream come true. For me, my next personal best is a win, so that’s pretty cool to say.”

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