Over the past two years Chris Sprayberry has taken himself from the average cross-country rider to a highly regarded A Class rider within the Florida Trail Riders (FTR) Hare-Scramble series. We recently spoke with Chris and got an idea what drives him in the competitive ATV Racing industry.

Chris lives in Lehigh Acres, Florida where he works as a hurricane shutter installer. His ATV passion began with leisure rides with friends and quickly developed into something more demanding. "I went riding with a friend who knew some guys that raced FTR, so we met up with them on some local trails, and they told me about hare-scrambles. It was something I had always been interested in so I gave it a shot!"

After some encouragement from friends and family he decided to enter that first race. Chris's memory of his first event: "I got 6th or 7th place in the Four-Stroke C Class, crashed once but I was hooked."

Chris quickly learned the in's and out's of racing and pushed himself forward. Working his way through the C & B classes was not an easy task, but it paid off and today he is one of the most respected riders in the state and is continuously improving. Chris has a remarkable willpower to move forward. We asked him what drives him and who he looks up to... "in racing it would have to be Chad Duvall, through all his adversities has goes out and gives it 110%. Outside everything else my father has always shown me that when times are at their worst there is always an upside; 'peaks and valleys' as he would say. That saying right there has gotten me through so many races."

The Florida Trail Riders season has begun and Chris has started out strong. But competing for the year end top position is not the only challenge on Chris's agenda. He has hopes of being a top contender in the Four-Stroke A Class of the GNCC series.

Chris is not entirely new to the rugged terrain found within the tracks of the GNCC series. In 2005 he attended 10 national events which gave him a picture of what the GNCC series was all about. Experience plays a big roll in racing; some good and some bad. Chris fondly remembers his best GNCC race where he finished 7th in Georgia at The General. We also asked him about his worst experience at a GNCC: "My first national race, The Lonestar, crashing on the first lap, splitting my knee wide open, breaking my throttle and barely making it back to the pits. I thought 'great way to start a season!' ". Though he had a rocky start Chris continued to attend the GNCC series and secured his national number of 115.

SPONSORS: L.A. Cycles, Powermadd, Regina Chains, M2R