Jocelin rides new wave of success

By MATT DiFILIPPO, Staff Writer
Copyright © 2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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A little over a year ago, Jocelin began her first class in motorcycle racing. It was something she planned to do in her free time, something she did because she always had a thing for dangerous sports.

At the time, Jocelin had no idea that people would be standing at the back of a long line, waiting to get her autograph. She had no idea that her words would have an effect on young children who wanted to be like her.

	Staff photo by RON MAXWELL
	Motorcyclist Jocelin, left, sits with Alex Bickford as she speaks to students at the Benton Elementary School on Tuesday.

"I thought it was going to be like a quiet hobby that I did and I wasn't going to go anywhere with it," Jocelin said. "This is a surprise."

Jocelin, 29, recently obtained her expert racing license, exactly one year after she enrolled in the classes. Typically, a racer competes at the amateur and junior levels for two to four years before moving up to expert status.

"Everything was actually better than what I had hoped I would accomplish," Jocelin said. "The first race of the season is in like eight weeks. This year, my goal is just to be competitive, have some top five finishes — just try out racing professionally and see how I pan out.

"And then next year," Jocelin added softly, "set it a little higher, see if we can't go for a championship or something."

As she has advanced in her "hobby," Jocelin has been a little overwhelmed by her corner of fame. She was invited to last weekend's 12th annual Northeast Motorsports Expo and Trade Show at the Augusta Civic Center as a representative of her home track, the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. She worried that no one would wait in line for photos or autographs. Instead, she signed about 400 autographs in 45 minutes, and later received 72 letters from new fans who met her and visited her website. Several of the fans had their pictures with her put on a T-shirt at the Expo, then asked her to autograph the shirt.

"Can you imagine having your name (and picture) on someone else's T-shirt?" Jocelin said in wonderment.

Like all motorcycle racers, Jocelin counts on sponsors to cover the extensive traveling and repair costs that come with the sport. After the Expo, the sponsors began seeking her out.

"Look at the guys racing," Jocelin said. "They've been racing for 15 years and maybe they have a couple sponsors. It's more of a hobby. You don't hear anything about them. I thought I would be like them, scurrying around trying to find sponsors and trying to make it. I didn't think any of this would happen. I guess I can admit that being a female has its advantages on this end, because the sponsors have been awesome."

After the Expo, Jocelin had an interview on a local radio station. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, but she ended up staying for a full hour because of the number of listeners who called in to talk to her.

On Tuesday, Jocelin spoke to a first grade class at Benton Elementary School after one of the students met her at the Expo and suggested the idea to her teacher. Jocelin said she felt comfortable with the children — laughing with them, teaching them to be safe — because she could be herself. After receiving an e-mail from a young boy, Jocelin wrote back to thank him and added that he should keep studying. When the boy wrote back the next night, he ended his letter by writing that he had to go get some studying done.

"(If) the positive outcome is you can help children believe that they can obtain their goals," Jocelin said, "and they can be anything they want to be, and they can make their dreams come real, then I guess I'll just go for it."

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