Missouri Hare Scrambles Champ Steve Leivan is known throughout the Mid-West region he races in for his persistence and tenacity. He’s seldom the one to get the holeshot, but he’s often the one who takes the checked flag after a demanding two-hour race that’s left many of his fellow racers worn-out and struggling just to finish. The SCR/Yamaha-backed rider has run a LeoVince system all season long on his WR250F—riding smartly, solidly and scoring yet another championship victory (his 14th MHSC to date, to be exact). Although Leivan is a crafty and experienced racer, his LeoVince system helped him continue his consummate success. Here, Leivan discusses what it’s like to be on top for 14 years in a row, the challenges facing the off-road riding community and what’s next for this top-notch racer.

Q: Steve, you are now officially the 14-time Missouri Hare Scrambles Champion. There aren’t very many 14-time champs of anything out there. What continues to motivate you after being on top for so long?

A: [Laughing] I don’t think about it that much. It really just means there were a lot of times where nothing went wrong.

Seriously, when you get older you have to work harder. There are always people younger than me who are a lot faster. I work all week to beat them on the weekends. Young kids don’t have much fear, but I don’t want to put myself in a position to jeopardize my health, so I have to last longer and be smoother. That’s why experience and strategy pays off. You gotta give yourself a chance to be there at the end of the race. If I’m there at the end, I have a good chance to win. But even if you don’t get the win, if you’re close every time, those finishes can be very valuable if you’re going for a championship.

As for motivation, the bottom line is that I really like riding my bike and I can do it better than I can do anything else, so I work hard at it to try to keep getting better. I know what it feels like to win and I have no problem admitting that I hate to lose so that keeps me motivated as well.


Q: Well, with 14 years as a champion under your belt, that means you had to have been pretty young when you first started riding and young when you won your first championship. What were those early days like for you? Were you one of those fearless fast kids?

A: No, as a kid I probably wasn’t that good and that’s why all this has meant so much to me. I started riding when I was 3 when my family lived in California. Back then there were so many places you could go to ride. Then we moved to Missouri. The riding here is so much different than it was there. Everything is slower going, there are lots of rocks, roots and mud. My dad moved us all here to open a motorcycle shop when I was six or seven, so I had no choice about riding. But all we had in Missouri at the time was motocross or enduro. I was too young to compete in enduro races, and my dad wasn’t that into motocross, so he started the Missouri Hare Scrambles Championship to give me and other riders in our area another choice. That was in ’81 or so.

At age 20, I won the National Hare Scrambles Championship, in the 250 A class. They added a AA class and I ended up national number 5 four years later. I started winning regionally, then Yamaha stepped up to help. They knew it was a smart sponsorship opportunity to focus on regional riders and regional series. Things really changed for me then. The support from Yamaha made all the difference. I depend on my racing to fund my racing. So as long as I can afford to be there, I’ll be racing.


Q: Describe a typical MHSC race. What kind of preparation do you do?

Basically it’s a two-hour race. We have somewhere between an 8 and 12 mile course. It’s usually a four or five lap race with all natural terrain—hills, creeks, everything. It’s different from a lot of other racing—supercrossers don’t have to deal with temperature change and so many variables. In hare scrambles, you have to be able to deal with changing conditions. You have to adapt to win.

For my physical preparation, I ride a bicycle several times a week—road bikes and mountain bikes. I practice on the 250 twice a week, too. As for prepping the bike itself, I do all my own work on it. My dad still races too, so I help him and work on his bike, too. My dad likes to say, “I spent 15 years working on your stuff, now it’s your turn.”

Q: How did your partnership with LeoVince come about?

Well, your Flattrack and Supermoto Coordinator, Mark Pullliam approached me about it. Mark said things about European sound requirements and how strict they are. Sound restriction is becoming a bigger deal here in the US, we’re all feeling it. Mark said, “Why not try a LeoVince system?” So, I said ok. The first thing I noticed is the fit. A lot of aftermarket stuff just doesn’t fit right, but the Leo stuff is far and away ahead of everybody else. And as for the sound, just listen to them! I have LeoVince systems on both my 250 and my 450. Both my bikes are quieter than all of the rest, but it sounds great. Sounds great and bolts right on—that’s the way it ought to be!


Q: With stricter sound restrictions and disappearing public land for riding, the off-road world is certainly changing. What do you see for the future of your sport?

A: The sound thing is definitely becoming more and more of an issue. The more bikes out there, well, the louder it seems to get. We all have to remember that you’ve got to have respect. LeoVince’s on the right track, it’s good to see that you can make a bike quiet and it still works and performs well. Some of the systems I tried years ago were quiet but made no power. LeoVince systems are quiet and run good. People are going to have to take notice of it.

The restrictions make it worse; fewer places make it not as spread out. Think about it—more riders in less space. What can we do about it? That is a good one. What we’re doing around here, we have three or four public riding areas… It’s a tough deal. And we have to share it with horse people, bicyclists. We need to find private land owners, we need more private areas and we have to try to get along with everybody. We have to co-exist. And we need to always remember to take care of what we have.


Q: What other series do you race in?

A: This year, the only other thing is the Six Day Qualifiers. There were four qualifiers, the best go to the final ISDE [International Six Day Event] in New Zealand. The qualifiers this year were in Oklahoma, Colorado, Tennessee and Idaho. The top 7 guys get to go to the final. I was third overall in the qualifying.

Q: Wow, have you raced in the ISDE before?

A: Nope, this will be my first time. I didn’t really care about doing it before because Germany, Slovakia… the places it’s been held in the past, those places did not appeal to me. But New Zealand sounds pretty cool. This year, they had more qualifiers and a new location. I’ll be competing with racers from all over the world. There will be 650 riders from 20 countries, or something like that. We have 37 American riders on the team.

Q: What do you think the ISDE will be like?

A: Well, most importantly, you gotta make your bike last. I’ve gotten pretty good at that. I’ve managed to finish 180 races in a row without a DNF. There are times when you can break things and deal with it; you can keep going. You never know when you might need those points. I think physically being able to last that long will be tough, though. I’m just trying to ride as much as I can between now and then. We’ll be riding 250 kilometers a day. That’s a lot of long days; you just have to try to last. Plus you have to do all the work on your own bike. My dad’s going with me but you have to do all the work yourself. You have 15 minutes to work on your bike at the end of each day. You can’t take longer than 15 minutes to fix it or you get penalized. That means you’ve gotta be able to change a tire fast!


Q: Getting to the ISDE in New Zealand has got to be expensive. What can people do if they want to help you out?

A: [Laughin] Send big checks! This event is super expensive. I thought maybe you could do it for $10,000, it’s more like $15,000. I’m hosting an off-road riding school to raise money here in Missouri. I held one in July that turned out great. We’re going to do two more. Hopefully that will help. We’ll have a website soon, but in the meantime, people can email me at sleivan@ipa.net.


Thanks Steve, we’ll look forward to hearing great things in your race reports from New Zealand in November. Best of luck from LeoVince USA in the ISDE this year, and in all your future races here in the US.