Charnowski notches arenacross title

CEDAR RAPIDS - Rochelle Charnowski says nothing comes naturally to her. Instead, she has to work hard at everything.

The hard work has paid dividends, as she won her second straight Amateur National Arenacross championship in the women's division last weekend in Las Vegas.

Charnowski, 25, of Cedar Rapids, has been successful, earning second place two years ago also, but it's not always a smooth ride.

“It's never an easy task,” Charnowski said. “I wish it as always successful, but I don't think you can have success without failure along the way.”

She even stumbled in her latest triumph, wiping herself out while leading one of the heat races held at the Garden Arena of the MGM Grand Hotel. She bounced back and won the main event.

“I was kind of upset about that and used it to redeem myself in the main event,” said Charnowski, who qualified by winning her second Midwest regional points championship, “and it was enough to win.”

Despite racing for 20 years, Charnowski is still susceptible to nerves at time, but her prior national appearances helped.

“I get pretty nervous for bigger events like that so sometimes that messes up my ride,” Charnowski said. “It was just one of those things where I got there and had the experience of knowing that I did well last year.”

Charnowski, a former multi-sport athlete at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, began racing a 4-wheeler her mom, Diane, gave her at age 5. She raced with family friends' sons, and then made the switch to bikes in 1991 and 1992.

She said her career has been a little bit of a surprise.

"I don't think either of us really thought that (I) would be doing it 20 years later," said Charnowski, who works as a family support worker for transitional housing with HACAP. "But here we are."

It changed to an activity shared between her and her dad, John, who helps her with her maintenance.

"My dad is my backbone," Charnowski said. "He's been the go-getter and he's the one that does stuff on my bike."

Charnowski also praised her sponsors, including local businesses McGrath Power Sports, Extreme Sports and RPC of Palo.

The sport is physically demanding. She said working out still doesn't prevent being sore after an event due to the different muscles she uses in competition. Charnowski has suffered a broken collarbone, arm and back from racing.

“The torn ligaments and muscles and all that other stuff is a longer list,” she added.

She's endured that to travel all over the Midwest to compete, ranging from Michigan to Oklahoma and LasVegas to Tennessee. Racing has allowed her to mix her competitive nature with fun. She considers her weekend events mini-vacations.

“I've raced a lot of people,” said Charnowski, who lost her home and other properties in the 2008 flood that has decreased her participation in the last two years. “I've gone a lot of places and I've done a lot of things that not a lot of people can ever really do in the sport. I'm grateful for that.”

Other Metro placewinners were Chase Stevenson (2nd in 12-15 85cc and 5th in the 85cc Super Mini), Brett McLaud (ninth in the 12-15 85cc and 16th 85cc Super Mini), Kayla Allers (fourth in 9-13 girls) and Bryce McLaud (11th in 10-11 65cc).