On the Fourth of July in 1987, when he was 3 years old, Adam Overcash rode his dressed-up BMX bicycle in the Faith parade.

He wanted to show off, so when it came time for him to pass the judges, he put both feet up on the handlebars and coasted by.

He won the contest, and Timothy Overcash, Adam’s father, says he hasn’t slowed down since. Still, his parents, Timothy and Sheila Overcash, never imagined that Adam would come to love motor cross racing.

Now a junior at East Rowan High School, Adam just turned pro in the sport that he adores most.

When he was 2 years old, his dad found an old run-down bicycle on the side of the road and took it home so that Adam could learn how to ride. After a few short trips around the yard with his dad’s help, Adam was soon riding his old wobbly bicycle by himself.

On Christmas day when he was 3, Santa brought Adam the new dressed-up BMX bicycle, with hand brakes and air tires. Adam had to adjust to the new bicycle, because it didn’t wobble like his old one.

When Adam was 6 or 7, Timothy Overcash found a Yamaha MX80 which Adam adored. He kept it locked up in his neighbor’s garage, so that nothing would happen to it. Even then, someone stole the bike.

Adam’s dad reported the theft to police, but they didn’t expect to recover it. A week and a half later, Timothy Overcash saw a teen-age boy pushing a broken-down bike that looked similar to Adams’. He stopped and questioned the boy and found out that the boy’s friends had, indeed, stolen the bike and spray-painted it black.

The boy returned the badly-damaged bike to Adam, and Timothy Overcash paid $50 for an old bike to use for parts. Each of the five boys involved in the theft had to give Adam $10 and apologize.

The money was the easy part, the Overcashes say. The teen-agers found it very difficult to apologize to a 7-year-old.

In the summer of 1994, Adam started racing in the N.C. Hare Scramblers Association. He placed seventh or eighth that year and impressed a lot of people because he was only 10 and almost too small for his bike.

Timothy Overcash said many people complimented Adam’s skill and at their suggestion, he decided to let Adam start racing in the motor cross division.

Since then, Adam has established a lengthy resume as an amateur:

• 1995 — Finished 2nd in the beginners D class race.
• 1995 — Championship in AMA’s district 29 in the7-11 80cc class.
• 1995 — Championship in Carolina Ultra Series.
• 1996 — Championship in the AMA’s District 29 80cc class;
• 1996 — Championship Supermini class.
• 1997 — Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals; placed 17th out of 42 national qualifiers in the 12-13 80cc stock class;
• 1998 — First place in AMA’s District 29, 12-15 School boy class.
• 1998 — First in AMA’s District 29 in the 125B class.
• 1999 — Birch Creek in Danville, Va won the 125Band 250B class.
• 2000 — Placed second out of 40 in 250 Open B stock.
• 2000 — Placed fifth out of 42 in 125cc B stock class.

All that winning came with a few bumps, bruises and bad luck. Wrecks and flat tires ruined many races.

For instance, in one 1995 race, Adam had just cleared a jump when another rider came over the jump and landed on top of him. He came through this with a concussion, a broken elbow and three broken ribs.

He says he was lucky.

He also remembers the 1999 nationals at Loretta Lynn’s, a three-race competition, as a very bad day.

During the first race, he first had a flat tire and later wrecked, escaping with a host of bruises. The next race went great, but in the third race, after a good start, he had another flat tire.

But nothing stopped Adam. He continued to race and get better bikes as he out grew some of the easier races and into the longer, more difficult ones, with much faster competitors.

Now that he has turned pro, he says that he must work harder and devotes all of his free time to practicing.

His sponsors are Performance Honda in Pineville; Airbrush Designs, EVS Protection; Hotshotz Graphics; Bell Helmets;AFAMSprockets/Chains; and Smith Goggles.

His 2000-2001 plans are to advance to Aclass this month and race in all events that offer the best competition.

Adam feels strongly that racing will not affect his school work. “I try not to worry about racing while at school, so that my grades will stay up,” he said.

He certainly has a lot of fans at East Rowan High School, and he gives credit to God and his family for his success.