Honda Lens 2.0: Shea Corzatt
Riding motorcycles is a oneon-one between the rider and the motorcycle. Every time you go out there, you are willing to accept that risk. You could come off the track with a scratch. You could come off the track with a broken bone. But there’s risk in everything in life. You can’t not do it because you’re scared of what potentially could happen and miss out on the excitement of what also could happen. When I was 8 years old, I got my first dirt bike from my grandpa. I still remember him getting those out of the back of his truck. I rode the wheels off that thing. It took a while to get better over the years and eventually we started racing. My first race, it went terribly. As a kid, it scares you. As a kid, you also don’t really respect the fear as much, so you just keep pushing it. We just kept progressing and progressing and it’s just so much fun learning how to control the bike better. Those were some of the best years growing up. In a race, the start is probably the most nerve-wracking. My dad comes with me to the line. It’s a tradition. We pray, smacks me on the helmet, says good luck, and then he walks away. The gate drops the smallest twitch and I’m going. It’s intimidating and it takes a lot of commitment to overcome that fear of trying to race to a 20ft wide corner cuz not everybody fits. When you get that good start and you’re out front, it takes that pressure off. You can finally breathe a little bit. From there, it takes a lot of commitment, focus, and a lot of concentration. You go into it knowing that there is the risk involved. You have to respect what the motorcycle’s capable of and understand how it reacts. Once you’re in the air, you’re free. You’re just floating with the motorcycle. And when you land that jump, perfect. It’s just this sigh of relief. It’s I did it. I conquered my fear of the unknown of everything. And it’s a good feeling. Racing turned into my passion. I wanted to make a career based on my passion. I went to school to be a technician. Was able to get a job within the Honda Powersports development. Been doing the durability testing of ATVs and sidebysides. Our durability test is representative of customer usage on their vehicle. We want to make sure that that vehicle is going to withstand customer abuse. This test is based off of customer feedback. We want the best product to go to our customers. We don’t take it lightly. My motorcycle of choice that I own is a 2024 CRF 450, the Works Edition. It’s a beautiful bike. Everything on this bike was engineered to stand apart from the rest and then it’s backed up by its performance, its durability. There’s a a joy in buying a Honda unlike any other brand. It’s one of those bikes you get excited about when you see it. It catches your eye as soon as you see it on the showroom floor. Just has a different sense of pride in owning a Honda. In my unbiased opinion, this is the best motorcycle available. My daughter, she’s almost three now. We’re getting her started on the little balance bike. So, we’ll put her little pink helmet on and she’ll say, “Daddy, smack my helmet like papa smacks yours.” So, I smack her helmet and then we go ride our bikes around the driveway. It’s super cool seeing something that my dad and I have been doing for 20 years and now I get to do that with my own daughter. I have enjoyed seeing where I’ve come from to where I am now. It’s my passion and it’s what I enjoy doing every day when I go to work is creating and testing these off-road vehicles. I just want to keep riding and racing. I’ve been doing it so long that I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon. The thought of not doing it sounds boring. Just that competitiveness that I had is what keeps me from stopping. I now am at the core of that legend, that iconic brand behind the name Honda. I work in durability. I’m at the core of continuing that name and keeping that reputation of Honda. The Honda brand is going to take you anywhere you want to go. There’s just no question that when I ride the bike, it’s going to perform and it’s not going to let me down.
Shea Corzatt, a Durability Project leader for Powersports at American Honda Motor Co., is also a motorcycle racer. In a Honda Lens 2.0 video series, Corzatt shares what he does for durability testing on the job, as well as his passion for racing – the preparation, commitment and concentration.
