This is the start of many stories I will be telling you this year – I can only hope that they won’t be as interesting as this weeks endeavor!

First, let me explain how Joe and I got to this point. As many of you know, Joe has been a Top Privateer for many years now. He has finished in the Top 20 for the last few years and even the Top 10 in the WSX Series. The 2005 Outdoor Season was bitter sweet for us.

Joe came off a great Supercross Series placing 16th overall. He switched bikes and teams going into the Outdoor Series beginning in Sacramento. Joe left Sacramento with his best moto finish so far in his career – 11 th. The next round at Mt. Morris, Joe crashed in practice and broke his hand. After surgery and 3 pins later, Joe came back just 3 weeks later to Red Bud. In an afternoon qualifying crash off the start, Joe broke his C1 in his neck. That injury would end any hopes of racing the rest of the great year he was having.

Joe ended up in a halo for 3 and a half months. It took Joe a lot to come to terms that he may never be able to race again at the professional level, let alone ride a dirt bike ever. Luckily for Joe, he was in such great shape that the injury wouldn’t hamper him so that he could continue to live out his dream.

Joe ended up having to skip the Amp’d Mobile World SX GP rounds as well as the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series in 2006 waiting for his neck to heal up. He came back for the Outdoor Series and had a less than stellar outdoor season while trying to provide his own support with bikes, parts and expenses. For the first time in 6 years, Joe did not gain a two digit national number. That was a little hard to swallow with all the work that he had put into getting back on the bike and being competitive. The hardest part was while he was healing, everyone else stepped up their game.

That brings us to today’s racing. Joe has come back full force in trying to keep up his ability to race a dirt bike. He was able to race the McGrath Invitational – where most of you know he beat Travis Pastrana in the head to head battles! Joe also raced the U.S. Open and traveled to Germany and Austria for some warm up Supercross races.

With his traveling in the off season, preparing for the World SX rounds has been a challenge. The life of a privateer is a little more stressful than a factory racer. Privateers are making their own flight, hotel and team arrangements themselves. If there was a job title for me, it would be Joe’s agent. While he is off traveling and making a name for himself, I am home taking care of business with sponsors, travel arrangements, and making sure the house is still standing when he comes back!

Joe was able to travel to Toronto this weekend and come back to Supercross racing once again. After taking a full year off, it was a bit of adjustment for him. He ended up missing the Supercross Main Event by 1 spot, but was given the Racer X Gas Card. Thankfully he was able to make that little extra money as his expenses for this race were paid out of our pockets.

Joe was lucky enough to get hooked up with a bike from his Canadian connection – Steve “Legend” Matthes. Joe and his mechanic, Gerald Leighton, arrived in Toronto on Thursday afternoon from Ontario, California only to rent a van and drive an hour and a half in the snow to pick up the KX450F from Ron Ashley at Two Wheel Motorsports. Once they were able to get the bike back to Toronto, Gerald and Joe had to add everything to the bike, basically building a race bike from a stock bike. After the races were over Saturday night, Joe and Gerald had to tear apart the bike and return it to it’s original form.

Gerald and Joe both flew back from Toronto through Denver into Ontario, California on Sunday afternoon. Low and behold, Joe’s bags and suspension case with all the parts in it for his practice bike didn’t make it. After filing the claim with the United representative, we were informed that his suspension case was held in Denver due to the questionable contents. At this point in writing this article, his suspension is still in Denver and he has nothing else to ride. We have spent so many hours on the phone with United and TSA in Denver and aren’t really getting anywhere. They can only tell us that if they won’t send it on a plane back to Ontario, then they will dispose of it…nice thought huh?

Like I said, the life of a privateer is a little rougher needless to say. With Joe trying to get his ride for 2006 figured out, I am stuck on the phone trying to get his parts back and making sure that our 2 and a half month old son is spending what little time he can with his traveling dad.