Phoenix, AZ

Watching this past weekends' race in Phoenix brought back some great memories. Although San Diego was my hometown race that I looked forward to every year, I always seemed to rise to the occasion in Phoenix. I will share a couple of my fondest memories of racing in "The land of the sun"

1998 was my first year of racing SX full time. I started the year off by not making the night program in a muddy L.A. Coliseum race. I missed it by one postion and this was after spending at least 30 seconds stuck in a rut at the bottom of the finish line jump while in a transfer position. It was gut wrenching to see the final qualifyer go right by me! Anyways, the next week we were in Houston and I quilified into the night program pretty easy. It was a huge accomplishment for a kid that never even got to practice SX except for at the race itself. The third round was Phoenix and I went into that round high with confidence after making the program the week prior. The whole day just seemed to go great, I actualy won my daytime qualifier, which alone was a huge accomplishment! I was ready to take my Motoworld of El Cajon machine into the nights event! In the heat race I got a decent start but I was just a mid pack rider and did not qualify straight out of the heat race. In the LCQ I got the holeshot and put in 4 solid laps, I knew if I did all the jumps and just stayed steay I would make it. One of my best friends, to this very day was the only person that passed me, Chris Wheeler. He won the LCQ and I finished right behind him and made my first main event with room to spare! I was so excited about making the main, that I really didn't care to race it! I just wanted to celebrate making it. I don't remember that main event that well (selective memory! haha) but I do remember almost holeshoting it from the very far outside, only to have John Dowd come from the inside and nearly clean me out. I think I finished somewhere around 17th. But I made my very first Main Event!

Fast forward to the next year, and the event moved to the new stadium, in downtown. Once again everything seemed to be going my way. I breezed through the daytime qualifier and then when the nights festivities rolled around I just felt the confidence I needed to win. I got a second place start in the heat race and moved into the lead within the first lap. I told myself to just sprint as fast as I could for the remainding laps. The race was a blur as I had total concentration and to tell you the truth I still can't really remember the first 5 laps of that heat race. I can tell you that the wheels came off on the last lap though. Once I got the white flag, it was like reality set in and I understood that I was potentialy going to win my firt SX heat race. It was right then and there that I became my own worst enemy. The last lap seemed like it was taking forever, I was locking up and coming around the second to last corner I thought of something I have never shared with anybody before. The thought that went through my mind was "Oh my god, I am going to get to get interviewed and talk on the loudspeaker". I might as well stopped right there. I COMPLETELY botched the next section and went off the track, I re-entered as quickly as I could, but it was too late and Casey Johnson and Isiah Johnson (no relation) went right by me and I went another 15 yards and crossed the line in third. Although the outcome wasn't that great, it is still one of my fondest memories of racing SX.

I really liked the town, the atmosphere and everything that is associated with Phoenix. It still remains one of my favorite SX destinations and when people ask me where they should travel to see a SX, I highly recommend Phoeinx.