Once I got to Vegas and seen just how tough of a track they had put together with BIG logs, BIG rocks, BIG tires, water, and more logs, rocks and tires, I could tell it was going to be a tough one.

    I ended up borrowing a 250F Honda from a friend and after riding it a couple of times at home, I seemed to be having a hard time starting it at times it seemed.But the bike felt awesome while riding it and I knew it was going to work great, but this hard starting problem was just bugging me a little still.  So once down in Vegas, it seemed like my bikes hard starting was even worse. So anyway in Endurocross, you get two short four lap practice sessions, with the second one being times for your gate pick in your heat race. I signed up for the Vet class and the Expert Pro class with all the hot rod riders like Ricky Dietrich, Geoff Aaron, Taddy from Poland, Abbott, Brown, Huffman and just about any other world class of road guy there is. They were all there, so it was a stacked field for sure, with only 12 riders going to the final main event.

    I finally got the bike started for my first practice session and that took some serious work just to get it running. By now I had quite a few people trying to help me out and figure out just what was causing this problem, as it was definitely getting worse by the minute it seemed. We changed and checked everything, but still no luck finding the problem. Anyway, I got it started and went out for my first practice in the Vet class, and right off the bat I could tell my bike was working awesome, but on about the last lap, I stalled it, and I kicked and kicked, but I could not get it to start on the track so I had to push it back to the pit area. I was very winded from just riding this track, then having to kick and kick, and then push the bike. I was not having too much fun right now. About ten minutes later I had my first practice for the Pro class, so I kicked and kicked in the pits to get it going again, but no luck as I missed that session. About another half hour later I was up again for my Vet times practice/qualifier session, and I had gotten the bike started finally, but I still had a good twenty minutes or so until I was up, so I had to shut it off . I kind of learned now, that I had to start trying to start this bike a good 5 or 10 minutes before I was due to practice. Well, once again, it would not start, so I missed my qualifying for the Vet class, which would just put me at the last gate pick. So no huge deal yet, but yah it was pretty dang frustrating. When my heat race was up in the Vet class, you guessed it, no starty once again, so I missed that one too.

    In the first six practice/qualifying sessions I was up for, I actually only got to ride three times, and two of those times the bike stalled while riding and would not restart on the track, and only one session all day long that I actually got to ride the bike for a complete session and ride off the track. I'm not even gonna tell you about everything we tried on this bike to fix it, it was just mind boggling to say the least. Anyhow I finally got it started again before my LCQ Last Chance Qualifier, which I had to ride or I was done completely for the day. So I kept the bike running for about 15 minutes before the race, and once on the line, I nailed the holeshot and went on to win that one. Wow that felt good!  Now that put me into the final qualifier for the night show, but I would be on the back row for the start, because as you guessed it, my bike would not start once again until after they had staged the starting line up, which gave me last pick behind them all. At least my bike was running though. I ended up working my way through the field and got second, and almost won it right at the end, but I had finished good enough to put me into the Vet main night show now. I ended up never getting to race in the Pro race, as my bike just, well, wouldn't run. hahahaha. Ooh so fun! Now we had a two hour break and we tried everything to this bike once again. During this break, the track crew reversed the whole track so we would be racing the opposite direction tonight. But when our practice was up later,  guess what, my bike wouldn't start once again! I sound like a broken record, ehh! Earlier in the day, a friend of mine, Derek Mahoney had told me that I could ride his KTM 250 2-stroke if I wanted to, as he had called it a day, but I said no thanks to him, as we were still trying to figure out my bike about then. So after missing this last session, I knew I was up in a few minutes again for my qualifier for the main, and I also knew that Derek was up in the stands watching the races. So I went over to his truck, where he already had his bike all loaded up and everything put away. So I unloaded it, and with the Rekluse clutch guys helping me out, we got it going just in time for me to get to my qualifying laps which were up now. I hated to ride a 2-stroke as it had been forever since my last 2-stroke bike I raced, but this was my last chance, and I just wanted to race. His bike ended up working pretty good, as it took some getting used to for me, but I still ended up qualifying in the 4th spot for the final.

    Now we had another little break time, and Derek came down out of the stands and said to go for it on his bike if I wanted. Then another friend of ours, Josh Buell also said I could ride his bike, which was a Yamaha YZ250F fourstroke, like what I had been riding, but it was a Yamaha was the only real difference. So I took it for a spin in the asphalt parking lot, and it felt pretty good to me, and it was nice to feel the 4-stroke power again. So I opted to ride the Yamaha for the main event. Even though I would get no practice on it, I figured it would be ok, plus it started every time I kicked the thing! How nice!!!!!

    So I had fourth pick for the starting line, and the three guys before me all picked the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots out from pole, which left the pole open for me. I was like what? You boys just messed up big time I was thinking, as obviously they did not know how much I put into getting good starts. They were over there filling in their ruts and packing the dirt into them, while I was digging mine out and making it straight as possible. I knew if I could get the holeshot, I could win this thing. They start with a motocross style gate at these races so when that gate dropped, this Yamaha ripped out of that starting spot and the holeshot was mine!

     Once in the lead, I felt really strong, but at the same time I was learning this bike too. It felt similar to mine, but very different too. Anyway it worked out perfect, as I was able to race to a pretty much uncontested WIN! After the day I had, I was happier than heck. "Never give up".

    I was able to get away with out ever hurting my knee today either which was great news for me. Now I am going to take some time off from racing, and let the left knee heal up so it is good and strong come Daytona in February/March.

    Until next time, G-Day! Joe