Coming off his first main event last week in Indianapolis, Indiana – Joe felt his confidence rising all week. It was good for him to see that he still has what it takes to be in the main events. After such a bad break with his neck, he never truly thought that he could be back to where he was. Now, he has proven to himself that he can.

This week was good for both of us. Joe did his normal testing and working out throughout the week. He helped me as much as he could with my crazy week preparing for the Loretta Lynn’s Area Qualifier at my track – Competitive Edge MX Park. We ended up with 855 riders for 2 days of racing…crazy, I know…you should have seen all the paperwork!

I was so incredibly busy this week that Joe and I never really got to celebrate too much on his comeback into the main event last week. I was bummed, but knew that I had to get through this week. I spent every day at the track, including over 16 hour days on some days just trying to prepare for the next day to come. Our event went off in great fashion…I wouldn’t say without a hitch, because there were always something popping up here and there! All in all, it was a great weekend for both Joe and I.

I was doing signup on Saturday when I got the call from Joe telling me that the weather hadn’t been too nice to the track. With the opening in the ceiling, it left the track pretty muddy. He told me that they were just walking the track now, which should have been the time he was done with practice, so I knew that the track wasn’t in great condition. I told him I hoped he remembered his riding days in Ohio with all the mud!

I was still finalizing our race motos for the first day of qualifiers when I got the call…Joe had made it out of his heat in 7th place after pulling a 2nd place start behind Stewart. That was by far the best start he had had all year! I usually get a call from him after the heat, but he knew how busy I was with getting things organized for my event at the track. I kept switching from screen to screen on my computer while tallying up the score sheets to see if the main had started or not. Once it did, my eyes were glued to the screen, Joe had started out in 9 th place in the main event! I couldn’t help but think that something had changed for Joe with his starts…finally! I know, everyone is thinking it’s the bike, could be, but I know changing wasn’t easy for Joe to do, but I am glad that he did.

Joe ended up 12th in the main event after Langston squeezed by and tangled bars a bit with Joe. He fell and had a couple guys go by him, but held strong for his 2nd best finish of his career in the SX Class. His best was 11th in 2004 at Detroit.

It’s weird to think back just a couple of years ago to seeing Joe in his halo. I remember coming home and seeing him on the stationary bike with a trash bag under his wool from his halo brace saying he couldn’t just sit around. Everyone else was riding and training, he couldn’t train while he was down.

As he prepared to pack to this weekend, he asked me where his favorite shirt was…I didn’t know he had one till then. It is his EVS shirt that simply states: Still Standing. Still Riding.

How true is that for Joe? See you in a couple of weeks in Detroit!