This week officially marks the end of the 2007 Supercross Season. It was a bitter sweet ending for Joe, however he is getting a much needed break! The weekend went by so quick for all of us!
We drove to Vegas from our house which is about 2 ½ hours away. We arrived by Friday afternoon and the guys went to the track to work on the race bike while Leum and I hung out with some friends by the pool at the hotel. We arrived at the track on Saturday morning to a cool breeze that never left the stadium…I couldn’t believe how cool it was all day…it was crazy, Vegas is supposed to be hot not cold!
Joe rode well in his practice – enough to qualify 24 th into the night show. There was a huge group of guys from 11 th to 28 th that were only 2 seconds total apart…the track was the same for everyone so nothing really stood out for them to have such drastic times apart from one another.
Joe was running 11 th in the heat when he crashed after jumping over the handle bars off a rhythm section jump. He flipped over the berm and landed on the ground of the stadium. He ended up having to go to the LCQ where he wound up 7 th. It wasn’t where he wanted to be, but at least he didn’t give up on himself.
We stayed over on Sunday to attend the Supercross banquet at the Planet Hollywood Hotel. I had to give a presentation with the other Co-President of the Women’s Motocross/Supercross Foundation to the Asterisk Mobile Medical Unit. We announced that since our inception 4 years ago, we have raised close to $175,000 just from volunteer hours, donations and sponsors. We couldn’t have been happier to give Asterisk a check for $10,000 to help get the rig to the races fully stocked with supplies and personnel to attend to the riders and team people.
The night ended at about 4am for Joe and I. We caught a few hours of sleep before we headed back home for the start of another week. As you may or may not know, Joe is not going to race outdoors, so this time off will be good and bad for him. Good meaning that he has the months to prepare himself to eliminate his weak points, but bad meaning that he will start to drive me crazy because he is so bored not racing all the time! Seriously though, I will be happy to have him home with Leum, the dogs and I for a while.
This is my last article for the year and I hope that you enjoyed what it was like living the lifestyle that we do. I have said it time and time again…I am extremely proud of what my husband has accomplished throughout his whole career – especially these last couple years. It has truly been an honor to watch him work and I hope that our son will know what it is like to have the determination and heart to succeed even when the rest of the world tells you that you won’t.
If Joe had listened to the people around him when he was little when they told him to concentrate on something that would make him a living and not dirt bikes – who knows where we would be or what Joe would be doing. I believe that there is a calling in everyone to do what they were put here to do. It just happens that Joe got a good deal and was talented and smart enough to realize that dream at such an early age. He has surpassed what many thought an Ohio boy could achieve…and he isn’t done yet!
Thank you to all our family, friends and Joe’s fans for supporting him in what he loves to do. Our lives are definitely not normal, but luckily for Joe normalcy just doesn’t cut it…see you at the races!
