After a long summer of outdoor nationals, it’s that time again for World Supercross. Toronto is the opener and obviously sets the tone for the new season. Unfortunately for me, it would prove to be a rough and tumble debut to 2007.

Everything started fairly smooth. My flights landed fairly on time and I met up with the rest of my team. When I went to baggage claim the problems started. No bags of mine came, so off I went to the Northwest claim desk to file a report. I figured, no big deal, I would get my bags later that night or early Friday morning. I was informed that not only did they not have a record of my bags; they couldn’t give me any time frame of when I could expect them. Needless to say I was concerned. All I could do was go to bed and pray my bags would show up.

Friday morning came and no word on my bags. My next option was to start borrowing gear and try to come up with enough to be able to ride practice. With the help of WBR, my teammate Brandon and Jackson at Fly, I was able to practice. I felt a little uncomfortable with different knee braces and boots but at least I wasn’t missing out on riding time. I made it through Friday and just kept hoping Northwest could find my bags before race time Saturday.

Saturday morning found me at the airport pulling my hair out. I still hadn’t gotten any concrete news on where my bags were. I went back to the track pretty stressed out to get ready for track walk. I rode practice and qualified in timed practice 7 th in both rounds. I was pretty happy with my times, being ahead of Ramsey, Byrne, etc. As I came off the track, I saw my bags waiting for me in my pit! I was so pumped to have my own stuff!

Going into the heat, I was pretty nervous. I knew I needed a good start and just wanted to stay out of trouble and finish top 9 and move to the main. I started in 5 th and made a pass on Kevin Johnson for 4 th. The rest of the heat was pretty uneventful, other than a late charge by Nathan Ramsey to my back wheel. I was satisfied with my ride and glad to qualify without any drama.

I had a good gate pick for the main, right next to RC. He was on my outside and the thought crossed my mind to tie a rope to him and have him drag me to the front! I got a terrible start, probably around 17 th. I just put my head down and passed as many people as fast as I could. The first time I looked up, I was 10 th. It was about halfway and I felt ok. I wanted just 10 more solid laps. Unfortunately, as soon as I thought that, I was in the dirt. I didn’t even know I was crashing until I was upside down. The bike then decided to swat me pretty good as I was getting up. I tried to charge back but was pretty out of it for the rest of the race. I passed Dostal to get 14 th late in the race but that was all I could muster.