5-26-08    Happy Memorial Day! I am here at the Fire Station paying back trades from the SX season. I have a lot to pay back, I am glad that I have such great guys working on the other shifts that will help out. Yesterday was the opening round of the Outdoor Nationals at Glen Helen. We were not planning to go to the National but at the last minute one of our sponsors, OC Energy wanted us there and helped us get there. Ryan Beat and Carlos Gonzalez were riding in the Lites class and we had Austin Prescott on a 450. Ryan qualified for the main during timed practice on Saturday but Carlos had some bike problems and didn't have the lap times to qualify. Carlos had to do a moto on Sunday and take top 6 to transfer to the main. Carlos got 6th. Both riders were on stock KTMs and lacked power on the big hills, they both put in good rides but finished out of the top 20. After Supercross was over I really needed a break from "Pro Racing". I enjoyed my couple of weeks off and was not looking forward to going to Glen Helen at all. But once I stepped on the GH turf and was around the sport that I love my MX Positive blood kicked in and I was really enjoying myself. I watched the first Lites moto and never saw another bike on the track. I was in the pits doing my thing .........Working on the 2009 Supercross team ! ! !  It's like a drug, this racing thing, I can't quit doing it. It costs so much money and takes up all my time and I love it. Why? It's a freakin' addiction I guess. It must be because on Friday before Las Vegas I about lost it. I had so many things go bad from the day the air bags went out on the rig (4-23-08) to the LVSX. I swear that I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Major money issues, hotel room issues with the team and sponsors (BIG hotel room issues), riders not able to fill the remaining 20 spots in the West issues (open gates), rig issues, rig issues, ticket issues and rig issues. Oh and Comp Edge was just a few days away. I think I was more on the edge than Comp was......What?       Anyway...............I have taken back the role of "Team Manager" of the Supercross team.......Yes I am a control freak when it comes to FPMX issues. I want to make the decisions and go in a certain direction. So succeed or fail this one is on my shoulders.........Got to go find money somewhere................e

5-22-08    Oops again...........It just seems that there isn't enough time in the week to write here in the World Famous FPMX Journal. I know it's world famous because there is a guy in Europe that reads it and another down under. Anyway, I am sitting in the parking lot of the Concourse Bowl in Anaheim, CA right now wasting time. I had some business in the IE today and didn't have time to go all the way home to C Bad and back to Anaheim before Moto Bowl. I just signed up on the team with Michael Young and Sara Lipert. I know both of them so it should be a good night. Plus Michael bowled a 200 last year! Yeah, I'm competitive. I am sorry not to have told stories from Seattle and Vegas, I will. Those were two of the hardest weeks I have had in Supercoss ever. It emotionally drained me and I was on the edge. Anyway I am back and feeling like the idiot that I am again so I am happy about that. I will try to write tomorrow and tell you about Moto Bowl and post some pictures of the evening. But for now I need to go practice and get my form down. I bowl once a year so I don't expect much but you never know............e

4-23-08    What is going on? Let's forget about everything that happened this week and we'll just start with yesterday.........Mike Wright and I were at Mike's house working on the semi. There is a ton of things to do and it kept us busy all day. On our way to lunch I got a call from Turbo Reif. He decided to back out on Seattle with good reasoning. He is getting ready to become a firefighter and didn't want to risk injury. I told him that I understood and that was that. I wish he could have represented us there but no such deal. It wasn't a total surprise to me. Over the years we have had a few riders not make it to races or quit. I like Turbo and I think he made a good decision...........moving on........Mike and I finished up on the rig just after dark. Larry from MDK brought Justin Brayton's bike over so we could take it up to Seattle for him. When I left Mike's house last night I told Mike not to call me because when a truck driver calls it's usually bad news. Mike was on the road this morning.....How do I know that? Because he called and told me. Oh well, sometimes it can be good news........I decided to go riding today. It was my first time to ride at Milestone. John Varley, Charlie Solano, Brent Baker and Kirk Templeman were all there. I had a really good time. It was so nice to leave the worries of the world behind and just ride. I spent a lot of time on the VET track working on my cornering skills (need help). Everything was beautiful. The world was a great place. Song birds in the trees, butterflies, some girl playing the harp.........Life was wonderful..........Then I checked my cell phone to see if I missed any calls and right then the phone rang.........."Mike Wright".......Oh $#)%, please, no, no.......I beg of you............no............ Hello? ? ? ?......"Ed we have a problem".......One of the airbags on the trailer burst. Not a major problem to fix but we couldn't find the right airbag. Mike was in Castaic and I was on my way home to Carlsbad. After a while I thought to call Ryan Chapin since he lives in the area. Ryan did his best to remedy the sitch but was unable to find the proper airbag........Time was ticking. I finally decided to have Mike limp the rig back to his house to get it ready for Las Vegas. Tomorrow I am going to drive to All American KTM to pick up an enclosed trailer, then go to Mike's pad and unload the bikes and necessary equipment for the race and put it all in the trailer and tow it behind my Toyota Tundra (the official truck of supercross).........Sometimes I wonder what the heck I am thinking......Yeah, let's have our very own supercross team.........Carlos and Ryan in the main would make it all worth it.....Hey Rob Harper, it all started with a phone call from you in 2001 "Ed, I got us two CR250's from BVH"...............good memories.........e

4-18-08    Well it's been a week and here I am. It has been a really busy week for me. I have been on 4 structure fires this week on my truck days. Two apartment fires and a second alarm and a third alarm. Anyway truck days are usually rest days, in other words, I am tried. The Turbo Reif thing came up (Seattle SX) this week and I have been busy with that. I had talked to Turbo earlier in the week but he needed expense money to go to and we didn't have the money to get him to Seattle. Well soon after SX Watcher came on the message board with his first ever post and brought up the Turbo thing and FPMXers sponsoring him for for the race. I looked at it and thought it was a great idea but I also thought that people would think that SX Watcher was me because it was his first post. Thanks to a few guys who wanted to see Turbo on the team, the money was raised. Ray Martin (Ohio FPMX) donated over $200. Many others gave $25, $50, even $100. Thank you. I think Turbo will be a good addition to the team. Carlos Gonzalez and Ryan Beat will also be in Seattle representing us. Again I was too busy to ride. I was near Comp Edge today but SX sponsorship stuff kept me from riding. First things first I guess. I still hope to be ready for Glen Helen in October but right now I don't think I have 3 laps in me.....maybe 2.6............Gas prices are killing me right now. I have never been one to worry about that but what the heck? I can barely afford to drive to work. I look forward to Comp Edge. I can't wait to just be at the track for three days in a row and ride. I need to ride pretty soon because I am starting to get ornery. Orneriness is a sure sign of moto deprivation. See you at Vegas and CE............Ed

4-11-08    I am going to try to write in this journal at least once a week. I am sorry for being side tracked so much lately. Last summer at work we built this really nice planter in the back of the station. It is about 4 foot by 6 foot and 4 foot tall. It is built out of river rock and capped with used brick. It really looks great. Yesterday we finally filled it to the top with dirt. The dirt was out of another area of the station that was under a metal storage building for many years. We sifted the rocks out and moved it over to the planter. It took several wheel barrel loads. The dirt was moist but not wet. It was perfect. Bill McHale was checking out the dirt and said "man this is great dirt". I said "yeah, I would love to race on it" He looked at me and shook his head. "Is motocross all you think about?" Said McHale..........I though to my self.......No, but didn't say anything to him. I just smiled. I mean, yeah right, that's all I think about...........That's so stupid.........After dark I snuck outside and built a supercross track in the planter! It was awesome. I was out there acting like my hand was a motorcycle and ripping around the track. Hey I'm only 49 years old so I think that is normal behavior.....right? Well Bill walked outside because he heard so weird noises coming from the patio area. It was me making a two stroke sound as my hand was clearing the triple. I haven't converted my motorcycle noises yet to four stroke. I'm working on it but I seem to spit too much when I do it. Some guys are really good at the four stroke sound. Danny Lowers perfected it many years ago, Frank Lowers is pretty good also. Tomorrow at work I am going to use a trowel and really detail the track............This morning after I got off work I drove to Mike Wright's house to pick him up and take him to All American KTM to pick up the team transporter. We are starting to get it ready for the trip to Seattle. I had planned on riding today at Competitive Edge but never even got close to the place. It felt pretty good to get back into the Supercross game. I think that I actually enjoy being overwhelmed. I don't have any idea why but I had a good time running all around So Cal today. Next week we are going to try to get some electrical and pluming problems fixed on the rig...........I don't know, sometimes I wish that I could be fricken' normal and go to work, make money and ride motorcycles. But for some reason I enjoy self torture (racing, promoting races, spending all my time and money running a supercross team). Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I freaking enjoy it!.......I think tomorrow I will make a starting gate and a finish line banner on my supercross track.......If it's still there after the "A" shift today.................e

4-4-08    With gas prices hitting an all time high, I have been putting in a few extra shifts at work. I have noticed something odd starting to happen over the last week or so. I actually spotted Ed Niemela in the gym at the station several times. This is something that hasn't been a regular sighting for a couple of years now. So this morning I asked Ed if he was getting ready to make an FPMX comeback.....He smiled and said that he has been getting his bikes ready and will start hitting the tracks soon. It will be good to have Ed back at the races.  He has been living at Glamis between shifts all winter long..........I guess I should join Niemela in the gym as it is an unfamiliar place to me too..........We are just about a month away from Rounds 5 & 6 of the FirePoliceMX Nationals at Competitive Edge and I am not ready.......AGAIN! I am going to try to get some riding in before the Natl's but it seems like I have been busy recently and not able to get to the track. Although last week a few of us went to Ocotillo Wells for the day. Ocotillo beats you up but it's not motocross. I need to concentrate on y cornering and conditioning a little more. Yeah, the two "C's" are killing me. My starts and straights (2 "S's") are Ok........jumps are so so........enough...........e 

3-19-08    Oops.....Sorry that I haven't written for A MONTH! I got my bike back about a week ago. The piston had a crack across the entire top and the head gasket was leaking pressure into the cooling system. I took my KXF to Terry Varner to get it repaired. She is purrrrring now. Although I am riding like a squid. A few of us (Vandergrift, Ashpaugh, Russell Lee and myself) were at Perris today. I just felt awkward on the bike. I can only imagine that it's from a lack of peg time or the fact that Wednesday at Perris was "Factory" day. Lot's of top pros were out there and the track was packed. I plan on putting in several laps over the next month or so to get ready for Rounds 5 & 6 and also the FPMX Summer Series. We'll see how that turns out............This evening I am dog sitting. Sue has always wanted a small dog, like 2 pounds. Well she bought one a couple of weeks ago. Sue asked me to name her so I named the pooch "Brandy". "Brandy? Why Brandy? Do you have something for our next door neighbor? (Michael and Brandy just moved away a couple of months ago). "Uh, no". It was simple, our cat's name is "Joe Dirt" so "Brandy" was a no brainer although Sue told me it was spelled with an "i" and not a "y".......The dog just took a crap.....Are you kidding me??????? Dirt (sometimes "Dirte") goes in a box. But the dog, no. Now I have to clean it up. I'm out on picking up dog crap. I have made it 49 years without a dog. This dog poo poo stuff is not for me, especially in my house........I got to go.................(disgusted look on my face)...............e

2-19-08    It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. Let's start with the San Diego Supercross........It was a great day, the weather was perfect...finally! Bill McHale from LACoFD Station 4 fame volunteered his talents at the BBQ and cooked Tri Tip for about a hundred people. The OC Angels were there signing autographs during the day. The boys rode well. Ryan Beat had some problems with his clutch during the second practice and didn't qualify for the night show. Tyler, Brad and Carlos all made the night show. Carlos transferred to the main and got a great start but stalled in traffic in the first whoop section. He finished in the back of the field but all in all it was a good evening.........The next day I was off to Perris in the motorhome w/o Sue who has been ill with a cold or flu. I new going into the event that was not in good enough shape yet to win a moto against the FPMX 40 + Intermediates. But I did feel pretty good in practice and thought that I would do pretty good. Just before practice ended, my KX450 gave up the ghost and I coasted to a stop on the far side of the track. I was actually happy that it didn't happen in the air. Kevin Bailey offered me his KX450 to race. I took it out for a couple of laps and decided to take him up on his offer. I was also offered a KTM 450 by Lyle Raymond. I was interested but felt that a Kawi would fit better right now since it is what I have been riding. Plus Kevin and I have our suspension set up for the same weight. The only thing that was different was the handle bars and levers. His suspension was a little soft but close enough for me to feel comfortable jumping. In the first moto I was able to get the holeshot and lead for a couple of laps but then got ate up by the pack. My arms were pumped up pretty good. I think it had a little to do with riding a different bike (handle bars). I run the FLEXX bars on my bike and can still feel a little pain in my wrists from the landing on the second step up. On the second day I was able to get another holeshot because Bradd Molner over shot the start and I was able to tuck under him. I led that moto for a couple of laps also but ended up with the same results as day one. I think Bradd ended up winning all 4 motos again. He is riding really well this season after moving up from the Novice class............On Thusday Morning Sue and I were off to the airport heading for Houston, Texas on Southwest Airlines. Yeah, yeah, yeah.....The middle seat again. I have no choice. I hate the middle seat but any other seat would cause too much pain. You see I am the buffer. Sue gets the window seat and I get to protect her from sitting next to some undesirable. My new plan is to sit in the isle seat until I see someone that I would like to sit next to me. I wait for them to be just in front of our row and I slide to the center. If I know the person I tell them that they can have the isle seat. If I don't know them I just hope that they take the seat. By the time this situation happens all that is left is middle seats so it usually works pretty good. The weather in Houston was pretty crazy. Erv Braun drove through the pits on Saturday morning and told everyone that "Severe" weather was coming and that he advised us to take down our awnings. I was at the grocery store when I got a call from Dennis Romero with the news. I told Dennis to start taking it down and that I would be there shortly to help. So we pitted in the rain for a while and then moved the bikes into the stadium for the evening. Well Erv did us a favor by telling us to take the awning down. Many teams disregarded his advice and paid for it. Sue told me that she is going to write about that and asked me not to, so I won't. Look for that story to come out in "Inside the FPMX" in about 3 months!!!!!!!!!! Dennis Romero and his father, Tom did a fantastic job filling the truck driver void. The rig arrived a day early and that really puts me at ease. Thanks Dennis and Tom.......All four boys made the night show. Brad Graham finished 18th in the main after transferring from the LCQ. Carlos and Ryan both fell while riding in a qualifying position. We were really close to having 3 in the main...............e (245) oops

2-4-08    Ok so I'm another year older, big deal. I still feel young, maybe my mind is just under developed. I don't know......The last week and a half have kicked my butt. I haven't got a good nights sleep in 10 days and I can attest to this sleep deprivation thing. Yesterday (Sunday) I went to work for the first time in a while. The night before was A3. Usually after an Anaheim Supercross I drive the motorhome to work and sleep in the parking lot. This time I needed to come home and get my bike because I was supposed to go to a "Saftey Course" (that's what I told Sue), I mean riding school but it was cancelled because of the amount of rain we have had here in So Cal this past week. So anyway I got very little sleep again before leaving for work. I woke up, loaded my bike, went through my mental check list and discovered that I didn't have my boots or helmet. Crap! Oh they must be in the motorhome from the ACP race. So I got out of my truck and went into the house to get the trailer lot keys. I drove to the trailer lot, made my way past the sink hole, opened the gate with the key pad and drove to the next gate. When I got there I noticed that my motorhome was missing..........What the heck, who stole it? Oh CRAP, I drove it last night and it's parked in front of my house..........True story. I finally got to work on Superbowl Sunday after my usual 90 mile drive. We were laying low and I spent most of the Superbowl asleep in a recliner. I did see the fourth quarter though. Last night I was on the truck, Firemen know what I'm talking about. For those of you who carry guns the truck is the one with the big ladder on the top. Anyway we slept all night. I put ear plugs in and slept like a baby. Feeling much better today. Kind of thinking straight again. I'm riding tomorrow and Wednesday to prepare for the Perris races. It will be my first time on the bike since ACP. I have no time to ride, let alone sleep during Supercross season. We get a break after Houston and I am looking forward to it. That will be my time to train for the Summer Series which I plan on winning. If you are going to the San Diego SX come by the rig and say hello................e     (242)

1-28-08    Now I know why I hate flying.......The flights to and from Frisco were my first on Southwest. As many of you know, Southwest has open seating. The "A's" go first 1-60 then the "B's" and so on. You find a seat you like and sit down. I had ticket A23. Not all the spots A1 through A23 were taken. I was about 15th on the plane. Sue had "A32" and was a few spots behind me. I knew that my job was to get a window seat, not for myself but for Sue and then I would try to keep the isle seat and have nobody between us. As the people were filing by towards the back of the plane taking all the window and isle seats I tried to look like someone you wouldn't want to sit next to. It worked for quite a while but the plane began to fill up. The flight attendant came over the PA and said "This flight is full, maybe one or two seats will be open"......I decided to slide to the middle seat as these skinny girls walked by so one of them would take the isle seat.  I didn't want to get the usual sweaty fat farmer guy next to me taking up my arm rest and leaning over me the entire flight trying to look out the window. As I made my move Sue said "No, just wait and maybe no one will sit there" I let the skinny girls go by then the flight attendant said "Folks, this is a full flight, there will be no empty seats". Within seconds I had a guy wanting the middle seat. I slid to the middle and now I had a guy sitting next to me that smelled of motor oil and decided that he needed to look out the window at the clouds and use the armrest for the hour and a half that we were in the air. Today I suggested that on our next flight on Southwest to Houston that Sue and I both get window seats or that we let someone sit in the middle so I can have an isle seat.......Wrong thing to say..........We have been married for 26 years, I should have known better........I thought that we had a good showing at the SF Supercross. Carlos Gonzalez qualified for the main out of his heat race. Brad Graham missed qualifying by one spot. In the LCQ Brad was running in a qualifying position with Ryan Beat just behind in 6th. Brad went down in the whoops with a lap to go and Ryan held on to 5th an collected the Gas Card. Ryan gave a great interview on the podium. I was very proud of the riders this weekend...........After the races it was time to take down the awning and just like clockwork the skies opened up again. For an hour and a half we worked in the rain. Later that evening the shoes were back on the clothes hanger hanging in front of the heater vent in our htel room. Our volunteer truck drivers did a great job this weekend. They were able to get us through a few problems that occurred over the weekend with the truck. As you could imagine, used trucks can be an adventure..........I don't think that I will be able to ride this week AGAIN but hope to get some riding in before Perris. We'll see................e

1-25-08    What am I doing? My life is so busy that I can hardly get next to myself.........what? I don't know, I just know that I have no time to ride, let alone change the Amsoil in my bike or throw on a new front tire. So last week Stacie Gonzalez (Carlos' mother) calls me and asks if I watch the "Real Housewives of Orange County", I tell her that I don't but I'm sure that Sue does. Anyway next thing I know we are having a meeting on Friday in the lounge of the FirePoliceMX.com semi in the Anaheim pits with these beautiful girls called the OC Angels and the owners of the OC Energy Drink. It seems that almost everyone I talk to knows of these girls or watches the show. We had a lot of people hanging around our rig on Saturday taking pictures with these girls. It was pretty fun. I have been on the go since before the Phoenix Supercross and need a break. Yesterday we got the rig ready to leave for San Francisco. It was an all day affair. The guy who has been driving the rig couldn't make the trip so I began to search for a driver. Low and behold, Mike Write, the Paramedic on my shift has a class A license and decided to bite the bullet and do the driving for us along with his brother, Jerry who also holds a class A and is a truck driver by trade. The rig was finally on the road a little after dark. Several hours later I received a phone call from Mike telling me that the lights on the rig went out and that they couldn't drive until they were fixed or the sun came up. The rig needed to be in SF by 8am and it was in Victorville just after Midnight when I got the call. At first light I called Mike and they were just getting on the road. It had been snowing and raining on the rig all day and somehow there was an electrical short. I called Live Nation and let them know of our dilemma. Sue and I were off to the the San Diego Airport to catch a 12:30 pm flight. We boarded the plane and waited, waited and then waited until the flight was cancelled. Too much rain in SF had backed up all the flights. We were shuffled around for a while then caught a flight about 2:30 pm. Ryan Beat was on the same fligh. We arrived in SF an hour and a half before the semi did. It was pouring rain. After the semi arrived we began to set up the awning in the dark with a steady down pour soaking us to the bone. I was completely, 100% wet. Just as if I had jumped into the San Francisco Bay. Oops, I only brought one pair of shoes and one pair of pants besides my pit uniform pants. I was able to rig up a shoe dryer (Sue's idea) to the heating vent in the room. I usually like to sleep in a frigid room and get cozy under the blankets but tonight the room will be just under 80* so my shoes and jacket can dry out before tomorrow. I'm not a huge fan of the mud race but it does somewhat even out the field. I hope to see our riders do well tomorrow. Tyler Kalisiak didn't make the trip due to a case of the flu. Ryan, Carlos and Brad will be carrying the FPMX colors this week on their KTM's. Tomorrow should be another wet one. My feet are freezing right now. Well I better get some sleep so I can get up in the morning and go to work on the Supercross effort. Still working on the biggest loser..................e (244)

1-16-08    Round two (Phoenix) report: On Thursday Sue and I were just pulling away from the Carlsbad Estate when the cell rang........."Uh, Ed.....the semi is stuck at the weigh station in Yuma"........We had some paperwork problems and the rig sat there with orders not to leave until the paperwork could get figured out. Sue and I drove all night and arrived at Chase Field about 4am. We parked the motorhome and I tried to get some shuteye but had a hard time getting my mind off the fact that the rig wasn't sitting in the pits with the rest of the team transporters..........Friday afternoon......no rig.......Finally the rig arrived just as the sun went down. We owe a lot to Jed (the guy who drove the rig to NY), he was at the DMV in Utah at 8am and finally got everything straightened out and faxed the paperwork late in the afternoon. On Saturday all the boys rode really well. Seventy riders tried to qualify for the night show, only 40 would make the cut. Brad Graham qualified 27th, Carlos Gonzalez qualified 32nd and both made the cut. Tyler Kalisiak and Ryan Beat finished 43rd and 44th and barely missed the night show. Bad Brad made it to the main and finished 18th........The Lites main was one of the best races that I have ever seen. I usually watch our riders but couldn't take my eyes off of the action up front. It was really fun to watch..................ACP Report: The weather was much better this year from the frigid temperatures of '07 but the Santa Ana's seemed to followed us from Glen Helen for Monday's event. Monday was my first MX race back since my knee injury and it showed. As the 30 second board was being turned sideways, I clicked the KX into 2nd gear and didn't have the clutch in quick enough....Stall......The gate dropped as I was trying to get my bike back into neutral. Anyway I got a last place start. I rode like a true beginner and was embarrassed to be on the track. Moto two wasn't much better. I thought I would ride better but didn't expect to finish the race strong.....I didn't finish strong or ride very well. That's what you get for not practicing. I made a few adjustments to the bike on Tuesday morning and tried to get my head straight and get my mind into racing instead of all the Supercross and promoter stuff going on in there. I decided to practice harder and treat it more like a moto. I felt much better going into moto one. I arrived early to the gate to pick the one I wanted and prepare it for the start. This time I didn't stall the bike when the board went sideways and actually pulled a holeshot. I held the lead for a lap and a half and could feel the heat from behind. There was a couple of uphill triples that I wasn't doing and I got passed on both sides at the same time. My forearms pumped up and I began to fade a bit but tried to go as fast as I could. I believe I finished 7th. For moto two I decided to do everything that I did to prepare for the first moto. I started in the same gate but was unable to get the same start and came out 4th. I did the best I could but finished in the same spot, 7th, as last moto. I can't say that I was disappointed with my day two results even though they weren't much better than day one. But I rode better and I had first lap speed and could run with the moto winners for a while. I know that I have a long ways to go before I can expect to podium but I do believe that I can get back to that fitness level and again. I'm working on it........The rider turnout was low at ACP and I don't know if we will be going back there for the '09 season. We'll see.............e     (?)

1-9-08    Round one (A1) report: We were expecting rain but the showers held off until we were packing everything away after the SX. The track however was very muddy from the previous days down pour and made for a sloppy event. We had 3 riders competing on Saturday, Carlos Gonzalez, Bradley Graham and Tyler Kalisiak. Billy Swapp injured his shoulder earlier in the week that will require surgery. Billy will be replaced by Ryan Beat for the remainder of the season. Carlos qualified in the first practice session and Bradley qualified during the second session. Tyler rode well but failed to qualify for the night show, he was just a few tenths of a second from qualifying. A mud race isn't a true indicator of what to expect for the season but I was proud of all the boys and believe that we will have our best season this year. Ryan Beat rode a Yamaha last week and qualified 41st missing the night show by one spot. I look for all the boys to make the night show this weekend and hope to have them in the main. I hope to see many of you come by the rig and say hello in Phoenix............I haven't been on the bike for a few weeks now. Actually I have only ridden once since the Christmas GP, fortunately it was at ACP. I understand that the track has changed a bit since then but I still feel pretty good going into this event. I hope to finish in the top 5. I think I will have 1st lap speed but have no idea how long that will last. Anyway I am looking forward to racing motocross again.........e          (249)

1-2-08    Two thousand and eight......wow! This year marks our twentieth season of the Fire & Police Motocross Nationals. I am really excited for the season opener at ACP in a couple of weeks. I feel pretty healthy but not riding shape healthy. Anyway I plan to compete in the 40-99 Intermediate class this season and prepare for the Fifty Plus next season. Last week I started to prepare for "The Biggest Loser" (TBL) competition that we are having at work. I ate as much as I could over the holidays and it paid off. I hit the scales at an all time high and thus reached 20.0 on the "Shape-O-Meter" for the first time ever. For the last two days I have been in the training mode for "TBL" and ACP. I plan on getting into the 12th "BSoML" by the season closer at Glen Helen. My goals for 2008 is to finish the series in the top five and also come away with a moto win during the season. I think top 5 will be easier than winning a moto for me against the guys competing in the 40+ Int class this season.........The Supercross season opens in a few days at Anaheim. It looks like it might be a mud fest again. Our team will be there primed to put in some good results. Please come by the All American KTM - FirePoliceMX.com - KINGDOM rig to say hello & meet the riders.......  The other day at work a few guys decided to Google their names. One of the guys, James Todd had many pages come up but non of them were about him. Another fireman. Leyth Daoud Google'd his name and it came up saying "Leyth Dauod, an over weight Irish/Palestinian Paramedic in the station". I about fell out of my seat laughing. I kind of remembered writing that in the FPMX Journal a few years ago. So Bill McHale, a Captain in the station decides to Google his name. Again many Bill McHale pages came up but none of them were about him. I told him to write something else after his name like "Bill McHale Firefighter" or Bill McHale Los Angeles County Fire Department" or any word that describes him or zeros in on his life. After many attempts still nothing ever came up on this particular Bill McHale. I was making fun of him and telling him that he needs to do something with his life. He was a bit frustrated and said that nothing would come up on me if I Google'd myself. So I said "Try Ed Wilson Motocross" several pages came up. I tried "Eric McKenna Motocross" and several pages came up, "Blake Fair Motocross" and our Blake comes up. I just tried " Justin McMurrich" without the word motocross and our Justin came up. Now that's a star!.........I wrote this last bit for Bill McHale so his name would come up on Google next time..........e       (257)