The days leading up to Albany were pretty quiet except for the occasional whimper about Des Moines . The weather in the Carolina ’s was rainy, so we didn’t get any practice in. We did have plenty of time to think through what happened last weekend, which was good.

We hit the road on Thursday early and were ready to go. Well, it was supposed to be early but as usual, Chester was running late. The weather was good and we had smooth sailing - that is until we got a little lost up in New York . Neese definitely was not tapping into his potential for map reading skills. Thursday night ( 2 am ), we rested up and got ready for the weekend.

Daytime qualifiers were good; we both won a few qualifiers and got through unscathed. Rider turnout in Albany was as good, or as bad, depending on your outlook, as Des Moines . It is great for AX to see so many talented riders showing up for the series, but its definitely changing the attitude of the racing. Consistency is proving hard to come by for everyone and tempers are starting to flare early this year.

The track was soft and rutted bad, which made for even more intense racing than normal. Ruts always seem to cause lots of contact. As always, BJ, Casey, and the entire track crew did a great job with what they had to work with.

We took alot of flack about our results from last week, but hopefully the Xpress has proven that we are capable of gettin it done. Neese was pumped to be back on the podium again and let out a rebel yell that had our yankee friends/fans ducking for cover. Chester made one of the mains on Friday but bad starts and run away rookies left him spectating on Saturday.

Tim Cotter, Speed TV, and others interviewed the team over the weekend and the interviews went well. We appreciate the attention and love letting people know about the team. Even the local North Carolina media picked up on our press release on Sunday. Motocross is big in the Carolinas , even the NASCAR guys like to ride back home, so we want to be sure that we keep the news flowing and let everybody know how we are doing. Its time to get serious about our sport and start pulling the sponsors and money we deserve.

We were also glad to see that Cole (Suzuki brass) made the trip to Albany . We're proud of the way our bikes turned out and we were happy to see that he agreed. Thanks Roost MX! How about those jackets Cole?

We are back in NC today and getting ready for Reno . Plane tickets, coordinating getting the bikes to Reno - things are a bit hectic.

Each week we take the opportunity to thank a few of our sponsors. This week we want to thank Suzuki for the support, Shoei for keeping our hard heads safe, Renthal for the bars, sprockets and grips, and Smith for the goggles.

See ya in Reno !

All the best from the Carolina Xpress – Neese and Chester