How's your winter been so far?
It's going pretty good now. I got a little more time off than I would’ve liked due to a little longer recovery time from surgery, but I think the time off was needed.

You've been getting in some off-season training, how's that going?
It couldn't be better. I've been in Florida surrounded by the best guys in the sport doing what I need to do to get better and progress.

What's it like riding and training with guys like Kailub Russell?
Riding with Kailub is awesome. Everything he does on the bike is so smooth, and enjoyable to watch. The best part about it though, is that if I think I've done a long enough moto and pull off, and he keeps going, then I know I better mount up and get back out there because that's obviously what I need to do to start being able to race with the top tier guys.

So you had a pretty awesome 2014 season. Tell us how that went.
Well thanks! Yeah, it was an awesome year. I got to ride and train with Layne Michael all winter and it paid off in the race season. I was a little bummed that I didn't get any top amateur finishes, but the class championship was my goal and I accomplished that.

At the beginning of the season did you expect to come away with the title?
That class title was in my mind the second the 2013 season finished. I started working to get to where I needed to be then, and was pretty confident I was there going into Florida.

So what are your plans for 2015?
I’m making the move to the XC2 class for the GNCC's. I’m also planning on doing a few National Enduros, and maybe the National Hare Scrambles.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2015?
I feel like I can do decent in XC2 if I put the work in this winter. I have a lot of speed to catch up on, and you know with all the guys jumping up everyone is going to be riding crazy hard. It’ll be tough to keep in the top 10 of the class all year.

What about beyond 2015? What do you hope to accomplish down the road?
My only goal is to not look back on my racing career and say "What if"? I don't want to look back and think "Man if I would have just put in a little more time and hard work I could have done whatever". So I suppose just keep doing the best I can do and wherever that takes me it takes me!

Alright before we wrap this up who would you like to thank?
I have to thank all the guys that let me ride and train with them all the time. Layne, Kailub, and Thad, I can't thank those guys enough. I’ve got to thank my dad as well for making it possible for me do all this, and my girlfriend, Erica, for putting up with me being gone all winter. I've got to thank all the guys at Waynesburg Yamaha Suzuki KTM for all their support as well as Moto Experts, Sunstar, G2, Scott, JT Racing, Fuel, IMS, Moto Seat, Dubya, Ride Engineering, DP, TM Desings, Evans, and Dunlop! Thanks to everyone at Racer Productions for putting on such a great series every year, and thanks to you for considering me for this Tuesday Toolbox!