So, you’ve been racing for a long time – but only racing ATVs for a few years. What did you start out on? 
It’s actually kind of a funny story. My family was into dirt karting, and for my first birthday I received a kart that I was obviously way too small for. A few years later we went to our local shop to pick up a part, and saw that they had started carrying racing go-karts for asphalt, and we decided to get into that. At the time, I was 5 and my older brother was 7, so he was just old enough to start racing. Ever since then, we had been at the track, and a few years later I was old enough to start competing too. Unfortunately this came to a stop when the race car funding and sponsorship fell through in 2009. That’s when I started looking into the quad scene, and finally ended up doing my first race in 2012.

Why did you decide on ATV’s and not UTV’s? I would think that would have been a more natural transition coming from a kart and race car background 
The UTV thing has been a dream of mine since I got into the GNCC scene, given the amount of car racing background I have. But it would take the right amount of support and companies backing me to actually be able to compete with the top guys. Also, growing up I always had race-ready ATVs, I actually used them to keep in shape for the car racing. This made things a little easier when I decided to start racing quads because I already had one pretty much ready to go.

Makes sense. What brought you to the GNCC series? 
Well, my first year in 2012 I was just going to run the local Pennsylvania series for fun. I ended up running into Thomas Hartensveld, an old go-kart buddy of mine, who ar the rime was leading the Junior B class points in the GNCC series. He convinced me to come check out one of the GNCCs with him. From there on I knew that was what I wanted to do. 

When you first contacted me, you said that although your season hasn’t gone quite the way you hoped it would, you’ve still put in some groundbreaking finishes for your sponsors. Can you tell me more? 
Well, it’s great putting Derisi racing and Tire Spine, my two biggest sponsors, on the 4x4 podium for the first time. I’m especially grateful to Derisi, they’ve been fully behind me the past tow years and really taught me a lot. We came out swinging at round one, but didn’t get the job done until round three in Georgia, where I finished 3^rd. We followed that up with a 2^nd the next race at Steele Creek. Given that this is my rookie year in the 4x4 pro class, it was really exciting to get those podiums so early in the season. Unfortuatly we’ve also had some struggles this season – bad luck, some DNFs that have really hurt us in the standings. 

Are those the only two 4x4 pro podiums that you’ve had so far? 
Yes. We had a few other good runs that just didn’t work out. I was leading Camp Coker until a belt blew, and running 2^nd at Tomahawk until we had a critical overheating problem. So I’m really excited for Unadilla, as I have been running the WYNOA series for practice all summer, and the terrain there is very similar. If my luck turns around these last four races, I think I can definitely make it on the podium again. 

Tell me a little bit about these two companies that support you. 
Deresi Racing is a suspension, engine building and tuning company in North Carolina owned and operated by a former pro racer named Santo DeRisi. He’s been in the industry about 24 years now, but has only sponsored a 4x4 program for a few years now, in coordination with Austin Parks from Spider Graphix. Tire Spine is a product just released to the public a year ago. It’s a one-piece foam insert for the four-wheel racing community, but also works with the military, border patrol and forestry service. Though they’ve just been around a short time, they have seen huge successes everywhere from the desert to the east coast; the number of people using their product already is impressive.

What are your goals for the rest of your career, and how long are you planning on racing? 
I would like to bring home a 4x4 championship in the near future. It does not look realistic for this season, and Kevin [Cunningham] has demonstrated that his championship last year was no fluke. I want to stay in the sport as long as possible. Obviously every year is a new challenge with putting the right people together to put forth a competitive program. Doing that is key. There’s a few young companies and some that are just newer to the 4x4 world that have been working with me, and I hope that we will all get better as we continue to gain experience.