Age and where do you live? I am 25 and live in Sanger, CA. How long have you raced? I have been racing since I was 9, for about 16 years. Sponsors? Huffy Bicycles, Fox Racing, IRC, AC, Marwi, Smith, CTI2, Shimano, Head Lock, Control Tech, Champion Nutrition, and BMXPros.com. Tell us a bit about your house / trails/ riding facility at home. Well last year I bought a house on 2 acres. I was looking for some land to build trails and was fortunate to find something available. Most of the land is in the front yard so that is where my trails are. I have about a 16 second sprint trails course as well as other random sections. The sprint trails are a good time so if anyone wants to come race, they are welcome. Every now and then I'll have about 10-15 people over and we'll set up a race with time trials and everything. There's even some good trash talking going on at all times and even the neighbors like to come take a look. It's good times. Tell us about the great invention (the Stumpy gate) Now that I look back, I can't believe I came up with the idea. I just always loved to practice gates every day but there was the problem of finding someone to drop the gate for you or whatever. When I was about 11 I think I just stumbled across this idea on an old wooden gate that was originally built with the purpose of having someone drop it for you. Well I modified it so I could do gates by myself with a pressure release system, but it wasn't foolproof because I'd flip every now and then. So then I had my dad weld me up a new gate and I told him what I wanted and a few years later he came up with a more user friendly version that I now use today. Nobody really knew about that gate for like 10 years except my close friends. It was like a secret and then all of a sudden the cat was out of the bag and then my dad made a few to sell and then somebody copied it without even asking permission and they started selling it. Do you get mad when people copy it? I don't get mad when people ask me how it is made and then want to make one for themselves. But when someone steals the plans, and then goes and makes it to sell for profit without even asking is just wrong. The cool thing is that everyone calls it "The Stumpy Gate" so the props are definitely there, but I don't agree with whoever took the plans and sold them for their profit. I still don't know exactly who did that and I'm not mad about it any more, it just dissappoints me. How's your season going? The season is going pretty good. A little bit of a slow start but now I am doing well in the NBL AA Pro Points and am chasing you in ABA cruiser right now which doesn't matter as we all know till around 6:00 p.m. on Sunday at the Grands. What are your goals for the year? My goals are to win races basically. I try to simplify my goals and then the bigger ones fall into place. My goal every year is to win that World Title you stole from me in '96. Why do you race cruiser? Just to beat you. That's it. What did you think when I passed you in the last turn at the '96 World Champs? A lot of people have asked me that but the truth is I was really oblivious to how important that race was. They changed the format and it felt weird and it was only my second worlds race ever and we had 1/16ths which mean there had to be a lot of good laps. The whole day was crazy and my stomach was in knots the whole time and then it was like wow I made the main, now what. There were so many people in the stands, it was awesome. I even hit the gate in the main and it was like everyone was even right until the first turn and then I was winning and it was crazy. The crowd was so loud, probably cheering for you to pass me. I just wasn't prepared to be winning that lap I guess. And then when I saw your tire in the last turn there was nothing I could do about it. I guess all that practice at that track prior to the race paid off for you....good job. Then the race was over and I was like "what just happened?" and my dad gave me a hug and told me it was a good race and I was like "What do you mean????? I lost!!!!" And then everyone I talked to was like "Did you have to let Dale win?? Anybody but Dale." If you could race that main again, what would you do differently? I think there was a step up double or something on the second to last straight, I would have jumped the whole thing and then I would have been okay. And if I still would have saw your tire I would have slipped a pedal and kicked it and pedaled my way to victory. And then everyone would have said "Yeah you didn't let Dale win!!!" What is your best racing memory? I think when my dad ran the local track in Sanger were the best times because it was cool just to be around so many friends all the time and to just hang out. I looked forward to local races every week up until I was Pro. It was cool. You are one of the smallest yet fastest AAs out there - can Donny Robinson make it or is he just too small? People said I was too small. Honestly it is about heart and Donny has plenty of that. I think people say that about him because they are afraid of getting beat by him. He's fast and he's a great rider so I think he'll be fine. ABA or NBL? There are pros and cons to both but right now I respect the NBL and their pay scale so much more. In Desoto(ABA) I worked hard to get a 3rd in AA on Saturday and got 350 where if that were NBL it would have been about 800. It is hard to get podiums and I believe you should be rewarded for getting a podium. I also think the NBL tends to listen to the Pros suggestions a little bit more with an open mind. But I love to race and I'll be at both sanction events. What are your views on prize money in racing? Well as I just said I think the ABA needs to step up their prize money a bit. It is a bit lopsided when 8th in NBL is around 280 or so and third in ABA for the same amount of guys is 350. I don't mean to sound like the typical complaining pro, but we work pretty hard and with the sponsorship crisis I think the sanctions have a responsibility to step up when they can to make it possible for privateers. Supercross does it. If you are paying your own way it's like you have to get four podiums to come out ahead. I feel sometimes that we are a pain in the side of the ABA. I don't know how they really feel but I think Pro racing has a lot to do with what the kids look up to being like. I think we need a little more support from the organizations but everytime we try to do something as a group of Pros, it falls apart. We all cry about change and then when an opportunity presents itself, there are always a few who ruin the whole operation. Who is the hardest guy to beat? Everyone is hard. It seems like every weekend there is someone different who is the guy to beat. Obviously Kyle smoked the first 19 NBL AA main events of the year not to mention the ABA mains he won. That is phenomenal. He's been hurt a little lately but I know he'll be back. The class is so rediculously hard these days it is unreal. Honestly as far as I am concerned everyone is hard to beat. I know you are one of the most experienced and smartest riders on the track,is there anyone you don't respect in the class? And why? I don't think there is anyone I don't respect. All of us work hard to be at that level and that is something I respect. That doesn't mean I agree with the way people ride all of the time. Things happen though. Things have happened to me and I've done things to people out of frustration. It seemed like my whole rookie year I spent on the receiving end of elbows from the Jackal and I gave him a couple cheap shots too. But I respect what the Jackal has accomplished as a racer even though I don't agree with the way he rides all the time. I've done some stupid things too so we've all done our share of that type of riding. I even remember you yelling at me at a race in Tennesee and I didn't even know that I did anything to you, and someone said, "Did you hear what Dale said to you???" I was like, "Huh??" I was so obilivious. But it was all cool at the end of the weekend. I ended up winning on Sunday and you still came and apologized for saying whatever you said. We all get frustrated at things people do but I don't think there is anyone out there trying to end careers. I would not respect that. Who will be in the next era of AA Pros? I don't know. There are always young guys moving in but guys like Kyle and Warwick are still young so they are not going anywhere anytime soon. I hope to see the age of being competetive increase. That would be cool. Being one of the good guys in AA, don't cuss, cheat, or talk crap on people,how do you manage to still hang out with us lot? You guys know what I am about, I know what you're about and we respect each other. That is how I hang out. I'm not going to go sit in my rental car by myself and not hang out because you guys cuss or whatever. What's in the future for the Stumpdog? Right now I take it year by year. You never know when injuries will creep up or what is going to happen. I love to ride my bike and I love to race so I want to continue that for a while yet. I plan to finish school soon so I can enter the real world I guess. I don't know exactly what the future holds but I'll try to be prepared. Anything you wann'a add? I want to give thanks to God for blessing my life. I thank my wife, Carrie, my parents, relatives, and friends for their support. Thanks to Brandon and Tony Hoffman, and Rob Riofrio and the Gilroy crew for riding and having fun at my house. Thanks to my sponsors listed at the top especially Rich Vitiello, Bill Smith from Huffy. Thanks to Dwayne Taylor and Misti at Fox for all the cool threads. Thanks to Pete Dylewski at BMXPros.com for doing a great job. Thanks to my trainer German Medina for working hard for me. I want to thank my neighbors, cause they are cool and help me out a lot. And thanks to Dale for this interview, it was fun and anything I said about Dale is all in good fun.