R450: So, since you are out there racing together, do you think that it helped to make your relationship stronger being out there together?
Heather: Definitely!
Joe: Yeah, we train together and practice together. On the practice track, she uses the whole track, but I have a pretty big whoop section and she skips it. So she makes those few seconds she loses back up. If I’m on my game I can pass her and beat her, but just for the record, she beats me more than I beat her. We have been trying to get wins on the same weekend, but we just seem to get close. This weekend she won the title but got second in the race, and I won my race, so we’ll consider that pretty good.
Heather: We’ll take it, and we’ll get it.

R450: How did you guys meet?
Heather: We actually met through racing. We met at the track. Joe happened to be at a mutual sponsor of ours in California and saw my picture on the wall. He thought, “Well, I’ll teach this girl how to ride. She already knows how to ride, because she’s racing a men’s class and a women’s class, but if I can teach her even better, maybe she’ll get a lot of people to come to my school.” The first time I went down there, I came from Michigan to Tennessee to the school, and we were best friends from then on. Seven years later, we’re still together.

Joe was pictured on the November cover of Racer 450.

R450: How long have you actually been married?
Heather: We’ve been married for two years.

R450: Joe, I know that you started the season on a Yamaha and then switched to a Honda. Do you like the Honda better?
Joe: They’re both good machines, but I’ve always ridden Honda. My Honda dealer is a whole lot better to me. We raced the CR 450 last year which is a similar motor, so we had some experience. We couldn’t get the Honda until four or five races into the season. After we could get one, we switched over. I didn’t know if the switch was that great at first, because we struggled through the season, fixing parts and trying to get the bike ready. It was so new that nobody knew anything about it. Once we started to get things going I was really glad that I switched to the Honda.

R450: Heather, you came out and won the Championship for the Women’s A Class. Do you think that there is anything that helped you a whole lot in this series?
Heather: Sure, Joe and I practice a lot. I used to work a forty-hour week in a clothing store. I managed the store, and Joe said, “You don’t need to do this anymore. You just need to focus on racing and help me out with the school.” So, I’ve been able to train more not having to work all of the time. Of course I’ve got probably the best coach in the world that you can have. I can train more and I have good sponsors. We got the bike working well, and we didn’t have any mechanical failures all year long. My dad mechanics on the bike for me. We just got everything going and that’s what kept us on top.

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