2014 blogs and pics

Big thanks to T3X seat covers for putting this custom cover together for me. They can do just about any color combination, looks rad!  Check em out on instagram @T3Xseating.

Frisco, TX

 The last scheduled show of the year was on October 18th at 8am at the Elevate Life Church down in Frisco Texas. It is by far the earliest show we've ever performed. Weetle and I pulled in on friday afternoon to set up ramps and get to the hotel for some rest. We arrived back at the church at 6am on saturday morning to set up sound and get everything ready for the show. The bikes got fired up just as the sun started to come up and we started out with a little practice session, getting the ramps stretched out to show gap. The wind was picking up a little by the end of practice so we just decided to run a 61ft gap and get the show done before the winds shut us down. Mark and I did a few warm up jumps and went into the basics round. The crowd was pretty fired up and we contiued to wow them. There were a Navy Seals Parachute team scheduled to jump out of an airplane with a 70 square foot  American flag at 8:55 am so we had to get the show wrapped up before then. We went through FMX garage explaining the things we do to the bike to get them ready for freestyle MX and then we got into the jam session. The winds had picked up considerably throughout the show but we fought through and got it done! We would like to thank the GOOD LORD ABOVE for giving us this opportunity to share his message and for keeping us safe through all of the shows this past year, and a huge thanks to Cory and Morgan at Elevate Life Church for having us perform, we hope to be back again next year!

Tulsa, Ok

First and foremost we would like to thank GOD! Thank you for keeping us safe through the last 12 days of shows. We battled wind, rain, and scorching temps at Tulsa State Fair in Tulsa, Ok but we all had a great time. Travis drove up from Florida to announce the shows, Geoff Gaskin from the Wide Open Crew in Canada came down to shred and Mark and I drove down together from Wisconsin. We all met up on Wednsday to wash and set up ramps. The plan was to practice on Wednsday afternoon but there were no fences for our area so we headed to the hotel to get settled in. Thursday we arrived at the venue early to get things ready for practice, got the ramps pushed back to 70 feet and jammed out. The crowds started packing the stands early and the first weekend was great. I pulled a muscle in my back on the second day so I wasn't really riding up to par but Geoff and Mark were killing it and we had the crowds pumped! 

Midweek some bad weather moved in and we got winded out of a couple shows, and rained out a couple, but the weather came back around for the final weekend and we finished it out with a bang. A big thanks to Aerovision Productions for coming out to film with the drone and a couple go pro's, check them out on instagram @aerovisionproductions, we are waiting on some footage from those guys and we will get it posted up as soon as possible!! Its gonna be awsome! Huge thanks to Travis at Team FMX for hooking us up with all these awsome shows, and also the Tulsa State Fair Board for having us, can't wait to see the state fair schedule for next year!  

Longview, Tx

This past weekends adventures takes us down south through Arkansas where a good friend of ours lives just outside Little Rock. Justin Childress owner of JC mx stands was nice enough to put us up for the night before the final pull to Texas for the Fall Monster nationals. He took friday off to tag along to the event and check things out. We arrived friday afternoon with enogh time to wash the landing and get set up. The weather was a slight overcast but no call for rain. We arrived back at the Lonestar Speedway saturday to practice and get things reay for the 7:30 pm show. The wind was calm as we procedded to get the ramp backed up to full gap and go through our routines. 

The night show brings a lot of excitement and the stands started filling up just after 5pm. The pit party was from 6pm till 7pm, got up close with some fans and answered some questions. Then it was time to start the show. Monster truck racing was first followed by our first round of freestyle. Mark and I did a few warms ups and got right into it. The stands were packed and crowd was full of energy, as we finished the first round off with a flip. A few monster trucks broke down throughout the next rounds of racing which meant we had to lenghten the second half of our perfomance to compensate. Weetle and I through down all our big tricks and had a great time. The autograph line was huge and we were happy to sign till the sun comes up. Big Thanks to GOD for keeping us safe, we give him all the glory for making it possible. Thanks to Justin at JC mx stands for coming with on this trip, getting some sweet go pro footage and some sweet pics. Check it out over in the video section!

Louisville,KY

The last two weeks were spent at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, KY. The riders included Mark Merrix (AKA weetle), Ray Roehlk, Travis Willis (AKA) Mr. T, and Myself (AKA Ed Rossi, AKA The Wild Child). We were scheduled for three shows a day for eleven days, show times were 12:30pm, 3:30pm, and 6:30pm. We arrived early to wash up the landing ramp and get set up. There was a limited amount of room for this show so we were only able to get the gap stretched to 50 feet. Practice went well and I did the smallest flips i've ever done before. Travis got a call from Scot Murray who was short a rider for another show that was going on in Ironton, OH so we sent Ray up there to cover that show and Travis came out of retirement and had to get back on the bike. He hasn't rode in eleven months but came out and got it done. We finished out Saturday with Travis and had a rain day on Monday. 

The temperatures rose a couple degrees everyday from then on with us finishing out the fair on sunday at 104 degrees on Sunday! Huge thanks to Matt Stone over at the Louisville Courier Journal for some photos and video that he took of us, check it out and search Team FMX thrills Kentucky State Fair crowd cjky.it/1oXAIGO vie @courierjournal . We will be home for a few weeks to get things in order for our next run of shows. Huge thanks to GOD for keeping us safe through the last couple weeks and stay tuned for new exciting things coming up!

Gays Mills, WI

Back for our second year at the Crawford County Fair. This year we brought back our good freinds from Division BMX to shred with us. The weather was awsome all day, we arrived in the morning to get things set up and ready for practice. We worked the ramp back to 70' and everyone was feeling pretty comfortable. The BMX team showed up around 530 to get set up and get some practice in before the show. The stands were filling up fast as we closed in on out 7pm start time. The crew went over some last minute details about the format and everyone was ready to get started. 

Of course no show would be complete without doing a salute to our troops, the hard working american soldiers, and the playing of the national anthem. We got started with a few intros and some warm up jumps. Division BMX was on point getting some nasty lip tricks and the FMX boys were getting warmed up to. We did a little trick progression to wrap up the first half and were treated to some halftime entertainment by the accapella group Six Appeal. They did an amazing job and kept the crowd pumped up for our second half. We started the second part of the show with  the bmx bunny hop skit and some tips on bmx safety. That led to the FMX garage portion where we explain what we do to our motorcycles to get them ready to do the tricks and jumps we do. Then we came out blazing!! Backflips!, 360's, 720's, 360 tailwhips, all the best stuff we could throw! Josh was riding the quad like a madman busting big, we closed up the gap between us and got in the train positions. First train went a little scketchy cause we put Josh in the middle and he caught up to Cody to fast and didn't give it enough gas and came up a little short. He cased it but rode it out and we switched positions for the finalle. We all did simultaineous backflip trick trains and finished it off with a bang. We had the crowd in an uproar, everyone was super pumped, the autograph line was huge and we signed until the last fan had what they came for. Huge thanks to Amanda Nagel for putting this together and the whole Crawford County Fair Faculty for all their hospitality. We can't wait to get the call for this one again! Thanks to everyone who came out to watch and a big thanks to THE GOOD LORD ABOVE for keeping us all safe!!!

Bristol, TN

This weekends performance brings us to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Thompson Metal Services Monster Truck show. Our rider list for this show originally consisted of myself, Mark Merrix, and Ray Roehlk, but Mark had a slight mishap practicing at his spot on Thursday night. He got caught up on a switchblade and crashed pretty hard. He was unconsious for a couple seconds and was definitely confused when he came to. I was a little concerned for Mark's neck and spine and wasn't quite sure where we were or what the address at Mark's place is. I dialed 911 and got an ambulance on the way! Mark was transported to the nearest hospital and evaluated. Luckily the next day he was feeling a little better, but the doctors told him it was a stage three cuncusion and he probably shouldn't ride the next day. 

I left around noon and arrived around 2am, got checked into the hotel and got some rest. The weather was beautiful all day Saturday, we got in a good hour of practice and headed back to the hotel to chill out for a bit before the show. We arrived back around 5pm for the party in the pits, signed autographs till 7 when they cleared the track to get started. We rode four different times during the show and both riders were on point and the crowd was loving it. The monster trucks rolled over a couple trucks in freestyle and had dust and smoke flying. It was an epic performance and we all had a great time. Once again we would like to thank THE GOOD LORD ABOVE for keeping us safe!!! Big thanks to Travis Willis over at teamFMX.com for passing this show along to us, can't wait till next year!

 Grayslake, ILL

Our next adventure takes us to the Lake County Fair for a Wednsday night grandstand show. Cody Cavanaugh from WI-FMX hired us on for this one. We teamed up with Division BMX out of Milwuakee to bring the madness. Early Wednsday we rolled into town to set up and unfortunately the winds were howling. The maintenence crew was prepping the area with water and a packing machine. We got through practice, but did not get the ramps stretched out to full gap becuase of the high winds. The show started just a bit later than the scheduled time due to people still coming in the stands. The FMX team got things started with some warm up jumps and the BMX team followed suit. Intro's went well, but the first half of the show was pretty hairy. There were 20 to 30 mph wind gusts and they were very inconsistent. At intermission the decision to cancel the second half of the show was made due to safety concerns. Autographs still went on as planned and then we got things packed up. A big thank you to THE GOOD LORD ABOVE for keeping everyone safe through this performance even though it was cut short. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at the 2014 Lake County Fair for having us and look forward to coming back next year for a full show!

Bedford Heights, OH

During the week in between shows Cody and I travelled to Iowa to cover a 90 minute grandstand show that Cody had set up which included Division BMX team from Milwuakee. Everything went well there and I headed back eastbound to pick up Weetle and get back to Southeast Harley Davidson.

Ray Roelke was filling in the third rider spot and met up with us at Saturday morning at the dealership. We got everything set up and ready for practice by noon. We did a few jumps and Mark noticed a couple of his sprocket bolts were gone, we posponed practice until the issue could be resolved. Mark and Ray searched all three dealerships on site and couldn't find anything that would work. Meanwhile I was on the phone with a Yamaha dealer about twenty five minutes away that told us to bring down one to match. Mark jumped in my truck and headed over to get the bolts while Ray and I finished up stretching the gap out to 70'.

Ray and I covered the first show of the day together and Mark got his bike fixed in time for the second and third shows. The weather was great and the crowds grew throughout the day. The last show was packed and by far the most exciting, the sun was setting and the boys were throwing down. Everyone had a great time at the event. There was good food and an awsome bike show, we hope to get the call to come and join in the festivities next year, a huge thanks to The GOOD LORD ABOVE for keeping us safe through our trip and a big thanks to Travis Willis from Teamfmx.com and the whole faculty and staff at Southeast Harley Davidson! 

Akron, OH

Our next stop on this years tour takes us to the Summit County Fairgrounds in Akron, Ohio for the 2014 Super Summit Show. We arrived Friday morning to set up and practice but, due to inclement weather we were not able to get through practice or do a show Friday. Saturday morning came with more rain so the decision to move the ramps to higher ground was made and we set up in a new dry area. The Summit Racing crew was on hand to help dig us out of the mud pit! Traxxas was in the house with some remote contolled truck action. They brought out a small ramp and jumped over some cars. They also hit the freestyle mx ramp and cleared it at 70 feet!! They actually were overjumping the landing at the 70 foot gap and landing flat at at least 100 FT!!!!! It was pretty awsome to watch those little trucks fly so high. It had everyone amped up for the fmx show.

 Practice went well and our first performance of the day was scheduled for 1pm. Our rider line up for this show was: Mark Merrix, Cody Cavanaugh, and Ed Rossi. The guys got started out great, the crowd was energized and the weather was great. Mark busting out his usually huge shaolin bar hops and Cavanaugh just coming back off a broken TIB/FIB was riding awsome. Ed came in with some sweet whip flips and one hander flips in the trains to finish it off. The second show was even better with a bigger crowd and more noise, as we busted big for our fans and had a great time doing it. Once again a HUGE thanks to the crew over at Summit Racing for all their help moving ramps and setting up. We would also like to give a shoutout to powersportsplace.com which is Summit racing company that deals with dirt bikes and ATV parts and apparel. Check them out for all of your off-road adventures! Big thanks to Travis at teamfmx.com for hooking us up with the show and can't wait for the call to come back next year!

Milwuakee, WI

This weekend Travis From Team FMX hired us to cover a show for the ARCA fest at the Milwuakee Mile. The truck was still in the shop Friday morning when we were supposed to leave. I helped my mechanic finish up some loose ends and headed out to pick up the landing. Mike had the bikes all loaded up when I got to the farm and we hit the road southbound for our two hour trip. We met up with Weetle (AKA) Mark Merrix in the parking area behind the track and also caught up with our contact man, Steve Einhuas, at the track. The track safety crew led us through the gates and on to the infield where we proceeded to wash the landing and get things ready for the weekends festivities. There was practice going on all day for the race cars so we were not able to set up until Saturday after 2pm. 

We arrived Saturday to set up and get some practice and a small show in before the 6pm scheduled monster truck show. Everything went well as we got the ramps pushed out to show gap. The monster trucks were tearing up pit row and smashing cars like crazy. Finally it was our turn, Mark started it off and Kieper and I followed suit. There were a couple of street bike stunt riders also there and we teamed up and rode some wheelies up and down the front straight with them. Three out of five of the trucks broke on their first run so it was up to us to cover some extra time out there. I tried to ride a slow wheelie around the entire mile long asphalt oval. I got about halfway around and my arms were turning to jello and I couldn't hold on any more. Kieper and Merrix rode awsome as always, overall the fans were pretty stoked on us. 

They had us scheduled for two shows Sunday but when we got up the winds were wipping. There was a 20' by 40' flag in the middle of the racetrack and it was standing straight out because of the winds. It started off as a tailwind but by noon the wind had shifted and was becoming a direct crossbreeze. Our first show of the day went without a hitch and we all had a great ride. Unfortunately the second show was canceled becuase of high winds. We got the ramps packed up and just barely made it out the back gate of the track before the afternoons races got started. We would like to thank The GOOD LORD ABOVE for keeping us safe through the weekend and a huge thanks to Travis at teamfmx.com for hooking us up with this show! It looks like its gonna be a busy summer so check back for more updates soon! 

Birmingham, AL

We had a great trip to Alabama for the Oak Mountain state fair. I met up with Mad Mike Jones and Carl Richey for ten days of shows just south of Birmingham, Alabama. I arrived Wednsday night with enough time to wash up the landing and get everything set up for practice in the morning. Carl and I moved the ramp in to 40' and got a practice session started. The wind was not to bad as we worked the ramps back to 75'. Once we got to full show gap Jonesy joined in and made a few run by's at the ramp. His first hit was just a few inches short as you can see in this picture. He rode it out but the impact ripped off the chain guide and bent the sprocket, we got on the phone to some local welding shops and found someone to repair it. He also called home and had his wife send out an extra wheel next day air. All the parts were there the next day and we got it put back together just in time for another short practice session in. 

The crowds were small but energetic as we worked our way through the first weekend. Monday was our only day off, Tuesday we got dialed back in and shredded the asphalt for the rest of the week. Mike was busting big and so was Carl, I nailed a few no handed flips and one good superflip in the trains. The crowds were awsome and we had a great time riding for them.  We had to cancel a couple of shows here and there due to high winds and lack of spectators, but it was the first time they have had freestyle at this fair and it was a huge hit. Thank God for keeping us safe and we would like to thank Patrick, John, and Lisa for all of there hospitality and hope to come back again next year! 

We would like to thank Spokeskins.net for hooking us up with a sponsorship. They have all different colors of skins for your motorcycle, bmx bike, or mini. The bikes will be getting two mixed sets and we will be posting pics soon.

Sarasota, FL

First and foremost I would like to thank GOD for keeping us safe through this 10 day county fair. It was a three day drive down to the 2014 Sarasota county fair. Mike Kieper and I packed up and headed down to pick up Weetle in Indiana. From there we traveled 1000 miles south and 70 degrees up in temperature. We arrived Thursday morning with time to wash up the landing and meet up with Travis Willis from Team FMX. Mark and I made a run to the carpet store to get carpet for the landing area and procedded to get everything set up for practice. The wind was whipping pretty good so we held off till friday to get a practice session in.

The winds continued on friday and pushed practice back right into our first scheduled show. We continued to fight the wind and weather for the remainder of the weekend and had to cancel a couple of the shows. Travis was there to announce for us for the weekend but monday morning he had to leave to fly out to Las Vegas to announce for the Monster Jam Finals. This left Mike and I filling in the announcers position, I would start the show as the announcer and Mike would finish. Monday's fair was cancelled due to the rain but we were back at it on tuesday. It was windy everyday on and off but we managed to get 19 of the 26 shows that were scheduled done. Everyone rode well and kept it on two wheels despite the harsh riding conditions. A huge thanks to Travis for handing this one off to us. 

Mike and I divided up the driving responsibilities on the way home and made it home in 24 hrs and only one flat tire. We dropped Weetle around 6 AM and made it in to Kenosha to stop and say hi to my father around 10 AM. Home around noon to unload bikes and park the trailer. I have to thank GOD once again, without him none of this would be possible. It is a blessing to be home safe and catching up with some spring cleaning. The bikes are getting new graphics and some other new additions we will be announcing soon so stay tuned!

Shrine Circus

We had a great run of shows over the last month with the Shrine Circus. There were stops in Madison, Chicago, Green Bay and Milwuakee. It was great to do shows close to home and have a lot of family and friends come out to watch. My mom and I got to ride on an Elephant together and I got to get my sister and other friends a ride on the elephants also. A huge thanks to the Shrine Circus and Johnanthan Domingez for hooking us up with these shows and we look forward to doing another tour soon!

Fayetteville, NC

This was the last show on the Monster X tour. Weetle and I spent the week before in Union Point, GA at Durhamtown Plantation. It snowed the entire time so we were not able to get any riding in but Mark had his leaky fork seals replaced while we were there. Thursday morning we started the drive towards Fayetteville, got there with plenty of time to wash the landing ramp, truck, takeoff ramp, and airbag before the show. We arrived at the arena Friday morning to set up and get a sweet practice session in. The set up was a little sketchy cause of the small floor size so we had to use the tunnel to shoot out and land in and it was about 12 feet wide. We managed to get through practice without a hitch, got the ramps pulled off the floor just in time for the pit party.

The Friday night show had decent attandance and all the Monsters were laying down good runs. Mark and I came out swinging after intermission and had the crowd energized. The Saturday night crowd was much bigger and so was the airtime. Holmans Beast and Bigfoot were toe to toe in the wheelie compitition and Freestyle was out of control. We finished off our last show in style, we would like to thank GOD for keeping us safe for the last few weeks and look forward to next years monster truck shows.

Souix Falls, SD

Things did not go as planned for the Gonzales, LA show. We got the call from Travis at TeamFMX.com that someone needed to drive up to South Dakota to cover another show that was booked. We stopped in to see our freinds at JC MX stands in Little Rock, Arkansas, stayed for a few days and got back on the road. 

The show was only a one day event with a Saturday matinee and Saturday night showings. We arrived very early on Saturday to practice and get everything ready. The entire arena was covered in Coke syrup which made things extremely slippery. We managed to get the ramp to a 55 foot gap but I flipped it anyway. It was my smallest flip to date and I'm pretty pumped to know I can flip that small of a gap. Both shows were packed houses and with flat track quads and bikes in the mix it made for a spectacular event. The autograph lines were buzzing and people were pumped on our performance.

The weather channel was calling for a blizzard the following morning so we wanted to leave very early, not to mention the 25 hour drive back to Georgia we had. As I was pulling the truck into the arena Saturday night to hook up to the landing and pull it out the left tie rod broke on my truck. We got a ride to the parts store first thing the next morning, got the truck fixed, hooked up and hit the road. We thank GOD for getting us through this one.  

Jackson, MS

The second stop on our four week tour brings us to The Jackson Coluseium in Jackson, Mississippi. This would be a three show weekend with a Friday night show, Saturday matinee, and Saturday night show. We arrived Thursday afternoon with enough time to get the landing and truck washed up, and get the landing set in place.

First thing Friday morning Weetle and I rode a sweet practice session and everything was good to go. The stands were packed for the Friday night show and there was a very energetic crowd on hand to witness all the carnage. Saturday matinee was no slouch crowd either, there were tons of kids in attendance and they were all very excited to see the show. Weetle was getting back in his groove throwing some big shaolin bar hops. I was feeling a little frisky also throwing no handed flips and getting back into superflips.

Saturday night was packed once again and all of the monster truck drivers brought their A game. Bigfoot rolled it over in freestyle and the fans were loving it! All in all it was an awsome show with an awsome crowd and we can't wait to get back and do it again next year. A big thanks to The Good LORD above for getting us through this one!! 

Augusta, Ga

First things first, thank you Lord for keeping us safe this weekend. We thank you for all the talents and skills that you've given us to follow our dreams. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN. With that said we made it! Battling negative temperatures, interstates being closed, three inches of glare ice on the roads from Chicago to Kentucky, Weetle and I made it to our destination, Durhamtown Plantation Sportsmans Resort. I needed some time on the new bike and Weetle had some overheating issues with his bike that needed to be addressed. The forcast was mostly rain for our visit, but we managed to get in a good practice session on Wednsday just before we had to leave for Augusta. We plan on going back to shred as soon as we can, if you like to ride or hunt check them out at Durhamtown.com .

Another thanks to GOD goes out for keeping our freind Kenny Stienke alive after a horrible crash in Augusta last year. Multiple weeks in coma, bleeding on the brain, infections months after the surgery,  almost one year of recovery, we are pleased to report Kenny is back on his bike. He is not hitting ramps yet, but Kenny was brave enough to come to this show to see all of the fans that he has made in the last year and take a couple victory laps during introductions. Kenny was also out on his bike during our shows to get the crowd pumped and to show he just itching to get back in the air! It's amazing to think just a couple months ago he was learning how to talk and walk again. He will be back flipping in no time.

Practice went well, we got the gap stretched out to 66', hucked a couple flips and called it good. Both the Friday and Saturday night crowds were amazing, with the stands over 3/4 full there was tons of energy. Mark and I are both a little rusty coming back after three months off but we managed to get off some sweet tricks, nailed a couple flips and then tightened it up for a couple trains. The monsters followed suit with a crazy freestyle finale, smashing, crashing, and some nasty dougnuts, dirt was flying everywhere. All in all it was a great show for the first one of the year. We would like to thank the staff at the James Brown arena for all of there help and thank the MonsterXtour.com for having us! Check back soon for more updates!