Reconnecting with old racing friends on the line!

It was a slow year for racing for me in 2016, but life itself had a lot more in store than usual! I did some limited racing this year, welcomed my second baby, a girl, into the world, watched my boy master some new skills (and new words), and expanded my business. Next year, I’m looking to do a lot more racing! Here’s a recap of 2016.

Firstly, thank you to my great sponsors who have stuck with me over the years! Some of which I have been partnered with for more than 10. I rely heavily on their products to get me to the finish safely, and for many, I have developed a lot of friendships. I guess I’m just lucky to be in a sport where I can meet people and those meetings evolved into friendships that cross states, borders, and time zones. My sponsors, including my wife, have helped make my career something to be proud of, and for that I am forever thankful. I have loved representing the best over the years!

So this year, I hit up the second round of Quadcross Northwest at Horn Rapids. I didn’t intend on racing it as I hadn’t had much seat time. Business at home has been booming, making me get up early and stay up late. But, after watching the first round the day before, I had an itch. There’s only one way to rid yourself of it, and that’s to jump on your four wheeler and mix it up on the race track. I had some good laps and some bad, but I definitely had fun. I went 3-2 for 3rd overall. Not bad for an out of shape guy. Again, having great equipment makes a world of difference when you can jump on your bike and have total faith in it!

The next two rounds of Quadcross were too close to baby Brown 2’s due date, so we opted out as they were too far from home. As it turns out, baby came a bit early! We didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl at the time, but we’re happy to report Loic has a little sister, born June 12th. She’s the second wonder of our world. Being a dad is incredible.

Summer is always insanely busy in my line of work, and was even more so and continues to be. We’re expanding (and hiring if you know someone) and we’re booked months in advance. I’m a 4th generation water well driller. We drill in Washington and Oregon and while it isn’t the most glamorous of jobs, it has taught me a lot that helped me in racing. I can talk a lot about that, so you’ll have to ask me in person. Additionally, we’re still working on our house. Recently we put in the interior doors, which made Mama pretty happy. There’s still a lot to do yet. This summer and fall have been loaded with work inside and outside the home. It’s been taxing.

We managed to make a round of Straddleline, but we had a family reunion the same weekend. Family is absolutely important, so we had to make both work. And we did! Josey was just an itty bitty thing! I went out and did a 5-2 for 2nd that day.

We were all prepped and ready for Washougal in September. Megan, my wife, had collected some giveaway items and organized the annual Pit Traffic potluck to celebrate a year of racing. And then woke up sick. Not just “I have a cold sick,” but the really icky “please don’t give that to me I’m going to stay way over here and hope it’s not the flu” sick. Luckily she did not pass it to me or to our kids, but it meant we missed the last available rounds of Quadcross Northwest. Can’t ditch your sick wife with two small kids to go racing no matter what anyone says (you’ll never survive if you did!).

Overall, it was a slow year in terms of racing, but we’re looking to rectify that for 2017! We hope to see ourselves at the track more this upcoming year. Thanks to the following for being a part of my program, please check them out for the best of the best products:

Maxxis Tires,Rekluse, Klim, Precision Racing Products, Fox Shox, LED Performance, Teixeira Tech, Motosport Hillsboro, Wiseco Piston, Trail Tech, HMF, FullBore  UPP, CBR, Ryno Power, IMS, Pro Armor, Spider Grips, Maxima, Asterisk, Quad Tech, K&N Filters, Shorai Power, Sunstar, Spider Graphix, Galfer, Powermadd, CRF (Campbell Racing Fabrication), Quad75.Com, Waterwell Developing & Surveys, & PitTraffic.com.

Thank you also to my wife, Megan, and my kids, Loic and Josey.