You qualified really well at Southwick.
I think it was sixth. [Jason] Anderson got me in the second practice. It was good man! I know this track really well, obviously, so I was able to go hard on the second lap and throw a heater in.

Check out Canning's wild ride in qualifying at The Wick 338.

Yeah, that’s that local knowledge right? The track is going to get rough and slow down in a hurry.
I was surprised Anderson was able to get that fast of a lap in the second practice. Everybody’s highs from the first one are what got them through. [Eli] Tomac, Max [Anstie], all of them were pretty much from the second lap.

Take us through your motos.
I had a good gate pick for the first moto, and [Ken] Roczen and Tomac were in front of me. I just went right to the outside edge of Roczen because I knew he was going to jump out good. My bike is good this year, but it’s still not as good as theirs. [Laughs] I knew he was going to jump out so I could follow him through the first turn, and it just happened to work out perfectly. I came out fourth or fifth out of the first turn and was mixing it up a little bit with them in the first few laps. Then they pulled away little by little, but I was able to hold my own and finish pretty well.

Every year there’s always someone who comes out and does pretty well. You came in at High Point and you’ve scored points in every moto except for the second moto at RedBud. How are you doing this!? I don’t want to say you’re off the couch because you have been riding, but you haven’t been on the grind all year like these guys have.
Believe it or not, it was kind of off the couch this year. I feel like I’ve always belonged up there, where I’m finishing, and the last few years I think I’ve proved that. But I don’t have any bike sponsors or anything like that. That comes out of my pocket and I don’t have the money to chase it like these guys do. This year I was leaning toward not doing any nationals at all because it’s so expensive. To do it as a privateer on a hard budget is tough. But Justin Cokinos, his first national was Southwick, and I’ve been training him for a couple years and he decided not to do Loretta’s this year. He said, "Let’s do nationals," so I was like, "All right, cool, I’ll do them with you." Then he got hurt and didn’t end up doing High Point or RedBud, but I was already committed. Luckily he was able to get out there for Southwick and he actually scored points in his first moto, which is pretty impressive. So I really was off the couch this year. For some reason I didn’t set any expectations and I think that almost helped me. I was just going out and doing whatever I could.

Well eleventh overall at Southwick is the result! That’s your best ever result as a pro, right?
[Laughs] Yeah. I have a couple twelfth places, but eleventh is my best so far.

How many more of the nationals are you going to do?
We’re opting out of Millville. I train kids, that’s what I do to make money, and I have some kids getting ready for Loretta’s. With it being so close I just can’t afford to miss the time with them. I’ve got title sponsors in place for Unadilla, Budds Creek, and Ironman, so I’ll do those three and that’ll be it.

Talk about the program you’ve got going in giving people the opportunity to be a title sponsor for a weekend.
I started doing it last year and I was getting a couple people per weekend. I don’t want to sound bad in saying this, but I don’t like handout requests. I hate asking people for money. I just don’t like doing it, so this year I’m trying to have one per weekend. It’s a little more money, but it allows me to push and promote their company, or whatever they want on the bike. I feel like that gives them a little more value. I put them on the bike, I do some posts about them, I give them a jersey, and whatever I can to show them appreciation. Luckily, with training kids and everything there are a lot of people who know what I’m about and know me as a person. It works out super well.