Joey Albright Does a Solid For 15 Inter

Back on June 24, BMX News reported that Madera BMX Vet Pro, Joey Albright, had suffered multiple injuries in a crash at his local track. Joey was in the hospital for a few days, spent some time in ICU, but ultimately came through the ordeal. He is slowly getting back on the bike, and is doing physical therapy to get his arm back to its former “gunziness.”

Several days in the hospital, with ICU time and $10 aspirins is not the most pleasant thing on one’s wallet–especially when your health insurance is sketchy-to-nonexistent, as Joey’s was. The BMX community did what it always does to help a downed rider–it came together to help him back up. Garret Rosh and Jeffrey Upshaw took it upon themselves to pass the bucket at the NBL National in Warsaw, IN, and Joey got a big boost toward covering his expenses.

Joey will be the first to tell you that he has had a hardscrabble life, and when you’ve been through extreme adversity, those people who do right by you are especially close to your heart. There was no way for Joey to know the names of all the people who tossed a Twenty into the bucket for him, so he came up with a way to “pay it forward” at last weekend’s NBL Grand National–as both a thank you to his fans and supporters, and also to put a smile on someone else’s face.

In his own words, Joey talks about his decision:

I decided to do the bike give away to show how thankful I was for the people that came together for me when I had my accident. At the Warsaw national Mr (Dan) Rumple allowed two good friends of mine, Garret Rosh and Jeff Upshaw, to raise money to help me out while I was down and out.

I came from the streets, and you never forget who has done good by you. I wanted to show everyone who helped me how thankful I was for their support, but that would be hard because there is no way of knowing every person who made a donation. So I figured I would give something away that means alot to me — the bike I won my 2010 National title on. I was gonna just keep that bike for the memory of winning the vet title on it, but my TM Gus (Lanzilotta, of Profile/Madera) and I came up with the idea of doing a “mystery moto” giveaway and we picked the 15 challenger class.

And what a foot race it was to watch! Joey deserved the win, and the bike. It was a great feeling to give back and make a kid happy– its all about good karma man.

The “Joey” referred to above is Joey Perry, a 15 Challenger from Cuyahoga Falls, OH. The cosmic symmetry that, of all the riders at the NBL grands, the guy who won the bike is also named Joey is certainly beyond argument. (thus, from this point Joey Albright is “Joey” and Joey Perry is “Joey P”…mmmkay?)

Joey P just started racing this year, and topped a class of 43 riders (see, more symbolism), ending up with NBL National 2 for the year. Nobody on the gate knew they’d be racing for this one-of-a-kind piece of BMX history, as well as the hardware of the day, until just before the cadence started. We caught up with Joey P via Facebook after the race to hear about the whole experience.

When I got on the gate, I went into a zone where I didnt even hear the cadence, so I didn’t know the bike was part of it at all. I just remember seeing that red light, and snapping as hard as I could. I actually got a bad gate start because I tried TOO hard.

I came into the first turn in third place, realizing I had to play a lot of catch-up. I rode as fast, and as hard as possible trying to win the race. When when I crossed that finish line, my mom ran up to me giving me a hug because I won the last NBL Grands my first year racing. My little sister said I won a bike too. I didn’t believe it til I started walking to the tower and Joey Albright shook my hand and said “congratulations,” take good care of it.

I was in shock and so happy and grateful. It meant the world to me, and was the best weekend and happiest day of my life so far!

I only wish and hope to be pro and do the same thing Joey did…making a kid’s day by giving him my bike. What Joey did was awesome! He is such a nice and cool guy. I already liked the way he rode, and thought he was killer-fast. Now that I realized he is a cool nice guy, he is by far my favorite pro!

I love the bike. It is the coolest thing i have ever won! It is sitting in my room, all cleaned up, and is probably gonna stay there for awhile. I don’t know what I am going to do with it yet.

I’d just like to thank my family for getting me to the races and helping me out…and my friends at the local track: Matt, Brandon and Josh…and the rest of my great friends back at Akron BMX for helping me become a fast rider so quickly.

This is one of those stories that is full of awesome at every angle. Congratulations to Joey P, and to Joey A, we hope you’ll give BMX News readers a first look at your new whip when the time comes!

—Mike Carruth

Editors Note: Regarding the headline, 15 Challenger is the equivalent of 15 Intermediate. It will be called intermediate in the 2012 season, so since we never liked the term “Challenger” anyway, we’re getting an early start with the new terminology.