Joe Sheppard has so much style on a dirt bike, and it was super extended double grab indy's like this that won him the Underground Tour last year. Not everything has gone to plan for the 2010 series however, and Joe needs a solid performance at the last round to have a hope of retaining his crown. Joe hit us up with this update on the 2010 series...

So far we're three rounds down with one to go, and I'm sitting third in points behind Luke Saunders and Adam Grope. We started off in Rockhampton, where the guys at Project FMX had put together an awesome course with back to back ramp hits, dirt hits and a 120ft ramp. The technical courses definately suit my style better, and I ended up in third place, although I stuffed my run in the final and probably should have done better.

Round two was out at Boonah, and the course was pretty basic with just the two 75ft ramp hits and a small 50ft ramp. I wasn't feeling too bad, although the boring courses really aren't my thing anymore. I ended up against round one winner Jason Royzski in the head to head rounds, and I decided to try a recliner to no hand lander as my first jump... probably wasn't a good idea as I ended up face first in the dirt. No major injuries, but I banged myself up a bit and was feeling pretty stiff for the next week or so! Even with my crash I managed a fifth place, so it wasn't a complete disaster.

The guys at Black Duck Valley hosted round three of the tour and they put together a simple but fun course with two downramps, one with a 75 and 85ft ramps, and the other with a 75ft ramp and a 65ft dirt hit. My shoulder and hip were still hurting from last weekends dirt nap, so I decided to keep my runs pretty safe and basic and try to get in as many tricks as I could in the 90 seconds. I qualified okay in fourth, but just got beaten by Gropes in the head to heads so I ended up in fifth position. Not what I was after, but considering how I was feeling it wasn't too shabby.

The last round is on October 2nd in Gympie, and I'm keen to step it up and get a good result up there. Zac McKenzie has an awesome course, and I think there will be some cool technical stuff I can do up there which will work in my favour. Well I hope so anyway. I'm still only six points down on Revy in the standings, so I'm not gonna give up on defending my Underground Tour title just yet.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

Cheers

Joe

• By Allan H