From the time I came home from the hospital as a baby I was surrounded by dirt bikes. My room was already filled with dirt bike wallpaper, I had a hand crafted dirt bike rocker, and my dad would play motocross vhs tapes while I was sleeping. For my second birthday I learned to ride a PW50 without training wheels for the first time and my passion for two wheels has only grown from there. I raced amateur nationals like Loretta Lynn’a for 14 years straight (qualifying for two classes for 14 consecutive years without ever using a backup region, for those who know what I’m talking about), then my dad ran out of money… In a last ditch effort he agreed to let me pack up my things at age 15 and drive down to a training facility with my best friend in hopes of an opportunity arising.

Graciously, both training facilities allowed me to ride for free, so I spent that year learning Supercross on my KX450 with 200+ hours and outdoor suspension & sleeping on my friend’s couch in his RV. I made it a point to be doing my laps with Justin Barcia, Martin Davalos and other riders of status so that I would be noticed, which paid off as I was signed to Babbitts/GPF Kawasaki in the 2010 AMA Arenacross series. I went on to win the championship in my first year! After that season I was still left with no support to make my push into Supercross until a man named Rudy, now a great friend, stepped in and funded my rookie Supercross season of his own pocket. Together we packed up a Honda 250f that he purchased from a dealership a week before the first race and headed to Houston Supercross 2011. I had never been to a Supercross event in person before, so I was shocked and intimidated to say the least! I was able to qualify 16th overall in timed qualifying to all of our disbelief then qualify straight to the main event from the heat race, which in hindsight I am so proud of that accomplishment.

For the next 6 years I rode the rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows of trying to “make it”. With multiple top 5 finishes in Supercross main events accumulated by 2016, I began realizing my potential as a coach. I created the concept of Aj Catanzaro Moto-X Academy (now The Moto Academy), built out the business plan, created the website and took the risk of booking a few tracks around the country to attempt to fill up some classes! After all those years of racing, amateur and professional, teaching is where I found my passion.