Although Jimmy and elder brother Gregg were introduced to bikes at a fairly young age by their dad Brian, they were spared pressure:

"I didn't start racing competitively in the amateurs until I was about 14. I'd ride a lot of local stuff, but we just did it for fun and I got to do a lot of things as a kid that a lot of the racers didn't get to do; I got to play school sports and have a normal life, hanging out with my friends.

"I played baseball a bit, pretty much anything that we wanted to do my dad supported and we did. If I didn't feel like racing, we didn't race. My dad put money into it, I had a bike, we could be planning on going to a race some weekend and something came up, perhaps I wanted to have a sleepover with my friends or go play basketball, it was not a big deal. It was nice my parents giving me the option like that. I am really thankful to them.

"Looking back, I am so glad that I didn't have that pressure. I got to do a lot of fun stuff; there's a couple of those kids I raced against in the amateurs who are really screwed in their head. There's one of them been racing over here in the early races !"

Even the first Amateur National ride came by chance.

"My dad actually won a vacation to any place he wanted for being top salesman of the month, he saw there was a race in Vegas and said, "Heah you want to go race Vegas", and I ended up racing the World Mini GP.

"I was a kid, I didn't know anything, I ended up getting 7th in one of my classes, doing pretty good, but to me it was terrible, it sucked. Like I was from Missouri where I was good, I didn't understand that 7th was really good. We turned up for fun, to do the "amateurs" and saw all these people taking it so seriously."

The bug had bitten however.

"I raced the 125 novice class at Loretta's, that's the lowest class there; I ended up winning it, and I really wanted to try it after that. I did a year in "B" and didn't do so well, didn't do good at all, and at that point we realised I had to go do something so I moved down to Texas to train with Shannon Niday.

"Riding "intermediate" class I did really well, I think I won ten championships, but my last year as an amateur I didn't do so well. I was big as a kid - I actually moved up to big bikes when I was 12 years old - but I really haven't grown much since I was 14. I actually weighed more when I was 14 than I do now. I worked decently hard, but I didn't work hard enough. I got a lot of podiums, but I never won anything and didn't really get a ride up into the Pro ranks.

"I don't want to make any excuses, but the body I was given from God is not ... I've done the physical tests and exam(ination)s and it seems like everyone's like, "yeah, you're lacking in this, you're lacking in that, but you must be really strong in the head because you keep on pushing no matter what".

"I was just like, OK, so you're telling me physically my body is not up to par like somebody else's body. You're just born with it, you're either born (naturally) athletic or you're not. I've worked really hard and I feel like I'm in great shape and I can go the distance just as much as anybody else. I probably worked just as hard as any other amateur, it just wasn't working for me. I've definitely learnt from it, and I probably have to work a lot harder than most people to get to the same level."

With no factory contract waved under his nose, the summer of 2006 was almost over when Jimmy got to ride his first Pro National.

"My first National was Millville. I got 16th my first Pro race which was good, not bad."

To realise how good here's the finishing order of that race: Short, Villopoto, Hepler, Alessi, Grant, Lawrence, Hahn, Dungey, Gosselaar, Goerke, Metcalfe, Adams, Boniface, Weimer, Carpenter, Jimmy, Danny Smith, Brayton, Hill. One of only two privateers in the race, Jimmy passed and repassed with Jake Weimer in the early laps. Head problems put Jimmy out of race two within a couple of laps, but he had earnt a ride for the rest of the summer.

"I got picked up by Star Racing and just did absolutely terrible. It just poured down with rain, I was out of shape, I would fade, and that was kinda my shot, my opportunity and I really blew it. After that no-one wanted to sponsor a kid who was out of shape and can't go the distance so I really struggled the next two years, trying to find myself and find where I was at."

A 16th at the 2007 Indy SX, one of the three rounds he could attend, and an 18th at Hangtown from 27th on lap one started the year; here again the roll call of that race - Villopoto, Townley, Dungey, Grant, Lawrence, Hahn, Metcalfe, Tickle, Goerke, Hill, Rodrigues, Davalos, Boni, Chisholm, Weimer, Boniface, Laninovich, Jimmy, Jesseman, Kelly Smith, Morais with Zach Osborne 25th – but then a broken femur whilst practicing ended his year.

"2008 I got picked up for the SX by this little Suzuki support team of Suzuki City and it was their first year doing it. It was just a first year team, everybody struggles their first year and our bikes weren't the greatest, but we went out there and did what we could with what we had. I ended up 15th overall, but I had a 5th at Daytona before I broke a collarbone in the middle of the series."

In the second half tomorrow Jimmy talks about 2008 and his first factory ride, the ups and downs of 2009, his ambassadorial role in racing the GPs, and how he is settling down in Europe. C U tomorrow on mx-pure.com !