Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

CN 00 (j) ..... . .. . . Kenny Keylon M X's newest works rider By Tom Mueller 1981 500cc MX Rookie of the Year Kenny KeyIon has seen the highs and lows of racing, all in the course of a little over one season. When things looked darkest for Keylon, a lucky break came his wa y. He proved his worth, landed a Hon d a B (p ro support) c~>ntract. moved onto a works bike, 42 ., th en aced a rnoto at th e Texas 250cc National round. Keylon 's co n fidence is at a n all -time high. Keylon filled us in on wh ere he was a t when the'sea son opened in '82. " Well , first off this year I didn 't have a thing going," said Keylon. He rode for Yamaha's pro support program in '81 , but was not resigned in '82. "I don 't know why they let me go. All I know is that one day Kenny Clark (Yamaha racing manager) called me and told me he had bad news, that they didn 't have room for me this year in the budget. That's all he told me . "Then I talked to Greg Arnette (at Honda) and got bikes and parts for the Winter·AMA in Florida. I did • •prerty.wellc even thQugh J.ha.cla few bad breaks, and after th at H ond31 flew .me to a few Golden Stat e (Ca IIforma ) ra ces. Then th ey flew me to Anaheim, th en to Seaule (bo th were Supercrosses) and after Seattle th ey signed me 10 a B contract. " In '82, there are more pro su p po rt riders th an factory riders . on th e National circuit. Keylon helped us better understand what Honda offers their pro sup p ort riders. "There's a mechanic for every two riders (KeyIon and teammate Ron Turner share the services of Ray Hunold). The rider flies 10 the races just like the factory guys do , and our bikes are ready at the races when we get there. We have practice bikes at home-all of our bikes are production modelsand we get paid v- we're on a salary." Keylon didn't wish to disclose the amount a support rider makes. Keylon 's '81 season was culminated by his Rookie of the Year Award, but _.when .we .asked .Keylon . about. it.he seemed rather unimpressed with the honor. "It really meant more to me than I got out of it. They (the press) didn't honor it enough. I thought it was a pretty good thing, but no one else thought much about it ." Keylon has been a top rider in his home state of Florida for years, and during '81 Keylon dealt with a heavy transition, learning how to ride against National talent. His performance was lackluster at times, but moments of glory did surface, with Keylon ending the season ranked 12th overall in the 500cc class. When '82 came around it was a new Keylon out there, for the most part dominating the Winter-AMA, then jumping into the Supercross Series with newfound ambition. Last yea r Keylon fought for a berth in a Supercross final ; at Seattle he took a fifth in the final. What ca used Keylon to show such marked improvement in such a short period of time? " T h e experience (fro m last yea r) helped me a lot, and this ride helped me a lot. The Honda fits me a lot better than the Yamahas did, and I have a lot of confidence in th e Hon das. The people I work with h elp me a bunch. Greg Arnette got me th is ride, and he still helps meand pumps me up before a race. Before this I wa s o n m y own, but thi s is a team , everyth ing's teamwork. " G reg has con vinced me that those factory rider s aren 't a ny better than I am, and now when I get o u t there I don 't think about who th ey ar e and what th ey are. Last year I thought a bo u t that stuff. L ast year when H annah wa s in front of me I got nervo us, now I just keep ga ssing it ." Wh en the 250cc Nat ional MX seaso n opened in March at Cal ifornia 's Hangtown course, Keylon found himself benefitting from a teammate's mi sfortune. Darrell Shultz was inj u red at th e Houston Supercross, leaving a works RC250AF without a rider. KeyIon wa s Honda's choice. " I don 't know wh y they chose me, and I'm not going 10 sa y I'm better than the other Honda pro support riders. Friday night before Hangtown I was already prepared 10 ride a 125, and Honda as ked me if I wanted 10 rid e th e works 250. That was too good to turn down." Keylon has gassed his way to two top five finishes in the three 250cc National rounds so far this season. H e started the year off with a fifth overall at the Hangtown opener, put in a mediocre 12th overall at Saddleback , then returned to form a t Texas , o u t-ru n n in g the pack for the first moro win and carding an eventual fourth overall. He was tied for fifth in the point standings going into last weekend's Florida round. Winning a rnoro at a National round is an accomplishment only a handful of riders see each season. Keylon didn 't make a big deal out of it, but grinned and sa id , " I don 't know , I guess I'm just geuin ' a lilli e faster riding that works bike. It works reall y well and everything's just getting beuer. That bike changed the sea so n a lot and it's going to make things different. I got a good holesho t, and I was going to do all I could with it. I just sta yed out front. The Texas track is sort of sandy like Florida and that helped me ." Motocross hasn't been Keylon 's whole racing experience. He didn't evolve through the mini ranks as many other top MXers did, but instead found hare scrambling first . "Hare scrambling is fun, I love it . I think it helps me with endurance, builds good reflexes from dodging trees in the woods, and it's a change of pace. You can take a weekend off from MXing but still get some riding in ." Florida riders have earned the repu. _ ration .of. being fast in the sand. but ' m an y of them- have fallen short on the fast. hard packed courses of California . Keylon claims the opportunity to ride out west is all that is needed. "As long as I can get out there and try and get practice on that stuff I'll adapt and get as fast out there as I am on the sand. Last year my problem wa s that I didn 't get much time on the hard stuff, but between last year and the time I spent out there this season I'm gelling the hang of it. " Most National MXers have a vision of someday becoming a National Champion, and Keylon is no different. He approaches the situation realistically. . " It's no dream for me , I think I can do it if I keep going, if I keep trying. I just turned 18 in November, I'm just starting. Things are going well this year, I have a lot of help, and I was running up there with the top guys at Seattle. I don 't.see where they're that much better than I am. " Cycle News East is associated with the sloga n " We don 't care how the hell they do it in California." From Keylon 's standpoint, Californians sometimes don 't give a damn about East Coast riders, either. " Yama ha support only picked up one guy on this side of th e United States, Jeff Hicks. I think liv ing in Florida might have hurt me so me . If I had been out there in California it might have been a d ifferent story. I'm not sure. Now th at th e factories are helping the privateer guys travel more, yo u'll see more eastern guys on th e circuit." Keylon 's father , Kenny Keylon Sr., has been i n stru mental in gelling Kenny pointed in the right d irection. "He's all I had for a long time. He'd always tell me stu ff, and lots of times we wouldn 't get along on race da y (Keylo n Sr. wa s and still is a competitive hare scrambler) but I think that helped. Instead of palling me on the back when I did bad, he 'd get on me and tell me there's no excuse, that one day should be as good as the next. Now I think that way . When I messed up, I messed up, no one else, just me ." A friend of Keylon 's through the years, Todd Hempstead, was seriousl y injured while racing last year. Hempstead 's MX career was cut short due 10 the injury. Keylon reflected what a similar situation would cause him to do. "I'd still do something with racing, maybe be a mechanic. I worked on my bikes myself for a long time, and I think I know bikes pretty well. I don 't know what else I'd do. I started racing hare scrambles when I was six until I was l2 .. and then I rnotocrossed. All this big time stuff is pretty new 10 me." Keylon wished to thank all who got him to this point in this career. "All I can say is thanks to everyone who helped, especially my dad. There were so many th ings, like the guy who got me off Suzukis and onto Yarnahas. Because of that Yamaha picked me up a nd helped m e ride the Nationals last yea r. Now Honda is helping me out. There's a whole bunch of folks who got me 10 where I am. " On Sunday. May 2, Keylon returned 10 Sunshine Speedway for the 125/ 250cc National rounds. Keylon has taken more than his share of first place trophies away from Sunshine in the past, but never one of National caliber. This time out he hoped to change that. "I think I can do p retty well at Sunshine. I just hope I get in better shape by then. I can ride the sand pretty fast . but I got tired at Texas the second time out. You can 't afford that at the Nationals." Did Keylon get it together at St . Pete and come up with a top finish? You'll have to read the St . Pete race __ ~Qy~r~g~ il} !l.! ~s.i ~s_l!.e.r!>r !l.!~ i1~~~~rs . •

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