The
"I read DIRT RIDER
from cover to cover.."
-Dick Bettencourt
PHOTOS BY PAUL BUCKLEY
Name: Dick Bettencourt
Occupation: Owner and President, Bettencourt's Honda/Suzuki, West Bridgewater, Mass.,
Dick Bettencourt's Honda, North
Attleboro, Mas~.
Current projects: "We're
really involved in motorcross and
sponsor about 20 riders, including JoJo Keller. I also call myself
'the Trail Boss' because I take
my friends and customers out
riding every Thursday."
Riding history: "My father
ran a machine shop and a lot of
guys who raced motorcycles
would come in and ask me to
make parts for their bikes. I
bought myself a race bike and also began studying machine design
at Columbia University. I went
to work for Butler & Smith, the
BMW importer, as a sales rep
and racer. I was an Expert flattracker for 15 years. I got into
scrambles when it started here
and was President of the New
England Sports Committee,
which brought the Europeans
over to race and pretty much
started motocross in this country.
When my father died I came
back to run the machine shop
and later became a Honda dealer.
All three of my sons race: John
finished second in the country iri
Superbike points last year, David
is an Expert flattracker, and
Mark is 'an Expert motocrosser."
Riding preference: "Trail
riding is still exciting to me, even
after 40 years. I ride the Colorado 500, various local events,
and take a two-week trip to Baja
every year. According to Mike
Leone of Mike's Sky Ranch, I'm
the only guy who takes a group
of riders all the way to LaPaz
and back every year. A lot of
people ride Baja but only go
about halfway down. Twelve
years ago we rode across Africa
for six weeks without seeing any
pavement. Last year we rode
China on street bikes and this
spring we've signed up for a motorcycle safari in Tibet. We'll
stop at the base camp at Mt. Everest, which is 10,000 feet and
will travel to altitudes over
20,000 feet. They're trying to rig
up some way of having oxygen
on the bikes."
Bikes currently owned:
1987 XR250R; 1985 Honda
XL600LM Paris-Dakar; 1982
Honda CB 11ooR; 25 antique motorcycles, including 1907 and
1913 Indian Twins and a 1936
Nimbus.
Magazine: "DIRT RIDER is
my favorite magazine. I like Ed
Hertfelder and the "Trail Tips,"
which I find very informative.
They're written in an easy-to-understand way and have good pictures. I read all of the road tests
in· order to keep on top of things.
In fact, I read DIRT RIDER
from cover to cover.
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