Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127369
eINTERVIEW e Camel Pro SerieSRookie 01 the YeafMike Hale . - , , By Paul Carruthers Photos by Bert Shepard hile most high school students will fake a sick note or two in order to seek reprieve from the daily grind of teach ers, bad cafeteria food and homework, Mike Hale will be fabri cating excus es in order to live ou t wh at he calls a dream. Racing . motorcycles and getting paid for it. T he high school se n io r, wh o happens to be the AMA Camel Pro Series Rooki e of the Year, is curren tly p repari ng hi s first sick note in order to attend the Dayton a Shott Track, the op ening round of the 1991 AMA Grand Nat ional Championship. W 26 Bu t don 't tak e Hale for you r ordinary Ferris Bu ell er. Th e li keab le ' Texan carr ies a B-grade point average and plans on attending college after , graduation. And he's already got a good job. " I do a co-op program at hi gh scho ol ,righ t now that allows me to get out of schoo l at 12:35 to go to work," H ale sai d . "Mike H al e R a cin g, is m y employer, so 1 get to come hom e ear ly and ride and work out. " ' Alth ou gh missing a few days here and there has had little effect on hi s grades, H ale still faces the scruti ny of th e school board. " Last year th e stat e govern ment passed a law that a stud ent must be in schoo l for, 1 th i n k, 80 da ys a semester," he said. "So some da ys I may have to bring in a sick note or something. The principal and my teachers kn ow what I' m up to so it's 'n o secret here at school. 1 shouldn 't have to m iss any races this year. " But all · is not perfect for the rider fro m Carrollton, T exas, which is locat ed in the Dallas area. For the .second year in a row, Hale will arrive in Florida at less than 100 percent. A crash in the Bologna Shott Track in Ital y in December left H a le with bro ken bones in hi s left forearm an d wrist. T he injury required surgery and he'll race in 1991 wi th some added hardware - a tit an ium pl ate and seven screws. " At least it's titanium ," Hale said . "T he bone will be stronger and I'll have su rgery in December to take it out. But it'll be there for the season ." All this comes after last year's offseason bout with a glandu lar infection that saw him released from the hospital only [our days before his first race at Daytona. "I' ve on ly been back on the bi ke for a little over a week," Hale said only two weeks prior to leaving for Daytona. " T he first week the wrist was coming along pretty slow an d it was sore, but th is last weekend it came back real goo d." T he wri st injury, Hale says, will be easier to deal with than last ' year's sickness: " At least I'm on my feet now ," he said. " I didn't see daylight •