Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

III Will miss his enthusiasm and pa ssion for life and going left on a dirt trock." Good Brownie? I do n't k no w about Jim Wilkey (Vo ices, Issue #44) , bu t I was at the MGM Gran d a nd he ard A n drew Sh o rt te ll t h e c row d it was his own fa u lt fo r l eav ing the do or open in h is ba ttle w ith Mi k e B ro wn . Most p eopl e w ho h a v e been a round racing for a n y amount of time would agree th is was a r a c i n g i nc i dent. Short had the o ption of braking harder and cutti ng to th e inside, but he took his chanc es and paid the price . This is professional racing, and from time to time two ri ders t ry to occupy the same spa ce at th e same time. Back around 1995 a simil ar in cid ent occ urred be tween Ryan Hugh es and Mike Cra ig late in th e 250c c M ain a t t he S an D ieg o Superc ros s, and tempers fl are d after the race ended , as so me of yo u may remember. E v e n though a couple of day s have pa ssed si nce I rec ei v ed m y la test issu e of Cycle News, I a m st il l somewhat i n sho ck ov er Wilke y 's bad karma desi re of wanting th e Hughes/Brown W ashoug al in c i dent to have resul ted in Brown 's caree r ending in motocr oss . I u su a lly resp ec t th e opini on s o f o the r s, but Wil key 's c o m me nt just leav es m e sh a k ing my head as t o how a nyone c an w ish for anoth er person to ha ve serio u s inj urie s in fl icted upon the m . MIcha el Rigdon vla ftle Internet Bad Bike? I just had to respo nd to the ridi cul ou s letter sent in by reader T im Pil g, who is sick and tired of hear ing John Ho p ki n s a nd K enn y Ro berts Jr. bad mouth ing th e Su zu k i. It is o bvio us that Mr. Pilg has never been a racer. In Kenny's case, how do yo u think it fee ls to go from being a race wi nner (as a matter of fact, one of the few to have actually beaten Mick Doohan in a straight -up figh t) a nd a W or l d Ch am pi on , to fighting hard just to get a poi nt or two? A nd fo r Ho p pe r, to land t he "dr eam ri d e " with a facto ry team , on ly to finish every race we ll down in points from his rookie-year's results? You see, Mr. Pilg , they are racing for some thing much bigger than just a paychec k . T hey race to win races a n d c ha mpio ns hips . And getti ng smoked by racers w ho have far less ab il ity reall y hu rt s. D on 't you th in k t ha t pe rhap s the rea son Nicky Hayden is quick er is bec ause he is on the best bike? I've go t ne w s fo r yo u. Mr. Pilg. If N ick y were o n a Suzuk i , h e w ou l d als o be a backmar k er. So , plea se sp a r e y ou r ca t ( or I ma y hav e to cont act PET A ). c ut th e bo ys some slack, and j oin m e in hop ing that Suzuk i wi ll give our American racers a co m pe titive m ach in e. Howard Halterman vla ftle Internet Ken Maely Thanks for th e story o n Ken Ma el y. He was truly one of the grea t cha racters of A m eri c an d irt track racing . No one de serves the cover of Cycle News more th an him . I reca ll m eeti ng Ken in the ear ly 19 70s at th e San J o se Mi le. He was b usy repa ir in g a cus to me r 's steel shoe in the pit area when a Jun io r class rid er made the unfortun at e m ista ke of making a test b last a littl e too close to Ken, coveri ng hi m i n d ust. Ke n looked u p momentarily fro m his work and gave th e ride r a loo k I'll never fo rget. Th is was foll owed by a short but effective w a rn ing t o th e rid er who I am sure never fo rgot th e m essage. I had the good fortu ne to see Ken a few m on t hs ago when my sons (1 1 and 13 years o ld) and I we re invited to his ranch for a day of ridi ng with some of ou r fr iends from American Ho nda . Their reaction to Ken was the same as that of your son , and they we re both very saddened to learn of his dea th. I am just really happy that they got to m eet Ke n and make this connect ion wit h th e h i st o r y o f o ur sport. Steve storz vla ftle Internet Ken Maely II I was at K en M a e l y ' s th e S u n da y b efore h e pass ed aw ay. K en w a s nowhere to be fou nd , so I parked next to the track and waited. He appeared on his little Ho nda and apologized for not being there when I ar rived ; he was grading on the h illside n ext t o th e track, getting ready fo r a visi t fro m an inspector. I signed up, and he sai d he could n' t stay lo ng, as t he C A T was runn ing o n the hil l, and yo u ha d to be careful shutting it down because of the turbo . This story was re peated three ti mes when I was the re - he neve r did shut it down, he just k ept on grading . After a couple of rides h e reapp ea r ed a nd wate red th e track . He stayed and chatted for a while as he sat in his water truck, taki ng a keen interest in the two En glish g ras strack bikes I had w it h m e. I le aned ove r his three large do gs and sh ow ed him a Europ ean gr asstrack /l on gtra ck mag azi ne. He w as li ke a k id , with eyes wide o pe n flipping through the pa ges and l ov ing eve ry minute. I showed hi m that I had another 15 issues w ith me, and he said , 'Til be right back ... just c a n' t l e a ve th e CAT r u n n i ng because of th e tu rb o. " K en c a me b ac k mayb e a n h our late r. We talked some more about my bikes, hi s bi kes, and his wife Ros e. He was truly in love w ith Rose. I p a ck e d u p and g av e him m y D ayton a Sp eed w ay bo ot a nd steel shoe for repair. He had hardfaced m y other one, an d I asked him to do th e sa me agai n . " Yo u kn ow t h es e are made fro m th e d oors of sc rap vehi cles ," he sai d. I k new , as he tol d me that sto ry last time. We we nt u p t o h is shop, a nd h e fina lly sat down . He ha d he ld his side several tim es; the staples were hurting h im fro m his ho spit al visit, and he was to get t he m remo v e d o n th e co ming Th ursd ay. W e t al k ed m ore about rac in g , my g rasst rackers , his speedway bike a nd Chin a . I asked hi m i f he w a s on the Pr e sid e nt ' s undesirable list for working wi th the Chinese government - he smiled and said he didn't think so. They picked him because he was the best man for t he job. It wasn't his fault that they were right. He said that he had plans to start bu ild ing the Maely again in modern laydown form . He just had a few things to clea r up, and he'd be ba ck in th e speedway bike bus iness . He then got up and gave me the tou r he had everything ready to get back buildi ng engines except a flow ben ch . H e h a d sold hi s Su p e rfl o w 110 because he co uld build a better one. I gave h i m my a d dress for the s hoe , a n d w e sai d goodbye . H e w is hed I co ul d stay lon g er and t al k cue I e n so me more , but I had a lo ng d ri ve, and he had to get ba ck to his CAT the turbo. A s I left , he was telling an em ployee to be th ere at 7 a.rn , sharp to ge t ready for the inspect or - th ere was a lot still to do. I got m y st eel sh o e back on th e We d ne sd ay that Ken passed away. Th ere was a note on the in vo ic e say ing that Ken had enjoyed ta lking with me . I had on ly met him fo ur tim es all visit s t o hi s ran ch fo r a b l astin g sess ion. I fee l like I've k nown him forever and will m iss his ent husiasm and passi on fo r life and goin g left on a d irt track . M a /co/rn Roe vla ftle Internet Barona Oaks And The Fire I'm not a relig io us ma n. but if I were, I'd conclude tha t God definitely loves motocrosse rs. Th ere' s a lo t of clea ning up to do at Baron e Oa k s Rac eway in Ramona, Ca lifornia , and the bath room struc tu res at th e south side of the facility are a total loss , but th at' s about it ! I climbed to a vantage point above the track to get some panoramic pi ct ures and found , for the most part , ho mes surroun ding the track had also been spared. A cer tai n irony dawned on me. The very nuisance (i.e .: o ur motocross track) that t hese h om eowners have. for so many years, hated a nd viciously foug ht to do away wi th, acted as a fire break and m o st li k e ly saved thei r homes an d possi bly their lives. It was also o bvi o us that the m o t o c ro ss tra c k / fir e b rea k delaye d t he adva ncement o f the fi re, bu y in g va lu ab le evac ua tion time for the rest of the co m m un ity as well. Peter Golden EI CqJon, CA e _ S • N OVEMBER 12, 2003 5

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