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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542351
W
Happ€nings in
Motorcg cling
Motorcgcle Legends Honored
at
TrailBlazers Eanquet
Over 550 fans
were
in
attendance as four
"Legends
of
Baja,'' Husqvarna-importer Edison Dye and
pioneering
motorcyclist Bud Ekins were honored
at the 63rd annual
TrailBlazers Hall
of
Fame
Banquet at the Petersen Automo-
tive Museum in Los Angeles, California,
on
April
l.
Dave
Ekins, who was the first motorcyclist
to set a time
record from
Tijuana to La Paz in the early
'60s,
former Baja
racer and factorT Montesa-pilot Ron Nelson,
original 1967
Mexican
1000 co-winnerJ.N. Roberts
and lo-time Baia
100O-winner
Larry Roeseler were all inducted as
part
of
the show's
"Legends
of Baja" segment. Former Husqvarna-
importer Edison Dye,
the man who was largely responsible
for the
explosion of the spon of motocross in America,
received TrailBlazers Lifetime Achievement Award. Bud
Ekins, whose
exploits
in
competition as well as in
the
movies made him
a motorcycling icon from the
'50s
through the
'70s,
received the Dick Hammer Award for
Drive, Desire
and
Determinarion.
The Hammer Award is
the highest accolade
that can be bestowed on a TrailBlazers
membec
The
gala
event also featured
a
large
motorcycle
show,
comprised of over 75 antique, vintage
and historically sig-
nificant motorcycles. Tom Hensley won Best of
Show with
a motorcycle that has received much
attention of late,
thanks to a maior motion
picture
about its accomplish-
ments: Hensley brought the original Burt Monro
Special
1935 lndian
streamliner to the event. This was the
original
bike that served
as the
premise
for the Woridi Fostest lndi-
on, starring Anthony Hopkins.
"l
really
think that this shows that we have rurned a corner
and brought this
event to a new level,'' TrailBlazers Motorcycle Club president Keith
lvlashburn
said.
''The
bike
show and awards
program
went
well.
lt's
especially exciting to us
that the Petersen lYuseum
expressed anterest in having us return in the future."
White Brotherc co-founder Tom White, who
organized the motorcycle show
and co-emceed
the awards ceremony
event with l,lashburn, said that he enjoyed
!he eventtremendously.
''The
attendance was the best we've
ever
had.
lt was
just
awesome
to be a
part
of it. I had
one of the best
jobs
in
the
place,
I think all of the Hall of Famers,
when they realized
the effort that was
put
into their induction, were really
taken
aback. This is really something that I want
to continue to be a
pan
ol"
That
point
was not lost
on either Roberts
or Roeseler, who both expressed
tremendous
gratitude
for being inducted on the same niSht as the Ekins
brothers.
''l'm
really touched by this," Roeseler said-
"l
didn't really expect this,
but
I'm
proud
to
be
a TrailBlazer,
and
you
can
bet that
I'll
never miss another one of these
[events]
again."
Scott Rousseau
TroilBlozer* MC
prcridcnt
Keirh Moshburn (left)
ond co.emcee lom
While
(rishr)
flonk rhe
2006 induclees into the TroilBlozers Holl of
Fome. The indu.tcer includ.d
(lsfr
ro
rightl, J.N. Robertr, Bud Ekins,
Ron Nelson, Lorry noeseler
ond
Dove
Ekins.
90
APR|L 12,
2006
.
CYCLE NEWS
TrqilBlozers
boord ol dire