Cycle News

INTERVIEW DANE WESTBY P90 throwback in an age of polished (borderline programmed) talents, many of whom can't even claim ownership of a license to legally ride a motorcycle on the street. Westby's the kind of rider who hops on his bike, swings over to his girlfriend's place, gives her a lift to the track, and then fights his way to the podium come race day. Actually, he did just that ear- lier this year. Now keep in mind that Westby lives in Oklahoma, his girlfriend (fellow racer Patricia Fernan- dez) is based in Virginia, and the track in question happens to be Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. "I have a big old purple touring bike," Westby said. "My dad and I used to do a lot of touring, but we're kind of busy nowadays you know. So I just popped the old bike out and rode to Virginia. [Patricia] needed some help with some stuff there with her house and some other stuff. So I rode up there for two weeks before that event and then she hoped on the back and we rode it to Road America. "The bike actually fell over in her driveway right before we were going to leave and broke the footpeg off. It's got the rear brake and all this stuff attached on this one little piece of metal - it was a nightmare, dude. But I was out there in the driveway pulling my hair out going through a bunch of disorganized tools trying to find what I needed. I fi- nally found this old drill and some funky sized bits and some safety wire that was the wrong size. But I safety-wired it all back together good enough to make it happen. And we hopped on and rode and it was a good time for sure. It was nice just us being out. There's nothing like a bike trip." Last fall the two traveled an even greater distance together - to Northern Ireland - where Fer- nandez was slated to race. West- by's newfound independence provided him the freedom to take advantage of a last-minute offer to jump on a GSX-R600, which he promptly guided to fourth place in the Sunflower Trophy at Bishopscourt. It was an eye-opening experi- ence. "Everybody there knows and loves bikes," he said. "It's weird. We went into the local pub the first night and they were like, 'Oh, you must be Patricia Fernandez.' It was really cool. "We were staying at this cou- ple's house and down the street some guy has a bunch of Joey Dunlop's bikes sitting in his attic. He had like eight of his racebikes and had turned his attic into a shrine to Joey Dunlop. He also had a bunch of other guys' rac- ers and memorabilia. It was like a little museum. It was crazy. It re- ally was a trip how into bikes they are over there. It was refreshing. Here we're a niche sport and there we are the sport." "TAKING HOME THE TWO WINS WAS REALLY TURNING A NEW PAGE. I WENT FROM BEING A GOOD RIDER TO REALIZING THAT I AM AS FAST AS ANYONE IN THAT FIELD." - Dane Westby (Right) The Westby team is lean and mean and arrives at the track with a trailer pulled by a rented truck. (Far right) Westby and his father Tryg – doing it old school style in the AMA paddock.

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