K-Man
03-29-2011, 11:33 PM
To survive 40 years in motorcyle racing, you had to get plenty of help along the way.My first hurtle was convincing my mom to lend me $75 to buy my first bike,a 1968 Suzuki S-32-2 150cc two-stroker.It was doomed halfway through the production run and Jim McIlvena of Mac's Motorcycles in Peterborough,a home-operated Suzuki franchise ,never let me forget it!I pestered Jim and I ,eventually worked for Jim,who paid me Dunlop K-81's ,which helped my fledgling racing career.I rode the halls of high school on my smokey,belching 1972 gt750 water-buffalo...(a publicity stunt with my school class president-elect on the back of my bike)..he won..but my bike was never allowed back in the school again!During those 70's my older brother Keith,had a shiney new 1971 Yamaha R5-C that he and his buddies tried to write-off every time out!Eventually my brother got T-boned by a dumb girl in a green 1972 Maverick ,thus ending my brothers racing career.(at the time he had just purchased 3 plastic number plates on his way home from Mosport,which was our home track a half hours wheelie away from Peterborough)..Flash forward ahead to my first race @ St.Jovite/Mt.Tremblant in 1978.It was a Brimaco Pro Four Hour endurance race and we drew our starting positions ou of a hat.Somebody handed me a #1 slip and I was on the pole for my first race.In those days us street squirrels only cared about wheelies and babes and rock n' roll.When the flag dropped i pulled a decent wheelie for the crowds and took my left hand off the bars and flashed a "i'm nunber one too the adoring crowd!I was so impressed with the wheelie,by the time the front end came down Lang Hindle and the rest of the front row were powering away..Later on I think i handed my bike off to Mike Milne (the crashing Christian) for the second stint and Mike lived up to his reputation by promptly tossing the bike away, puncturing the left hand alternator cover.Later on that night we were at a bar and caught the news hi-lights and you guessed it ,great coverage of my wheelie -king-showboating on tv en francais!Those were the days of Bob Price(who rode kind-a-side-saddle-ish from serious back injuries,Lang Hindle of Lester Wheels fame(who pulled the ultimate boner-move by wheelie-ing over backwards exiting the pits!..ouch!..Yes Colin Fraser,those were the days of the Bell Star 90 ,which afforded only 90 degrees of peripheral vision,it later being replaced by the Bell Star 120.My first racing leathers took me several years to amass the $400 entry fee from Cycle World,an all black onepiece with a red and white stripe up the outseam.Kodiak insulated boots were the norm so poor guys like me could wear them yearound in those cold ontario winters.Gloves were the obligatory paper-thin deerhide brown variant with cheapo black foam strips glued to the MX style hand protectors.Colin was on hand at the registration areas with his clean faced persona and way too good diction and enunciation skills to be seriously believed by the knuckle-dragging road race "fraternity" of wild men on two wheels.Our gang of miscreants where peppered with wild charactors like Rueben "the murderer" McMurter( who was caught with K&N filters on his proddy Kawasaki)Randy "fat toes" Fateaux,Crazy Frank Mrazek,on his wild CBX1050,Yvon DuHamel(known for his close,elbowing-I'll try any-trick in -the book -to pass -you style)...The officials like Ray Bowsman had equally bad reputations for screwing with any racer who tried bad tactics on and off the track.As well as these were Harvey Hudes,the President of Mosport Harrassment International raceway, who had a Harold Ballard style of pissing off lotsa riders like Miles Baldwin,who on occasion would get banned from competition.There were organisational blunders too at Mosport Park during the 400cc animal class where we had at least 60 -80 riders being waved off in three waves.The sanctioning bodies lost control that fateful weekend when a couple of wheelie squids crashed in front of me and engulfed myself and a hard charging Norm Roessler in the melee,resulting in a seriously smashed right foot for me and an ever more devasting string of bone-breakages for poor Normie..We sat moaning and groaning for two hours before we were loaded into the ambulance and finally given some demerall for the painful ride to an Oshawa hospital.Of course I hacked off the plaster cast three weeks later ,so I could race @ Shannonville and maintain my points collection agenda!Years later I still get astonished looks from people who knew many did not survive those 400cc hand-to-hand-combat -years...Death and destruction was commonplace in those wild times@ Mosport with drunken dirt bikers crashing thru your tent @3.a.m,head on crashes with street vehicles on the back stretch(two deaths) and the obligatory trashing and burning of 5-10 4x4's,and cars.etc.etc...Wild racing crashes resulting in more deaths even ensnarled Stevie Baker in turn two when fellow racer Avrum Guidulsky was killed,and youngster Yvan Levac died right in front of me on the backstretch when the rough pavement spit him off his wobbly Interceptor.Tony Marchese was lost from our amatuer superbike ranks @ Shannonville in another racing incident.Look at the list of heros plucked from our midst,Jaarno Sarrinan(the flyin Finn)Joey Dunlop,Johnny Bettencourt,Randy Renfrow who died trying to hobble down a flight of stairs..such tragedy...such a loss...Michel Mercier's young son...on and on...Like I told my first wife...don't ever try to change this man ,honey,you will always be number 2!..there's waaay too much pressure being number 1...we devorced a few years later....I spent my 40 years on motorcyles,26 years on Gixxers and guess what?I still have a couple Gixxers in my stable and I plan on finishing my life living on the Isle of Mann and racing till the racing gods tell me my time is up and pry my dead cold hand off the throttle!When I tell people I'm hard core...I mean it!..And this Irishman is still willing to fight to the death! Wanna Race?