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30 years of competition, unforgettable times & tracks, great friends, and the thrill of racing bikes accross the years
Background
I grew up in Bothell, Washington (suburb of Seattle) in the 60's & early 70's. There were a couple of older neighbor kids in our quiet dead-end street neighborhood that first got a dirt bike. They were to start me on my life-long affair with motorcycles, but also to become best friends all through my teens and twneties. Kevin & Kerry Milligan lived down the street and along with a couple other neighbors started to ride dirt bikes.
There was vacant land and woods in our neghborhood back then, perfect little sections to set up some makeshift "tracks". The first bikes in our group were a Suzuki TC120 Cat, Suzuki 150cc street twin. Then my best friend at that time, Kerry Milligan got an early Suzuki K80 "Hillbilly" 2 stroke scrambler.
I used to go bum rides on my other buddy's (George Venema) Honda S65 and also watch him and his brother ride the wheels off their 1971 Yamaha mini-enduro JT1. Well, I wanted a bike soooo bad. My parents were not thrilled about the idea of their 12 year old getting a bike. My father said if I earnedmy own money, then I could get it, so I started a paper route...from there I learned how to ride on the Honda S65. First gear only and using the clutch at first, then being taught how to shift and in short time I was tearing around the woods taking turns on my buddys S65.
Soon after my buddy's dad annouced he was getting him a new SL100! WOW what a REAL dirt bike!! Well, the good news was I was able to convince my buddy to sell me his S65 for $115.00. I had saved the cash, so I was the VERY PROUD owner of one little 4 stroke bike.
It wasn't long before I got better riding the bike up and down our dead-end street, on the water pipeline riight-of-way at my grandparents, and dicovering some gravel pits accross town. Kerry Milligan and I started dicing it out K80 2 stroke versus S65 4 stroke.... and off I went on racing anything on 2 wheels!!