Elena Myers
Noted 15-year-young female roadracer
2002 Yamaha PW50
"My dad raced with the AFM in California before I was born, so motorcycles have been in our family for a long time. When I was 8 my dad got me a Yamaha PW50, and I rode it at the kart track at Stockton. I still ride there every Monday night on my Kawasaki KX250 supermoto bike. I went from the PW50 to a KX60 and began to do a little flat-track and supermoto racing, finishing third against two previous supermoto champions. I really love the pavement and it's where I do the best, so for '04 I began to concentrate more on roadracing.
"We got involved with SCMiniGP, and I had my first race on a 125 with them up in Portland. I got my Expert license that first weekend, when I was just 11. From there it was just practice, practice, practice. I ran a couple races up north and really had a good time, and then we ran a USGPRU race. The next year I ran a lot of USGPRU races with WERA and the 125 class with AFM. Now I'm riding for Kawasaki on a ZX-6R, which I love, and I'm racing with WERA, WSMC and the AFM. I turn 16 in November, so then I can get my professional license and can race with the AMA. I can't wait!"
Paul Ritter
Two-time AMA Superbike winner
1960s Honda CB160
"In '68, I had finally saved enough to afford a motorcycle. I was 20 and clueless about motorcycles; there were no MSF courses or other beginning rider education sources in those days. I did get one valuable piece of advice from somewhere: Start with a small motorcycle, learn to ride it, and then replace it in a year's time with a 'real' motorcycle if I still wanted to be a rider. It was good advice.
"I saw a used Honda CB160 that had low mileage and was in my price range. The owner didn't have a garage and was keeping it in his living room. It was red! Aside from needing a new battery it was perfect, so I bought it. "As mentioned, I was fairly clueless. Nobody told me that a 160 wasn't suitable for touring, so I went touring. I rode it from Berkeley, California, to Bakersfield. It was about 270 miles by the most direct route, but I thought the trip through the flat Central Valley would be boring. Instead, I looked at a map and decided to take the 101 Freeway south to Santa Margarita, then turn east on Highway 58 to Bakersfield, making it more like 350 miles. I was pretty sore after that trip! I learned that the 160 was great for getting to school, going shopping or running into San Francisco, but it was no touring bike. I caught the bug from it, however, and replaced it with a Honda CB350 after a year."
Don Emde
1972 Daytona 200 winner, AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame member and publisher of Parts magazine
"When I was a kid, my older brother Bob raced every Friday night at Ascot Park, and I got to go along to watch. That's when the bike bug bit me. I knew my dad had raced, but didn't really know the magnitude of his accomplishments at that age. My first racebike was a used 80cc K15 Suzuki with a 97cc 'big-bore' kit. I used to race it in the 100cc class in the scrambles races down in San Diego. My dad bought that bike from Dallas Baker, a Pro racer and builder working at Irv Seaver Suzuki in Santa Ana, California. Dallas had built the bike for this young kid named Dave Aldana, but Dave was pretty quick and had already advanced to the 250cc class, so the K15 was parked. Dad bought the bike, painted it red, and I was ready to roll. A few years later, that Aldana guy and I were teammates on the factory BSA roadrace team.
"My first race was on Easter Sunday in '66 at Dehesa Speedway, east of El Cajon. I remember that when I rode, I envisioned myself as one of the big guys racing at Ascot. The following year I moved up from the K15 to a Bultaco Lobito, which I raced in the 100cc Expert class in District 38. I ranked third that year! In '68 I got a twin-pipe Suzuki TM250 that I raced in the 250cc Expert class, and then in '69 I got my AMA Pro license for the Novice class. That was a great time in my life. From there I got into roadracing, and then it was just a few years until I won the Daytona 200 aboard the Yamaha 350--24 years after my father had won it in '48."
Rick "Super Hunky" Sieman
Original editor of Dirt Bike magazine and author of Monkey Butt
1956 Triumph 650
"The mechanic grabbed a clipboard and shuffled through a few sheets. 'Let's see...this here is a '56 TR-6, and if we go through the bike and detail it out for you, it'll sell for $500. Take it like it is and you can have it for $300.' I counted out my money on the greasy glass countertop, stuffed the title into my pocket and sat on my Triumph. Sitting there, ready to ride, I realized I didn't know how.
"For the next half-hour, I terrorized at least a dozen shoppers, scraped the paint on four cars, hit two empty shopping carts and nearly got hit by a Wonder Bread delivery truck driven by a Cuban smoking a joint the size of a Marsh-Wheeling cigar with a glazed look in his eyes. But by the end of that 30-minute period, I actually learned the basics of starting, stopping, turning and, of course, stalling and re-starting the bike."
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