Living on the Edge
A motorcycle is not meant to slide. It’s unnatural. You have to make it happen. And whether it happens by mistake or by skill, it’s one of the single most exhilarating sensations a human body can experience. You are on the edge of traction – crashing, but not crashing. This is flat track racing.
I grew up racing motorcycles in Eastern Canada in the late ’70s and ’80s during a period when the American Grand National Championship flat-track racing was in its glory days. Roberts, Springsteen, Shobert and my favourite racer of all time, Ricky Graham, were legends in their prime. Although I’ve spent more than 40 years racing motocross, road racing, supermoto, ice racing, desert rally and off-road, the addictive sliding sensation of American flat track is what appeals to me most. So in early March, I buy a little van, throw my old Honda dirt tracker and a bunch of stuff in the back and drive the 3,000 km from snow-covered Moncton, N.B., to be a part of the 78th Daytona Bike Week.
THE FIELDS ARE DEEP AND RACING IS ALWAYS BAR-TO-BAR AND THRILLING
On March 14, the Daytona TT kicks
