Favorite local rider.....

John250 said:
Forgot about Chucky.....wonder what Reed is up to these days.
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Chuck is selling bird seed :). he is still in Blanchester and sells gourmet bird seed. he was thinking of getting i bike at one point last year, but never did. sucks because it would be great to race with chuck again. we have raced together since we were 11 years old. me, chuck, and james eickel grew up racing together. miss those days for sure.
 
My favorites-- Jeff Hicks, Jerry Sales, Gary Easton, Harold Robinson, John Leak, Fred and Joel Andrews, John resien. And having the pleasure of racing for yrs with Phil Andrew and jock. all local racers at malvern, smith road, western reserve, crash and burn, lexingtons,Mid-Ohio and i think the track was valley view malverns side kick track night races. Sorry if miss spelled anything or names.
 
OK how about from the mid 80's Jeremy Buhl, Mark Weaver, Troy Graham, James Jermer, Tim Fraizer, Joe Evener

and some fast b/ schoolboy riders riders back in the day John Agin, John Rhinehart
 
Joshua Sweat at pleasure valley wow unbelievable then a few bad decisions and years later he was killed in a drug deal gone bad
 
I started thinking about who is a local hero to me right now (not back growing up), and its a little strange but as I get older I look more towards the veteran guys that go fast, like freakin Bill leake. Holy smokes, 57 years young, and he can jump everything on the big track, and carry a good clip. I just hope that #1, I can still physically ride at his age, and #2, I still have the motivation to go like him. Another younger but still 40+ guy is Jon Agin, the 40 minute moto machine. And of course Marc "the smooth operator" Sharc. I like seeing the vets move at an above average pace, gives me some hope for the future.
 
I vividly recall watching Mark Musselman in 125A circa 1992 at Dayton MC. He was on a loaner KTM125 that was old at the time and went 1-1 in 125A.

Mark Burkhart was the all-time great for me. Smooth and very, very fast.
 
Watching Dunaway , Hill , Strunk and Burkhart lineup at Grumpy and Wild Wilderness was the best. Mark seemed to defy gravity while riding. I had just returned back to riding after a 10 year lapse and watching those guys fly on the D-11tracks was awesome.
 
BriarcliffMx said:
My favorite local rider from way back in the day is Troy Graham, I am bummed that he cant ride anymore.
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+1 on troy! I used to ride at his practice track and spent more time watching. I lived just over the hill from Bill Leake's mom and dad, he would come over and watch me ride, give a little coachin' and alot of sassin' ! Bill will never quit and will always be fast, makes me mad!
 
John Agin was in that wicked fast schoolboy class in 1985 along with John Vanhorn, John Rhinehart, James Miller , Ed Allander, and may other fast guys I just cant remember the names

they were as fast as the 125 A class at honda hills, not many sloutches in that class

mini senior had Chuck Reed and James Eickel and Scott Hayes in it too if I remember right, they could flat bring it I raced the night program but enjoyed the daytime races almost as much as riding
 
Every name I read so far is very true fast riders couple of guys I have not seen jeff hills,phil guathier,joey mauer,steve gardner, I know im forgetting some riders I know ohio has always produced some fast riders
 
This thread is about local "faves", not necessarily the fastest or best riders. Me and Pit came up at the same time, so we are in agreeance on this one.

Harold Robinson... I can remember him saying "Ya gotta learn to flow with the bike!" like it was yesterday. How he got to where he is today is pretty sorry.

Watching Barney Barnett wring the neck of a 125 in his heyday was an experience in itself. You'd hear people in the crowd saying... "Here comes that 222 mad man again!" when Barney was coming past. I'd pay $20 right now to watch him take 20 laps at OIR on a 125 one more time! hahaha!

One guy nobody has mentioned yet is BIG 'OL Jeff Hillis. If you don't know who he is, he was this really BIG dude... had to be 350-400 pounds at times. If you saw him-- then saw a 125 piston, you'd say that there's no possible way that little piston could move this guy. It did though! This guy would run right near the front, if not at the front of the local "A" races on a 125 with butt crack showing all over the place, and seat bouncing huge jumps. I couldn't believe what I was seeing every time I watched him race. The crowd went wild cheering for him every lap whether he was winning or not. Big Jeff defied physics on a dirt bike. --L*64
 
My favorites are kenny henry & meister. In my early yrs of racing got to see kenny ride quite a bit, his natural talen n style was just fun to watch. And meister, i remember being 15 and me n john repp would watch him up at outlaw, just over jumping the s*** out of everything and putting in hard laps, our idol hands down at the time.
 
A few greats not mentioned: Matt Maximoff (the only factory Suzuki mini rider I ever saw, plus he used to most times destroy Sellards, Dunaway, Karnow et al., too bad he got hooked on strippers and lost his NCY ride), J.D. Collins (R.I.P. - hit a tree at Gainsville, and had the most awesome practice track I ever rode), Josh Demuth (multiple AX champ, plus a super nice guy), Mike Jones (world champ/freestyle moto Icon, and he wore that sweet ass Ferrochi gear with frogs on it), and last but not least the great bank robbing, no-footer whipping Jimmy Eickel!!!
 
always enjoyed watching meister, jon16, Smokin' Joe Rice, marshall, karnow, wasnt there a troy gould?? that used to flat out haul?? or am i mistaken?? ive been away from the racing scene so long its hard to tell, basically i give anyone props that still has the drive to get through the outrageous costs and keep pushing it every weekend, miss it like crazy just isnt worth it to me anymore when my little one enjoys riding and i drive truck now.
 
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