#MarkCernicky

Gavin Trippe, motorcycle promoter extraordinaire, died July 2nd, 2018, in a car accident in California. Born March 20, 1940, in England, Trippe became a racer and motorcycle journalist before bringing his love of motorbike competition to America, where he started his own publication, Motor Cycle Weekly, in 1969. From there, Trippe’s myriad contributions to the sport of motorbike racing include: introduction of European style motocross racing, and later the first US Grand Prix of Motocross at Carlsbad Raceway (Ca.) in June of 1973,  the first Champion Spark Plug 200 AMA National Championship road race at Ontario Motor Speedway (Ca.), which drew an international field thanks to big prize money, the introduction of production Superbike racing into the AMA class structure – the list goes on.

There was some discussion as to whether Motorcycle.com should even cover eBikes, an indecision that got thrown out the window when we realized we were talking about not just any bicycle builder, but Yamaha – and also that we had the opportunity to have the inimitable Mark Cernicky sample the four new Yamaha eBikes on MO’s behalf. Long before he became the guy who starred in all the Cycle World hero shots and videos up until a few years ago, Sir Nicky was a pro skateboarder and BMX guy.

I hate to bring it up and taunt the gods, but I have to for the sake of literature (sarcasm). I have administered some pretty gnar soft-tissue damage to myself, mostly thanks to my abortive attempts to race my old SRX-6 at Willow Springs years ago. But the only bone I ever broke was a collar one courtesy of a hopped-up Zephyr 550 that unexpectedly expectorated me onto Pacific Coast Highway decades ago at the end of a horrendous tankslapper as I was riding home one night. It hurt for a long time. Now I can’t even remember which collarbone it was? Thank you Jesus.