Page 8 - GRID4

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GRIDMOTO • JULY 2017
“LEGENDS NEVER DIE”
“REMEMBERING THE KENTUCKY KID”
“RIDE ON KENTUCKY KID”
“Growin’ up, he was the guy, y’know -- he was America’s racing hero. Ever since I was on little bikes and I figured out who he was, I was like “Man, I wanna be like that someday.” When I went and raced over in Europe (in 2009), I raced for fac- tory KTM in the 125 series and I was like “Aww, man. That’s Nicky Hayden.” Since
I was American, he would go out of his way to just be like “Hey Cam, what’s up? How’s it goin?” and I had a rough year that year, but it was always cool lookin’ up to someone like that and have them acknowledge you. I remember in Malay- sia, him and Earl took me back and forth from the track to the hotel, y’know, ‘cause I was just over there on my own -- I was only sixteen, like bouncin’ around trying to get rides here and there. It was cool, we listened to rap music on the way to the track and Earl was just drivin’ -- it was just funny, man. Obviously nine years later,
I’m sittin on the grid looking over at him in Donnington when I did the WSBK race last year. I was like “Holy crap, man! That’s Nicky Hayden right there.” It was just cool to be on the same grid as that guy when you’ve always looked up to him.”
-CAMERON BEAUBIER