Page 9 - GRID4

“LEGENDS NEVER DIE”
“REMEMBERING THE KENTUCKY KID”
“RIDE ON KENTUCKY KID”
“When I was a kid and first started getting into road racing, we’d watch the GPs and all the races in the Europe. That’s kinda where we started -- mini-bike rac- ing and watching the GP on the weekend -- it was always that number sixty- nine out there, Nicky Hayden, and he was one of the lone Americans out there tryin’ to put it on the podium. We would always just root for him, y’know. He had a couple of movies out on iTunes and I bought ‘em, and I would just watch those over and over in the gym when I was on the treadmill with my dad, training. I watched those over and over and that just got me so fired up about racing, just everything about him. Luckily enough I was able to keep going up in my career and get better and I got to meet Nicky for the first time when we filmed this TV show together. The first time I met him I was just starstruck and I didn’t really know how it was gonna be -- like I didn’t know if he was gonna be distant and not wanna hang out or whatever and then on camera be a different guy, but he was so cool just to start with. He was a super nice guy, showed me around his place off camera -- it was awesome! He was so down to earth and I’m just like a fifteen year old kid that got lucky enough to be on this show that never came about. So, that was my first real taste of the Haydens and of Nicky and it just gave me this drive to want to be like him, y’know -- be an American racing overseas trying to conquer the world, y’know -- it was so cool. So, that was a really cool memory of him and just who he was as a person and I got to really spend some time with him, and talk to him and stuff. Ever since then we’d just be liking Instagram photos here and there, or he’d leave a comment and say “Good job, dude” and same there, and I never really got to hang out with him much after that day, but he was always just kinda there. I just think that’s so cool with everybody that follows him and all the people that he has around him just to kinda know that he was watching some kid in America -- I dunno, it’s just who he was. He cared about all of us, he cared about America, us racing over here, and he just wanted the best for everybody and we wanted the best for him. Life works in weird ways and it’s super unfortunate that he passed away, but he’s definitely gonna be remembered for a long time for his racing career, but more importantly for who he was. He’s my inspiration to keep moving for- ward and try and conquer that world one day.”
-GARRETT GERLOFF
WWW.GRITMOTO.COM
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