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FEATURE STORY

MY MOST MEMORABLE PASS
I found some old photos for those of you who have been asking and have updated the gallery. The reason I don’t keep it updated all the time is because it costs money to run current photos and requires permission. Plus, all the recent photos can be found everywhere anyway. I enjoy old photos as much as the new ones, but I don’t want to just put pictures of myself all the time until I get enough interest. Anyway, here is one that raises some questions, like did I crash, where is Broc going and why are we both #1?

This photo is from the 1984 Binghampton 500 national. I had a streak going that year and Broc was my closest challenger. Every week he would either holeshot, or fly past me on the first lap and try to check out. Each time I would eventually reel him in and win in the closing stages of the moto. On this day, I passed him on the downhill about halfway through the first moto and went on to win. During the second moto, the same scenario was unfolding, only he was running a stronger pace AND he was hip to my pass in the first moto and not about to let it happen again. This moto was for the overall and a possible streak buster. My wife Gina (girlfriend at the time) was cruising around the infield with a camera when she decided on this spot. As I closed in on Broc, one of the spectators said to Gina - not realizing who she was, “Get your camera ready, Bailey is going to pass him right here.” So she took his advice and focused (sort of) on the corner at the bottom of the downhill and captured this photo!

Broc left a little room on the inside as we heading down the hill so I went for the same move, only that time he gassed it a little more. So I gassed it a little more. Next thing I knew we were coming in way to hot! I didn’t want to hit Broc at that speed, so I decided to just lay it down. I figured I could keep it running and get up fast and chase him down and still possibly win the moto, but somehow I didn’t fall. Broc is still going straight illustrating how fast we came into the corner. I made the pass, didn’t touch him, won the moto and my wife got this shot. It was one of those days.

I had a great time racing that year and my bike was incredible. Broc was winning titles while I was still an amateur, so I looked up him. To race with him that year and follow him around the track watching how he did things and which lines he took were really cool. I suppose it will be like that for James Stewart when he races with Ricky next year. Good times.

For this and more old school photos check out the gallery section.

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