Ken Dobson : the man , & the Isle of ...
Ken Dobson , one of New Zealand ’ s unsung heroes of the motorcycle scene , relating one of the hundreds of incredible stories of his life , “ I was on a real fast part of the track coming into Hillberry Corner , and I was pinned and I opted to stay in top to carry another 15 k ’ s out of the corner , when I rode into a culvert , I could see it was a huge mistake so I just held on , and , somehow , miraculously , I rode the curve up the side and out of it . Yeah , I was pretty surprised but just kept going , although my heart rate was pretty high …” Ken Dobson was born on 18 September 1959 at Parau in Auckland . “ Where ?!” I asked , baffled . I ’ d never heard of it . “ It ’ s near the lower Nihotupu Dam ”. Ah . I had heard of it , and in fact had ridden through it many times . I felt a bit stupid . And not for the last time in this interview .
EARLY DAYS Ken grew up , did all the usual things - went to school - dreamed of motorcycles , and at Blockhouse Bay Intermediate in 1970 , he became friends with a pretty girl called Denise . He was 15 years old at Kelston High school when he got his first Yamaha AS3 125 two-stroke twin , one of the prettiest little motorcycles ever made . The stuff of 70 ’ s schoolboy motorcycle fantasies . At 16 , at the conclusion of his first road race , he came into the pits , lifted his helmet visor and declared solemnly to his dad , “ I ’ m going to race the Isle of Man TT one day ”.
60 KIWI RIDER