EARLY RACING DAYS After he completed High School and his riding was becoming serious , he took on a motorcycle mechanic apprenticeship with the legendary Lloyd May Motorcycles of Kingsland . Ken describes Lloyd May with some fondness , but also reflects on a certain hard , no-nonsense approach . “ I learnt respect ”, he says , and I glean that there ’ s more to that story . One suspects Lloyd could have been a bit of a tyrant , but “ none better for learning your craft , along with full knowledge and respect for the machine ”. At this time he also took up track racing , although largely casual in manner - fixing up and racing bikes . An insurance job provided a four-cylinder ‘ 76 Kawasaki Z900 , which he fettled and raced well enough to attract the attention of Laurie Summers , who asked him to race for the season with the Kawasaki team , offering rides aboard a GPz750 and a 550 . To say Lloyd was unenthused was an understatement , he was downright discouraging of the increasingly capable gifted racer , “… stop mucking about and get on with your work !” Nonetheless , Ken was not going to stop his passion for racing , and he said yes to becoming the official team rider for Kawasaki , and to doing
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