Bathurst 77 was quite funny as I had caught and passed him in the 500 race and my bike was quicker than his. After the race Ken asked me what main jets I had used so I told him the truth and he gave me that silly grin of his thinking I was telling porkies, as there was no way in his mind I could run it so lean. Next day was the 350 race (push starts back then) and lo and behold after a couple of laps I caught Kenny and this time my bike had even MORE speed on his and I waltzed past him on mountain straight. Having a beer with him later he told me that he had actually richened his thing up which had us both laughing. Kenny never suffered from ego.
We raced often that year and Ken was one of the best guys to race with,fast and very fair.
In 78 Ken and I were going to Europe with free airfares organised by my father Roy, who had all the time in the world for Ken, and some starts were organised for us by Chas Mortimer. I decided to stay and went over there in April 79 and my luggage then included Ken’s toolbox and to this day I have no idea how that happened.
We ended up staying at the Ryton Bridge hotel in Coventry and had many a good old laugh there. There was one night there when Ken declined another pint and said that he was more of a scotch drinker…..next thing Rob Henderson had 2 half pint glasses of scotch lined up and challenged Ken to a contest. The end result was very ugly and I am certain that they both had alcohol poisoning. It’s probably fair to say that Kenny wasn’t a big drinker but was certainly one of the boys.
I still remember where I was on that fateful day when I heard the news.
Greatly missed and never forgotten.