NETRA News May 2018 | Page 21

Hey Nate, tell us about how you got started riding.

My dad and two older brothers rode and my first bike was bought new for our oldest brother then handed down through the three of us. So I was basically born with a bike, lol. It was a 1976 Yamaha GT80.

When were you first intro-duced to NETRA?

I went to my first NETRA race in 1992, it was the Greylock Harescramble. My brother Kevin had been racing a couple years at the time. I went about

half a lap on my 92 XR100 and buried it up to the bars. Kevin got C-Highpoint that day.

What is it about vintage bikes that makes you so passionate about them?

The technological advancements made throughout the early generations of bikes just give them so much character that I feel modern bikes lack. Plus it’s pretty amazing how fast you can still go on them, I think a lot of people were pretty surprised when they saw the speed some of the guys carry on them.

You were instrumental in introducing the vintage scrambles to NETRA. Tell us about that process.

The entire Northeast was seriously lacking any vintage racing at all so my wife Angela and I really just started going to clubs and asking them to add a class at the Jr Enduros for vintage. The Jr series was really struggling at the time so we figured another way to get some more entries would be a win win for everyone. With the help of some other NETRA members we formed the Vintage Subcommittee and just ran with it. It’s grown tremendously over the last 4 years.