Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/962346
President of Operations Robert Pearce and KTM's Ride Orange/ISDT champ Mark Hyde led several large groups through the sprawling, 75,000-square- foot KTM facility. The tour took us through the offices, technical training, and its enormous warehouse. KTM NA stocks parts for all of North America and, man, what inventory they have on hand. There were quite a few people working that Saturday and it was cool to see the smiling faces. It's clear KTM employees enjoy their jobs. Happy employees are a reflection of solid man- agement and an impeccably clean working environment makes life even better. The afternoon began with a delicious barbecue lunch provided free of charge. With close to 500 people at- tending, it was another epic feat. We spent the afternoon with Penton's former General Manager Larry Maiers, who hosted a live episode of the radio show, "Two Wheel Power Hour." Larry had seven-time ISDT Gold Medal winner Carl Cranke on the podium. Few will argue Carl Cranke was the rock star of off-road racing during the Penton years. In my eyes he was akin to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin for Team Penton. Cranke is a brilliant, char- ismatic man. The banter between the two was tight. Sto- ries of such good times are quite a treat. To this day, Carl Cranke loves to ride motorcycles of all forms. Speedway, trails and motocross are among Cranke's favorites. The highlight of the afternoon was when Jon Penton himself took the stage, along with his old buddy and ISDT champion Helmut Clasen. These two gents met for the first time at the 1962 ISDT in Germany. Clasen was still ribbing Penton over his home-built, convert- ed single-cylinder BMW street bike that he competed on for so many years — long before the start of Penton Motorcycles. John's still got the gift of gab and it was such a treat to hear this history explained direct from the mouth of the man who was so instrumental in creating it. Other highlights of Larry Maiers' interview sessions were with Alan Randt of Enduro Engineering and ISDE champ Mark Hyde. We're all aware that there's a certain amount of cheating that happens during Six Day events. Larry coaxed out a story of the 1987 ISDE in Poland where only 10 minutes into day one, Hyde crashed and shattered his wrist. Randt, riding chase behind Hyde (as an American spectator), saw the crash and without a word spoken, the two men swapped helmets! Randt continued to ride as Mark Hyde for three more days until he crashed badly on Day 4. Randt tumbled down a gulley and spent three hours crawling out with a broken pelvis. Randt laid in the trail for three more hours before the course was 20 Trail Rider