Public Cesena Bikers on this post dedicated to the American rider Randy Cleek following a request for information made to me by our "treasury" that is learned from this pilot about an article dedicated to it, published Motosprint No. 7 of 2011:
Randy Cleek (Shawnee, July 27, 1955 - Imola, April 3, 1977) was an American motorcycle rider. Took his first steps into the world of motorcycle racing only four years, riding a minibike. His racing career began at 10 years, when he took off his first race. Early in his career he took the risk mainly in competitions Speedway and hill climbs. 1972 was his first professional season, where he participated in the National Championship Speedway and in the Short Track, reaching respectively the seventh and eleventh place in the final per la sua categoria. L'anno successivo debuttò nelle competizioni di velocità, che si affiancarono al suo impegno nel campionato di Short Track; concludendo al terzo posto in classifica. Nel 1974 arrivarono i primi successi in gare nazionali, sia nelle competizioni di velocità che nello Short Track. Prese parte anche a delle gare internazionali, giungendo secondo alle Marlboro International Motor Race Series, dietro ad un altro statunitense, Pat Hennen (sul quale ho pubblicato un post in precedenza). Nel 1975 venne scelto come riserva della squadra che prese parte alle annuali Transatlantic Match Races, serie di gare motociclistiche corse nel Regno Unito che vedevano contrapporsi piloti statunitensi a quelli britannici. Cleek si trovò a prendere il Instead of Steve Baker who was injured following an accident. The young pilot proved up to the task, winning points and thus help to ensure that the U.S. team got their first win in the competition. He continued to compete even on ovals, achieving excellent results with the TZ 750 Flat-Track. The 1976 season saw his transition to the final races on the track. Cleek attended the Daytona 200 and finished in eighth place overall. Later he took part in various races on the European circuit. Compete in U.S. Championship competition where, thanks to a series of excellent performances, won the final victory in the AMA Road Racing Championship. In the same year convoluted a wedding with his girlfriend, Traci Simmons. Cleek was aiming for 1977 to win the Grand National Championship, as well as greater participation in European competitions for the new MotoGP class: the Formula 750 category become valid for the world title in that very same season. The first race of the year 1977, however, opposed by bad weather, it was the Daytona 200 where Cleek got the tenth place in the only race held to win his first world championship point. He moved to Europe, his very first effort of some importance in the "old continent" was the Imola 200, which ran Sunday, April 3. The race, whose victory went to Kenny Roberts, was also marked by Pat Evans's death, contemporary U.S. pilot Randy. Cleek, on a Yamaha sponsored by the Bel Ray, only twenty-fourth ended the first round, and made it to eighth place in the second. The combination of the two results, however, never let him get points for the Championship. In the evening, Cleek went by car to the hotel where he once spent the night. On board the Fiat 132 rented, along with Cleek, traveling Williams Kurt Keifer, director of the Bel Ray, and Joseph Geraci, U.S. interpreter of Italian origin and Cleek. While traveling along the Highway 306 directly on the outskirts of Imola, their car ended up off the road, crashed against a wall cement. Fiat in the collision broke away from the ground, only to fall back on track, hitting another car that came from the opposite direction, un'Autobianchi A112. Cleek were killed on impact, Keifer, Geraci dell'Autobianchi and the three occupants, a young couple from Lugo and her daughter a few years. They finished as the career and especially the life of another young American rider, the promise of motorcycling stars and stripes. Cleek was even more unfortunate compatriot Hennen. But both helped to make the world understand that the States were "churning" in those years, a new generation of fast riders not only at home but able to shine even overseas. Cleek and Hennen were the unlucky two precursors dell'American Wave che con Kenny Roberts prese il via nel 1978 e perdurò sino alla prima metà degli anni novanta, sancendo 15 anni di assoluto dominio da parte dei piloti "born in the USA".
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