It lives. Former three-time AMA 250 champion and world 250/Superbike champ John Kocinski was sighted recently at a Perris Flat track open practice. image by the ascot hero

A few weeks ago at a Perris Flat track open practice a man stepped onto the dirt who hadn't swung a leg over a racing motorcycle in years. His resume' includes being a protege of Kenny Roberts, three US 250 titles, the World Superbike championship and a world 250 title. He raced for Yamaha, Ducati, Cagiva and Honda in his career, and was a test rider for the M1 Yamaha MotoGP effort—pre-Valentino Rossi.

The man was John Kocinski, and he is perhaps the biggest enigma in racing.

JK checks out a super-clean Champion YZ125X, Wayne Rainey rode one just like this at the famed and now defunct Corona Raceway against another top local dirt tracker named Eddie Lawson. image by the ascot hero

Kocinski, like most of the good roadracers, was a dirt tracker long before he ever touched his knee on pavement. Kocinski grew up idolizing Freddie Spencer (his competition number of 19 was a homage to Freddie, it is said). He raced the dirt ovals until his teens; that's when he was hired by Yamaha US for their Superbike program.

Today, Kocinski has some interest in the vintage dirt track scene. At Perris he rode a 670cc Ron Wood Rotax owned by Elliott Iverson, a Ron Wood Racing employee. Kocinski said he is "building mansions" and living in Beverly
Hills (his home was once featured in the puff magazine Architectural Digest).

Kocinski enjoys a laugh with the owner of both #39 bikes. image by the ascot hero

Kocinski, (40) looking oddly the same as he did a decade ago, was terrificly fast on the machine that he rode at Perris. He told onlookers that he hadn't ridden real dirt track more than once in the last fifteen years.

Kocinski's last job in motorcycle racing was the factory test rider for Yamaha where he helped develop the M1 MotoGP bike. After that he walked away from racing without even a second glance.