Bayle had balls!

Dear CR,

Great to read the feature about perhaps the greatest motorcycle racer and rider of my generation: Jean-michel Bayle. I used to travel to a fair few GPS back in the 1980s and 1990s and I was actually watching his debut at Magny-cours thinking: “What on earth are you doing? You're an off-road God – why bother?”

To say he proved me and everyone else wrong is an understatement. I mean, could you even imagine if the likes of Valentino Rossi or Marc Marquez went to off-road now? Or even if Mick Doohan or Eddie Lawson had tried it back in the day? For me he's one of the real, ultimate talents of racing and riding. Respect is due, I say. Frank Simms

The Editor says: “Thanks Frank. JMB was, and indeed still is, a legend.”