FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: It is with a heavy heart that I pass along the news of the loss of a gentle giant in the motorcycle industry. My long-time good friend and for the last year, neighbor, Marcel Fortney of Templeton, California, passed away yesterday Jan. 15th at his home, of a heart attack at the age of 49. He was instrumental in my early production and Superbike racing exploits in Southern California in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He helped arrange the one and only Factory Ride of my racing career at the then, AFM 6-Hour Endurance race for Pops and Fujio Yoshimura at Riverside Raceway in 1979. Whenever I needed help, he was there and interested in doing what ever he could to make my Suzuki racebike more competitive. Then he was instrumental in getting us “hooked up” as the Pirelli race track vendor when he worked for them in the mid-80s in California. He has helped so many racers and people in the motorcycle business along the way and he was just one of the best human beings this guy has ever met……….. He is survived by his loving wife and daughter. Funeral arrangements will be passed along as they become available. God speed Marcel, THANK YOU! All of us here will miss you tremendously, my friend. Dennis Smith Sport Tire Services Inc. Paso Robles, California