Kenny May


Kenneth Henry May is a former American professional "Old/Mid School" Bicycle Motocross racer whose prime competitive years were from 1985 to 2000.
His best known nickname is "May Day", a play on words involving his last name and the international call of distress Mayday which was in turn prompted by his hard charging "go-for-it" racing determined to come in first no matter what the cost. It often lead him to be carried off the race track in a stretcher. His being knocked out after a severe wreck during the 1986 American Bicycle Association Grand Nationals being a case in point. He often managed to recover quickly enough to be in the next moto of racing to take the win and transfer to the main. Incidents like this also earned him the alternate nickname of "Mayhem", another play on his name and his predilection for wrecking on the race track and his aggressiveness toward other racers while racing and not.

Racing career milestones

Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started racing: 1979 at approximately 10 years old at the Auburn DeWitt track. After racing for approximately two years he quit in 1983 after burnout. He returned to racing in 1985.
Sanctioning body:
First race result: Last place. He broke his hand in this race.
First win :
Home sanctioning body district: American Bicycle Association CA-11
First sponsor:
First national win:
Turned Professional: December 1, 1989 at 19 years of age.
First Professional race result: First place in "A" pro at the 1990 American Bicycle Association in Reno, Nevada on January 13, 1990. He won US$525, the equivalent to US$826.26 in 2007 He also won Pro Cruiser winning US$250.
First Professional win: See above.
First Junior Pro* win: See above.
First Senior Pro** race result: Disqualified for the day for fighting with Alex Pflug in the first moto after they collided in the third turn at the 1990 ABA Winter Nationals in Chandler, Arizona on February 18. He hit Pflug with a right hook to the head.
First Senior Pro win: In "AA" pro at the ABA Supernationals in El Paso, Texas on March 31, 1990.
Retired: Sometime in late 1992. He appeared to have just unceremoniously dropped out of racing during 1992.
Height & weight at height of his career : Ht:6'1" Wt:197 lbs.
*In the NBL it is B"/Superclass/"A" pro ; in the ABA it is "A" pro.
**In the NBL it is "A" pro ; in the ABA it is "AA" pro.

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible, exact dates are given.

Amateur

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
American Bicycle Association
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
†NAG=National Age Group
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
*He won this title after he protested that the racer who had crossed the line first in a close main event race, Bas De Bever, had interfered with him unfairly when the two got entangled with each other but stayed up to finish one and two. The IBMXF track officials sided with Kenny May and awarded him first place, much to the Brisbane, Australia audience's displeasure, who made it known to May for the rest of the event in the form of booing, cursing and hissing lavishly."

Professional

National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
American Bicycle Association
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
*The Pros in Paradise was a championship series by the ABA that awarded the winner of the series a week vacation in Hawaii and cash in the form of a direct award of US$500 spending money. Also, the ABA purchased back the points the racer earned during the season up to the finals at a rate of $5 for each of the 116 points the eventual winner, Kenny May accumulated, which tabulated to US$580. In total May won US$1080.
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation
Independent Pro Series Championships and Invitationals

Notable accolades

May had a "go for broke" racing style that often would result in him wrecking on the track and resulting in his injury. Indeed, he broke his hand in his very first race in 1979 He acknowledged his predilections for on track mishaps in an interview:

Gork: "What's with you and crashing?"
Kenny: "I dunno. When I crash, I crash HARD! I give it all. I ride 125 percent. And if I'm going down, I'm going to go down giving it 125 percent."
-----American BMXer May 1990

His aggressiveness also had a penchant to be displayed very graphically on his face:

"Kenny May is pretty hardcore. His quickness is attributed more to his determination and aggressiveness than it is his riding style. This can easily be identified by his facial expressions during a race—gritting teeth, wide eyed, loud huffing, snot spouting from his nose, saliva drooling out of the corner of his mouth, etc." ----BMX Action June 1988

Kenny May was possibly the most arressive racer towards other competetores BMX had since the days of "Crazy" Ronnie Anderson in the mid-1980s. In Ronnie Anderson fashion, he liked to "trash talk" the competition to get a psychological advantage. Sometimes this "trash talk" would provoke a physical altercation with another racer as it did with Joe Pinkney at the 1988 NBL Tanglewood Spring Nationals in Clemmons, North Carolina. It resulted in Pinkney having a dislocated shoulder.
On November 29, 1989 during the ABA Grandnationals in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in a heavily contested race for the title of No.1 Amateur Cruiser that year, Kenny May had to be restrained by security guards to keep him from assaulting James Prichard. In this case he thought made an overly aggressive pass during his 17–21 Cruiser main in the second turn while Kenny was leading. Kenny went down in the turn, costing him any chance of the 1989 amateur Cruiser title. As the guards and Yvonne Shoup restrained "a snorting mad" May, Prichard's family retreated to other environs after Prichard's last race.
As noted in the "First Senior Pro Race result" category above Kenny May was disqualified for fighting with another racer, Alex Pflug They collided in the third turn in the first moto at the 1990 ABA Winter Nationals in Chandler, Arizona on February 18. In on report, he hit Pflug with a right hook to the head in response. May was disqualified for the day. May was asked and gave his side about the incident in a brief interview with Go magazine:

"We were coming out of the first corner and I was in third and Alex was in fourth and he pulled up next to me. I slipped my pedal coming off the drop-off. Then going into the second corner, just before the doubles he shoved me off the track and I missed the doubles. I was still in third, beating him into the third turn, and he came up on the inside and deliberately took me over the berm. THEN, he pushed me before I had even said anything to him, so I slapped him in the helmet and go 'What are you doin' dude? That ain't racing'. And I get DQ'ed for the day. I tell you, it's politics. They don't want me to get #1 this year." ----From Go June 1990.

Kenny May did not believe in turning the other cheek in competition. As he puts it he believes in "Payback":
"....I still won't deliberately take him out to pass him" "--unless he's someone who's taken me out before. I'm into paybacks. Say that someone bumps me and I'm going to go down; I only feel it right that he goes down with me. It's simple." ---"Down 'N' Dirty" article March 1990 BMX Plus! article.

Miscellaneous

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's career are listed unless specifically noted.
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
NBA World & NBmxA :
Bicycles Today & BMX Today :
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer :
USBA Racer :