Inevitable

Or

The Ballad of Tom Batten

Inevitable is a word we hear used in a lot of different circumstances and for a lot of different reasons. Lately some of those reasons have struck home in an entirely different way as I listen to some of our friends talking about cleaning out their parents home after they had passed on and ponder my own mothers advancing years. Like the very word itself most of the time those things have been inevitable.

I first met Tom Batten in 2004, that was Jakes first year of racing and I had been doing some lurking around the now defunct NEMX web board in preparation for the season to try and catch on. One thing I noticed right away was that there was this one guy Tom Batten who always and I mean always seemed really interested in the results.
No matter what the track or the org if Tom wasn’t at that race and even if he was; Tom was looking for results. Well I joined the board and posted sparingly, getting to know who people were a little by reading the sometimes very spirited topics. By the time Jakes first race at Winchester came around I had sort of come to know who a few people were and didn’t feel too uncomfortable about our first time.

I was setting up our pit, badly I might add, the night before the race and Jake who was 8 at the time was sort of meandering around taking it all in, slightly awestruck. We got a few things out and I was under the EZ Up When I heard a guy say “Is that your bike?” and I turned around to see this guy standing a few feet away from where Jake was leaning on his bike. Now if you were ever going to picture in your head the perfect example of the word “Grizzled” .....well that would be Tom Batten, squinting through the glasses, smoke in hand, for the life of me all I could think of was my own grandfather; the epitome of old school.
Jakes eyes lit up as he excitedly told Tom about how this was his first race and Tom just listened and talked with Jake about racing and how his son Nick raced too. I walked over and introduced myself and we chatted a bit before heading up to the sign up building.

We came to know quite a few folks that first year and the years since then, some of the people I consider family to Jake and I we met on the track. I also came to realize something else, it wasn’t just on the internet that Tom was interested in what went on at the races, he was a fixture at the fences and always had a good word for the riders coming off the track especially the little ones. Standing near the exit gate as the riders pulled off ready with a pat on the back when you did well and a word of encouragement when you didn’t. No rider knew this or felt it more I am sure than Nick, to say that Tom was 100% percent behind him is a woeful understatement. On Toms profile for the Stacy Racing web board his occupation was listed as Father and his interests Nick and MX. Rain or shine, come hell and sometimes even high water you could always count on seeing Tom there cheering Nick on, it was inevitable.

I think everybody that raced with Nick and Tom have what I like to call a “Tom Batten moment”. I know quite a few folks that will remember the NEMX monsoon day at Hemonds with racing cancelled and mud up to the ankles Tom literally got run over in the pits by a truck slipping around a turn in the muck, only to get back up and shrug it off.
Mine was at Winchester one weekend when our power washer had died and I spotted Tom walking past my perch in the announcing tower. I asked if they had a washer set up we could borrow to give Jakes bike a quick spray down as ours had expired and of course the answer was yes. Tom pointed out where they had it set up and I said I would be over to use it. Well the track need a little touching up so with a few minutes break I roll over to where I saw Nicks bikes as well as the power washer and set to spraying away on Jakes bike. I was about done when I notice a guy standing there with a Honda 450, just sort of looking at me and thinking he is probably going to use it too. I said hey in my neighborly fashion but instead of saying hi back he says “Can I use my power washer now?”
“Oh...” I said “Tom Batten said I could use it so I thought it was theirs”
At which the guy sort of broke out into a grin and said “Ahhh that explains it”.
For me that was Tom, some people say they would give you the shirt off their back...Tom really would. It was all about the family of motocross, when someone needed something if he could help them by god he would. I am sure it never occurred to him that anybody would mind doing whatever they could to help out another racer; that was Tom.

Well as the seasons rolled on into 2008 Tom started to look a little worse for the wear but just seemed to shrug it off with his characteristic dismissive wave as if it was nothing, business as usual until the day came in October when Tom finally took the checkered flag himself. True to form just a week before he passed Tom was posting on the Stacy Racing web board asking about....you guessed it......the results for the Race of Champions. When we got the news it was a shock, as Paul Buckley posted “It seemed like Tom was tough enough to beat anything”.......but I guess it really was inevitable.
So if that is where we are all going and the march gets shorter every single day there is really only one thing that we can do. Burn as brightly as you can, never miss the chance to tell your kids when they do something great and even more so when they do something less than great. Hug them or kiss them and make sure they know you love them. Touch the lives of the people around you and never miss the chance to bring a smile to your friend’s faces. Stand at the fences and shout or stand behind your loved ones at all costs but stand for something and defend what you believe in because at the end of the day that is all that really matters.
Inevitably it is about who you are to the family and friends around you.


Rest in peace Tom Batten we miss you in the pits old friend.