Our good friend and legendary media guy, Davey Coombs from RacerX and MXSports fame, sent us the infortunate news of the passing of American Mike Healey, a rider who raced with passion and drama, and came close to becoming a World champion on numerous occasions.

Coombs had often flown to Europe and other parts of the World to do coverage on Healeys assualt on the GPs, working for Cycle News in America and had a close contact with Healey throughout his career.

"Hi Geoff, sorry for the bummer news but I thought I should let you know that Mike Healey has passed. He was found dead in his bedroom, likely from a heart attack. He struggled with addiction issues after motocross for many years and even ended up in prison for a time. He was more recently working as a barber with his salon in his mom's garage in Huntington Beach. They don't think his passing was drug-related, but just the years of heavy drug addiction had taken their toll."

"I think his high water mark was 1991 when he was battling Trampas Parker for the 250cc world title. It went down to the last race in Japan. The next year he joined the Bieffe Suzuki team and clashed hard with Sylvain Geboers and it kind of ruined his career. He was off the team by the end of the season and riding as a 125 privateer in America and actually beat Jeff Emig to win the final moto at the Steel City '92 125 National. That was his last best day as a racer."

Rest in peace Mr Healey and thanks for the memories.