They were bitter rivals during their careers as they battled tooth and nail for race wins and titles but two of the most aggressive and commited riders in the sport, Mike Brown and Ryan Hughes, still have a lot of respect for each other all these years later.
This was in evidence recently when Hughes went to meet Brown just when he needed it most, with Brown just out of hospital following his scary crash earlier this year that left him with a broken neck and even having a stroke. Brown didn’t even know Hughes was coming in what was a great surprise for the 2001 US National 125 champ to reunite with and old rival and friend.
Brown told us of the meeting: “To see him, it’s crazy. I didn’t know he was coming to see me. That was my first day out of the rehab. So I was driving from Atlanta back to my house and drove through the airport and Denise was like, ‘oh, we’re going to pick somebody up here.’
“I didn’t know he was coming – had no idea! I pulled up the airport and I said, that’s Ryan Hughes! And, you know, he stayed for a couple of days, which is awesome. Like I said, yeah, we had battles, fist fights, literally fighting. So that was good to spend time with him, it was good. He means well and it helps a lot.”
Get our full interview with Mike, below:
