When you covered as many club races as I did in the 1980s and ‘90s, I had a great opportunity to watch riders rise from the club ranks to the pros and a select few even went on to become major successes at the world championship level. On the other hand there are many, many more riders who I covered who had the talent, but for whatever reason didn’t have the luck, the money or the breaks to move to the next level. Mark Tanner fits that bill. A tallish and muscularly built Tanner was a decent novice WERA rider who won his share of races in ’85 on an old-style Kawasaki 750. But then he turned expert, bought a new Suzuki GSXR750 and was suddenly blazingly fast, running up front and winning expert races as a rookie in the class. A little trivia associated with Tanner is that his very first race as an expert was at the inaugural event that paid Suzuki GSXR contingency money – a WERA regional at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway. Tanner traveled down from Michigan and actually led most of that race! It was an unbelievable expert debut. This photo shows Tanner later that year leading Doug Polen in a WERA race at Grattan Raceway. Tanner never climbed to the pro ranks, but those who saw him race in ’86 knew that he had some amazing raw talent.

First-year expert Mark Tanner leads Doug Polen in a WERA race at Grattan Raceway in 1986. Tanner had one of the most rapid rises from novice to expert winner I ever saw. (Larry Lawrence photo)