Still a young man not out of college for too long, Robert Henken returned to his hometown of Brick in the early 1990s after many years living in Wapheton, N.D., where he had raced motorcycles.

“I raced amateur open class, nothing too crazy,” said Henken, who ended up in North Dakota when he was in eighth grade due to his family’s relocation following the closing of the 3M plant in Freehold, where his father worked.