gazette9.com
http://www.gazette9.com/racing/road/willo/index.htm
8/22/06
Weekend at Willow Springs
Rosamond, CA
June 6th & 7th, 2004
In thirty years of motorcycling I'd never been to a motorcycle road race. But when I heard the 10th and 11th rounds of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association nationals would be run at Willow Springs the first weekend in June, the chance to catch the sights and sounds of classic racing motorcycles live at speed was irresistable.
The weekend included two days of road racing, and Saturday night dirt track racing, with free camping at the track - all for $25! Now that's my speed. So I loaded a milk crate of camp gear into my old K5, took the dog and a mountain bike, and away we went on Friday morning for a 250-mile drive across the Mojave.
The track is out in the desert, near Rosamond, California, about 75 miles north of L.A. I'd guess it's some 400 acres, rocky foothills and flat valley floor. What looks at first like a lot of wasteland is in fact expertly laid out, and devoted to racing. Just northeast of the 2.5-mile road course, there's a paved speedway oval, a 3/8-mile oval dirt track, a tight twisty criterium course called "The Streets of Willow", and what looked like a supermotard course called "Horsethief Mile". South of the road course they have a kart track. Wonderland on wheels.
I motored around to the west side of the road course and up to the top of a steep hill, to the "Budweiser Balcony" at Turn 4. Nice elevation, nice overlook of the track; and there's a 10,000-gallon water tank up there giving enough shade for a comfortable camp under the open sky.
Down below I could see vehicles with trailers and transporters pulling into the paddocks. I heard there were 160 entries for the next day's racing. It looked like a great weekend coming up.
Saturday on the Road Course
The track was opened for practice at 8 a.m. The 1/8-mile long yellow wall fronting the track was lined with busy pits setting up race bikes. Engines revved and bellowed, and whined at speed out on the track. I drifted my bike slowly through the crowd, admiring the line-up of lean, stripped-down racing motorcycles. A gent in a pith helmet and linen duster rode by on an ancient, unrestored Indian V-Twin - now that's a cool pit bike.
Groups were being sent out for practice, but actual racing didn't start 'til noon. I took a ride over to the bike show, and there was a score! First my eye laid on a perfect, luscious red Moto Guzzi Falcone; then, a blue and silver Ducati 900SS; and then, a gleaming, black Egli-Vincent. For me this one was like seeing and photographing a unicorn.
I also saw a couple of early American Singles for sale - a Harley for $45,500, and an Excelsior for $25,500. Unrestored, but they looked ready to start up and ride.
Here's a click-through slide show of the bikes. ( open the new window, then hit View > Full Screen on the menu bar.)
I took a 3-mile ride around the outside of the track, checking spectator's vantage points and watching the bikes go by at speed. The variety was amazing - from faired little two-stroke rockets to a screaming Honda CBX Six.
A Hot Lap
The best way to get familiar with the track is taking a lap. Thanks to Bill Huth's "Nine Turns of Willow", and John Morton's "Hot Lap", both on the track's website, here we go, in a slide show with a track map and pix.( open the new window, then hit View > Full Screen on the menu bar.)
During the 1-hour break between practice and the start of racing at noon, there was a special demo on the track, featuring the Works Performance fleet of Norton Manxes, an MV Agusta racebike, and many others - a rare chance to see rare motorcycles, not under glass in a museum, but alive at speed.
I pack a portable scanner radio in my bag, but it's useless without the day's frequencies. Who had them? I asked all over the pits, got directions to a place somewhere near the track's bar, and got lost again. I rode up to the busy front office and got directions from one of the girls there: "Just keep going to the bar until you can't walk straight anymore." Great directions - the whole crowd immediately busted out laughing - we were all planning to do that, but later.
I finally did get the frequencies, from an official who barely had a spare second before jumping into the saddle and taking off for his practice laps on a BSA B50 Single.
The Racing
The first race at noon was six laps for lightweight classes: 200 GP, Formula 125, and Production Lightweight. One of these broke its cases and dumped a little oil in Turn 8, holding things up a while. Later in the afternoon another bike blew up and dumped almost all its oil in Turn 1, causing a lengthy delay. Luckily, no one got caught by either of these spills, and they gave spectators a chance to fetch cold beverages without missing any racing.
Race 3, six laps, had an interesting mix of 250 GP lightweights, and "Class C - Foot" - older, larger displacement bikes. There was good competitive racing between Ralph Auer and Glenn Campbell on two old BMWs, and Fred Mork on a '38 Norton Manx; and where else could you see a faired '67 Bultaco racing uphill past a '49 Vincent 500 Single? Sadly, I saw the Vincent losing power on the steep grade to Turn 4. It only finished three laps.
According to my little handbook, "Racing Motorcycles", back in the Sixties the Spanish Bultaco did well in Grand Prix road-racing with water-cooled 2-stroke Singles in 125, 250, and 350cc classes, until Yamaha's Twins took over.
I sampled the views from various spots around the track - grandstands at the start of Turn 1 - leaning on the roadside fence at the apex of Turn 2 - and on the fence at Turn 5. But maybe the best spot was high on the hill at Turn 4, the "Budweiser Balcony".
I watched Race 5 from there - eight laps for three classes: BEARS, 500 Premier, and Production Heavyweight. I especially wanted to catch the Singles racing in 500 Premier: three Manxes, a '56 Matchless, and a '71 Seeley, among others.
I saw these close-up, screaming around the hard left in Turn 3, roaring uphill, then the snarling downshift to lean hard down right in Turn 4, and howling downhill to Turn 5. With binoculars I could see them blazing around Turns 8 and 9, a mile away, then run wide open down the straightaway to the finish. The class was won by Paul Shoen on a faired '68 Weslake/Seeley.
Racing hell - a '65 Norton, broke down in triple-digit desert heat - miles from the nearest cold beer - tormented by the Bud mirage!
The afternoon heat was on, now, getting up to 100 degrees; just right for loafing in the shade, if you can find any. I was well greased with sunscreen. Extra coatings of dust and exhaust soot made it even more effective.
The next four races were a range of classes from Super Mono 2 to "Sound of Thunder". Racing motorcycles all, and some odd couples between classes, like Andrew Cowell's naked Triumph chased by Mick Frew's faired Yamaha TD3 in Race 7. Frew won his class, Formula 500, while Cowell came in third in Sportsman 500.
With 10 races, and the various delays, the roadracing didn't end until 5:30. The dirt track heats started just a half hour later.
Saturday Night Dirt Track Racing
I didn't get to the dirt track 'til 6:30 - had to make a run for supplies - but there was plenty of room for latecomers on the grandstands - the earlybirds had just backed their rigs right up to the fence along the front straightaway.
I took a seat right by the finish line, and immediately saw some good racing. Dirt track's about betting life and limb on nerve and skill and power, and these riders know the game well.
I couldn't help but notice Tom Horton, #55, right off. He was at the track with a harem of race bikes - seven, I'm told - and in back-to-back races he'd all but vault from one saddle to another. He's a winner, too - he won most of the heats and mains I saw him in.
The heats ended as it got dark and the action took a break so the officials could organize the mains. I took a walk around, delighted by the variety of vintage flattrackers in the camps - Singles, Brit Twins, flathead KRs, and all kinds of two-strokes - all there to race.
Racing resumed under generator-powered floodlights spaced around the track. In one main after another I saw good wheel-to-wheel racing. And then I saw one that had my eyes wide open. Horton and a gent with plate 12E, Lessley, were fighting their way round and round the track, fist to fist and neither one giving an inch. This is the racing that gets a crowd on its feet and yelling, and they were!
Who won? Beats me - I was digging the crowd's reaction when Horton and Lessley hit the checkered flag.
The last main ended around 10:30. That's a long day of racing!
Here's a slide show of 15 pix from the night's dirt track racing.( open the new window, then hit View > Full Screen on the menu bar.)
Sunday's Roadracing
I was up and making coffee on my camp stove at 5. Stars still in the sky and a big orange blaze in the east. As soon as the sun was up I saw a lone bike out on the track - somebody waking up in style with some fast laps. That adrenaline is priceless.
The racing started at 10 Sunday, with the same schedule and classes as yesterday. I made a point of catching the Class C action again, and I'm glad I did. Auer and Campbell on BMWs and Mork on the Manx were doing some good close racing again. I saw Campbell in the lead coming around Turn 9, then screaming down the straightaway wide open and across the finish line like a speeding bullet. I should know better but I didn't think a '39 BMW could move that fast.
Right after that race the north wind hit - a punchy annoying gremlin of a wind, the kind that unties knots and lets horses out of the barn. It stayed punchy for the rest of the day, and gave some riders in the open on Turn 9 some extra thrills as they leaned into it, already on the edge.
I also caught the day's 500 Premier, watching from Turn 9 to the straightaway, seeing Roper's #7 Norton Manx run first to the finish,
and Elings' Matchless overtake Shoen's #172 Weslake/Seeley, racing wide-open down the straightaway for second place:
In the 7th race, Formula 500 / Sportsman 500, the starting pack speeding into the first turn crowded two riders down. One got a ride back to his pit; the other was dazed on impact, and got an ambulance ride to the hospital for a check-up. I hear he was back at the track later in the day. The race was re-started and ran smoothly.
I just caught the last checkered flag of the weekend, as Jeff Elings and the '56 Matchless came into the finish winning "Classic '60s" in the 10th and final race, ahead of Menzie's Manx and Breetwor's '57 BSA..
It had been a long, strenuous, and very satisfying weekend. I'd gotten what I came for - in spades! I opened a cold Tecate and found a seat on the little podium in front of the track's bar. Somebody was already sitting on the Number Two spot, so I took Number One.
This guy next to me seemed to know everybody - everybody stopped to chat with him. They called him Gordon. Next time he wasn't occupied, I asked, "Are you Gordon Smith?"
"Yeah."
"I'm Joe Peralta."
It took him a second. "Well I'll be damned!" We've known each other via the web for several years, but never met, until the close at Willow Springs. We had a good little yak, and I must say meeting him was one of the great pleasures of the weekend.
And that was it for me. Time for a long Sunday evening drive back across the Mojave, after a great weekend with classic bikes, adrenaline-pumping motorcycle racing, and the people who make it happen. $25? It was priceless. And it happens around the U.S. for most of every year. Have fun with it - joe@gazette9.com
P.S. - For those who can't get enough, here's another slide show of racing motorcycles at speed.- j@g9
Links
AHRMA
The American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association
Willow Springs International Raceway
http://www.willowspringsraceway.com
Sponsors of the Weekend's Racing:
(And, swiped from http://www.ahrma.org/sponsor.htm :)
Pro-Flo Performance Motorcycle Products is a sponsor of AHRMA motocross and roadracing. Pro-Flo manufactures clip-ons, reed valve spacers, ignitions, EGT gauges and expansion chambers. In-house cylinder porting and performance machine work on all brands of two-strokes is also available. Mikuni and Keihin carburetors, fuel filters, pistons, reed valves, cables, gaskets, grips, seal kits, shocks, clutch kits, headlight brackets, spoke kits, ignitions, sprockets, intake manifolds, steering dampers, fork seals, manuals, steering stem bearings, fork springs, swingarm bushings, fuel line, throttles, lubricants and other performance aftermarket parts are also available. Check out the growing on-line catalog at http://www.pro-flo.com/, or call 850-267-1078, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Eastern.
Progressive Suspension sponsors the AHRMA Historic Cup national roadrace series and provides support to the vintage MX series. Progressive manufactures a wide range of suspension items for modern machines and also a full complement of components for the vintage world. Contact 760-948-4012 or visit http://www.progressivesuspension.com/.
The Classic Motor Cycle sponsors AHRMA's national dirt track series. You can subscribe to this fine British monthly from Motorsport, 31757 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600; 636-488-3113; fax 636-488-3196. Be sure to ask about other magazine and book titles available from Motorsport. Visit The Classic Motor Cycle on-line at http://www.classicmotorcycle.co.uk/.
Metro Racing returns as a title sponsor of AHRMA's national dirt track series. Metro specializes in high-quality motorcycle logo racing gear and other clothing, decals, lighters, mugs, steins, mechanic's aprons, tool rolls, fanny packs and more. Visit http://www.metroracing.com/ or call 215-826-9640.
