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 Racing Vintage Motocross - US Style!
When regular CZ rider and club member Mike Herman got chatting to some guys in an American Vintage Motocross forum, they invited him to ride at one of there scrambles...in Washington State!
I was looking at web sites offering fantastically restored Bultaco's, CZ's, Montesa's, KTM's, Husky's etc, in fact you name a European bike that the Yank's don't have that doesn't looks like brand new, like its just been pushed out of the showroom. For a 40 something 'Vintage' motocrosser that grew up on bikes like these, it's a fantasyland, like being in a toyshop flicking from one toy to another and not knowing what to choose. It was on one of these fantasy trips that I came across a web site called VDR NW or Vintage Dirt Racing, North West. http://www.siegecraftnw.com/VDR.htm The site is a plethora of cool racing photo's, excellent stories, anecdotal references to bikes & famous riders from the '70's & 80's (like Brad Lackey, Jim Pomeroy and Marty Smith). There is also a story about a team called Hellbent Racing and their 'leader', a guy with three names, Christopher James, CJ or Siege (think about it!). Not only is Siege a cool Vintage motocross racer from Seattle, but he also runs the VDR website and designs and prints the coolest vintage motocross T shirts you will ever find, so I contacted him and bought two of his shirts as Christmas presents for my mates. This was the start of an email exchange that saw me joining a Vintage MX chat room for CZ enthusiasts called 'Cousin Weedy' where I made contact with Siege that resulted in an invitation to fly to Oregon as a guest of VDR and race with them at their home track at Woodland in Washington State. I didn't need to be asked twice. I was lucky enough to be going to the US on business, so I flew out early and spent the weekend with these guys, most of whom I had only ever exchanged email with. I arrived in Portland Oregon at 7.00PM on Friday night. Siege drove down from Seattle, (about 2hrs) to pick me up. We decided to stay in Portland and have dinner and a couple of beers before heading off to the track to meet some of the guys. We got to the track at about 10.00PM where many of the racers/riders and their families had driven down the night before in trailers and motor homes that most GP riders would be proud of - they were huge. We chatted for a while with a couple of Maico enthusiasts before heading to a local motel and some much needed sleep. Oh yes, I forgot to say, it was raining and had been all week!
A guy named Chris Delaire came up to be and offered to lend me his '73 Honda CR250M Elsinore to race the Vintage over 40's class as an intermediate. Several others offered me their bikes to ride including Tom (a Vicar from Seattle, nicknamed the Revving Rev!) who lent me his '76 KTM 400 for the Evolution Class and Tim who had previously offered to let me ride his BSA, but the thought of the gears being on the other side was a bit much for me. Thanks anyway Tim! Practice went very smoothly indeed. The track was perfect and being on volcanic soil (the track is in the lea of a volcano, Mount Hood) it's like riding on fine sand, with absolutely no stones whatsoever. Generally flat, with some man made jumps and small table tops, through some trees and up past the paddock, it takes about 4 minutes per lap. My first race came and I was entered in the Over 40 intermediate and experts together. I lined up with 25 other racers waiting for the off. The flag was raised, the gate dropped and damn, I stalled it on the line. A quick prod of the kick start and the Honda burst into life and I was chasing down the pack like Graham Noyce chasing Brad Lackey at Matchams Park (in my dreams!) I rode my heart out, but to no avail, these guys were fast! The race was over in no time and I came somewhere near the back, but no-one cared. Racing with VDR is racing for fun and boy was I having fun. Race two and the Honda was giving me grief. I fouled a plug which sent its owner Chris Delaire into a frenzy trying to change a plug on the line. He did it and I joined race 2 in a cloud of dust, sand and smoke. This is real racing I thought to myself as I remembered what it was like to crest a tabletop, low to the ground, at what felt like 'warp speed' with only 4" of suspension at the back. Into the sharp right hander at the end, ride the berms round the edge of the pond, over a small hill and down a long bumpy straight into a hairpin followed by a small tabletop and back through the trees. In front of me was the big jump with a banner suspended across the top that reads 'Welcome to Woodland Motocross Park'. Enthusiastically I launched bike and rider over the top, landing perfectly in the sharp right hander before the long drag race down the straight to start lap 2. I have no idea where I finished, I was just having fun.
The end of the day came too soon. Siege was pleased because he'd sold a lot of his cool VDR T shirts. I was overjoyed, because I'd had a fantastic day racing Vintage Motocross in America and that I'd made many new friends with whom I'll keep in touch with, and hopefully race with again either over there or even over here. To top it all, the sun came out and stayed out all day, maybe a request from the Revvin' Reverend, who knows? Vintage Dirt Racing North West is a Vintage motocrosser's dream. It's an organisation a bit like the AMCA Vintage Class where the emphasis is on racing for fun, with the least amount of red tape and administration possible. You can race Vintage 'Pre'74' or Evolution bikes as either an Intermediate, Expert or novice in 3 different age categories. It's a club that caters for families; there are races for Women only and an XR75/80 series for the youngsters. Whole families spanning several generations turn up for the races to meet old friends, race bikes and 'Live the Dream'. I for one certainly did. They race most weekends and have members that live all over the US and they are certainly not scared to travel hundreds of miles to race, with and against, their buddies and write about their exploits on the Web next day. I hope I get to host some of these guys at an AMCA meeting with my club, the Pre65 club, sometime in the future Make sure you check out the Vintage Dirt Racing NW web site and buy a Tee shirt from Siege at http://www.siegecraftnw.com/VDR.htm. And yes, they have posted a picture of me on the front page of their web site. Fame at last! |
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It all started when I was scanning the web pages, looking for parts for my CZ380 and getting very excited about all these trick and hard to find components that I could buy in the US for (almost) next to nothing with such a great $/£ exchange rate.
