Vintage Motocross

99L Jerry Winkelbauer • 306 Siege • 51Z Ron Rinden • 665 Dennis Carlock • 78S Richard Townsend • Both motos- the sharp end of the Intermediate pack- what's notable is that everyone in these two photos managed to beat me. But I was ahead of all of them at one point or another, as you can see. I was surprisd to see myself ahead of Ron & Dennis. ...sounds like a McLaren Joke, doesn't it? • Anyway I wear different jersies so I can tell what moto a shot is from-

AHRMA SEASON OPENER AT WITTMAN ARIZONA • Editor's Report • page 2

Saturday- Evolution Classes
OK remember Saturday was Post Vintage Day. But they also had the sidecars here- about 7 of them. They needed a spare person to ride on one- and they asked over the loudspeaker- and Charlie ran headlong from the RV to volunteer to be a monkey. The rider on a sidecar remember is called the "monkey".

My first moto was Gran Prix 500 I managed a 4th (of 6)- don't remember much about it. However I do remember chasing Jerry Winkelbauer, and thinking that¹s the dude I put on the Poster! At one point someone was trying to squeak by, and I closed the door- not hard- and the rider was yelling, and I thought tough sheeite dude- this is racing. The photo shows me leading BOTH motos ahead of Ron Rinden & Dennis Carlock.

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Then Charlie was taking off on the Sidehack- and he was driving. Evidently they had a spare rig- I think they're trying to get people involved. For a brief moment there it looked as though the other dude might not show up for the race- I put my helmet on- but he showed up- and off they went. Charlie was thrilled and amused and psyched about it all day. They struggled around, and crashed off the course, according to Charlie. He described it as a device which wanted to turn when you wanted to go straight, and wanted to go straight when you wanted to turn. The steering of a motorcycle is light and effortless- but the steering of a sidecar is very heavy.

Anyway my next moto was Plus Forty PV (moto 7) Guys tangled into turn 2- would you call it that? the right hand kink before going up the hill. I almost crash, taking action not to hit a falling body- and getting out of shape and off the track going over some enormous dirt clods- while a few slipped by but get through. I managed a 6th out of 14.

Gran Prix 500 Int Main€ This was maybe the high point of the weekend. Again I led a National, but in the same fashion Ron eventually drove past me. But it was a close thing. I didn't realize we were battling for the lead- and I was trying to be smooth and just GO. Ron and his RED Maico would get by- and then he'd get out of shape, and we'd almost run into each other, and I'd get ahead and then he'd sneak by. Then Dennis would get by- YELLOW YZ, and then he'd run all the way off the track- and I'd get back by. So the three of us went back and forth. I was the smoothest of the three of us- I never got out of shape. But they beat me both times. In fact in this moto as I approached the finish line, Dennis just barely blasted by me at the line- and I had to admit that I'd let off as I crossed the line- I didn't know he was that close...! You hate to see that you do stuff like that. It wouldn't have made any difference to the overall day's results. Ron won by beating us all fair & square. I can't help but think that if I'd just known I could have won I somehow could have gone a little faster- but that's probably not really true.

I met Ron Rinden later had a brief laugh about the back & forth. I sat down a while later with a few very cool people, asking their names a few times in a row and still couldn't retain them! In one conversation my boots started to melt in the heat from their little pile of wood fire.