Own the road. Introducing the all-new 2009 Suzuki Boulevard M90. Every twist. Every turn. Every ribbon of asphalt that races beneath the thundering Suzuki fuelinjected, liquid-cooled 1462cc V-twin. It’s all yours for the taking. Long, low and loaded with class-leading power, the M90 redefines midsize cruiser styling and performance. And at under ten grand, owning it all couldn’t be easier. Visit suzukicycles.com or your dealer for more info.
“The Twins,” from Jack Jensen (we’re assuming fraternal, not identical).
Pat Regan and his ’07 Triumph Bonneville, taking a break in Southeast Utah. Congratulations, Pat, you’re the SPOT winner this month!
Get a SPOT
Got an image that captures what’s cool about motorcycling? Send it to American Motorcyclist so we can feature it on these pages. We’ll even pick one standout photo of the month, and send the photographer a free SPOT Satellite Messenger, the perfect companion for your next ride. Send your high-resolution photos and mailing address to: submissions@ama-cycle.org. Editors decisions are final. No purchase necessary. SPOT device does not include activation or service.
Carl Gooch, stopping on the LBL 200 dual-sport ride to smell (and photograph) the flowers.
You, too, could win a SPOT. So get snapping.
Snapshots
The AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum held its 7th Annual Concours d’Elegance on Saturday, Oct. 11, as part of the annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. From Roger Smith’s ’67 Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler to Gary Maucher’s ’52 Manx Norton, which won the Jim Davis Best-in-Show trophy, more than 100 classic motorcycles from a variety of eras and marques competed for top honors. The event was capped by the induction of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame class of 2008. Photos by Ken Frick.
Gary Maucher and his ’52 Manx Norton won Best of Show. Check out video online at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
Jim Bowie
Motorcycle industry luminaries and stars converged on the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum to celebrate the lives and careers of six amazing motorcyclists, the 2008 class of the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame (clockwise from left): Rolf Tibblin, Terry Poovey, Scot Harden, Larry Huffman, Vaughn Beals and Margery Coates (representing Rod Coates). You couldn’t be there in person? Then catch all of the action from the comfort of your own couch with a special DVD available directly from the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. The DVD includes highlights from the induction ceremony, along with multimedia bios on each individual Hall of Famer honored at the event. To order yours for $24.95 (shipping is free), call (614) 856-1900, ext. 1234.
Send your letters (and a high-resolution photo) to submissions@ama-cycle.org; or mail to 13515 Yarmouth Drive, Pickerington, OH, 43147.
Letters [ ] You Write, We Read
BRAVO, MR. BARBER
The article about George Barber and his wonderful Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama was right on target. The place is beautiful. I raced off-road there with AHRMA in 2006 and vowed to be back. Last year, I told a couple of friends I was going back for the vintage festival and the museum, and we wound up with a caravan of 17 cycles from the Washington, D.C., region.
Mr. Barber, if you wanted to attract folks to Birmingham, you have done a fine job. I will be back for a track day next season, for sure.
Jeffrey Brady
AMA No. 353142
Beltsville, Md.
BIKES RULE, PART 1
Noel Squitieri recently wrote about an event in Pittsburgh in the 1970s, where the motorcyclists took up one parking space per vehicle in an effort to get dedicated spaces for motorcycles. I don’t know if that one was true, but I can verify a similar story at Texas Instruments in Dallas about that same time. I was there and participated.
Parking at TI was limited. We had been parking our motorcycles on a concrete island where 20 or so bikes fit comfortably; everything was fine until the security guards ticketed our bikes, saying we had to park like the cars in a regular space.
So one day, by prearrangement, we arrived very early, and each bike parked in a car’s spot, taking up virtually all of the close parking. The anger of the drivers was directed to the security shack, and the next day we were allowed to park in the good location.
Leslie Read
AMA Charter Life Member No. 771248
Dallas, Texas
BIKES RULE, PART 2
Although I was stationed in Germany during the early and mid ’70s when the Shadyside parking problem for motorcyclists apparently was going on, I solved a parking issue I had the old fashioned way, as well.
At the U.S. Army HQ in Zweibruecken, parking in front of the main building was limited. Motorcycles would typically park in one location, as many in one spot as we could fit. One day, the MPs ticketed all of the bikes for parking “multiple vehicles to a
spot.” The Admin Officer brushed off our complaints and said, “don’t park more than one to a spot.”
So I gathered the other riders, and we agreed to arrive at 7 a.m. the next day, parking one bike per spot, as the Admin Officer had directed, directly in front of the building. By 0805, I was summoned to the Colonel’s office.
After the Colonel finished his expletives (I think he used every one he knew at least once), I calmly explained the MPs actions and the Admin Officer’s recommendation— following it up with, “We were only following the MPs and the Admin Officer’s orders, sir.”
The Colonel then picked up his phone and chewed out the Provost Marshall, making his men’s motorcycles off-limits to the MPs. We then rolled our bikes back to the end zone and squeezed all the bikes into one spot later that morning. I still chuckle about it today.
Ed O’Brien (retired Master Sergeant) AMA Life Member No. 1256346 Winter Springs, Fla.
I’VE BEEN INSPIRED
I enjoyed reading the story about the mother and daughter duo who set out across the country in your October issue. What a wonderful way to spend time together! As I was reading, I was daydreaming about the day when my 3-year-old-daughter will be tall enough to reach the passenger pegs to take her first ride with mommy!
It is not very often that you hear about this type of “adventure,” and I was pleased to see that American Motorcyclist decided to have this as a feature. Mother and daughters share a special bond, and what better way to enhance that relationship than through a cross-country ride together!
Linda Bruce Gerz
AMA No. 439397 Philadelphia, Pa.
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF SPEED
Just in case you are not aware of the latest accomplishment of AMA Road Racer Ben Bostrom, I wanted to pass on a great story.
October’s 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race was a grueling race held on a 15-mile loop with a total of 1,300 feet of vertical climbing each lap. As it turned out, several AMA Superbike racers competed,
including AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies, and Eric and Ben Bostrom.
Most racers in the event are part of fourperson teams. Each team member does three to four laps. But during the race I was surprised to learn that Ben Bostrom was racing solo!
The top pro and semi-pro riders compete in this type of event several times a year, and one even rode in this year’s Tour de France. The winning rider at Moab this year did 17 laps. To my amazement, B-Boz did 16 laps and finished in 4th place! That’s 240 miles and 20,800 vertical feet in 24 hours! Not bad for a post-AMA race season relaxation time.
As a side note, E-Boz’s team took first in their division, and he rode four very respectable lap times, also. Spies rode two laps with decent times. My team took second in our division.
Mark Benigni
AMA No. 731330
North Ogden, Utah
THANKS FOR SHOWING WOMEN RIDERS
I want to thank you for showing more female riders, racers and motorcycle owners! We are a growing number, and we ride large bikes, small bikes, medium-sized bikes and racing bikes. We are young, middle-aged and older. Thank you for acknowledging us.
I have a 2004 Honda VTX 1300, and I am a short 5-foot-3—but not once have I had any negative comments in more than 20,000 miles.
I went to Springfield, Mo., last year for a women’s Ride-In, and this year I went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for another Ride-In. Everywhere I have ridden, mostly by myself, I have had people come up to me and talk to me.
Thank you. Because you have changed, I am now a member of AMA as well as ABATE and Women on Wheels.
Kathy Reitinger
AMA No. 08771313 Erie County, Pa.
Thanks for your support, Kathy. If you’re looking for a great place to ride in 2009, don’t forget the AMA’s International Women & Motorcycling Conference, set for August 19-22, in Keystone, Colo. For more info, check out www.womenandmotorcycling. com.
L-R: David Dillingham, Malcolm Smith and Larry Roeseler
Jeffrey Brady
MALCOLM AND MORE
I have had the honor of being a friend of off-road legend Malcolm Smith’s for about 13 years, and have ridden hundreds of miles with him, in Baja and Colorado. This year, at the Colorado 500, I had the privilege of riding with him every day. It was a great week, dining at Crested Butte with Don Mackey, Mark Mitchell and Malcolm, and riding with old friends Lloyd Liebatrau and Don Riggle from Colorado.
Above is a picture from one of my highlights of my week, when Malcolm, Larry Roeseler and I (I’m the one on the left that you don’t recognize) were sitting atop Alpine Trail, and I started asking questions about their racing days. They just opened up, and the talk was great. It made for one of the best memories I may ever have.
David Dillingham
AMA No. 395873
Warrensburg, Mo.
STOP MOTORCYCLE CRASHES
A recent story in the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner proclaimed: “More motorcyclists dying.” The story included a chart from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showing that the number of motorcycle deaths as a
percent of all traffic fatalities has risen approximately 7 percent in the last 10 years, while all other motor-vehicle deaths have decreased.
The article blames distracted drivers, lack of training for motorcyclists, more powerful motorcycles and the lack of helmet use as probable reasons for the increase.
I was shocked to learn that motorcycle deaths are increasing. If these statistics are true, and I assume they are, then it appears to me that some drastic changes must be initiated ASAP to decrease the number of deaths.
First, automobile drivers must be forced to be more attentive. Stricter penalties must be put in place and enforced. Even though I hate mandatory anything, I believe laws must be passed providing strong penalties for the use of cellphones. Next, I believe motorcycle licenses should only be given to those who have passed a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course. As I say, I hate mandatory anything, but it appears to me that this is the only way that the motorcycle death rate is going to decrease.
David Mueller
AMA No. 403908
Willard, Utah
You make some interesting points, David. Any increase in motorcycle-related deaths is cause for concern.
As the number of motorcyclists has increased in recent years, with more riders riding more miles, the potential for more crashes has increased, too. And why are motorcyclists crashing?
We need more research. That’s why the AMA continues to champion a rigorous study on crashes that should start next year. More research into the causes of crashes would allow for thoughtful, measured approaches to eliminating those crashes that are based on fact, which is what we really need.
CORRECTION: An item in the December issue’s gift guide mis-characterized the Christini all-wheel-drive kit for off-road motorcycles. The kit provides mechanical, not hydraulic, power to the front wheel. Info: www.christini.com.
Linda Bruce Gerz and her daughter
Ed O’Brien
Mark Benigni
For full info on all AMA benefits and discounts, visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com and click “Member Services.”
Get a discount of up to 25% off prevailing rates at any Avis or Budget car rental agency. www.avis.com and www.budget.com
Use your AMA Visa card at a qualified motorcycle retailer and get a 3% rebate on your credit card bill. www.bankofamerica.com
When you purchase a Black Book Motorcycle & Powersports Value Guide, Black Book refunds a portion of the sale back to the AMA, which in turn uses those funds to help support your right to ride.it. www.BlackBookUSA.com
Choice Hotels offers members 15% off best available rates at participating Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality Inn®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, MainStay Suites®, Suburban Extended Stay®, Rodeway Inn® and Econo Lodge® hotels. www.choicehotels.com
AMA members can save as much as 20% on Garmin GPS navigators and software. www.garmin.com
AMA Members get a membership discount from the Medical Air Services Association. www.medairservices.com
AMA members receive a $5 discount on admission to the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. www.motorcyclemuseum.org
Protect All offers AMA members a 15% discount on its line of products for appearance, performance and protection. www.protectall.com
AMA Members can purchase RoadLok brake calipers, which combine superior braking performance with an integrating lockingfeature, at a 15 percent discount. www.roadlok.com
Save $20 on the SPOT Satellite Messenger and get a free service upgrade. www.findmespot.com
Stan Simpson, Chairman P.O. Box 1028, Cibolo, TX 78108
Carl Reynolds, Vice Chairman 5011 Cobblestone Dr. P.O. Box 4423, Danville, VA 24540-0108
Jon-Erik Burleson, Assistant Treasurer 1119 Milan Ave., Amherst, OH 44001
Jim Williams, Assistant Secretary 9950 Jeronimo Rd., Irvine, CA 92618-2084
Joseph Bromley 230 Pebble Ridge Rd., Warrington, PA 18976
Erik Buell 2799 Buell Dr., East Troy, WI 53120
Andy Goldfine 8 S. 18th Ave., West, Duluth, MN 55806
Michael Lock 10443 Bandley Dr., Cupertino, CA 95014
Arthur More 16153 Starlight Dr., Surprise, AZ 85374
John Ulrich 581-C Birch St., Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
MichaEl thad cartEr, Photographer Mountain adventurer, would-be Nashville musician and former gymnastics standout, Michael’s true passion was photography, so the self-taught shooter established a freelance career. This month, our cover feature is seen through Michael’s lens.
JaMEs holtEr, associate Editor Anyone want to buy a somewhat haphazzardly restored 1972 TC125? Anyone? Is this thing on? It has eight speeds.
Mark kariya, Photographer A rare asset who can sling a Canon as fast as he can ride a KLX250S, Mark is a longtime dirt riding enthusiast and freelance motojournalist who specializes in covering off-road motorcycle racing.
JiM kiMBall, contributor When Jim’s not spending time on the motocross track himself, he covers the pros on the motocross and Supercross circuits. In this issue, Jim catches up with Endurocross star and off-road wildman Taddy Blazusiak. See page 36.
Bill krEsnak, government affairs Editor “...and then there was that time I held off Ricky Johnson on the motocross track. Yeah, and Jeremy McGrath and Chad Reed were behind me, too! Yeah, that’s the ticket!”
Mark laPid, creative director Mark proves that sleep is optional and swears that soon he will put a flip book in the margin of this magazine. Look for it.
nora Mcdonald, Production coordinator Nora is who you’re going to call when you absolutely, positively have to get a magazine put out overnight. As she recently said, “It will all be better Thursday because it has to be out by then.”
grant Parsons, Managing Editor Grant’s favorite story this month is on the riders who pour their hearts and souls into customized Suzuki Savages (page 22). “Those guys prove the adage, ‘Anything worth doing is worth over-doing,’ and those are always great words to live by.”
MikE sEatE, contributor Mike lives in Pittsburgh where he works as a mild-mannered newspaper columnist and publishes Café Racer magazine (www.caferacermag.com) a too-hip quarterly mag about classic and modern naked bikes. He has never learned to drive a car but has seven motorcycles for transportation and the frozen appendages that go with being car-less in Pittsburgh.
Other contributors include David Scearce, T. Scavo, DJ Jones, Paul Windham, Ken Frick, S. Moore, John Kuntz, Bob Manifold, Terry Jordan and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
Mtc
From the President
Who Had The Most Impact On Motorcycling
Choosing The AMA Motorcyclist Of The Year
With the renewed focus of our Association on the people of motorcycling and our fellow members, it only stands to reason that we name an AMA Motorcyclist of the Year. This inaugural selection may seem self-serving—and in a way it is—but I am confident that you will agree that there is only one clear choice for this distinction.
One of the criteria used to select the AMA Motorcyclist of the Year is that the motorcyclist should be the person who has had the most profound impact on motorcycling. This could be a positive or negative impact on our chosen lifestyle, sport or favorite means of transportation. This award is not intended to be recognition of a lifetime of achievement. Rather, it is intended to recognize a contribution made, for better or worse, to motorcycling and its future by an individual throughout the course of the previous calendar year.
If you have been paying attention to AMA Pro Racing this year, you may be thinking that Roger Edmondson deserves to be the AMA Motorcyclist of the Year. Certainly, Roger deserves an honorable mention because of his tremendous impact on professional motorcycle racing this season and beyond. Yet there is another individual without whom Roger would not have been in a position to have the impact he’s had.
Our 2008 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year has had a greater impact on the AMA and motorcycling than any single person in America.
As we’ve often said in these pages, motorcyclists need a strong advocate
against adverse government action, and that a strong, unified national association can best provide this. To put it mildy, the AMA has been anything but strong and unified in recent years. It had become mired in racing controversy and was no longer equipped to fend off adversity, let alone adverse government action. The Association’s menu of benefits was paltry at best. This very publication was less than what our membership deserved. The lack of fiscal controls allowed the former chairman of the Board of Directors to help himself to a great deal of money (before we got it back). With our organization in disarray, who would stand up for the future of motorcycling?
For one man, there was no option but to fix the AMA once and for all so that it could serve all motorcyclists—whether they were members of the AMA or not. He saw the need to change the AMA from a giant club into a professional organization. Realizing that he had enjoyed a lifetime of motorcycling because of the programs and efforts of the AMA, he decided that it was time to give back not only to the AMA, but also to motorcycling and its future.
In 2008?
by Rob Dingman
With the urging of friends, this man got himself elected to the AMA Board of Directors and soon rose to a leadership position. Soon, he became chairman of the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation (AMHF) Board of Directors, which guides the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. Shortly after that, he was thrust into the position of AMA Board Chairman in
the wake of the resignation of the aforementioned chairman who was caught submitting fraudulent travel reimbursement claims. Our 2008 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year, by the way, accepts no reimbursement from the AMA for his travel. In fact, he contributes a great deal of his time and money to both the AMA and the AMHF.
This one man had the wisdom and courage to do what needed to be done, rather than follow the path of least resistance. He realized that the Board of Directors was complicit in keeping the AMA weak, and that something had to be done about it. He became convinced that the AMA’s professional racing properties had become a significant drain on the Association and its identity.
As Board chairman, he guided the AMA through a very tumultuous time, and his efforts are now paying dividends. The professional racing properties are in the hands of people who are very capable of elevating the sport. The fiscal side of the AMA’s house is now in order. The menu of member benefits continues to grow. This magazine is a much better representation of the AMA and its members.
Perhaps most importantly, the AMA is now in a better position to focus on protecting the future of motorcycling. Without a doubt, this one man has had the most significant impact on motorcycling in all of 2008.
I ask all of you to join me in honoring the AMA Motorcyclist of the Year: AMA Board of Directors Chairman Stan Simpson.
WHEN NATURE ISN’T CORE ENOUGH, YOU ROLL YOUR OWN
The AMA Maxxis National Endurocross Series is getting more popular every year, and big, freakin’ rocks like these have a lot to do with that. Manufactured for optimum rider frustration and primo fan enjoyment, Endurocross courses include logs, water crossings, jumps, boulders and tractor tires—some even placed vertically.
Here, captured at the fifth round of the ’08 series in Columbus, Ohio, Red Bull KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak shows the field the quick way over the rocks. Blazusiak won the main event despite a first-turn crash and a persistant charge by Geoff Aaron on his Christini all-wheel-drive bike. See page 36 for an interview with the talented Polish rider.
Photo: T. Scavo
THE LIFE
TOUGH FIGHT AHEAD Rights At Risk Pending Rewrite Of Federal Transportation Bill
Next year will be a big one for motorcyclists in the halls of government nationally, and the AMA’s Government Relations experts are gearing up to look out for your interests.
That’s because beginning in 2009, federal lawmakers will be rewriting a massive piece of legislation known as the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The Act is a wide-ranging law that covers everything from federal highway construction funding to money for motorcycle safety training. It’s in this legislation that many road rules are formulated to govern how motorcycles are treated.
“There are a lot of transportation interests fighting for limited federal dollars in this transportation bill, and motorcyclists’ concerns should come through that mix loud and clear,” said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. “As lawmakers
turn their attention to this massive transportation bill, our goals are clear: We will be working to protect the programs now in the law that motorcyclists have fought so hard for over the years, as well as champion new ones.”
The AMA wants to ensure that the federal law continues to require local jurisdictions to allow motorcycles access to any road that was constructed or maintained using federal money. This law has stopped many efforts by local jurisdictions to ban motorcycles from federally funded roads.
Federal law also currently requires all jurisdictions to allow motorcyclists to use HOV lanes. Despite the law, some police departments have issued motorcyclists tickets for riding in those lanes, and New York City has already banned motorcycles from those lanes. The AMA has been fighting that ban.
OTHEr HIGH-prIOrITy ITEms InclUDE:
Renewing funding for motorcycle safety training, and ensuring that money can’t be diverted for other uses.
Ensuring that motorcycles are allowed to use public roads after those roads are privatized.
Seeking funding for a study on the effectiveness of motorcycles to provide traffic congestion relief.
Maintaining, and increasing funding for, the Recreational Trails Program that provides money for the construction and maintenance of trails through gasoline taxes paid by off-highway motorcyclists, ATVers, 4x4ers and others.
Ensuring that motorcycles are considered in federally funded Intelligent Transportation Systems research, which involves such things as crash-avoidance systems using ultra-high-tech sensors.
AMA Staffers Actively Protect Forests
The popularity of side-by-side utility vehicles, or UTVs, has exploded in the United States, and U.S. Forest Service officials have asked the AMA Government Relations Department for advice on how to manage them on trails.
At issue is the fact that some UTVs are wider than the 50-inch maximum width that most national forest ATV trails are designed to handle. Wider aftermarket tires can make potential issues worse.
To get a better understanding of how UTVs work on standard ATV trails, officials
at the Wayne National Forest recently sought the advice of AMA Government Affairs Manager Royce Wood and AllTerrain Vehicle Association Director Doug Morris. They spent an afternoon evaluating UTV trail-use with officials.
“The potentially bigger footprint of a UTV does present a challenge to trail managers, and it’s one we’re reviewing,’’ said Wood. “When it comes to preserving the country’s trail systems, rising to that challenge effectively is key.”
AMA’s Robert Rasor Re-Elected As FIM Vice President
Robert Rasor, the AMA’s director of international affairs, has been re-elected as a vice president of the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme), the international governing body for motorcycle sport and touring.
Rasor was re-elected to a four-year term at the opening of the 124th FIM Congress in Durban, South Africa, Oct. 20. He is one of six FIM vice presidents.
“It is a privilege to be able to serve motorcycling as a member of the FIM Management Council, and to represent the interests of the AMA and riders in North America,” Rasor said.
AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman said, “This is a very prestigious position that gives Rob Rasor the opportunity to counsel the FIM in ways that will not only benefit the AMA and riders in the United States, but also riders around the world. There is nobody more capable to serve in this important position.”
Robert Rasor
Biofuels Industry Pushes For More Ethanol
Caution Urged For Motorcyclists
Decades after they appeared, gasolines with ethanol blended into them continue to raise controversy.
The latest involves a push by the biofuels industry to increase the allowable amount of ethanol to 20 percent in gasoline—and a response from motorcycle manufacturers and others that the new level should only be allowed after a study determines whether the blend could harm motorcycle engines.
“Gasoline containing more than 10 percent ethanol may cause damage to certain emissions control devices and systems and increase emissions from gasolineonly vehicles and engines,” the EPA wrote in the letter.
Even the EPA acknowledges such concerns. In a letter recently sent directly to gasoline station operators, EPA officials noted that pumps which allow users to individually dial in the percentage of ethanol fuel could be dangerous.
“For this reason, the Clean Air Act prohibits retail gasoline stations from selling gasoline blended with more than 10 percent ethanol for use in gasoline-only vehicles and engines,” the EPA wrote.
The industry group urging caution, the Alliance for a Safe Alternative Fuels Environment (ALLSAFE), supports that message. The AMA is a part of the ALLSAFE group.
Doug Morris
Riders Helping Riders
New Program Aimed At Impaired Riders
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a new program to combat impaired motorcycle riding called “Riders Helping Riders.”
The AMA is helping NHTSA roll out the program at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows that are going on nationwide from now through February. (See schedule on page 60.)
NHTSA says that while motorcyclists have a strong sense of community, riders are hesitant to step in when other riders drink and ride. To convince riders that it’s appropriate to intervene in such cases, NHTSA put together an instructional program. The short program runs on a personal computer and teaches ways to keep riders away from alcohol when they’ll be riding, alternatives to drinking, ways to recognize when another rider is impaired, how to discourage an impaired rider from riding, and—when necessary—ways to prevent an impaired rider from riding.
CALIFORNIA
Regulations are being revised for the state’s Off-Highway Vehicle Division’s Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program, which provides for wellmanaged OHV recreation in the state by providing financial assistance to cities, counties, districts, federal agencies, state agencies, educational institutions, federally recognized Native American tribes and nonprofit entities. For more information go to www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1164.
KENTUCKY
Rep. Mary Marzian (D-Louisville) has introduced legislation to be considered during the 2009 legislative session that would add a representative of the Brain Injury Association of Kentucky to the Kentucky Recreational Trails Authority. The Marzian bill, and other legislation is available online at www. AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
Have Fun And Support The Sport Trail Patrol Is A Great Way
If you’ve ever ridden in the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, maybe you’ve seen them: AMA Government Affairs Manager Royce Wood and Doug Morris, director of the AMA’s sister organization, the All-Terrain Vehicle Association, decked out in fluorescent Trail Patrol bibs.
Or maybe you’ve ridden Wisconsin trails and bumped into riders like Randy and Karen Groth, who are part of the trail patrol program there, which is called the Ride Smart, Trail Ambassador program.
NEW JERSEY
New riders who get their motorcycle licenses by taking a road test on a bike with an engine displacing less than 231cc would be issued licenses that limit them to operating motorcycles with engines smaller than 500cc, under Assembly Bill 3292. Introduced by Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), this measure also provides that a person who successfully completes an approved motorcycle safety education course or takes a road test on a motorcycle with an engine displacement of more than 230cc would receive a license or endorsement without an enginesize restriction.
OREGON
The state Parks Department has announced a new website to keep ATV riders up-to-date on recently enacted regulations resulting from the passage of Senate Bill 101, which made a variety of
To Volunteer
By whatever name, these volunteers and countless others are out on the trail explaining forest rules to riders in a friendly way, helping to educate users to preserve the environment and ride safely.
“Volunteering for the trail patrol at your local national forest is a great way to help out other riders and get to ride the forest trails at the same time,” Wood said.
For information on trail patrol and other volunteer opportunities near you, contact your local national forest.
changes to rules related to ATVs. Riders are reminded that safety training becomes mandatory as of Jan. 1, 2009, for anyone under age 16 wishing to ride on public land. For more information, go to www. rideatvoregon.org.
VIRGINIA
Riders under 16 years old would be restricted to riding dirt bikes with motors of no more than 90ccs under Senate Bill 803, introduced by Sen. Yvonne Miller (D-Norfolk). Riders under 12 would be restricted to dirt bikes of no more than 70cc. The bill can be reviewed on www. AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
Also, state lawmakers during the 2009 legislative session will consider House Joint Resolution 626, which calls for the establishment of a joint subcommittee to study replacing the state motor fuel tax with a mileage-based fee predicated on vehicle-miles traveled in Virginia.
Bill Kresnak
Doug Morris helps out a rider.
RIDE INTO POLITICAL ACTION!
LEARN TO FIGHT ANTI-MOTORCYCLE LAWS WITH AMA EXPERTS AT THE ANNUAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS SEMINAR
This November’s elections brought sweeping changes in the nation’s Capitol. We can’t afford to be left in the dust by laws and regulations that threaten our right to ride.
Join dozens of concerned motorcyclists who want to fight for their rights. Attend the AMA’s “Ride Into Political Action” seminar and learn how you can protect and preserve motorcycling for future generations.
For more information, contact Sharon Smolinka at (614)856-1900 x1252, ssmolinka@ama-cycle.org, or go to: www.AmericanMotorcyclist.com/RideIntoAction
FEBRUARY 21-24, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C.
07S40Rider’s
Small Bikes, Big Ideas
Custom Cool Doesn’t Have To Break The Bank by Paul Windham
Suzuki’s LS650 Savage, also known as the S40 Boulevard, may not be the highest-tech, highest-horsepower or flashiest factory cruiser out there, but for backyard bike-builders like me—and hundreds of others I’ve found through websites like www.suzukisavage.com— these bikes are a dream come true.
Not only are they inexpensive (the MSRP for an ’09 model is $4,599), they feature classic lines that give them an old-school look that is missing on many newer bikes. For those of us who are eager to express ourselves with the paint and metal that make up a motorcycle, Suzuki’s S40 is a surprisingly inspiring canvas that won’t break the bank.
The S40 is wonderfully simple. It’s a single-cylinder 650cc cruiser that produces approximately 30 to 35 horses at the wheel. As expected from a
thumper, it emphasizes low-end torque, which makes it fun to ride. The fivespeed gearbox will run highway speeds with no problem. Miles-per-gallon is in the high-50s to low-60s. The singlecylinder engine is easily maintained by most riders.
In its stock configuration, it’s capable of providing miles of smiles, but none of us is really interested in leaving our bikes stock for long. For Savage customizers, that means really doing it ourselves. There’s relatively little aftermarket support for this bike. So, if you want a bit more legroom or just the right hard bags, you’ll have to go beyond picking up a catalog and spinning a few bolts.
That’s where the real fun begins. Bike building on a budget is what this bike is all about, and that’s been my philosophy as I’ve modified my 2000 Suzuki Savage
into “Firelizard,” an old-school chopper. Others have been equally creative when it comes to their Savages (see examples above), and the end results can be amazing, whether you’re building a bobber, a chopper, a café racer or anything else you can imagine—and members of suzukisavage.com have imagined a lot.
From a few add-ons to full-on conversions, the possibilities discovered by this dedicated group are endless. As one member of www.suzukisavage.com says, “Line up 10 of our customs, and you would barely recognize them as the same model.”
What better compliment could you give a would-be custom than that?
Paul Windham, AMA No. 979839, lives in Clovis, N.M.
Sluggo’s bobber
Demin’s bobber
cruiser
Miles Douglas
Major OEMs Plan Electric, Hybrid Bikes
An Alternative Answer To The Motorcycle Question
Motorcycles powered by something other than gasoline have been available for a few years, but on a relatively small scale. That’s all about to change.
Honda and Yamaha recently announced plans to sell hybrid scooters as early as 2010. Both machines will rely on gasoline and electric-powered motors for
conveyance. In addition, Piaggio which has a hybrid version of its MP3 threewheeler, is now marketing the scooter to the European market.
Even KTM is getting involved, first leaking images of, and then announcing the production of, a fully electric off-road race bike that weighs a claimed 198 pounds.
The Sport Of Kings Well, Of Princes, Anyway
Few things help motorcyclists’ image more than the good works we do, particularly when those works happen on the world stage.
And few motorcyclists have made a bigger splash when doing those good works than Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry, when they recently took part in a 1,000-mile, eight-day, 80-rider charity enduro across South Africa.
On this particular ride, the royal brothers said they hoped to raise $373,000 for the charities Sentebale, UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. They also helped remind the world that motorcyclists care—and that’s something we all can feel good about.
Help The AMA Celebrate 85 Years
Get Involved In A Special Parade, Tell Your Story
Your Association will commemorate 85 years of protecting riders’ rights in 2009 with a number of activities and events, culminating with a special celebration at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, July 2426, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
And you can be a part of the festivities.
One of the eye-catching activities at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days will be a motorcycle parade with a bike representing each year the AMA has been protecting riders’ rights, from 1924 through 2009.
To pull together that parade, officials at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum have created a list of bikes, and they’re asking AMA members with prime examples of these machines to be part of the parade.
To get involved, visit www.motorcyclemuseum.org to check out
the list of machines and learn how you can be in the parade.
“Pulling together so many machines won’t be easy, but it will be very cool,” says Museum Executive Director Mark Mederski. “If you or anyone you know has a great example of the bikes on our list, consider yourself encouraged to apply.”
In addition, the AMA is asking its members to help the Association tell its story. Why did you join the AMA? What does motorcycling mean to you? What events, bikes or people form your most memorable motorcycling moments? Remember that a picture tells a thousand words, so please include photographs. E-mail your memories to 85thmemories@ama-cycle.org.
Tickets for AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days are available at www. midohio.com or (800) MID-OHIO.
KTM electric dirt bike
New Models Keep Coming
More Marques Show Off ’09 Lineups
The motorcycle shows at Cologne and Milan are always good for a few surprises when it comes to new bike models, and this year was no different. Highlights:
Ducati’s Monster gets a new look, while the new GT1000 Touring adds a windscreen, luggage rack and some chrome bits to the standard GT1000. The wild-looking Streetfighter is equipped with a desmo-valved 90-degree 1099cc V-twin, a trellis frame, side-mounted exhaust and a look that’s two parts Monster, one part Hypermotard and three parts Transformer.
In the scooter world, Piaggio has new displacements in the works for their MP3 threewheeler, as well as 14-inch rear wheels and fly-by-wire throttle.
Also, a new Triumph Thunderbird will debut in 2009, with a 1,600cc vertical twin engine that puts out a claimed 100 pounds-feet of torque.
BMW’s S1000RR is a bold stroke, 1,000cc inline-four-based machine that reportedly will weigh less than 452 pounds with fuel and offer both dynamic traction control and ABS. The bike will provide the platform for Ruben Xaus’ and Troy Corser’s assault on the World Superbike Championship for the factory BMW team in 2009.
The all-new K1300 line will offer bikes in GT (touring), R (naked) and S (sport) trim, all built around a 1,293cc boxer motor, with a laundry list of technogoodies, including traction control, electronically adjustable suspension and gearshift assist, which accommodates fullthrottle, no-clutch upshifts.
The hottest U.S.-bound machine from the Piaggio Group is undoubtedly the 2009 Aprilia RSV4 Factory, with a 998.9cc V-four that puts out a claimed 177 horsepower, and is packed with trick bits such as variable intakes, fly-by-wire throttle, multi-mapping fuel injection and a slipper clutch.
KTM’s 990 Supermoto T offers long-distance touring comfort in a supermoto package, while an R version tilts decidedly toward the performance end of the spectrum. The 990 Adventure gets up to a claimed 20 percent power boost and is available in both an S and a more aggressive R trim.
There also will be an MX version of Aprilia’s 449cc V-twin supermoto and enduro bikes that features lighter weight (no electric start) and slim ergonomics.
Ducati Streefighter
BMW S1000RR
KTM 990 Supermoto T
Aprilia RSV4
YOU ASK:
Ask The Motorcycle Safety Foundation
Crossing Railroad Tracks Correctly
I’ve been told that I need to ride over railroad tracks at a right angle. However, sometimes the rails cross the street at an extreme slant, requiring me to make an excessive swerve in my lane to accomplish the right-angle crossover. Is this correct, or is there a better way to cross tracks in these cases?
THE MSF RESPONDS:
The general rule for crossing railroad tracks or similar long obstacles (pavement seams, lumber) is to approach them at as close to a 90-degree angle as possible.
From a practical standpoint, if the tracks are not perpendicular to the road, turning to take them head-on could be more hazardous than approaching at somewhat less than a 90-degree angle— your path may carry you into another lane of traffic.
So, if the tracks are between 45 degrees and 90 degrees from your path of travel, it may be safer to ride straight within your lane. See diagrams 1 and 2.
For tracks that are less than 45 degrees
from your path, including those parallel to your path, move far enough away from the tracks to cross at an angle of at least 45 degrees. Then, make a deliberate turn. See diagrams 3 and 4. Edging across could cause your tires to be caught or deflected, which could throw
you off balance. By continually using MSF’s SEE strategy (Search, Evaluate, Execute), you can plan your maneuver well in advance of a close encounter with railroad tracks or other obstacles.
Diagram 1: Correct
Diagram 2: Incorrect
Diagram 3: Correct
Diagram 4: Incorrect
Café Redux
Café
Racer
When it comes to motorcycle builders, Erik Buell stands alone. The self-described engineering geek and former roadracer charts his own course, experimenting with concepts like mass-centralization and alternative placement of fuel and oil storage units.
Now, Buell has set his sights on the resurrection of the café racer with the all-new 1125 CR, released to the world’s press for two days of testing in Berlin— on the Sprewald Ring roadracing circuit and along the fastest roads ever paved by a Teuton.
Buell, an always cheerful, accessible sort, explained that as a younger man, he ran a Velocette Thruxton, one of the most handsome and quick British factory café bikes ever produced.
“They were road-warriors’ machines: Fast, aggressive and all about handling on tight roads,” he said. “They were geared for quick acceleration, not outright top speed like so many of today’s sportbikes. That’s what we were after with the 1125 CR.”
Spirit In A Unique Package by Mike Seate
Buell’s is a bold move. The last time an American motorcycle was introduced bearing the café racer designation, it cost Harley-Davidson dearly, as most of the XLCR models sat unsold in crates until collectors discovered them years later.
This latest creation, however, is no cosmetic exercise. Along with the half-
faired 1125 R that the CR is based on, it uses Buell’s unique Trilogy Of Tech design philosophy, which emphasizes centralized mass (underslung exhausts), low unsprung weight (single front disc) and chassis rigidity (massive frame spars). The result is a motorcycle embodying the essence of the café-racer tradition.
The 1125 CR is propelled by a 72-degree, water-cooled V-twin engine built by Rotax, the firm behind the powerplants for Aprilia’s RSV and Tuono.
At full throttle, the CR makes a claimed 146 horsepower at the crank, although it’s geared lower than the 1125 R. Also, on the track at high revs, the 1125 CR vibrates considerably less than Buell’s air-cooled XB series. Chalk that up to counterbalancers in the Helicon motor, as explained by Platform Director Tony Stefanelli.
No ivory tower plutocrat, Buell fully encourages testers to beat the snot out of his new toys, a challenge that involved pointing the front wheel with its single 375mm, eight-piston perimeter brake
rotor toward a no-speed-limit stretch of Germany’s Autobahn.
Riding the ’Bahn is no joke—impatient Audi sedans will crowd a less able motorcycle’s rear wheel at 120 mph-plus speeds, and if the Buell suffered any power or design inconsistencies, this is where they’d surface. That this impression made it to print is proof that the 1125 CR handled itself just fine at Autobahn speeds.
Like all Buell motorcycles, the CR’s looks are a matter of taste. Whether it’s the pair of outsized air scoops cooling dual,
side-mounted radiators or the underslung exhaust, you either love it or hate it.
Quick acceleration, race-level cornering agility, and unique, home-brewed styling make the $11,695 Buell 1125 CR a userfriendly eye-turner with attitude. Heck, even café-style clubman handlebars or flat, drag-style tillers are optional. Unfortunately, however, you’ll have to supply your own white silk scarf.
Mike Seate is editor of Café Racer Magazine at www.caferacermag.com.
What it is A diverse group of women motorcyclists united through a passion for riding while fostering a positive image and promoting safe riding skills. “The club believes it is important to have fun riding while preserving the club’s history and tradition.” the club’s website says. “We believe that presenting a positive image of women motorcyclists demonstrates our respect for each other and for ourselves.”
BaCKGROUND Around 1938, a young woman rider from Providence, Rhode Island, decided there must be a number of women motorcyclists around the country who would like to get to know each other. With that thought in mind, Linda Dugeau started writing to dealers and riders who she thought might know women motorcyclists. She contacted hundreds of people, and out of this effort the Motor Maids was born in
1940 with 51 charter members from all over the country. AMA Charter No. 509 was issued to the club in 1941.
eveNts The Motor Maids organizes a variety of events each year, from charity rides to campouts in the Great Smoky Mountains to rides to air shows.
WRite Motor Maids, 44 W. Poinsetta Ave., Toledo, OH 43612.
Trials For Two
Riding The Manx Two-Day Trial
On The Isle Of Man by Bob Manifold
It may be a niche sport that many haven’t even heard of, but I’m a great fan of sidecar trials—motorcycle observed trials with a two-person team riding a specially made bike with a stand-up platform attached.
Aside from being a blast, sidecar trials are a great way to add some life to your riding, as well as get some use out of old bikes instead of letting them depreciate in the back of the garage un-ridden.
In fact, my love of sidecar trials stretches all the way to the Isle of Man. Most recently, I competed in the Manx Two-Day Trial with my son, Robert. Not only is the Manx Trials a great way to spend some time off, but the Augustbased event is only a small part of the crazy, motorcycle-centric week that is the Manx GP, the amateur version of the world-famous TT races held every year on the island in June.
The Manx Trials meet is the most popular event of the year for the sidecar crews, with 37 teams signing up for the event. We rode all over the 30-mile-long
island, stopping to ride through specially laid-out technical sections where a checker watched, recording penalty points whenever either of our feet touched the ground. A lot of the fun was in just getting to the sections, with smiles and waves from the locals. Many of them even manned gates as riders and spectators were let in and out of fields where sheep and cattle grazed.
For us, watching the eventual winners, Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkes, ride some of these sections was amazing—they were breezing through hazards that appeared to be impossible. I’m keeping our final score close to the vest, but I’ll admit we took well over 200 penalty points. The winners recorded only 5!
Still, we did come away with one hardfought award: We were recognized as the team that had traveled the farthest to compete. As a bonus, we were the first sidecar crew from the U.S. to ever contest the event! It was well worth the effort, to be sure.
Bob is hard at work constructing another trials machine out of his 1979 Bultaco Sherpa to complement the trusty Fantic 200 he rides in local events in New England. He can be reached at bmanifold@spinpass.com.
AMA Board Elections
Southeast Region AMA Members To Vote
It’s again time for elections to the AMA Board of Directors.
AMA members living in the AMA’s Southeastern Region (District 2) will find a ballot in the center of this magazine that will allow them to cast a vote for their representative to the AMA Board of Directors. Running for the seat occupied by outgoing Vice Chairman Carl Reynolds are two members: C.R. Gittere of North Carolina and Charles Goman of Georgia.
If you’re an AMA member in good standing and you live in Kentucky, Virginia,
Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana or Puerto Rico, and you did not receive a ballot in this issue, you may call the AMA offices at (800) AMA-JOIN to request one. Only official ballots will be counted (duplicates will not be counted), and they must be returned prior to Jan. 15, 2009.
AMA members in the South Central region will not receive ballots because only one candidate was nominated to run. In that region, incumbent Stan Simpson will continue serving on the board.
Bob (at the controls) and Robert navigate the Manx Two-Day Trial.
WORTH READING
Sport Rider Magazine
WHAT IT IS The largest-circulation magazine dedicated exclusively to sportbikes and road racing, offering a comprehensive and in-depth look at everything related to the sport.
THE SPORT RIDER STAFF SAYS
According to Editor Kent Kunitsugu, who has been riding for more than 30 years (with half of that racing), Sport Rider is “directed at the sportbike enthusiast who is looking for real, undiluted, and unbiased information on the sport, from incredibly thorough bike and product tests and shootouts to riding tips to behindthe-scenes racing coverage. Our staff and contributors are all highly competent riders, and our ability to understand and convey to our readers the hows and whys of an increasingly sophisticated sportbike world is an added plus that separates us
ON DISPLAY
Solvang MC Museum
www.motosolvang.com
WHAT IT IS
The Solvang Motorcycle Museum, in Solvang, California, displays a collection of vintage and rare motorcycles as well as European race bikes from the private collection of Virgil Elings.
from the rest. Because when it comes down to it, the more you know, the more fun you’ll have riding.”
FIND IT At newsstands around the country, and online at www.sportrider.com.
WHAT’S INSIDE
The collection is quite broad, with something for everyone, ranging from a 1910 FN to the present. The emphasis is tilted toward racing motorcycles. At the museum, you will find names such as AJS, BMW, Ducati, Gilera, Matchless, Moto Guzzi, MV, Norton, Triumph, Velocette and Vincent.
FIND IT
The museum is located in the former Solvang Designer Outlet Center, now owned by Elings. The museum is open weekends from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and by appointment mid-week. Admission is $10 for adults and free for accompanied children who are under the age of 10.
On The Web
Motorcycles In
WWW.JAYLENOSGARAGE.COM
If you’re looking for some great dream time on the web, this site is it, with tons of pictures and video of the coolest cars and motorcycles of one of the country’s most famous motorcyclists, Tonight Show host Jay Leno.
WWW.DIRTBIKESCHOOL.COM
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation isn’t just about streetbikes, as its Dirtbike School website shows. In addition to links to MSF off-road courses around the country, you’ll find safety tips and more for parents and kids.
WWW.SHARETRAILS.ORG
One of the heavyweights of the landaccess fight for motorcyclists and other OHV users, the BlueRibbon Coalition’s website is the home base for the group’s 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members.
FEATURED PARTNER
Know Your Price Black Book Takes The Guessing Out of Buying, Selling Used Motorcycles
It’s never easy to admit that a relationship is over, but the time always comes to move on.
And when you’ve decided it’s time to part company with your reliable two-wheeled companion, your next step should be to pick up the latest copy of Black Book USA’s Motorcycle & Powersports Value Guide, an officially licensed product of the AMA.
The guide includes current retail values, trade-in values for various conditions, auction wholesale
values, original MSRP, and more for pretty much every on- or off-road motorcycle, ATV, scooter, personal watercraft and snowmobile sold in the United States since 1981.
Updated monthly, the guide allows you to set a fair price for your used ride—or negotiate a fair price for a used bike, says Black Book Editor Scott Yarbrough.
“Buying or selling a bike is often an emotional decision, and the guide is a good reality check on where the market really is each month,”
Yarbrough notes. “We’ve seen bikes’ values change more than $1,000 in a single month. Current information helps you make smart decisions. ”
Plus, when you purchase a Black Book Motorcycle & Powersports Value Guide, you help support the AMA. Black Book refunds a portion of every sale back to the AMA, which in turn uses those funds to help support your right to ride.
More information about Black Book’s products can be found at www.blackbookusa.com.
AMA MOTORCYCLE HALL OF FAMER
Joe Petrali
The
End Of An Era
Joe Petrali, known as Smokin’ Joe to his friends, was arguably the country’s fi nest racer from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s, and perhaps one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time.
Petrali was one of the last great Class A factory racing stars who competed in board-track racing, dirt track, speed records and hillclimbs. Petrali won 49 AMA national championship races, a mark that wouldn’t be surpassed for 55 years, until 1992, when Scott Parker won his 50th AMA national.
By the time Petrali retired from racing in 1938, Class A racing, which featured purpose-built, high-dollar racing machines, had faded. Class C racing, which used lightly modifi ed production motorcycles, was taking center stage. Petrali’s retirement symbolically marked an end of the great three-decade era in motorcycle racing, when the best racers in the country competed on the fi nest racing machinery the factories could build.
Petrali was born in San Francisco on Feb. 22, 1904. His big break in racing came in 1921 at a Pacifi c Coast championship race in Fresno, Calif. Indian agreed to let Petrali have a tryout. He was just 17 and battled all of the top stars of the day. He didn’t win but nearly did.
The next signifi cant chapter in
Petrali’s career came on July 4, 1925, in Altoona, Pa. Altoona’s mile-plus-long board track was the site of that year’s AMA 100mile championship.
Petrali won the race aboard an injured rider’s Harley-Davidson with an average speed of 100.36 mph. That record, for a 100-mile board-track race, was never broken.
Petrali then won three national titles (the 10-, 25- and 50-mile championships for 61inch motors) on Sept. 7, 1925, on the boards in Laurel, Md., once again setting a new record in the process and becoming national boardtrack champion.
He then became the most dominant rider of the next 10 years.
Petrali won two national titles in 1926, both on Harley-Davidsons. In 1927, he earned his fi rst championship for Excelsior, winning the 10-mile AMA dirt track championship in front of the Harley brass on the Milwaukee Mile. In 1929, he won both the 45-inch and 61inch hillclimb national championships riding an Excelsior at Muskegon, Mich.
The 1931 season was an outstanding one for Petrali. He won eight of the 16 dirt track and hillclimb nationals that year. The following season, Petrali earned the distinction of being the only rider in AMA history to win both the dirt track and hillclimb national championships in the same year.
He repeated that feat three more times in 1933, 1935 and 1936.
Petrali’s only foray into Class C racing was on November 1938 at the Oakland 200. It also was his last. The track was an oiled-down dirt-track mile. Bikes were sliding everywhere, and Petrali was almost hit several times.
The last great Class A champion then pulled off the track and hung up his leathers for the fi nal time.
Read more about Joe Petrali and other members of the AMA’s Hall of Fame at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
Bobbitt Wins National Enduro Title
Lafferty Pushes, But Can’t Overcome Points Deficit
A few wins and a season of consistency put Red Bull KTM Factory rider Russell Bobbitt at the top of the points chase when the dust settled on the 2008 AMA FMF Racing National Enduro Championship Series.
Although eight-time and defending champion Mike Lafferty, Bobbitt’s KTM teammate, made up as many points as he could in winning the final round, it wasn’t enough to overcome a deficit that dated to his missing the fourth round in Fluvanna, Texas. (Lafferty broke his foot in a practice crash and was off his bike
for roughly eight weeks.)
Bobbitt’s second-place finish was more than enough to give him the title, 245 points to Lafferty’s 239. Another KTM rider, Cole Kirkpatrick, finished third, 49 more points back.
“I am very excited about this championship,” Bobbitt said. “I worked hard all season long, and I’m glad I was able to have everything come together at the final round. It was a close title chase all year. I am happy for the entire team to earn first and second in the series.”
Bobbitt’s three wins on the year were
second to Lafferty’s five in the 10-round series.
Lafferty returned after his injury to score a fourth, two seconds and three wins, including the final round in Arizona.
“I was happy with my ride today but knew that Russell would have to make some pretty big mistakes to lose the championship,” Lafferty said after the race.
“I got the race win, but not the championship. Now I will go home and continue my training to come back and try to win the championship next year.”
S. Moore
Russell Bobbitt: 2008 National Enduro Champion
Knight Repeats In GNCCs
Isle Of Man Rider Makes It Two For Two In U.S.
KTM’s David Knight wrapped up his second title in the AMA Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC) two rounds early, with seven wins through the first 11 rounds. It was Knight’s second GNCC championship, which he first won last year after a successful run in the FIM World Enduro Championships.
Knight captured the ’08 title at the Unadilla event in New Berlin, N.Y. With a torrential downpour leading up to the start of the race, the conditions were brutal. With a combination of Knight’s win and his closest championship rival, New Zealand’s Paul Whibley, running out of fuel, Knight was able to secure the championship with two rounds to go.
“We’ve had some great races, some disappointing races, but to win the title is amazing,” Knight said after the race.
“I feel bad for Paul Whibley though. He’s ridden really well all year, so to see him run out of fuel here, which handed me the championship, isn’t how I hoped things would end. I’ve also had some disappointing races this year, but despite the conditions here everything went really well. I can relax a little bit now and enjoy the last few rounds of the series.”
And that’s exactly what Knight did, lining up at the final round in Crawfordsville, Ind., on a KTM ATV, competing against some of the country’s fastest four-wheeled off-road racers. The new champion finished 22nd out of 27 riders, completing the same number of laps as overall winner Chris Borich.
D. Scearce
D. Scearce
David Knight, clinching the title.
David Knight
Taddy’s Back
Polish Off-Road Star Recovers, Wins
Taddy Blazusiak made an immediate impact when he won his first Endurocross last year in Las Vegas. However, while a successful trials career and a surprise win at the infamous Erzberg Hare Scrambles have made him a well-known competitor in Europe, Blazusiak remains a bit of a mystery in the U.S.
We caught up with the Polish star at the Columbus, Ohio, round of the AMA Maxxis Endurocross Series—a race he won a mere seven weeks after a crash that broke numerous bones in his face.
Taddy, you really gained a lot of notoriety last year with your Erzberg win and then your Endurocross win at Las Vegas—what about before that?
My background is from observed trials riding. There I was a professional, and was riding for three different factory teams before I came to off-road. Actually, it happened that I had some little issues with my team, and I stayed home for a few weeks to solve the problems.
At that time, the Erzberg event was going on, so I went to Erzberg, which many consider the world’s toughest off-road race. This was a new opportunity that came up, so I just took it—that doesn’t happen twice, right?
I decided to give off-road a try for a year. It’s now been a year, and I’m still here. I’m happy with my decision.
It was really just by chance that you ended up going to Erzberg. Here it’s your first off-road race and you win it!
Yes, it was my first off-road race. I mean, I never really rode a dirt bike before. I had one at home, but I used it maybe once every two years! It was my first experience racing them. I went there just to have some fun, look around and enjoy myself, and end up winning the race.
Here in America it seems like many of the off-road guys come from motocross; yet you came from trials.
Definitely, it is a big help because I
Raines Wins Battle Of East Vs. West
Jason Raines, who earlier this year nailed down the AMA Eastern Hare Scrambles Championship, has claimed the overall title and the AMA National No. 1 plate to go with it with a dominating win at the first AMA East vs. West Hare Scrambles Shootout, held at the Cross Bar Ranch in Davis, Okla.
The Shootout featured the best riders from the AMA East Regional and AMA West Regional Hare Scrambles Series. Although all riders were welcomed to race, only
participants who earned points in at least three regional events in the class they contested at the Shootout were eligible for an AMA National Championship.
The course featured a brutal 23-mile loop with a pro lap time that was more than an hour long. With a four-loop race, Raines’ race time was 4-1/2 hours—an uncharacteristically long time for a hare scrambles.
“It was a long, tough course, but there was a lot of variety,” the 30-yearold Raines said. “There was everything from wide-open grass fields to tight trails to tough technical hills. There were sections where the West Coast guys did
First Hare Scrambles Shootout Goes To The East
D. Scearce
Edmunds
J. KTM Images
Jason Raines
never rode any different bikes before that. Skills that I have on the bike came from my trials riding. I had some things to learn as far as speed, because it’s not so easy to go from trials where there’s no speed at all, to racing with 10 people around you.
What about going to the Las Vegas Endurocross for the first time and winning?
I went to Vegas knowing that I could do well because I signed with KTM in July, and I had about three months on the bike, and with the team. I had a bike at home and was practicing. Also, they were sending me to different kinds of races in Europe before Vegas.
I wasn’t thinking about winning with (fellow KTM rider and favorite) David Knight there, but I knew that I could ride smooth, fast, and I can be there to challenge. The race was pretty good for me. I had a few lines that nobody else had and ended up winning.
What racing does your deal at KTM consist of?
My deal with KTM is for the Endurocross series. This is my goal in U.S. I raced the old indoor enduro series back in Europe, which is basically like Endurocross in the U.S. It’s Endurocross in the summer. Then we start straight into the indoors back in Europe because it’s through winter.
In the end, there is no time to race anything else, but sometimes I do one-off events, but there’s no way to focus on 10 championships. You have to choose something and just go for it, because there’s nobody who can be good in everything.—Jim Kimball
well and places where the East Coast riders could excel.”
After starting in third, Raines quickly passed KTM’s Nate Kanney for second before reeling in early leader Tony Joiner. After making the pass, Raines built a 2-minute lead by the end of the fi rst lap. The gap only increased from there, reaching 8 minutes by race end. Kanney fi nished second, with Joiner claiming the last spot on the podium.
For a full list of the 2008 AMA East vs. West Hare Scrambles Champions see the Racing section of www. AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
Libhart, Strank Split Hillclimb
Both Riders Plan To Bring The Fight Next Year
Phil Libhart and Tiger Strank came out on top in the 2008 AMA Hillclimb Championship, with Libhart winning a season-long battle with Strank for the AMA Xtreme Hillclimb title and Strank running away with the AMA Unlimited Hillclimb No. 1 plate.
Xtreme Hillclimb, which features a variety of engine sizes and configurations under 770cc, was the closest of the two. Libhart edged defending champion Strank by 4 championship points.
“It only took us 11 years to win this title, and I think we were the bridesmaid seven times,” Libhart says. “It’s definitely good to build a bike from scratch and go out and win a championship on it.”
Strank, however, would not be denied
for the Unlimited Hillclimb title, which features various engine types 701cc and larger. The Johnstown, Pa., rider was the only multi-time winner on the season, riding his Yamaha R1-powered machine to four wins and 123 championship points.
Alex Benner, from Niles, Mich., finished second, 7 points back.
“It was kind of an up-and-down year. We put a new motor in the bike. It made a lot more horsepower, and it took awhile to figure it out,” says Strank, who rides for the Dr. Bob Racing Pro Hillclimb Team and receives factory support from Yamaha. “This bike is pushing around 300 horsepower, and I’m only 130 lbs. It’s a lot for me to hold onto.”
Strank is gracious in coming up second
Eddie Wins Laguna!
Lawson Goes Fast On Four, Too
Eddie Lawson may be famous for his four world motorcycle championships, but that hasn’t kept the likeable star from building an impressive resume in the superkart racing world.
In October, Lawson piloted his No. 7
in the Xtreme Hillclimb class, but he’s clear that next year he wants to get back the No. 1 plate.
“(Libhart) is probably the best rider out there who had never won a national title before, so he deserves it,” Strank says. “Next year, though, I want to win them both. Plain and simple, I’ve had enough. I want both titles back next year.”
In the AMA Pro Sport Hillclimb class, which features 400cc to 450cc fourstroke, single-cylinder production bikes, Brownstown, Pa.’s Robby Debusk, 16, dominated the class all year. The Yamaha rider, who rides with Strank on the Dr. Bob Racing Pro Hillclimb Team, took the title with 130 championship points to Scott Wentz’s 57.
Yamaha-powered superkart to victory at the Super Stars of Superkarts event at Laguna Seca Raceway. Lawson started on pole and led every lap, just beating Australian Sam Zavaglia.
This was the third time that Lawson and Yamaha have won the Super Stars of Superkarts race, which runs in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series weekend at Laguna.
Phil Libhart, climbing Devil’s Staircase
John Kuntz
The AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum tells the exciting stories and preserves the history of American motorcycling through world-class exhibitions. The Museum continues its mission thanks to individual and corporate donations, and the support of the AMA. Here are a few ways you can help:
-WIN Enter for a chance to win a Harley-Davidson Rocker signed by Willie G. Davidson, or a pair of Triumph Bonnevilles, a ’59 and an ’09—and help support the Museum at the same time.
–vISIT
Come see our expansive exhibit halls in Pickerington, Ohio. Current exhibits include: bikes of the stars in “Motostars: Celebrities + Motorcycles”; Arlen Ness creations in “Awesome-Ness”; motorcycle photography in “Red Bikes”; and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
-GIve
Your tax-deductible gifts to the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum help preserve our motorcycling heritage. You can donate cash, appreciated securities, or even donate a motorcycle to be sold to raise funds for the Museum through the Cycle Donor program.
Post-War Runabout
The Rumi 125 Super Sport Grew Out Of War-Torn Italy
Moto Rumi isn’t well-known in America, but there was a time in the 1950s when the Italian company’s 125cc racers were winning praise—and trophies.
It was only expected that European
lads fanatical about motorcycling, such as current General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who grew up in Switzerland, sought the street version of these racers: the Rumi 125 Super Sport.
The company didn’t always
produce two-wheelers, however. Rumi manufactured small submarines and torpedoes for the Italian military during World War II and switched production from implements of war to scooters and small motorcycles following Italy’s defeat.
Conceived as a source of cheap transportation for war-torn Italy, the Rumis were no less competitive on the track. In 1954, Rumi won the 125cc Italian national roadrace championship. Lutz, who followed roadracing closely
Heritage
and was thrilled by performance, bought a 125 Super Sport street machine in 1956.
“It had two great big Dell’Orto carburetors with velocity stacks, and all of 11 horsepower, which was twice the horsepower of most 125s back then, and more than most of the German, English or Italian 250s,” Lutz says. “So here was a 125, which you could engage in racing on the highways and byways of Switzerland, and you could wax people who were
riding with up to 350cc.
“I loved that bike,” he says.
The quick, two-cylinder two-stroke has a four-speed transmission, telescopic front forks, twin rear shocks, aluminum drum brakes front and rear, and a top speed of 60 mph.
Young Lutz rode his Rumi 125 Super Sport year-round in Switzerland. He ultimately moved on to other bikes. His current stable includes a Suzuki Hayabusa, BMW K1200S, BMW R1100S
and BMW K1.
Lutz has fond memories of his 1956 Rumi 125 Super Sport. So when he had the opportunity to buy one many years after owning one as a young man, he did.
Lutz’s Rumi 125 Super Sport is just one of the many motorcycles now on display as part of the “MotoStars: Celebrities + Motorcycles” exhibit at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio.
Who Had The Greatest Impact On The World Of Motorcycling In 2008? Stan Simpson
Photos by Michael Thad Carter
AMA MOTORCYCLIST OFTHEYEAR
Sometimes the world evolves. Other times it changes, rapidly. Theorists call it punctuated equilibrium. In 2008, the motorcycle world changed dramatically—thanks to the efforts and vision of one man.
The most visible part of that change came in the form of the sale of AMA Pro Racing, announced early this year. But the real change—reinventing of the world’s largest motorcyclist advocacy organization— started much earlier, and is proving to be even more far-reaching.
Stan Simpson, as chairman of the AMA’s Board of Directors, sparked that change. He led the effort that allowed the AMA to get its house in order, first by restoring fiscal integrity, then by focusing on advocacy and improving member communications and benefits. It was also during this time that Simpson recognized the drain that the management of professional racing had placed on the AMA. Under his leadership, the Board made the historic decision to safeguard the future of the AMA and the sport of professional motorcycle racing by selling roadracing, motocross, flat track, supermoto, hillcilimb and ATV racing to the Daytona Motorsports Group, the company best able to direct its success.
Less visible but equally significant are Simpson’s many other achievements in the world of motorcycling and, in particular, on behalf of the AMA. An accomplished off-road racer in his day, he remains
On His First Motorcycle Experience
My first experience on a motorcycle was on an Indian Scout that my dad had, probably in the late ’40s or early ’50s. My dad was far from being what you’d call an avid motorcyclist, but he did have an Indian Scout. When I was about 10 years old, he fired it up out there where we lived in the country and let me ride it around a little bit, and I thought that that was something pretty special.
On What That Experience Helped Instill In Him
I was actually enamored with anything that was mechanical. My dad had a nursery business—landscaping and trees—and he had this maintenance shop for the tractors and the pickup trucks, and I thought it was pretty neat to be able to do that kind of stuff, so I hung out there a lot. Probably by the time I entered high school, Dad had decided that maybe I ought to be an engineer. He was kind of aiming me in that direction, and I spent a great deal of time playing with mechanical stuff that moved and made power.
On Getting Bitten By The Motorcycle Bug
A friend of mine in high school is the one who really brought me into the motorcycle community. He and his dad and all of his uncles rode dirtbikes, and he was always talking about them. One day he said, “You ought to come over sometime and you can try.” I rode one of his bikes in the dirt—it was a 175 Harley-Davidson two-stroke— and I thought, “This is the answer!”
That was probably in ’55, maybe, and I was fortunate in the fact that I worked for
an avid rider on both the dirt and the street. The founder and owner of a highly successful business, Simpson started “giving back” to the AMA, first as a member of AMA Congress, and then as a member of the AMA Board. He became chairman of the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum board, and then in 2008, assumed the helm of the AMA Board of Directors after the resignation of its disgraced former chairman, Dal Smilie, following the discovery of unsubstantiated expense reimbursements.
The wave of change that Simpson helped start will continue well into the future. Years from now, motorcyclists will look back at 2008 as a crucial turning point that put the AMA and American motorcycling on a path of sustained growth and long-term success.
The AMA selects as its inaugural AMA Motorcyclist of the Year the person who had the most impact on the world of motorcycling during the previous year. In the historic year of 2008, we can think of no better recipient of the award than Stan Simpson. For a closer look at the man at the center of it all, American Motorcyclist caught up with him at the offices of the materials-handling company he founded in Cibolo, Texas.
my dad and he paid me, and all I had to do was save 30 percent of it for school and some other stuff. So I did have a little folding money back then, and in 1956 I bought a 175 Bridgestone and rode it in the dirt. I never claimed to be bright, but I sure wasn’t back then!
On His First AMA Race
It was, I think, in 1957. I entered a hare scramble on that Bridgestone. That motorcycle was not the best dirt bike by any means, but I thought that was the greatest thing I’d ever done.
The fact that it was an AMA race meant that I had to pay—I think it was $7—to join the American Motorcycle Association, not “motorcyclist” then, and I thought that was kind of like an entry fee. I became an AMA member in 1957, which kind of meant at the end of the day that I could say in 2007 that I was a 50-year member.
After that race, I rode at the local off-road club on weekends and on Thursday nights, whenever I could. I tried things like short track and flat track, and I liked all of it. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the kind of riding I liked the most was the one I got to do the longest!
On His Love Of Racing
I really started riding a lot—I mean, where it was a passion—when I got out of college. And then I found that the people I wanted to be around, in business and in personal life, were all competitors.
For quite some time, I was one of the local fast guys. I rode motocross in the late ‘60s, and I actually got a sponsored ride from Edison Dye. It wasn’t that I was the fastest guy. It was because you could race
motocross 45 weekends a year then. I had a job that would let me race every weekend, and my wife was raising our family and letting me race. I’d finish in the top three, depending on conditions. But because I rode every weekend, that let me gain more points than the other guys, so that made me the motocross champion.
On How His View Of The AMA Changed I would start out by saying that I, like so many folks my age, and the next couple of generations down, I was a user of AMA, all the years that I was racing motocross and enduros and all the other stuff. I figured that AMA was there to serve my needs, and I got to race every weekend.
But when I got to be a little older, I started realizing that there was a difference between what we used to say were Brand X trail rides and the AMA races I was doing. All these Nationals—there was a difference in AMA. And I started hanging around with folks like Tom and Jack Penton and all the old guys— Dave Mungenast, Bill Baird, then later on, Dick Burleson. I got to the place where, if you go to all the National stuff, pretty soon you become part of the group. And again, I was never really one of the fast guys, but I rode a lot, so I ended up winning classes here and there, and I won a few National enduro overalls back in the old days.
On The Moment He Decided To Get Involved
About 8 or 10 years ago, my late friend, Dave Mungenast Sr., came to see me here in San Antonio, and we had what’s ended up being described as a “school bus meeting.” I had an old school bus that I’d fixed up to go dirtbike riding, and there were
“I thInk we’re over the top of the hump. I keep tellIng (AmA presIdent And Ceo) rob dIngmAn on A weekly bAsIs to look out the wIndow, thAt we reAlly Are gAInIng momentum And CorreCtIng thIs, you know.” —stAn sImpson
a lot of people in the office, so we ended up in the school bus talking. And Mungenast said that I needed to reprioritize my life, that I needed to spend more time being thankful for the things that the man upstairs gave me.
And then, after we talked about that for a while, he said, “You’ve got to quit being a user, and you’ve gotta start paying it back.” And Dave and I, we already had a good relationship at the races, we started visiting with each other a lot after that.
In the late ’90s, Mungenast and I were sitting at a restaurant, and he said, “Stan, we have some problems at AMA.” And he said, “We’ve lost our way on some stuff. We’ve got this Hall of Fame Museum, and we’re doing this and we’re doing that, but we’ve got some things we’ve got to fix.” And he said, “I’d like you to run for the Board of Directors.”
so AMA would be a rights-advocacy group, like Rob talks about. That way, if you had some kind of big problem in motorcycling—I call it a “meteor attack”—the AMA would be the one that could help the community.
Dave talked a lot about that, and now I believe and fully understand it, and I have kind of taken the oath that that’s exactly what we need to be.
Bringing Rob in, I mean that was obviously the catalyst that we needed to do. Early on, he told the Board that we’d hired him to be the CEO and run the company
stepping into. I feel really honored to be able to hang around with him and try to help him do his job. He is surrounding himself with people who understand what the business is about and what the mission is.
On His Involvement In The Colorado 500 Charity Ride
I’ve been riding in Colorado since the ’70s, and I have a place out there. But the Colorado 500 was this thing where I knew a bunch of people who went and rode for a week, and it was an organized trail ride.
Then a guy by the name of Don Riggle said, “Stan, you’ve gotta come ride the 500.”
“One thing for sure, is Stan is a friend to everyone on the ride. He’s a go-to guy, and we enjoy his association with us. Stan has not only been such a good ambassador for motorcycling—road bike, dirt bike—but he’s helped us with a lot of other issues, such as doing the inspection of the motorcycles for each Colorado 500 to make sure they’re street legal, quiet and safe for the trail. That work has paid off considerably. The motorcycles have been quieter every year. Stan is deserving of all the accolades he can receive. He’s been an asset to us, and I’m sure he’s been an asset to the AMA.”
What he didn’t tell me was that he wasn’t going to be around to help finish this (Mungenast passed away in 2006). I mention that to him every time I get a chance, that I’m mad that he’s not here to see what all we’ve gotten done. Because I‘m sure he’s pleased now.
I think we’re over the top of the hump. I keep telling (AMA President and CEO) Rob Dingman on a weekly basis to look out the window, that we really are gaining momentum and correcting this, you know.
On His Goals For The AMA
Mungenast kept telling me that we had to convert the Association from a Midwestern club into a business. And he wanted it done
Wally Dallenbach Sr., Colorado 500 Founder and member of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
and that the major stuff, he needed to run by us first to get our agreement and support, but that we needed to let him run the company. And that has not been without some contesting from some of the guys on the Board. But at the end of the day, I think everybody has to say, we’re sure lucky to have Rob Dingman.
Riders need to read what Rob puts in our magazine. There’s only one Rob Dingman. He doesn’t have five agendas. He’s the greatest thing we’ve ever coerced into stepping into a thing he didn’t know he was
Preserving The Future Of Motorcycling’s History
And then the next year Wally Dallenbach Sr.,—he created the 500—called me because I’d known him in Indy Car racing, and he said, “Stan, you need to come out and ride with us,” and so I did. I rode three years as just a rider, and had a lot of fun. By that time we were starting to work on all these land-use issues, noise and some other stuff.
We were at Ouray one night, about 5 or 6 years ago, and Ben Cheatwood and Lloyd Liebetrau were interviewing people for a Colorado 500 video. And Ben said, “Stan you’re a nationally known guy, and you’re involved in the AMA. What do you think the No. 1 issue is?” And I yelled at the top of my lungs, “Noise!”
That evening in the restaurant, Wally asked me, “What do you want to do about it?” And I said, “Wally, it’s a grassroots thing. You have to make it the socially correct thing to do to reduce the sound level.”
Stature Of The AMA’s Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Museum Grew Under Simpson’s Leadership
Before he became chairman of the AMA Board of Directors, Stan Simpson led the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, and his efforts there both helped re-dedicate the Museum to its mission, as well as expand its reach well beyond its Pickerington, Ohio, campus.
Stan brought a real, life-long, hard-core commitment to motorcycling and a powerful entrepreneurial background to his position as chairman of the AMA’s Museum Board. Under his leadership from 2006 to 2008, the Museum was able to raise its level of professionalism and its stature within the motorcycling community.
His hands-on style and big-picture focus
raised expectations for what the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame could be, and helped both Museum staffers and its volunteer Board members to broaden their thinking, not only when it came to planning potential exhibits, but also in terms of long-term strategy as the AMA’s Museum.
Simpson was also part of the group that realized the need to expand the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum beyond its own walls. The Museum may be based in the Midwest, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t work to be a part of the broad enthusiasm that exists for motorcycling on the East and West Coasts.
The results have been traveling exhibits,
such as the one currently touring at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows, detailing the history of motorcycling, and the sales of Museum exhibits at the ends of their runs at the Museum itself, which brings the rich heritage of motorcycling to new audiences.
Beyond the institutional changes Simpson was able to help bring about, there are the personal connections that have helped the Museum make broader inroads among enthusiasts and industry representatives alike. And going forward, those connections can only help an institution that is dedicated to telling the stories and preserving the history of American motorcycling.
And he said, “Well how do we do that?” And Cheatwood says, “You turn over tech inspection to Stan and have a sound test.”
And Wally, who is one of the greatest guys on Earth, I mean he is the Wally Dallenbach, he said, “Why don’t you do that and tell me how we’d make it work.” And the next year we did.
On What He Did To Quiet Down Bikes In The Event
The first year, we set the sound level at
102 db, and we had people who didn’t pass. The next year, we lowered it to 99. We did two years of 99, and then we’d been mailing to people, and people were starting to understand what the importance was.
We took it from 99 db to 96 db the third year. And the first year we had 96, we tested the 300 bikes for two days. Team Kawasaki and the other guys who were there, the support people, worked until midnight both nights repacking and fixing bikes.
So if we fast-forward to this year, in 2008,
when we had the Colorado 500 dirt ride, we had 318 motorcycles, and the sound limit is now 96 db max. We tested 318 motorcycles, and we had just four that were above 95 db. The mood is changing.
On His Motorcycling Heroes
Well, you’re going to find this really strange. My motorcycling heroes are Dave Mungenast, Sr.—because he rode some really crappy motorcycles and did really well on them—he was a superb International Six
“IT Was 1,206 MIlEs, anD I Only sTOppED fOr gas anD TO gET a BOTTlE Of WaTEr anD a canDy Bar Or sOMETHIng.”
sTan sIMpsOn
MOTO r C y CL e ICO n S
MeMbers Of The AMA’s MOTOrcycle hAll Of fAMe
cl A ss Of 2008 fOund fAMe The Old-fA shiOned WAy: They e arned IT.
An ironm A n off-roA d r Acer. A titA n of industry. An e A rly m Xr Acing gi A nt. A “ s upermouth” r Ace A nnouncer. A dirt-tr Ack legend. A triumph pioneer in the u. s. t hese hA ll of fA mers didn’t wA it for the world to c Atch up with them.
words by grAnt pArsons, photos by terry JordAn
MOTOCROSS PIONEER
Long Before The Sport Of Motocross Was As American As Apple Pie, It Was Very European. And Sweden’s Rolf Tibblin Was One Of The Best.
At a time when some racers would happily pose with cigars in their mouths, Rolf Tibblin understood the need for physical fitness. In fact, it was one of the cornerstones of his success in an MX career that included winning the 1962 and 1963 500cc World Motocross Championships, as well as being part of Sweden’s 1962 Motocross of Nations championship team.
On his early aspirations to play soccer: I was drafted to play for Liverpool, in England, when I was 16, but my dad said,
ROLF TIBBLIN
“Rolf, there’s no money in football.” Of course, he was wrong. One of my uncles helped me to buy a bike, and my dad said, “No way, no racing. It’s too expensive.” So, I started racing behind my mother’s and father’s backs. I went so far as to win the European championship before I had my parents’ support.
On devising a plan to get in shape for motocross:
Whatever you do in life, whether it’s racing or whatever else, you have to have the desire to do well. I had the desire to try to come out on top. It didn’t take me long to realize that I can’t get up there if I don’t get in shape. So I actually looked into what other athletes did, not necessarily in the motorcycle industry—skiers, skaters, wrestlers, football.
I looked up the best people. I was a
little bit shy at that age, but I phoned them up and asked them if I could come and see them. I found out how they trained by interviewing different athletes. Then I went home and put a program together that I thought would fit into my own body and my sport. That physical fitness helped me get on top. If you’re fit physically, you’re fit mentally. And if you’re racing, you can’t afford to get tired mentally because that’s when you make small mistakes.
On an unorthodox type of training that really made a difference:
I did a lot of ballet training for balancing, because on a bike, coordination is so important. On the track, you’re always focusing forward: the corner over there or whatever. And you have to know how to control your body without looking at your body.
IRONMAN
Scot Harden Raced Off-Road Flat Out For 40 Years—Then Took On The World’s Toughest Bike Race At The Age Of 48.
Scot Harden boasts a 40-year off-road-racing career as one of the world’s best, racing in North and South America, Europe and Africa. He’s notched two Baja 1000 overall wins, three Baja 500 wins, three SCORE championships, four Best in the Desert championships, three International Six-Day Enduro medals, and a thirdplace in the 1,900-mile Incas Peru Rally. He capped it off by entering the grueling Dakar Rally at the age of 48.
On the moment of realization that he would be starting the world’s toughest motorcycle race, the Dakar Rally, at age 48 and with no advance notice after another racer on the team he was managing went out with injuries:
For me it was the day before the start, the bike’s at impound, and you know it’s about to start and you have a couple of hours to yourself. I remember laying in my bed in a hotel room in Barcelona. Everybody who’s ever raced knows what butterflies are like—well, I had that times 1 trillion.
You know that for the next few weeks, your life is going to be holy hell because Dakar is about suffering, living on the edge, living like an animal, sleeping on the ground at night, hanging off the back of a motorcycle at 100 mph across terrain you’ve never seen before, extreme danger, extreme risk, and it never stops. Even when you’re off the bike, you’re still in that mode.
It was that moment where I was like, “Man, my life is going to be nothing but pain and suffering for the foreseeable future.”
His advice for anyone contemplating living a motorcycle dream like the Dakar Rally:
Go do it. Go mortgage your house. Sell everything you have. Take loans out. Do whatever you need to do, but go do it. The experience of Dakar is unequalled in this world. At the end of the day, there’s the material things you acquire, and all the other things that mean absolutely nothing, but it’s the experiences you’ve had that really tell you that you’ve lived a full and complete life.
Not just Dakar but any two-wheeled dream you have. Track it down, chase it down and do it.
SCOT HARDEN
TERRY POOVEY RACING MACHINE
In A Dirt-Track Career That Spanned More Than Three Decades, Terry Poovey Was Always A Threat.
Terry Poovey’s stats spell out the success and staying power of his career in AMA Flat Track: 350 AMA National mainevent starts, more than 200 top-10 finishes, 80 top-five finishes and 11 Grand National main event wins.
On his favorite racetrack:
It’d have to be the Daytona Short Track. It’s the first big race I ever won. When I came here as a Junior in 1974, I won two
out of three nights. I won the Junior night, then came back the following night and won the Junior-Expert night. The best was probably 1975, the first time I won it as a pro. I had gone there every year when I was a kid, and I just dreamed of winning races there. And in 1975, I finally did. If you combine the old short track and the new track, I have 20 wins at Daytona.
On the biggest help to his career:
My brother Teddy has been the biggest influence in my career. He was a National number in 1973 and ’74. He built my first mini bike I started racing on in 1968, and he built the last XR750 I raced at Springfield.
On one of his biggest accomplishments:
While racing as a privateer in 1982, Poovey won the Knoxville, Tennessee, half-mile on a Honda. He was recruited by the factory Honda team in 1983, and won the season-opener at the Houston, Texas, short track. That same year, he debuted the Honda RS750 machine at California’s Ascot Speedway and helped develop the platform that racers Ricky Graham and Bubba Shobert had success with in later years.
“That ’83 race really was something. I had just gotten my contract with Honda, and it was the first race with their new bike. It was a really big race for them, and I won it.”
ROD COATES
RIDER, RACER, INDUSTRY GREAT
Rod Coates Helped Build Triumph Into A Major U.S. Force In The 1950s And ’60s, Winning A Few Races Himself Along The Way.
An accomplished engineer with experience with Eastman Kodak Co. and the Lawrence Aeronautical Corp., Rod Coates turned his interest to motorcycling in the 1950s with Triumph and BSA. He is credited with building Triumph’s impressive East Coast dealer network and later overseeing race operations, contributing to Triumph’s achievements on the track.
Coates, who passed away in 1990, was posthumously inducted into the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
His early motorcycling experience: Growing up in Upper Montclair, New
Jersey, Rod owned an Austin Bantam that he customized with an insulated compartment. He drove around town, selling ice cream from the car.
By 1937, Coates was racing, entering all types of competition, including hill climbs, scrambles, road races, TT races, half miles, observed trials and endurance runs.
He won the Sandy Lane Endurance Run (known as the “Jack Pine of the East”) in 1948, the 1950 Daytona 100, and many other AMA-sanctioned events.
His work in the motorcycle industry:
In 1950, Coates moved to Maryland to work as service manager for the Triumph Corp., a position he held for 20 years. This was the newly formed U.S. East Coast distributor for Triumph motorcycles, where Coates was credited with building an outstanding dealer-support program, which included annual service schools for dealers.
Coates also organized and improved
Triumph’s racing efforts, by developing a dealer sponsorship program and supporting product developments that increased the brand’s performance. His efforts helped earn AMA National wins and championship titles for Triumph, with such racing greats as Bill Baird, Ed Fisher, Gary Nixon and Don Burnett.
Transitioning out of racing motorcycles:
Coates’ last race was in 1957, where he took first place in the Lightweight Class at Long Island’s Bridgehampton Road Race.
In the 1960s, he built a small dirt track on his property, and held annual AMAsanctioned scrambles races to benefit the Boy Scouts of America.
With Triumph’s merger with BSA motorcycles in 1970, Coates turned his attention to other endeavors, including establishing, with his wife, Marge, Laurelbrook Foods, a pioneer wholesale distributor of natural and organic products.
‘SUPERMOUTH’
Larry Huffman Announced For Every Major Type of Motorcycle Racing, Both In The United States And Japan.
If you’ve ever been to an AMA Supercross race, or even watched one on TV, chances are good that you’ve heard Larry Huffman’s energetic voice calling the action at one time or another. The former radio disc jockey parlayed his love of the sport and enthusiasm for motorcycling into a memorable career that’s still going strong.
On his strangest race-announcing job ever:
I was hired to be the announcer of the Kyoto Supercross in Japan in ’83. Kyoto was the ancient Japanese capital, and President Roosevelt said we would not bomb it during the war, so as a result Americans are very popular in Kyoto.
We took a number of riders over there. We got there at late morning and people had been lined up since 5 a.m. to get in, the crowd was a total sellout—maybe 15,000 or 20,000 people.
In Kyoto, almost nobody speaks English, and I got to the broadcast booth, and they said, “There’s your broadcast booth, Larry-san, there’s the crowd, go ahead and announce.”
I said, “Fine, where’s my interpreter?”
They said, “Well, you have no interpreter Larry-san. They all know who you are from magazine articles in Japan, and they want you to announce as you would to an American audience—in English.”
I said, “You’ve got to be kidding! You want me to announce in English?”
LARRY HUFFMAN
So, I announced the whole thing, the whole race, in English, and I got very excited, and every once in a while, I would yell, “Banzai!” and the crowd would just go crazy. So, I guess it worked.
VAUGHN BEALS
HARLEY-DAVIDSON VISIONARY
Vaughn Beals Was One Of 13 Harley-Davidson Execs Who Rolled The Dice On Buying The Company From AMF—And Built H-D Into A Brand Known Around The World.
It may be a textbook case of turning around a company that’s routinely taught in business schools these days, but when Vaughn Beals and 12 other Harley execs bought the then-troubled manufacturer from AMF with hopes of a turnaround, it was anything but a sure thing.
On the risk involved in buying HarleyDavidson in a leveraged buyout:
You know that if you bet your net worth at an age when you’re approaching retirement, that’s scary. And we fully understood the Japanese threat. We had visited the Japanese manufacturers, and we saw what they did and what they didn’t do, which sometimes is more surprising. It was a tremendous challenge. The good news is that it worked.
On the constraints imposed on day-today operations in the early years:
We ran the company for five years—five years—with zero cash. When we collected
for a motorcycle—when a motorcycle was sold to a dealer—we paid the bank. When we needed money, we went to the bank.
The management group and the employees understood how this worked, and made it work, and the results are what they are today. For the company to get from 23 percent to 46 percent marketshare in a five-year period against new Japanese heavyweight motorcycles, that says that what we did worked, and we put those guys in the minority.
That’s when I retired with my fingers crossed—and legs crossed. That was wellrewarded because the marketshare is still there today, in the mid- to high-40s.
Go Ride [ ]
A few of the hundreds of AMA-sanctioned events this month, detailed on the followig pages. 1
1With defending champion Chad Reed and former champ James Stewart switching teams for the 2009 season, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship season opener Jan. 3 in Anaheim, California, should prove to be one of the most exciting season-openers ever. Can’t get to the opener? Then catch the action Jan. 10 in Phoenix, Jan. 17 back in Anaheim, Jan. 24 in Houston or Jan. 31 in San Francisco. The full schedule is on page 60.
2The gladiators in the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series pull into Grand Rapids, Mich., to do battle Jan. 2-4. Then they head to Baltimore Jan. 9-11; Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 17-18; Louisville, Ky., Jan. 23-25; and Greensboro, N.C., Jan. 31-Feb. 1. For the complete schedule, see page 60.
3A
good way to get in your first ride of 2009 and benefit charity at the same time is to take part in the 28th annual Hangover Rally conducted by the Midwest Motorcycle Club in Indianapolis on Jan. 1. The rally begins at the clubs’ clubhouse on South Harding Street at 10 a.m. and involves a poker run as well as a timed
run. Early registration is Dec. 28. Proceeds benefit DAMAR Services, which helps the developmentally disabled. For more information, call Bob at (317) 557-2130.
4The Lone Star Rally, an AMA National Convention and part of the AMA Premier Touring Series presented by Cycle Trader, is set for Dec. 11-14 in Galveston, Texas. The rally was originally scheduled for Oct. 30 through Nov. 2, but was postponed because of the effects of Hurricane Ike on Galveston Island. The rally will feature a pirate theme, a leather and lace ball, numerous live concerts, poker runs, demo rides, a ghost ship tour, vendors, the Lone Star Lady Riders Conference and more. For more information, go to www.lonestarrally.com.
5Can Mike Lafferty pull off a record-setting ninth championship title in the 2009 AMA FMF National Enduro Championship Series? Or will defending champion Russell Bobbitt, or one of the other top guns in the circuit, spoil Lafferty’s dreams? The action begins with the season opener Jan. 25 in Wedgefield, S.C. Get more info at www.sermaclub.com.
6The
2009 AMA National Hare and Hound Series kicks off Jan. 25 at the Johnson Valley Off-highway Vehicle Recreation Area in Lacerne, Calif. Hosted by the Desert Motorcycle Club, this is the start of the seven-event desert-racing series. For more information, go to www.desertmc.com.
COMING SOON
Daytona! The opening race of the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., March 4-6 is always special, with racebikes reaching 200 mph on the high banking. But this season-opener wil be very special, since it will be run at night under the lights. Start making your plans now. For more information, go to www.amasuperbike.com.
Looking to go riding, racing or spectating this month? You’ve come to the right place.
The following pages list the AMAsanctioned events for December, up to date at the time this issue went to press. You can also find listings of AMA sanctioned events in the Riding and Racing sections of www. AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
The biggest events—pro races, national-championship amateur competition, plus rides and rallies that are part of the AMA Premier
Touring Series—are highlighted in color boxes. For these series, we list all of the remaining events for the entire year.
Then there are the local events, the backbone of the AMA’s riding and racing calendar. We sanction 83 different types of road and competition events for riders of all types. These events are listed by state, so you can quickly find the ones near you.
Here’s a guide to what you’ll find in these local listings:
Event Class (Competition events only)
S - Standard (Amateur classes) Y - Youth Classes
D eC 6 ( s ,t,Y): R e YNOLD s (D-9): SILVER DOLLAR MX, C/O STEVE JONES; 6 AM; HWY 96 W/JST W OF TWN; (478) 555-4673
iNDi ANA
POK e R Ru N
JAN 1 (R): i ND i ANAPOLis (D-15): MIDWEST MOTORCYCLE CLUB, BOB SHACKELFORD; 10 AM; 3101 S HARDING/2 MI N OF 465S/ HARDING EXIT; (317) 694-1305
K e NtuCKY
AR e NA CRO ss
JAN 23 (M,Y): LOuisV i LLe (D-10): INDOOR; 3 DAY EVENT: LIVE NATION, JAYME DALSING; BROADBENT ARENA/937 PHILLIPS LANE; (800) 216-7482
MARYLAND
AR e NA CRO ss
JAN 9 (M,Y): bALti MOR e (D-7) : INDOOR; 3 DAY EVENT: LIVE NATION, JAYME DALSING; 1ST MARINER ARENA/201 W BALTIMORE ST; (800) 216-7482
MiChiGAN
AR e NA CRO ss
JAN 2 (M,Y): GRAND RAPi D s (D-14): INDOOR; 3 DAY EVENT: LIVE NATION, JAYME DALSING; VAN ANDEL ARENA/130 W FULTON; (800) 216-7482
MiNN esOtA
ROAD Ru N
JAN 1 (R): b LOOM i NGtON (D-23): TRAVELERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB, BETTY VALIANT; 10:31 AM; CHIEFS TOWING/8610 HARRIET AVE S; (952) 445-4379
Ne W YORK
sh ORt tRACK
JAN 18 (s ,Y): CA i RO (D-3) : ELECTRIC CITY
RIDERS, FRANK CARPINELLO; SKIDMORE LAKE/220 HERVEY SUNSIDE RD; (518) 5422144
i Ce RACe
JAN 4 (s ,t ): CA i RO (D-3) : ELECTRIC CITY
RIDERS, FRANK CARPINELLO; SKIDMORE LAKE/220 HERVEY SUNSIDE RD; (518) 5422144
NORth CAROLiNA
AR e NA CRO ss JAN 31 (M,Y): GR ee N sbORO (D-29): INDOOR; 2 DAY EVENT: LIVE NATION, JAYME DALSING; GREENSBORO COLISEUM; (800) 216-7482
OhiO
AR e NA CRO ss JAN 17 (M,Y): DAY tON (D-11): INDOOR; 2 DAY EVENT: LIVE NATION, JAYME DALSING; ERVIN J NUTTER CENTER; (800) 216-7482
OReGON
ROAD Ru N
JAN 1 (R): PORtLAND (D-28): TRINITY ROAD RIDERS, BRUCE TILLER; 10 AM; CYCLE GEAR/89TH & SE STARK ST; (503) 314-4757
sOuth CAROLiNA
e NDu RO
JAN 17 (s ): eh R h ARDt (D-29): 2 DAY EVENT: FAMILY RIDERS, DOUG COCHRAN; BROXTON BRIDGE PLANTATION/6 MI S OF TOWN; (843) 572-2008
tex As MOtOCRO ss
JAN 3 (s ,Y): JAN 17 ( s ,Y): DONNA (D-20): BILLMAN FARMS LLC, MARC FANTICH; EX HWY83 & PROC. W ON FRONTAGE/GPS/ N26.11.15.4, W98.04.45.5; (956) 928-0500
WisCON siN
POK e R Ru N
JAN 1 (R): MAD is ON (D-16): MADISON MOTORCYCLE CLUB, NORA MADSEN; 12 PM; INN ON THE PARK/CAPITAL SQUARE; (608) 441-2518
MOtORCYCLe shOWs
Cycle World i nternational Motorcycle s hows www.motorcycleshows.com
Dec 12-14: Seattle, WA
Dec 19-21: San Mateo, CA
MuseuM exhibits
Jan 2-4: Novi, MI
Jan 9-11: Washington, DC
Jan16-18: New York, NY
Jan 30-Feb. 1: Cleveland, OH
Feb 6-8: Chicago, IL
Feb 13-15: Minneapolis, MN
Feb 20-22: Greenville, SC
AMA’s Motorcycle h all of Fame Museum
The Musuem is located on the AMA campus in Pickerington, Ohio, and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week year-round except for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Info: www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
Moto s tars: Celebrities + Motorcycles: Priceless machines, exclusive memorabilia and tales from celebrities’ favorite two-wheel adventures. On display through February 2009. Awesome-Ness: The life and art of Arlen Ness: King of Choppers. On display through June 2009.
Red b ikes: Large-format photographic prints by artist and motorcycle aficionado Dawn Deppi. Motorcycle h all of Fame: Bikes and memorabilia recognizing those who have made significant contributions to all aspects of motorcycling.
Founders h all: Honoring the Museum’s generous contributors.
AMA PRO R ACiNG
Monster e nergy AMA s upercross, an FiM World Championship www.amasupercross.com
Jan. 3: Anaheim, CA : Angel Stadium of Anaheim; (714) 9402000
Jan. 10: Phoenix, AZ: Chase field; (602) 4626000;
Jan. 17: Anaheim, CA: Angel Stadium of Anaheim; (714) 9402000;
Jan. 24: h ouston, tx : Reliant Stadium; (832) 667-1400
Jan. 31: s an Francisco,
AMA sPORts
CA : AT&T Park; (415) 972-2000
Feb. 7: Anaheim, CA: Angel Stadium of Anaheim; (714) 9402000
Feb. 14: s an Diego, CA: Qualcomm Stadium; (619) 525-8266
March 5: tomoka Farms Rd., Daytona b each, FL: Daytona Dirt Riders, Steve Pettenger; (386) 6156722; www.floridatrailriders.org/ddr/; daytonadirtriders@aol.com
March 29: Kisatchie National Forest, Forest h ill, LA: Acadiana Dirt Riders, Darin LaFleur; (337) 3634229; b_faster@yahoo.com; www. acadianadirtriders.org
April 26: West Point, TN: NATRA, Paul
AMA National h are & hound Championship s eries s chedule
Jan. 25: Johnson Valey Oh VA, Lucerne, CA: Desert M/C, Gary Cyr; (909) 865-3935; desertmotorcycleclub@yahoo.com;
Feb. 8: s pangler h ills, Ridgecrest CA: Four Aces MC, Richie Wohlers; (805) 573-5128; richie@fouracesmc.org; www.fouracesmc.org
March 15: s uperstition O h VA, e l Centro, CA: Roadrunner Off-Road Racing, Kirk Hester; (760) 275-9852; captain@dc.rr.com; http//groups.msn. com/RoadRunnerOffRoadRacing/
April 26: Lucerne Valley, CA: Vikings MC, Nick Balderas; (714) 775-6880;
Superdome; (504) 5873663
March 21: s t. Louis, MO: Edward Jones Dome; (314) 342-5036
March 28: toronto, ON: Rogers Centre; (416) 341-3000
April 4: Jacksonville, FL: Jacksonville Municipal Stadium; (904) 633-6100
April 18: s eattle, WA: Qwest Field; (206) 3817500
April 25: s alt Lake City, ut: Rice-Eccles Stadium; (801) 581-8849
May 2: Las Vegas, NV: Sam Boyd Stadium; (702) 895-3761
Oakley’s Inmate sunglasses offer a minimalist, assertive look that should work well with many helmets. The frame, made of a lightweight alloy based on five metal compounds, employs bridge and temple pads made of a material formulated to increase grip with sweat. The lens blocks 100 percent of UVA, UBV and UVC light.
$215 from www.oakley.com.
Shine A Light On Me
Risk Racing’s LeD Light-Mine Puts it Where You Want it
Working on a motorcycle in dim light (or no light) is no fun, especially if you’re holding a flashlight in your mouth. Now you can save your sanity and your teeth with Risk Racing’s LED LightMine, with a spherical design that includes 12 rare earth magnets that allow the light to stick to any metal surface. Smaller than a golf ball, it can fit in even tight spaces, like the one between your fuel tank and cylinder head.
$7.99 from www.riskracing.com.
WheeL-LOcking SYSteM WORkS AnYWheRe
keep Your Bike Where You Put it
The Condor Pit-Stop is a fully adjustable wheel-locking system that will secure your bike in the upright position on pavement, concrete, dirt, sand, gravel and all forms of transport platforms. When not in use, it folds down flat. The system can accommodate bikes up to 3,000 pounds and front and rear wheels from 14 to 22 inches in diameter.
$250 from www.condor-lift.com.
A MuSeuM exhiBit fOR YOuR BOOkSheLf
the comprehensive MotoStars Book
“MotoStars: Celebrities + Motorcycles” is one of the most dynamic and engaging exhibits ever displayed at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. If you can’t get to the Museum in person, the official book of the exhibit is the next best thing. Curator David Morris has compiled hundreds of pictures and talked with dozens of celebrities whose bikes are featured, including Pat Boone, Arlen Ness, Neil Peart, Francesco Quinn, Roland Sands and many more. The in-depth stories will draw you in, proving this is much more than just a book of pretty pictures. Buy it in the Museum gift shop or at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
ADVERTISER INDEX
Guest Column
50 States of Consciousness
Live Life To The Fullest: Make Your Dream Rides Come True
The motorcycle bug combined with my lifelong wanderlust in 1998, when I embraced motorcycling in a very big way. Ultimately, that merger turned me into what some have called a road warrior, a mile-monster and a downright crazy, extreme and extraordinary life force on two wheels.
For me, it has been all about living life to the fullest—which is how I came to hatch a plan for an unimaginable 50-state solo journey to raise money and awareness for heart disease and pediatric cancer.
On May 6, 2006, in Albuquerque, N.M., I couldn’t have asked for a better send-off from my friends and the New Mexico State Police. After two years of planning and preparation, I rode into the sunset on my beloved motorcycle, Big Bertha, a 1999 Honda Valkyrie, to start my cross-continent journey. Not only would I honor both my parents, who died of heart disease, but also a young family friend who is a brain cancer survivor.
To my surprise, after a few days, I realized that raising money this way would be more difficult than I imagined. I revised my goals, because I was not going to surrender my plan. I made the best of every pleasantry. I managed to enjoy
the simple pleasures of an occasional mouthwatering home-cooked meal and heartfelt moments of sidesplitting laughter with friends old and new.
Over the course of my 169-day, 25,000mile odyssey, there were bound to be a few unexpected challenges. For instance, sweat poured from my body as I traveled through the Deep South, while being eaten alive by insects. I survived a tornado in Wisconsin, a motorcycle accident in California, grizzlies in the Yukon Territory and the foreboding Alaska Highway. There were serious gut checks while riding through all kinds of weather and road conditions, as well as dodging large animals like bear, buffalo and moose.
by DJ Jones
On most days, a tent was my home, and an occasional shower was a luxury. I was challenged by mechanical difficulties and I dealt with all kinds of animals, both twoand four-legged. Through it all, I did my best to keep a positive attitude, stay in the moment and enjoy this ride of a lifetime.
In the end, I was able to successfully
complete my 50-state journey. When I rolled Big Bertha onto Hawaiian soil on Sept. 13, 2006, I could proudly say, “I did it.” Thanks to God’s blessings, the love of my husband and devoted friends, I accomplished what many said I could not do. For me, it was more than just crossing dotted lines on the map. It was like I had ridden through 50 states of consciousness— there were so many lessons the road taught me during that challenging journey. I encourage anyone with a dream ride to get out there and experience our wonderful country. With a multitude of roads to be ridden, sights to be seen and memories to be made, there’s no time like the present to make your dreams come true. Life may not always be sunshine and rainbows, but what you live through will make you a better person and a better rider.
DJ Jones would like to hear from any other riders who have accomplished a solo 50-state feat on the same bike. E-mail DJ at irronbutt@aol.com.
»RC8 RULE
»You feel the best when Y ou’re D r AGGI n G A K nee .*«
»KTM RC8 1190
sharper and lighter than anything that calls itself competition: 88.5 lbft. torque, 155 hP at 10,000 rpm and weighs less than 440 lbs. fully tanked. nonetheless, thanks to innovative solutions and meticulous detail work, we’ve achieved unsurpassed rideability – on the street and on the racetrack, in every situation – of life or riding. experience it for yourself: at your KtM dealer.
