Of AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days
OLD BIKES, NEW TRICKS
SUN DAY DRIVING
The best days are on your bike. That’s why Foremost® offers you competitive rates and options bikers want, such as Towing & Roadside Assistance with Trip Interruption coverage. Go to Foremost.com to learn more and find an agent near you. Or, call 1-800-237-2060 and mention Customer Priority Number M132, for a no-obligation quote.
Foremost. For You . ™
NAVIGATION
Cover Chicago’s Tony Prust went for a can’t-go-wrong mix of old and new to build this Yamaha RD350 café bike, which won the Café Racer Bike Show on the infield of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. Photo: Monty Soungpradith
Navigation Photo
AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Grand Marshal Jeff Fredette said he was honored to represent Kawasaki at the event but insisted on one thing: He wanted to race. A lot! Here, Fredette rounds a turn during Saturday’s vintage motocross program. He also raced hare scrambles, dirt track and competed in trials.
Photo: Corey Mays
American Motorcyclist magazine (ISSN 0277-9358) is published monthly by the American Motorcyclist Association, 13515 Yarmouth Dr., Pickerington, OH 43147. Copyright by the American Motorcyclist Association/American Motorcyclist 2011. Printed in USA. Subscription rate: Magazine subscription fee of $10 covered in membership dues; $15 a year for non-members.
Postmaster: Mail form 3579 to 13515 Yarmouth Dr., Pickerington, OH 43147. Periodical postage paid at Pickerington, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices.
October 2011
Volume 65, Number 10
Published by the American Motorcyclist Association 13515 Yarmouth Dr. Pickerington, OH 43147 (800) AMA-JOIN (262-5646) AmericanMotorcyclist.com
8. LETTERS
You write, we read.
10. RICK PODLISKA
Examining the victory.
12. RIGHTS
AMA officials outline rights threats, and Maine adopts AMA-endorsed sound test.
18. RIDING
Dispatch from the Mexican 1000, and Alpinestars Gore-Tex riding gear tested.
24. RACING
Nate Redmann rules Pro Hillclimb round, and $1 million Supercross race set.
28. HALL OF FAME
1930 Henderson KJ, and Hall of Famer Gary Nixon: 1941-2011.
32. THE BEST OF VINTAGE
For high-mileage geeks to speed freaks, sellers, buyers and people who enjoy a step back into the past, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days offers a bit of everything.
40. VICTORY!
AMA members crush the lead law, ending the ban on the sale of kids’ dirtbikes.
44. GO RIDE
What to do, where to go.
50. HEATHER WILSON
Growing up moto.
THE ADVENTURE is
EDITORIAL OFFICES
American Motorcyclist 13515 Yarmouth Drive Pickerington, OH 43147 (614) 856-1900 submissions@ama-cycle.org
Grant Parsons, Director of Communications
James Holter, Managing Editor
Bill Kresnak, Government Affairs Editor
Mark Lapid, Creative Director
Jen Muecke, Designer Jeff Guciardo, Production Manager/Designer
ADVERTISING
Steve Gotoski, Advertising Director (Western States) (951) 566-5068, sgotoski@ama-cycle.org
Misty Walker, Advertising Assistant (614) 856-1900, ext. 1267, mwalker@ama-cycle.org
All trademarks used herein (unless otherwise noted) are owned by the AMA and may only be used with the express, written permission of the AMA. American Motorcyclist is the monthly publication of the American Motorcyclist Association, which represents motorcyclists nationwide. For information on AMA membership benefits, call (800) AMA-JOIN or visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com. Manuscripts, photos, drawings and other editorial contributions must be accompanied by return postage. No responsibility is assumed for loss or damage to unsolicited material. Copyright© American Motorcyclist Association, 2011.
CONTRIBUTORS AND STAFF
AMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Contact any member of the AMA Board of Directors at www.AmericanMotorcyclist. com/about/board
Stan Simpson, Chairman Cibolo, Texas
Jon-Erik Burleson, Assistant Treasurer Murrietta, Calif.
Perry King, Assistant Secretary Northern California
John Ulrich, Executive Committee Member Lake Elsinore, Calif.
Dwight Conant, Kearsarge, N.H.
Charles Goman, Winder, Ga.
Maggie McNally, Albany, N.Y.
Scott Miller, Milwaukee, Wis.
Art More, Surprise, Ariz.
Jim Viverito, Chicago, Ill.
AMA PRESIDENT AND CEO
Rob Dingman, Pickerington, Ohio
(800) AMA-JOIN (262-5646) AmericanMotorcyclist.com
High Adventure. No Hassle. The best routes, roads and twotrack, mapped by local experts. A great challenge with like-minded riders. A full weekend’s activities, with camping, campfires, food and prizes. Full information at AmericanMotorcyclist.com/Riding
COREY MAYS, Photographer Corey is a sports and fine art shooter based out of Ohio. With a passion for cameras and all things two-wheeled, he is perfectly content with capturing everything from oppressively hot late-summer motos to finding ridiculously bizarre and interesting “stuff” in the pits. It was once said that Corey froze into a 5-foot, 8-inch popsicle while shooting an ice race, only to reemerge with his shutter finger still intact.
GRANT PARSONS, Director of Communications
During a late night at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, talk turned to which old bikes are the best, and which you’d own, cost no object. For Grant, the answer was clear: A 1932 Brough Superior SS100, so-called because it came from the factory with the ability to hit 100 mph. If it was good enough for T.E. Lawrence, it’s good enough for the rest of us.
BILL KRESNAK, Government Affairs Editor I want Vance & Hines’ 1987 GSX-R 750 magazine project bike, which I understand V&H still has: 860cc piston kit and porting, giving it gobs of mid-range power, braced swingarm and frame, 36mm Mikuni flat-slide carbs, Kosman brake discs, Lockheed calipers and more. Some 130 ponies at the crank. Perfecto!
HOLTER, Managing Editor The HarleyDavidson touring bike that John Penton rode in the 1948 Jack Pine Enduro—and promptly DNF’ed on. This inspired Penton to find a smaller, lighter race bike, which culminated in Penton motorcycles and helped establish a new direction for off-road racing tech. The Harley would be a nice reminder of how far off-road racing has come. If I had to race it? One of those vintage Pentons!
MARK LAPID, Creative Director A Honda Dream 50. I don’t know what its historical signifiance is, but I think it’s nice to look at. I would pose next to it wearing a pudding bowl helmet and goggles.
JEN MUECKE, Designer A Honda RC30. It’s the proper race bike version of the RC31 (Hawk). Tiny, 750cc, V4 (torquey awesomeness) with a single-sided swingarm. I’ve owned variations, the Hawk and a VFR, but probably wont ever have the money for an RC30.
JEFF GUCIARDO, Production Manager/Designer A 1967 Bultaco Lobito.
Other contributors include: Heather Wilson, Jeff Kardas, Jim Kimball, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation
JAMES
EXAMINING THE VICTORY
Your Grassroots Efforts Got Results That Crushed The Lead Law
After nearly three years of hard work by the AMA, its members and other motorcycle groups, it only took 12 days for the law banning kids’ dirtbikes to fall.
The end came amazingly quickly. However, the path to victory was anything but easy.
The effort to make it happen was tremendous. Over the course of the campaign to fix the lead law, our members sent in nearly one million emails and petitions, made phone calls, and attended town halls and one-on-one meetings with their federal lawmakers.
This victory happened because riders got involved. It could not have happened without your support and grassroots efforts. Thank you!
When the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008 was signed into law in August 2008, it was aimed at keeping lead out of children’s play toys. When it became clear that the law unintentionally ensnared youth motorcycles and ATVs, those of us in the AMA’s Government Relations Department knew we’d have a mountain to climb. That’s because it is usually easier to prevent a bill from becoming law than to fix an existing one.
The CPSIA was a priority that needed to be addressed in order to save youth riding. The AMA and the ATVA (All-Terrain Vehicle Association), our partner organization, joined forces with organizations and individuals that worked diligently on the effort, including the Motorcycle Industry Council and Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, which represent the motorcycle and ATV industries; the motorcycle enthusiast and trade media; Sean Hilbert, president of Cobra Motorcycles, which makes kids’ dirtbikes; the Coombs family and Tim Cotter of MX Sports, and many others.
Together, we tirelessly lobbied the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the agency responsible for implementing the CPSIA, to exempt youth-model motorcycles and ATVs from the lead-content provisions of the law. While the CPSC said it didn’t have the authority to do that, it did side with us by choosing to delay the enforcement of the ban. Twice, the commission pushed off the effective date of the ban, giving us time to urge Congress to permanently address this legislation.
At the same time, we started using our best weapon: AMA and ATVA members. We began building grassroots support: We circulated petitions at events such as AMA Supercross races, the International Motorcycle Shows, plus races, rides and rallies. We included easy-to-send postcards in several issues of this magazine. We encouraged members through AMA Action Alerts and more. Your voice was getting through to your lawmakers.
Simultaneously, we identified lawmakers in Congress who could help our cause. One such lawmaker was Rep. Denny Rehberg
(R-Mont.). Rehberg introduced H.R. 1587 in March 2009, which would have exempted youth-model motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles from the lead-content limits of the CPSIA. The bill garnered 70 bipartisan cosponsors before time ran out on the 111th Congress.
Undeterred, Rehberg introduced the same bill in the 112th Congress in February as H.R. 412, the “Kids Just Want to Ride Act of 2011.” With your help, he quickly gathered bipartisan support from 77 other representatives.
To help drive home the importance of this issue and lend support to the bill, the AMA hosted the AMA Family Capitol Hill Climb event on May 26 in Washington, D.C. It was amazing to see hundreds of parents and their kids, many of them wearing colorful motocross riding gear, swarming the hallways of the Rayburn House Office Building as they first rallied together and then lobbied their lawmakers in person.
As a result of these efforts and others, we started to see movement by federal lawmakers to fix the lead law. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) offered an amendment to exempt youthmodel motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles from the lead-content limits of the CPSIA, based on legislation from Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.).
With a desire by both chambers of Congress to quickly address the lead law, the push was on by Klobuchar. She got her language adopted into a bill (S. 1448) that was on the fast-track of passing the Senate by unanimous consent.
On the House side, Bono Mack and Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) introduced H.R. 2715 on Aug. 1. The bill included Klobuchar’s amendment and other lead-law-fix language. On the day it was introduced, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2715 by a vote of 421 to 2. Hours later, the U.S. Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent. Then, finally, on Friday, Aug. 12, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 2715 and it became Public Law 112-28.
Obviously, this landmark victory didn’t come easily. It could not have happened without the concerted efforts of many people— most importantly AMA and ATVA members. The key to all of this was the grassroots support that our members provided in the form of letters, postcards, calls, emails, petitions and in-person visits. This is your victory.
Individuals really do make a difference, especially when it comes to convincing lawmakers to take action. The lesson from all this is clear: The AMA needs more voices like yours to fend off future attacks on your ability to ride. Please consider asking a friend or family member who isn’t already a member to join the AMA.
To keep on top of opportunities to communicate with your lawmakers, subscribe to receive AMA Action Alerts at AmericanMotorcyclist.com. Keyword search: Get Alerts.
Always think freedom!
Rick Podliska is the AMA’s Washington representative.
MOST BIKERS ARE ALSO SOMETHING ELSE. GOOD THING WE COVER ALL KINDS.
Nobody insures more bikes than Progressive. So nobody knows bikers, or what they need, better. Ready to ride with America’s #1 motorcycle insurer? Visit progressive.com, call 1-800-PROGRESSIVE or a local agent today.
Our Wicked Gear & Low Prices Have Been Known to Cause Heart Attacks
FOR THREE DAYS IN JULY, the sprawling Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, becomes hallowed ground for old bikes and the enthusiasts who love them at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. From high-mileage geeks to speed freaks on the track, from sellers to buyers to people who enjoy a step back into motorcycling’s past, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days offers a bit of everything. Here’s the best from the 2011 edition.
Grand Marshal Jeff Fredette
‘It’s
Like Practicing For The Six
Days’
The hardest-working man at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days? No question. Grand Marshal Jeff Fredette.
The Motorcycle Hall of Famer and Kawasaki icon is running full throttle, performing all the interviews, autograph signings and laps of honor that are part of the grand marshal’s itinerary. He also is competing in four of the five disciplines that are part of the AMA Racing Vintage Grand Championships. “I guess I’m just a racer,” he says.
Fredette is racing the vintage motocross, the vintage hare scrambles, the vintage trials and the half-mile dirt track race in Ashland, Ohio.
Despite the valiant effort, however, Fredette’s competitive weekend doesn’t go as well as he hoped. He fouls a plug in the hare scrambles and chases jetting throughout the vintage motocross, stalling his bike a few times in his motos.
“That’s racing,” Fredette says. “Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. You just need to keep your head up, do your best and keep at it.
“I tell you, though, it’s like practicing for Six Days with all this running around,” says Fredette, referring to the International Six Days Enduro, the grueling off-road event he’s competed in and finished 31 times. “I’m just glad I don’t have to race a 35-year-old bike in the Six Days.”
Photos Hare
Scrambles: Corey Mays; Sidecar: Dan Focht; Motocross: Corey Mays; Roadrace: Dan Focht; Hare
Scrambles: Corey Mays; Jeff Fredette: Open Image Studio
Beating The Heat In The Swap Meet One Man’s Easy Solution
It may be one of the hottest summers in recent memory, but in the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Swap Meet, Tony Reyna has the perfect tool to cope with the harsh sun and high temperatures: A 3-footdiameter sombrero that provides ample shade wherever he goes.
“I brought this thing almost as a joke, but I’m so glad I did,” he says, standing at his vendor area in North America’s largest motorcycle swap meet. “It’s like having a tent on my head, and if I get too hot, I just pull my arms in and enjoy the shade!”
For Reyna, the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Swap Meet has become a mustdo every year. After hearing a friend talk
The Diesel Motorcycle Guru Tries Something New
Fred Hayes Tries Some VMD R&D
Fred Hayes has built diesel-based motorcycles for the military for years, adding a proprietary diesel engine to a Kawasaki KLR650 chassis. But for AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, he was up for something new: pulling the most mileage possible from his motor.
For that, he built a special one-off, fully faired diesel bike to enter in Craig Vetter’s special high-mileage challenge.
“We were getting some good numbers on our emissions tests— one with 103 miles per gallon,” Hayes says. “Even the Marine Corps bike gets 96 mpg. We wanted to see what we could do if we tried.”
Taking the stock engine and chassis and mating it to an AirTech fairing normally used for sidecars was relatively easy, Hayes says, requiring only that he fabricate some special mounting brackets, add cutouts for his feet, and install some taller gearing and some DOT lighting. He arrived at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days for the bike’s first road test.
In the end, he wound up with an impressive 143 mpg—though that was only enough to finish second in the Craig Vetter challenge (see page 36). Next up? A more real-world adventure tourer with a potential range of more than 1,700 miles.
“That thing could really be cool,” he says.
about how cool it is for a few years, Reyna showed up for the first time last year and was hooked.
“It’s just a great time,” he says. “Last year we sold everything we brought, and it’s just fun meeting all the people. This year I met someone from Australia and someone from South America. The bikes you see here are amazing, a lot of cool old stuff.”
With Kawasaki as Marque of the Year for AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, Reyna brought a vintage KZ1000 to sell this year. The only problem? Once he saw all the old Kawasaki’s riding around, he had second thoughts: “I decided not to sell it. I’m going to rebuild it and ride it!”
Photos Hayes, Reyna: Open Image Studio
Factory Correct Or Café Custom
Two Paths To Perfection
Nick Ternet, from Monroeville, Ind., has an inside line on the Grand Marshal’s Choice Award at the Hall of Fame Static Bike Show going on in the infield of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Considering Ternet is displaying an immaculately restored 1974 Kawasaki KX250, it seems a natural choice for Grand Marshal Jeff Fredette, an off-road icon who built his reputation racing the green bikes.
It also doesn’t hurt that Ternet’s build is pristine, down to the fasteners. He says the bike was far from perfect when he found it, though.
“I had this thing since I was 18 years old,” the 32-year-old Ternet says. “It was buried in 16 inches of mud behind some guy’s shed when I found it. I think I gave 35 bucks for it when I bought it. I restored it twice. Of course, when you’re 18, you don’t do as good of work as when you’re older.”
Ternet says his second effort was more thorough.
“I stripped it down and re-did everything,” he says. “I powdercoated what I could, and other parts are NewOld-Stock. A lot of it is a waiting game. It’s real hard to find parts on this stuff, like factory Kawasaki bolts. Those were hard to find. You can look online for six months for one piece. I just found the gas cap last week.”
While Ternet’s bike strives for factory accuracy, a few tents down, Tony Prust,
Rebuilding the past
from Chicago, is displaying a motorcycle designed to be anything but.
Prust wins the Café Racer Bike Show with a 1973 Yamaha RD350 mated to a modern Ducati S2R front end and a TZ250 rear wheel.
“My philosophy is to combine old things with new parts, so what I do is, say, take this ’73 engine and frame and add a 2010 front end—it’s mostly old with some new flair,” Prust says. “I’ve dubbed this one the S2RD.”
Prust says he digs the appeal of caféstyle bikes.
“I like the stripped down look—just what it needs to run,” he says.
Don Miller Goes All Out With Racebike Resto
If there’s a theme to the 1973 Kawasaki rotary valve 350 that Don Miller’s fielding in the half-mile dirt-track race at the nearby Ashland County Fairgrounds, it’s to celebrate the underdog.
The bike itself was owned by Dale “The Flying Pig Farmer” Singleton before the Motorcycle Hall of Famer moved into roadracing. Singleton was everyman’s racer. He won the prestigious Daytona 200 twice, in 1979 and 1981, as a privateer competing against the best-funded race teams of the day.
With the build, however, Miller sought to capture the spirit of Jay Ridgeway, who raced an identical machine in the early ’70s.
“My main goal was to make it a replica of the Woody Kyle-tuned Jay Ridgeway Big Horn from ’73, so I sent it to my good friend Woody Kyle, and he did all the period modifications, the big-fin cylinder, the big-fin head, the big carburetor hanging off the side,” Miller says. “After he did the motor, I did the restoration stuff.”
Miller says he has always been a Ridgeway fan.
“(Ridgeway) was the underdog in 1973,” Miller says. “He beat greats like Jay Springsteen when they were coming up through the ranks. In ’73, he was the top novice in the country. It was just really cool that he was out there on a bike that nobody else really had.”
Miller says the Kawasaki is a great bike to ride.
Photos
Allen Family Does Trials
‘The Old Bikes Are Fun Too’
Norton, Mass.’ Daniel and Caroline Allen don’t typically ride vintage bikes in trials competition. The 22-year-old brother and his 19-year-old sister grew up in the sport, but they usually compete on modern machinery, both in local and national competition.
At AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, however, Daniel is on a 1976 Bultaco Sherpa T. Caroline opts for a Yamaha TI 175. Dad, David, rides his Bultaco. Caroline, who will also represent the United States in the Trials des Nations in Italy this summer, says vintage competition is a nice diversion.
“It’s really cool seeing all the people showing up to watch vintage racing and to see all the old bikes still running,” she says. “I like riding with my family, and this is a fun way to do that.”
Daniel says he’s been to AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days four times: “It’s neat to see all the riding. Seeing the old bikes scream up and down the roadrace track is awesome.”
The kids’ dad, David, loves the scene, too. “The guys camped next to us had ‘On Any Sunday’ playing, there are vintage bikes everywhere, the people are friendly, and the whole atmosphere is just great,” he says.
“There’s a lot to do. We watched the motocross, the roadracing and the cross country, we took some of the Kawasakis and KTMs out for demo rides, we went to the swap meet.”
David says that even through they don’t fit the demographic of what most people consider vintage enthusiasts, his kids really dig the old stuff. “Danny has an old Yamaha that he rides on the street,” he says.
“The nice thing about the old bikes is they’re relatively inexpensive. If you blow something up, just get another.”
Kawasaki Steps Up Supporting The Hall Of Fame
With Kawasaki as Marque of the Year, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days is decidedly green this year—a quality that takes on new meaning at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame tent Saturday afternoon when Kawasaki’s Russ Brenan presents American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation (AMHF) Chairman Jeffrey V. Heininger a $5,000 donation. The AMHF raises money for the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, which gets significant support from the event.
It’s Not Just For The
Go-Fast Crowd
Craig Vetter Explains The Other Reasons To Race
Craig Vetter notes that inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller once said, “We don’t have to worry about the future if we do more with less.”
And that quote, Vetter says, is the inspiration behind the Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days.
“The goal of the contest is to discover the least amount of energy—in dollars and cents—it takes to travel the way we really ride,” Vetter says.
Vetter, a member of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, first sponsored fuel-economy runs during the early 1980s. He calls his fuel-economy contests, “racing for the right reasons.” That’s because he believes that motorcycles are better transportation than cars since they burn less fuel, and motorcycles can be made even more fuelefficient than they are now.
From 1980 through 1985, Vetter hosted fuel-economy challenges, hoping competitors could squeeze out 125 miles per gallon of gas at 55 mph. By the time
they ended in 1985, Matsu Matsuzawa of Honda rode a Honda XL 125 to 470 miles per gallon.
Typcially, Vetter thinks big about his revived contest. “I don’t want to create museum queens,” he says. “I want to change the world.”
The route for the Mid-Ohio challenge covered 104 miles. The team of Charly and Max Perethian of Parabellum, a fairing company, with Max at the controls, won the challenge aboard a 1989 Honda NX250.
Max covered the route using two-thirds of a gallon of gas. That translates into a cost of 2.37 cents a mile, or 157 miles per gallon.
Fred Hayes earned second place with a diesel-powered motorcycle, covering the route with 0.726 gallons of bio-diesel at a cost of 2.57 cents a mile.
Third place went to Jack McCornack in a diesel-powered car that covered the route at a cost of 3.01 cents a mile.
“The future is living better on less energy,” Vetter says. “We’re learning how to do that. We’re racing for the right reasons.”
Photos Trials: Corey Mays; Demo rides, Vetter: Open Image Studio
Todd Narduzzi Takes Vintage Track Racing Honor
Roadracing Wins And Flat Track Points Add Up To One Prestigious Award
For Todd Narduzzi, winning the 2011 AMA Racing Track Racing Vintage Grand Champion title was unexpected.
“This certainly means a lot to me,” Narduzzi says. “It’s a true honor. The AMA does a good job at VMD. Someone said it’s like the Superbowl of vintage racing. I only hope that I can live up to what this honor means.”
Narduzzi, 45, of Wadsworth, Ohio, rode his 1968 Honda 450 to victory in the Grand Prix 500 and Clubman 500 roadracing classes on one day and repeated the next day.
And in his first dirt-track race of the year, he earned points at the Ashland County Fairgrounds in the 500 Masters class, finishing 10th. The points sealed the title.
He says he can’t wait for the AMA Racing Championship Awards Banquet in Las Vegas, Nev.
“We’re amateurs, but for one day we get to feel like pros,” he says, referring to the awards banquet.
More racing news from AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days is in AMA Racer, bound in this issue if you’re a Competition Member, or online at AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
Gladiators At The Crown Jewel Of Vintage Roadracing Events
New Yorker Kenny Cummings and Canadian Doug MacRae
Off the track, Kenny Cummings of New York City and Doug MacRae of Toronto, Canada, are best of friends. On the track, they are fierce competitors.
And on this weekend, they face off for trophies and bragging rights.
“I do 12 vintage racing events a year, for the past seven years,” Cummings says. “This one is the best.”
MacRae agrees, noting that he and several other Canadian roadracers make the trek to AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days each year: “This is a cornerstone event, and we want to support it.”
In the garage on race stands are Cummings’ 1968 Seeley Norton Commando and MacRae’s 1972 Norton Commando race machines.
There are 558 entries in the roadracing classes, and 33 class champions will be crowned at the end of the weekend.
WERA Motorcycle Road Racing is keeping everything running smoothly on the track.
Besides the thrill of speed and satisfaction in conquering race tracks, Cummings and MacRae say they enjoy vintage roadracing because of the camaraderie among the racers. Despite the friendliness in the pits, MacRae says: “When the race starts, everyone wants to go fast.”
Cummings says he first raced here in 2004, and MacRae was the first vintage roadracer he talked to. Through MacRae, he met other Canadian roadracers.“These guys have become my best friends.”
Remembering an unlikely partnership
Harley-Davidson/Aermacchi Bikes Showcased
For John Basore and several others, keeping the flame alive for Harley-Davidson/ Aermacchi motorcycles is a labor of love.
“They’re just a great piece of motorcycle history,” says Basore, who spearheaded the effort to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Harley-Davidson/Aermacchi Sprint with a display of historic machines from the marque’s history. “They were small motorycles that gave a lot of people their start in motorcycles.”
As the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Classic Club, Basore’s group amassed an amazing collection of machines, with a
Crazy Talent Entertains Crowds
Yeah, ‘Insane’ Just About Sums It Up
You don’t get a nickname like this for nothing.
Kane “Insane” Friesen and his thrilling street extreme stunt show puts on an awesome display of riding talent, leaving attendees amazed at what’s possible on two wheels.
Friesen has that rare ability to defy gravity on his ZX10R. He’s able to loft his front end seemingly past vertical in slow wheelies, pull off incredibly long nose wheelies, and turn increasingly tight doughnuts, all while smoking his rear tire.
“I grew up around motorcycles, and I love to see how the technology has changed,” he says. “It’s amazing to look at the old bikes and compare that to a new machine. Even the changes in a few model years are incredible, let alone those from the vintage era to today.”
championship-winning RR 250 heading the bill—along with one of about every racer Aermacchi ever made.
Aermacchi Harley-Davidsons, sold in the 1960s and ’70s, were the result of an unusual partnership between HarleyDavidson and a small-bore Italian bike brand that yielded beginner-friendly bikes.
“At the time, Aermacchis may have seemed like an unusual choice to put in Harley-Davidson dealerships,” Basore says. “But the fact is that Harley’s ownership allowed Aermacchi to win world championships for Harley-Davidson.”
Semi-Factory, Full-Time Fun, All Dedication
Raising The Bar For Amateur Vintage Racing
Kent Knudson isn’t your typical vintage racer. He’s a team owner—a rarity in a discipline dominated by individual efforts.
Indeed, at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, Knudson has 10 racers competing in 23 classes. His numerous Penton vintage racebikes are meticulously maintained, built with factory and custom parts. His team includes mechanics as well as riders, with each bike getting an assigned wrench.
As for the riders, Knudson has attracted plenty of talent, including Cory Buttrick, who races for the factory KTM team, and Adam Giddings, who won the AMA Racing Vintage Off-Road Grand Championship this year.
So, why does Knudson make the investment to get involved on such a high level? He’s here just because he loves vintage racing, as well as this event.
“I’ve always been interested in motorcycle history,” Knudson says. “These were the cool bikes when we were kids, either the bikes we couldn’t afford or the bikes we had. As for AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, I’ve been to every one. I love it here.”
Legends Champions Weekend 2011
Gala event featuring history’s motorcycling legends, today’s amateur champions and yesterday’s collectible motorcycles. Three days of celebration, memories and camaraderie. | Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Friday, n ov. 18 | Concours d’ e legance, Saturday, n ov. 19 | | AMA Racing Championship Banquet, Sunday, n ov. 20 | americanmotorcyclist.com/events/LegendsandChampions
