Bike Show Photos START HERE OConnell's Blog & photos 2011 CHAMPIONS Galleries linked 2010 - 2011 like this Real Leaded Gas Sources, by State HERE

Farleigh Castle UK PHOTO GALLERY
just south of Bath England
American Privateers head to Farleigh Castle UK the full story

TEAM USA NORTHWEST Once you've been around a scene for thirty years you get to know everybody, you've seen everything, you've raced all the tracks - and you start looking further afield to see what other people are doing. And that's what Northwest rider Dave Eppig found himself doing on a on quiet Thursday evening last summer. He was reading about Suzuki factory rider Scott Burnworth who had been to the famous English Scrambles meet at Farleigh Castle.

And he was sharing this with his old pal NW motocross star Leon Capps. So the two of them got to talking, first daydreaming, and then scheming for real. How can we get to England? Pretty soon their good friend former Yamaha Support Rider Jim Anderson said I want to go~! Let's go together~! Jim is known around these parts to be fearless, unconcerned and staggeringly fast. Wow, they said- ya know we almost have enough people for a team to enter the Vet Motocross des Nations… Hmmm. Who else can we get? The answer: Former 125 & 250 CMC Champion Grayson Hart.

The Pacific Northwest has always been a hotbed of vintage motocross, and like anyone, we're proud of it. But we want to see what the rest of the world is doing. And for years we've heard about this race in England. We know the big vintage mx stars are coming, and one can expect many to jostle for a chance to be seen with the big names, and much drinking of Guinness. But this team is not going just to party. It is focused on only one thing. If the best of the best, worldwide is going to meet and see who's who, then in good conscience someone ought to issue a weather advisory. There's a storm coming.

HELP SUPPORT THE TEAM by contacting Mr Dave Eppig email -
the Team address is PO Box 91 Snohomish WA 98291 - or phone Dave at : 425-750-1129

So now what? The work begins. This isn't like driving down to Woodland. Getting to England with multiple race motorcycles requires some real planning - heavy lifting, and the struggle to get there. To get an FIM license each of the four had to get physicals. The physical includes a stress test.

The stress test for Vintage Motocross is much the same as the regular one. You have to run on a treadmill. But there is one extra element: you watch a live newsfeed of fools wandering idly through a garage sale where you can see a bolt-together Husky and a 74 YZ250. Hand written note: $200 for both. You run faster and faster, but you can't quite get there before… aaaahhhhh! they are purchased for a song… by some undeserving nitwit~! (much gnashing of teeth) This is wildly maddening for anyone of course, and the doctors can see how stressed out you are at the end of it… through a vintage wiring harness running over to a TRS-80.

OK but what about the logistics? For an Northwest rider, going racing at, say Woodland - is easy. You pack up and drive down that day. Getting you and your bikes to Crooked River in Oregon is not easy; you start the day before, but you do it. Diamond Don's in Texas is hard- that takes about 3 days to get there. So you can imagine that getting you and your bikes to England- it is a royal bitch. Easy to dream about - awful in real life. Calling on brothers everywhere to help the boys get there. The event is September 14-15 2013.

I have designed a new Team USA shirt, (see inset) from which ALL PROCEEDS (i.e. 100%) help the team get to Farleigh Castle to represent the Pacific Northwest. This is available though the Team, not through me Siege

The west country is the part of England where Stonehenge is. They say that Stonehenge may have been a temple for sun worship, which Team USA NW won't need to use, of course: we grew up racing untold cloudy rainswept Northwest days. The treacherous clay of Washougal hasn't stopped these racers, what can the West Country do to top that? We shall see.

Jim Anderson is actually flying paralel to the fence
WASHOUGAL 20007

ALRON After photographing a blonde model on Bill Grubin's Tyran 400 I got a few emails suggesting that it in fact was not a Tyran- and in fact that there had never been any such bike. So with the sleuth work of reknowned Australian Journalist MARK FIRKIN, here is one of the stranger stories in our sports history. It¹s a tale of shady characters, dubious engineering and less than honest marketing that when combined make the basis for a great little yarn. the whole SPRITE STORY

1975 Models are one year you never hear anyone buying. One big reason is that at the bottom of the pile in the VDR/H&T Evolution Class structure. AHRMA has divided the post vintage era into three eras, which helps a great deal. The Historic Class covers 1974.5 to 1977, there or thereabouts. But 1975 bikes are still at the bottom of the pile. An MX250B for example has little hope against a 77 YZ250D, and as a result these bikes almost never are seen on the track. So after agonizing over the possible ways to define a class it was decided that the class would be above all other things bikes which were hopeless be being outclassed in Evo, and illegal in Vintage. Details here: TRANS AM CLASS

 

Features Page tests, racer reports, etc. VDR Results