It looked like we’d get the track back about 5:30 when a break in the rains came, but no sooner did they get it back in shape when another cloud burst hit and had rivers running through the course again. The red clay that makes up all the night track just doesn’t do well when you get that much water at once, and the night race had to be canceled.

The upside was that the track was perfect for Sunday. While the clay turns to snot immediately after so much rain, it only takes a few hours for it to turn around and be in primo condition.

Over 450 rider entries were signed up for Sunday, and it was the best racing I’ve seen so far this year. There was a decent Pro class turnout as well, with a couple of local boys — Scotty Wennerstrom (250) and Bobby Moore (450) — taking top honors.

Note to #17 in the 125/250F Novice class — you da man! I don’t know who you are, but I watched as you turned around backwards at the starting gate and then worked your way through the pack both motos. A crash in Moto 1 kept you from finishing very high, and I didn’t see where you finished in Moto 2, but I’m pretty sure you were Top 5 out of 20+ riders. Way to go. That’s a real racer.

At first I thought “cherry picker.” But I was wrong. There are a lot of reasons why you stay in a class — especially if you signed up in Novice for something like Loretta’s early in the year. Whoever this kid was, he was working it and gunning to make himself better. I admire that. Good job.

Note to the College Boy rider running in 12th or 14th or whatever — the one doing feeble nac-nacs off the table top. Last time I checked no one awarded style points for racing, and you wouldn’t have won any anyway. Do yourself a favor — put your bike in the back of your truck, put your flat-bill hat on, and go to the club where you can pretend you’re a racer. At least there the chicks may wonder if your lying, but they won’t know for sure. Oh, and next time you take a break from playing MX vs. ATV on your X-Box go read this.

Also of note, there was a bad-ass 45+ rider on a YZ250. I don’t remember his name, but he was from Conroe, TX. Number 255. The dude rode 35+ (1-1), 40+ (1-1) and 45+ (2-DNS). There was some competition in those classes, too. He was battling with 3-4 guys in each class for the top spot. In the heat. So he bailed on his sixth moto of the day. Who cares. This guy’s an iron man. I didn’t do anything but stand around waving flags all day in that heat, and I was beat.

All-in-all it was a good weekend. No ambulance runs, no big get-offs. Looked like everyone had a good time. See you next month for Round 2 on August 14-15.

Because the team got a late start on the project they missed the budget planning process for lots of potential sponsors, so they’re looking for support anywhere they can get it. John says they’ll have some t-shirts and other swag available for sale soon. So if you’re a two-stroke fan consider buying a shirt or two for a good cause.

If you’re a business that wants to reach race fans, two-stroke or otherwise, contact John directly via the site. You know the bike is going to get some attention at the races!

Disclaimer:

Have a look at my flickr album for a few more photos. Here are a few amateurish video clips.

Weather: The weather was excellent on Friday and most of Saturday. It was partly cloudy and breezy – got hot for about an hour on Friday, and about an hour Saturday morning, but otherwise it was great. Saturday afternoon the rain began to come in. Slight drizzle started about 3:30 or so Sat. The drizzle didn’t go well with the black-clay track surface and made for some slick racing for the last two motos of the day.

Attendance: I don’t have official attendance stats, but the camping areas were pretty full — as full as I’ve seen them in the 4 times I’ve been there. It was good to see so many folks camping and having a good time. The infield and entry-road camping was completely packed. There were still some open areas way in the back, across the train track, but it was really full.

Rider Participation: Rider count was high. 380 pre-entries for Vintage, 238 for Post-Vintage, 9 for Trials, and 102 for Cross-Country. That’s 729 rider entries for the weekend. With many (but far from all) riders running two classes and a few running three or four classes you can figure there were probably close to 200 or better actual individual riders on Saturday.

I do know there were 15 VMX motos on Saturday and, as best I can remember, they all had double gates and all the gates were close to, or in, the double-digits. There was lots of racing going on and it was terrific to see such a turnout for the vintage side of things.

Food: I missed this year’s BBQ, Mudbug, and Band shindig on Friday nite, but heard the food there was higher in both quality and variety than in years past. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought the free feed put on by DD and friends was excellent, but word is that this year the brisket was especially good, and the menu included both chicken and catfish to boot.

Also, my man Ronnie Welch kept his smoker going all day long cranking out bratwurst and Cajun Boudin sausage for anyone who happened by. The boudin he cooks up is absolutely killer but I warn you, if you eat too much you’ll remember it on Sunday… and Monday.

Bikes: There were, as usual, some stellar bikes floating around. If you click on the DiamondDons2010 tag you’ll see articles on a couple that were of particular interest to me. Bob McNamara won the Cool Bike award with his super-sano Cheney-framed Norton 750 twin. What a great bike. There were lots of Maicos in the pits, but the majority were PV bikes – ’78 anad later. Lots of early ’80s models, and some very clean ones. But I think the biggest brand contingent in the pits was Bultaco.

There was a giant bus, and equally giant trailer, with about a dozen really clean Bultacos of various sizes and years, all painted in a nice black-and-white theme. They seemed to have a cadre of riders, with some in almost every moto. Chuck Sun rode one of the bikes in his +40 and +50 motos. I wish I had taken a picture of their pit area. It was impressive. Even more impressive was they ran all those Buls all day long without any mechanicals (as far as I could tell.)

Track: The GP-style track looked excellent to me, as a spectator. It got beat up pretty bad over the course of the day and I think they had a few track safety issues in the afternoon. In particular, there were some really deep ruts in a couple of places that caught people off guard and led to some carnage. The second +50 expert moto had a good portion of the field go down on the first lap in the back woods section when riders got caught in a particularly nasty trench that had developed during the day. It would have been smart to have someone back there waving a yellow flag on the first lap to warn riders who hadn’t seen the area since morning.

Racing: Lots and lots of racing. The +40 and +50 Expert class had some great champions and local Texas legends. 2x World Champ Trampass Parker was there, as was 2X National Champ Chuck Sun. Parker was the featured Legend of the weekend. Also on hand was ’70s Texas hotshoe Kirk Spencer and Okalahoma City’s Trey Jorski.

In the first +40 Expert moto Spencer smoked the field despite breaking his tranny on the last lap, which prevented him from riding the second moto. In the second moto Sun chased Parker for the length of the event. In the second moto Parket came off the gate about 5th or 6th but took the lead on the first lap and never looked back.

The Classic 125 Expert had some good racing, with a fast Bultaco and an Elsinore rider swapping positions for 3 laps, until the Bul rider took a fall and let the Elsie get away.

Once the rain started it got sketchy. For the final +50 Exp moto we were standing by the fence in the infield area where riders came around a high-speed sweeper with a big tree at the outside apex, leading to the “hump-jump” over the tunnel. More than one rider looked to be heading for disaster as they lost traction on the slick clay, but everyone managed to keep it together.

There’s a lot going on a DD’s and sometimes the racing takes a back seat, but every moto I watched was a good one.

Word is that Sunday’s rain put a damper on things, with many racers opting out of the second moto. Some of the Expert class second motos reportedly had only one rider on the gate. I’ve been at DD’s in the mud. I rode a mud race there in 2008 and today, two years later, I’m still cleaning that nasty, black mud out of the bike.

Richie V Memorial: Last year Richie Vallandingham — AHRMA #49J — passed away of a heart attack while out riding with his son. Richie had a history of heart trouble and knew the risks that riding entailed, but he wanted to live his life to the fullest. I met Richie on a number of occassions and he was, without question, one of the most genuine and friendly people on the planet. There are very few people that make me think the world is truly poorer for their passing, but Richie was definitely one.

A special Sunday morning Parade Lap was planned as a memorial for Richie at this year’s National, but reports are that there was some miscommunication and disorganization with the memorial, and it didn’t go off quite as planned. Nevertheless, Brad Lackey rode Richie’s #49J CZ around the track in tribute, and Richie’s wife Teresa was there so that all of Richie’s friends could personally offer their memories and stories about RV49J. Godspeed Richie. We still miss you. (photo: 2008 Diamond Don’s. L to R — John Putkey, me, Richie V.)

Injury report: There were the usual bumps and bruises. To my knowledge the only serious injury was to TVRC racer Jeff Hards who suffered a badly-broken leg in his second moto. Jeff got his right foot caught in one of the deep ruts and twisted it off the peg, snapping the bone in his lower leg. He managed to ride back to the pits, but was carted off in the ambulance and was reported to have had surgery on Monday to put some titanium in.

There were quite a few falls, especially once the track got slick, and I saw a few slings and bandages in the pits. Women’s rider Tami Rice suffered a bruised hip when she low-sided in the sweeper. And several riders were slow to get up, needing some attention from the EMTs. But with that many racers on the track it really wasn’t a bad day for injuries.

Summary: As always, DD’s was a blast. The rain dampened things on Sunday, and the disorganization for the RV49J Memorial upset a couple of folks, but otherwise I heard nothing but positive comments. I thought it was the best Riverport National yet. I’ll definitely be back next year.

I’ve never had the chance to ride with one of these things, and they’re only available for modern bikes, but I’m told they are the shizznit — the cat’s pajamas, the real deal, the best thing since sliced bread, etc. One of my buddies — Bill Ramsey of Motorcycle Accessory Shop in Mesa, AZ (2319 West Main Street, Mesa, AZ 85201-6839 (480) 835-6228) — says he tried to talk Al into giving him some parts to use to get one working on a vintage bike, but didn’t have any luck.

That’s too bad, because the new Core EXP clutch kit is, relatively, affordable at $800 — at least compared to the $2,000 these things cost originally. Now I know all you vintage guys are out there going, “What!? 800-freakin’ dollars!? I’ve bought entire bikes for less than that!” But from what I’ve been told these things are worth at least two CDI ignition upgrades and, if you’re on an old points-based ignition system that’s $450 per.

I admit, there’s probably only a tiny, tiny fraction of VMX riders who would shell out for something like this, but it would be nice to have the opportunity. I’m told if you ever ride with one you’ll never go back.

So tune in and see what Al has to say.

Bike Transport.

headin to Diamond Don’s National in Texas.
San Diego to Diamond Dons and back.

I leave San Diego, La Mesa, April 13th at 2pm and get to Diamond Don’s, Jefferson Texas by Thursday the 15th and set up camp at DD’s.  I stay till Sunday night the 18th and I’m back in San Diego by Tuesday nite the 20th of April. I have room for 2 maybe 3 more bikes at this time.

$250 for bike round trip, $175 one way.
Bike and rider round trip $500.

31 foot class C motorhome, V-10, queen bed and side bunks, DVD, VCR. 25 to 30 hour drive straight thru rotating veteran drivers, stops for gas, fast food only for the most part with bikes on trailer. You can rent a teepee or pitch a tent at DD’s.  We camp with Marty Tripes.

contact gary at deforest192@yahoo.com or call Gary at   619 300 7717.

What a cool race — the speed, color, action. A very action-packed format with lots of four-man, four-lap heat races, everybody full-on sideways, diving in and out. Excellent racing.

I’ve been aware of speedway since I was a kid, and I remember Bruce Penhall’s World Championship runs in the early ’80s. Later Penhall partnered with the caricaturish Eric Estrada in the ’80s TV series CHiPs, when he replaced Larry Wilcox during the 1982 season.

That was kind of a big thing, having a motorcycle racer on a popular TV show. Sorta like when little Ricky Nelson grew up on Ozzy and Harriet and went on to become a popular singer. C’mon, you all remember “Garden Party“, right? Well, maybe not…

Back to the subject — Speedway. Never saw a full race, just pictures in magazines and the occasional video clip. But watching the whole event in HD on a big screen TV was quite the show. I have to say it’s a pretty ballsy thing. Some young Russian kid won the main event after the only American competitor fell out of the semi-finals with a flat rear tire (there were some big ruts in the surface of the temporary track.)

I’d love to see a big-time speedway race in person. I googled speedway racing and found that it’s popular mostly in the northeast and, of course, California. But there’s a little track not far from my old home in Atlanta — Rutledge Speedway in Rutledge, GA — that has a short track and TT races and is supposed to hold some speedway now and again. Wow, for 15 years I lived less than 50 miles from that track and never knew it existed.

If you’re lucky enough to get HD Theater via cable or satellite (I don’t) be sure to check the guide for upcoming FIM Speedway Grand Prix races. It’s a blast BTW, American Greg Hancock finished 4th overall in the 2009 Championships.

The useless dickheads who robbed the house were captured on security cameras. Please see the security cam videos here and help the Coombs family put these douchebags in jail.

• No longer need to create an account to post a comment
• When you post a comment you can subscribe to it (and nothing else) via email, so you can see when someone responds
• URLs that show the post title. Old links will still work. We’ve put redirects in place to make sure the old URLs don’t get 404 messages.
• Type that should be easier on the eyes for folks like me whose eyesight doesn’t like the small fonts so much.
• More “what’s new” summary stuff in the sidebar. (This might just matter to me, but I like to see it on other sites.)

My webmaster and I have been working for a while on getting everything ready. Moving a site to a new platform and a new host without breaking things is tough, but I think we’ve managed it.

Try it out. Post a comment here and let me know what else you’d like to see or if you find any glitches. We’ll be cleaning things up for a few days yet.