Vintage World

May Vintage World

My vintage racing group, Forty Plus Racing Group, put on a different event last month. Rick Dominguez was in charge of putting on the event. Rich decided to put on a European Scrambles, instead of our usual MX race. Unfortunately I had to work, and missed a very good ride. Rich wrote up a report for our newsletter that I’m posting here . . .

George

Wow! And now for something really different. At the last Forty-Plus event on April 11, I had the pleasure to host the new type of race held on Area 5 of the Hollister Hills riding area. "Old Fashioned Euro Scrambles" (AKA motocross). On Saturday, with the help of Des Hughes, Gary Douglas, and Mike Cummings, I laid out a course that reminded me of early motocross in America. And I think everyone loved it! For this event, we changed the format and scoring to accommodate multi-class riders.

First was the 500cc race with 7 racers. This race was a great battle between Experts Harry Bellicetti and Tyler Mattersbach, with Harry’s KTM winning both motos over Tyler’s Husky. In the Intermediate race, Ken Anzalone showed his flat-track Ascot racing experience by edging Rick Yamane’s British Motorcycle Show award-winning Cheney with a win and a place with the class victory. Newly self-appointed Intermediate Hank Kingon held in there for third place. The surprise race was in the Novice class between Des Hughes on his CZ and new member, John Bettencourt, on a fairly street-stock RT-1, sans headlight. John kept Des in sight the whole race and never gave up on his way to runner-up status.

Race 2 was the 250cc class. With rain still wetting the course, Harry and Rory Muscatell charged to the front of the pack in fearless pursuit of each other. Rory fought bravely to keep Harry in check but had to give up the fight in the second moto when his watered-out Honda SL 125 finally started sputtering for air.

In the Intermediate race, Charley Oveland won the first moto with Novice Gary Douglas and fellow Intermediate Jim Robertson in tow. Second moto found Rick Yamane and his screaming KTM 125 leading from start to finish with Charlie, Gary, and Jim in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, Rick DNS’d the first moto, which gave the class win to Charley.

Open Class races saw lone Expert Tyler Mattersbach ride to an easy first moto win only to succumb to bike problems in moto two. But the real battles in this race involved Intermediates Ken Anzalone & Rick Yamane with novices Des Hughes & John Bettencourt fighting for class honors. These four racers rode their hearts out for the "Joy of the Race," but someone has to win, and Rick and John went away with the biggest smiles!

The final race of the day was the popular Mini-class, or as we like to call it, "the race-your-wife’s-bike class." (Or, at least that’s the excuse we have for buying those XR 100s!) Rory Muscatell usually owns the Expert division of this race, but nobody told Harry or Mike Middleton who kept him in sight until during the first moto. In the second moto water once again plagued Rory’s Honda, leaving Harry and Mike racing for the checkered flag with Harry on to the win. Buskie Bellicetti, who waited all day to race with his dad, led the Intermediate charge to the checkered flag with Charley Oveland and Jim Robertson following close behind. Novices Jim "I-don’t-need-a-Honda" Sedlacek and Mike "I-got-a-Honda" Cummings battled for extra smiles with Mike winning both motos for the class win!!!

And now it’s my turn to speak about the event…I LOVED IT! Everyone knows of my knee operation last November, and I would like nothing better than to race on a track like this. But hosting a race is about as good as it gets! Everyone helps. Everyone knows why they’re here. Everyone works for the good of the club. And everyone matters! I have never had so much fun at a 40 Plus event as I had hosting and laying out this course. Many, many thanks to all our loyal members who help make this club the great club it is. Thanks to Des Hughes, Gary Douglas, and Mike Cummings for helping lay out and mark the course on Saturday and to Buskie Bellicetti for flagging on Sunday. - by Rick Dominguez