Great Times at the Finals in the Desert
Dirt bikers and farmers celebrate when they see rain. And boy were we celebrating on Sunday. AVDRA was hosting their final event on its national season at MC Motosports Park in Tucson, Arizona. I left the house at 5:30 AM and it started raining before I hit the freeway. Two hours down to the track and it rained most of the way. Mark and Linda Musselman, track manager checked me in. “Mother nature prepped the track, you are going to love it.” Mark is also a third generation Honda dealer, the second oldest Honda dealer in the state, a series sponsor and general nice guy.
The pit was already pretty full by the time I arrived, the rain had stopped so I parked in the back of the pit where I could pull my trailer out easily. I attended this event last year, long track with great long sweeping corners and deep berms, not very rough with a few show off jumps with soft landing sites, like the ulitimate TT track.
Perfect for the mix of bikes and riders that showed up for this event. The oldest bike was a 1963 Dot, British Single two stroke, entered by Richard Myers from Joshua Tree California and the newest came right off the showroom, 2015 Honda CR450F. The oldest rider was 79 year old Himey Means and the youngest was 5 year old, Luke Reinhart
But the featured rider was none other than the “Flyin Hawaiian” John Desoto. John is one of the greatest riders from the 70’s era competing mostly on European bikes like CZ, Montesa and Bultaco. John competed all over the world, making friends, winning races and sharing that pearly white smile. He spoke to every competitor, posed for pictures, shook hands, laughed and smiled all day, even though it got cold and rainy during the first round of races. Steve Roach prepped a Vintage CZ400 for John to compete in two classes but AVDRA racers pushed him to the limit. Interesting, it was John Desoto’s father that gave Himey Means his first chance to compete in Motocross on a Dot like the one that Richard brought while he was stationed in Hawaii during his Air Force career. Anyway, John Desoto spoke at both rider’s meeting and trophy presentation, accompanied by a double rainbow. Like I said, mother nature prepped the track and blessed the entire event.
150 entries competed in twelve five lap moto’s rocketing off behind a rubber band start. Riders came from as far away as San Fransisco, like “Farmer Brown” who pulled his 1969 SidePiper 250 CZ is with his 2003 Jaguar Sedan.
Of course, I was impressed all the racers, but I awarded the “Best Dressed Racer”Award to Jarrett Sibley, son of Ironman competor and all around good guy Rick Sibley.Troy Lee calls this outfit “Ouija” pronounced “WeeGee” like the board used by fortune tellers.Pretty cool, huh ??
Well, I have another 10 pages of notes, profiling competitors and club members so you get know the men and women inside those helmets next to you on the line coming soon. ADVRA wants to thank all its sponsors: AMSracing.com, Sun Cornerstone Investment Group, The Motorcycle Accessory Shop, 2 Guys MX Graphics, Atlas Copco Engineering, Musselman Honda, Tiffany & Bosco Law Firm and Motocenter in Mesa. See you at Motoland on December 6th…Till then, keep the rubber side down,
