Duel in the Desert XX
Sunday, January 24th, 2016, AVDRA raced its 20th Annual Duel in the Desert in Casa Grande, Arizona at MotoLand. The early date allows club members to attend this year’s Supercross in Glendale and allows out of state participants to avoid more expensive hotel rooms scheduled around the Phoenix Open and Superbowl. Almost 200 entries enjoyed sunshine with a light breeze, 16 moto’s of head to head racing and the camaraderie of Arizona’s zaniest motorcycle club. Thank You Dave and Nancy for choosing this date.
Also, thank you Dave and Nancy for our celebrity guests. First, the Grand Honoree, Byron Boaz, “The Dick Mann of Arizona.” 78 years young, Byron spend the day with our competitors and 18 family members. He told stories of drag racing, flat tracking, TT, scrambles, desert racing and the early days of motocross racing as Arizona’s top professional battling with the best from around the country and around the world. Famous tracks, famous makes, famous competitors are all easily recalled by Byron’s sharp mind and wit. Besides racing, he fabricated thousands of expansion chambers for local shops and other racers in the early days of two stroke racing. No wonder, he was the first motorcycle racer inducted into the Arizona Motosports Hall of Fame.
Then, Dave pulled an Ace from is deck of cards. Michael Blose ! Robert Blose’s Son, Chappy’s nephew and older brother of AMA professional Arenacross, Supercross and outdoor motocross racer. This dapper young man in blue jeans & checkered shirt proceeded to spank ADVRA’s best experts on one of Dave’s fully restored race ready CZ’s !!
Ed Kavanaugh brought along his new neighbor as well. A sixteen year old factory ISDT KTM racer from France and his father. Sorry, I could never get the spelling of his name either. But he put in a very entertaining ride with a few high speed get offs. That Poor Maico took a beating !
But I thought I could tell you a little more about the great family of AVDRA. Starting with the crew of KKOD, “Kamp Kiss of Death.” The founder’s are both infamous “Vanigans:” Flagstaff’s Roy
Turner and Tucson’s Papa Smurf. Residing far away from most of the races, these two became regular campers the night before all the races. Bond fires and conversations flared along with adult beverages and the infamous “KKOD” was born. Ron Turner dropped out of KKOD, but Dan Ecker, “Papa Smurf” continues to lead the band with his CZ and Husquavarna. Even Smurf’s brother, “Popeye” came to this race from North Dakota to entertain us. Little known fact, Dan is a retired Arizona State Social Worker (that is a good enough reason to drink)
Other regular members include AVDRA’s Sports-Couple of the Year, Louis & Susan Phay. The hardest working newlyweds both work full time and attend college to advance their careers. Louis races a Yamaha IT 465 he purchased for $ 60 to race in the desert. Lucky for us, Louis grew tired of AMRA’s rules and found AVDRA a more warm and inviting club. Louis and Susan met on line at “Plentyoffish.com” and she was excited to
meet a motorcycle rider. Their blended family fits right in to AVDRA and Louis’s son grew the nickname “PUNKIN” one night at KKOD. PUNKIN is serving in Army and considered one of our all favorite sons protecting our freedoms.
One of Louis’s best friends and chief competitors is Gary EIsner. Gary travels in style with a large toyhauler with comfy chairs, air conditioning or heat which he readily shares with KKOD. Often accompanied by his wife, Sue or son Will, Gary enjoys the family like atmosphere AVDRA provides all its members. Gary provides the appropriate tunes changed every race that plays over the PA system.
Another regular member of KKOD is the legend, T-BONE FULLER. T-BONE is famous for his “Electric Banana” hair..yes it has a name. T-BONE is actually a retired professional motocross racer and stunt man. He raced Outdoor Motocross and Supercross for Suzuki and Yamaha in California, across the US and Canada. Then became a stuntman and played himself in the short lived TV series “Thunderdoom” on TNN. Before Free Style Riding became a stand alone sport, T-Bone invented is own move, “Jammin Salmon” with no hands, no feet and his nose touches the front fender. When he slowed down, he married and moved to Arizona where he likes to share his healthy Attitude towards life without drugs or alcohol. He is a superfast rider and great influence for the younger club members.
There are more regular members of KKOD and anyone is invited to spend the night, if you dare. Again thanks to Dave, Nancy and all the sponsors of AVDRA: Tiffany & Bosco, 2 Guys MX Graphics, Atlas Coper, Sun Cornerstone Group, Musselman Honda, DC-T’s, Motocenter, MAS Racing and AMS racing.com
