AVDRA Race 5 Recap

Thanks to all AVDRA racers that attended the 5th 2023 race event at Motoland this past Sunday May 7th. As always, we appreciate you racing with AVDRA and race results will be posted in the coming few days.

You may recall, when Jim Rike and the Advisory Council first started to plan the 2023 AVDRA season, we sent a few pulse surveys to members. One of the questions we asked was whether to keep or drop the May and September races, typically they are hot and attendance is poor.

We expected a typical hot early-May event...so we started an hour early, we ran a short course and we deleted the Awards ceremony. (You may recall at the April race, the Awards ceremony was pretty uncomfortable...and many racers were leaving after receiving their award, who could blame them...it was hot and the day went long). So we thought we'd take a few steps to make the anticipated hot race a bit more comfortable.

As it turns out, the high for the day was 86 degF...mildly warm riding weather for we Arizonans. So we ran 6 lap motos as the lap times were in the 1:10-1:20 range. In hindsight, maybe we could have run 7 or even 8 laps.

The track was also pretty dusty, despite Motoland watering a few times during the program...it is May in Casa Grande, keeping the earth damp is tough this time of year.

Also, participating in the May event we had 39 riders and 55 entries. A bit disappointing, so maybe we need to take another look at running events in the hotter months.

Despite the low turnout, we did see some great racing in the GP3 250-500 Intermediate class, with Bruce Kenyon (#632 Honda) taking the holeshot and hanging onto the lead despite pressure from Paul Delanoit (#35 Suzuki) who finished 2nd and Richard Paiva (#183 Honda) finishing 3rd. The Vintage 60+ Novice group also had 3 entrants, where Robert Fifield (#79 DKW-Sachs) finished 1st, followed by Bill Hawk (#13 Yamaha) finishing 2nd and Marty Maples (#60M Yamaha) finished 3rd. Great job guys.

We also had a few visitors that raced with us in prior events, attending just to spectate and socialize...Terry McPhillips AHRMA off-road director was on-site, Norm Stradleigh also attended, Jeff Condon volunteered as the gate-dropper (helping out Jimmy Sutton at the Start Gate). Dan Ecker made the trip from Tucson and Bill and Gussie Ramsey from The Motorcycle Accessory Shop also attended to spectate.

And reliable as ever, Competitive Motorsports and Taco Santo were both on-site selling their moto-gear and Mexican cuisine, respectively. Both vendors regularly attend AVDRA events, so please support them when you have the opportunity.

Also, here's a tip if you plan to run any track days or night races over the summer...if you hadn't the opportunity to check it out, Joe Reed (#26 Kawasaki) from Cottonwood had a portable mister in his pit. He said it was "the best hundred bucks I ever spent". It consumes a bucket of water about every hour, so you'll need to bring a few gallons if you want to stay comfortable.

Regarding safety, at the April event we had a two riders significantly injured. So its been a relief there were no reports of anyone making a trip to Urgent Care during or after the May event. There were a few spills during the day, but overall we ran a safe program. Thank you everyone for riding safe, its important we all go home feeling better, albiet a bit sore, than when we arrived...

And lastly, we hope everyone enjoyed the day and again, thanks for racing with AVDRA. We do appreciate your support and hope to see you at Bull Hollow in Monticello, Utah next month. If you have never been, you need to make the trip. The track is magnificent...it's a long track, with lots of elevation changes and operated by some great people that truly welcome AVDRA members.