When I raced AHRMA at Willow Springs earlier this year, there were concerns that motorcycling may have had its last day of glory at the famous track. Thankfully it’s been given a stay of execution for now, as the hosts included classic motorcycle racing as part of the festivities for the 2nd Annual Willow Springs Reimagined (bikes weren’t included last year). I already shared a video from my time there, but here’s a different perspective if you’re interested in a broader look…
We sent a couple of bikes up in the Iconic van for display and I rode my Buell Lightning up separately so I could take some fun roads up. Unfortunately, I got caught in a highway closure before I could even get to the twisties. Thankfully, the cop was very cool and let me jump ahead after she opened the road back up:
Eventually I was able to get off on the side roads – the view on Spunky Canyon was particularly beautiful that morning.
It was crazy (and a little depressing) to see the new Willow Springs sign.
Iconic brought two special bikes to display at the event – one of Anthony Gobert’s 2000 Bimota SB8K race bikes and Scott Russell’s legendary 1993 World Superbike!
At the time, we were auctioning off the Scott Russell bike so we thought we’d roll it around for a few photos at the track. It later sold for $182,970 including our buyer’s fee and will be heading off to Australia.
The bulk of the events were car-related – a drift show with ridealongs, DirtFish had rally ridealongs, a burnout competition, B-sedan vintage racing, celebrity Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport racing, IROC Porsche tribute racing, and a “hill climb” which was basically just timed runs of half the track. I’ll have more photos of that stuff later, but let’s focus on the good stuff: classic motorcycle racing!
Intro/Qualifying
The motorcycle side of things was put on by Brady Walker of Ramming Speed, who was approached by the General Manager of Willow Springs: Rick Fedrizzi. Brady was going to be out of the country during the event so he had brothers Seth and Gabriel Trench run things on site.
Me with Seth – he’s sold a bike on Iconic before as well.
The motorcycle racers got to practice on Friday and were given VIP access for the day, which I thought was a thoughtful touch so they could enjoy the Trackside Lounge area with ample food and drink.
Fancy and free (if you’re a racer)
Qualifying was handled on Saturday morning through a four lap race. The 17 participants included:
Edwin Haazer — #45 – 1979 Kawi KZ1000 MKII (I’ve featured Ed’s bike here on Bike-urious before).
Jimi Mac — #888 – 1991 Suzuki GSXR750
Darrin Gauvin — #90 – 1979 Honda CB750F
Andrew Gray — #113 – 1976 Moto Guzzi Lemans
Patch Wilkening — #21 – 1991 Ducati 900SS
Scott Cherry — #113 – Suzuki SV650
Art Hewig — #81 – 1986 Honda VFR750
Craig Beecher — #90H – 1985 Yamaha FZ750
Dusty Corner — #881 – 1978 Suzuki GS1000
Jules Medina — #3 – Honda CB750
Kerri Kress — #925 – 2012 Honda NSF250R
Thad Wolff — #37 – 1980 Suzuki GS1000
Stephen Arnett — #316 – 1973 Ducati Imola 750 Racer Replica
Mike Jefferies — #824 – 1970 BMW R75/5
Kenny Thiebaud — #634 – 1972 Suzuki Titan 500
Ivan Hills — #1 – Yamaha FZR400
I apologize, I somehow didn’t get a photo of this bike. But I should have an update for you soon, as it looks like the owner is looking to sell it!
Scott Fabbro — #381 – 1988 Suzuki GSXR750
Here are a couple of bonus bikes that didn’t run in the race:
The Thruxton had been signed by Gary Nixon!
Qualifying had a couple of exciting moments – can you see why Thad came in early?
It was hiding in the shadows, but his exhaust fell off! The rider behind him ran over it but thankfully everyone was OK.
Intermission
In between qualifying and the race, I had the chance to walk around and check out the festivities. I’ve got to say, it’s a very different vibe from when I was there with AHRMA…there’s a lot more money! For example, they had a helicopter raise a gigantic flag for the national anthem (and two fighter jets from Edwards AFB did a fly-by as well):
There were some great guests on site, including the CEO of Alpinestars, Gabriele Mazzarolo.
Here were a few of my favorite cars at the event:
The Petersen Museum brought out the hopped-up Herbie from the 2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded movie for the Time Attack event.
Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. Gordon calls his creation the spiritual successor to his McLaren F1, and one of the most distinctive features is the rear fan that sucks air out from under the car, improving the aerodynamic performance. I’m dramatically oversimplifying and I suggest you check out this article for more details if you’re interested.
Bizzarini/Iso Grifo.
Cars & Bids had a hybrid live/online auction ending at the event, one of my favorites was a Renault Clio V6. It ended up selling for $90,000.
By far my favorite cars were the Group B Rally monsters, it was so cool that DirtFish arranged to have these on display!
I’m going to cap the cars here to keep the post from going too long, but here’s my gallery of other shots for you to check out because there’s a ton of great vintage racers in there with a few exotics sprinkled in.
Racing
Back to the good stuff! If you want some video, here’s footage from the race winner (Ed Haazer on that lovely KZ1000 Mk. II):After the eight lap race, Ed was joined on the podium by Jimi Mac in 2nd place on his Suzuki GSX-R750 (you can see in the video above that he checked up for lapped traffic near the end) and Darrin Guavin on the Honda CB”750″F.
Congrats to Ed for his win!
Here’s hoping the bikes will be back at Willow next year! If that happens, I’m going to have to get another vintage racer back in my garage to try and mix it up…
