Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1: Pala, California - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - By Scott Rousseau Photos by Donn Maeda PALA, CA, NOV. 20 he '70s still live on ... ...Or at le a st tha t was the im p ression crea ted by th e more th an 120 rid ers who d escended upon Rainbow Motocross Park to compe te in the opening round of the American Histo ric Racing Motorcycle Asso ciationsanctioned Cal-Zon a Motocross Series. The series, spawned ou t of the need to bring the California and Arizona vintage racing contingents closer togeth er, is the brainchild of vin tage en th usiasts John LeFevre, th e owner of Vintage Hus qvarna in San Ma rcos, Californi a, and Davi d Boyd stun of Dave's Arizo na Motorcycle Sa les & Service in Tempe, Arizona . . T ~ 0\ 0\ rl t"-~ l-< (]) ,.n E (]) u (]) c 14 (Right ) Dave Boydstun (5V) leads Ken Greene (814), Bob Spicer (12N) and Terry Pratt (100) t hro ugh turn one In the Plus 40 cla ss race . (Bel ow) Dan Berg climbed aboard his Suzuki TM400 and . th ri lled the crowd with his high flyi ng antics while wi nni ng the final motos In the SOOcc Expert and 30+ Expert divis ions. "I wa nted to generate mo re busin ess an d mor e in te res t in vin tage racing in the Sou the rn Californ ia area," LeFevre sa id . "There was not hin g really generated here in the San Diego area . Most of the AHRMA races are in No rthern California, and we wanted to generate so me races th at the San Di ego a rea rid e rs could enjoy . We we re d rivi ng too far." Along wi th Boydstu n, LeFevre formulated a pla n for the fou r-race string of races, which will pit 10 ra ndom ly drawn riders fro m each s ta te against each other at each series event to vie for the Cal-Zona Challenge Cup, which wi ll be displaye d in the winning s ta te for one yea r. "Eight weeks ago, we con tac ted the proper channe ls at AHR MA to ge t the clearance," leFevre sa id. "Then we contacted Bob H arv ell (of Ra inb o w Motocross Pa rk), since we had already ru n a race there in Aug ust." Based on th e success of th e ea rlie r vi n tage meet, H arvell was o n ly to o happy to once ag ain acco rnmo da te the v intage grou p a t h is eve r-im p rovi ng Rainbow facility. "These guys make me th in k of old times, a better da y," Harv ell said. "I'm 53 years old, and when I was yo unge r, these were the kind of bikes I watched . The ra cer s a re a ll r ea l m e ll o w, a n d they're very friend ly." _ Harvell spent the bette r part of fou r days on the tract or prep aring the racing surfa ce, w hich fe atu red more jumps than are usually foun d on AHRMA circu it s, combin ed wit h th e g ri n d ing Unadi lla -styl e ba ck sec tio n that Rainbow has become noted for. He removed the "s upe rcross sty le" rockers and other su ch obsta cles, but electe d to leave a roughe r surface than the AHRMA ga ng norm all y competes on . But th e h ard work paid off in spa des, as almost every rider in a ttendance p roclai med it the best vintage race track in Southern California. "It's very pleasing to have people tell yo u that yo u ha ve a nice track," Harv ell said. "I thri ve on it, and I'll d o this (vintage race) forever as lon g as the ride rs w an t to come out." Boydstun was one of the rid ers who thri ved on the more challen gin g surface. The 40-year -old Arizona resi d en t pil oted h is p ri stin e 1956 BSA Go ld Star aga ins t his friend ly riva l LeFevre in the first Premier 500 Expert mot o and was looking pri me d for an easy win until his the Gold Star threw a chai n ove r one of the many tabletop jumps that filled the cou rse. 'Boyd stu n almos t lost an en tire ' la p tryin g to realign the chai n, bu t he man aged to get under w ay and put on an incredib le charge that saw him overtake practically everyone on the track en rou te to a secon d- p lace fin is h beh in d LeFevre at the flag. . "I'm still sa tisified with the way I finishe d,". Boydstun sa id . " I love this old motorcycle. At least the battl e with the motor is over."

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