ANZA, CA

Over the past few years, former Suzuki and Yamaha factory racer Scott Burnworth (8, above) has fully embraced the sport of Vintage Motocross racing. The former vice 250 National Champion is a fixture at the regular CALVMX/AHRMA races. Riding various machines from both the pre-1975 (Vintage) and the post-1975-89 (Post-Vintage) eras, "Burner" shows he's lost little of the speed he possessed during his Pro career.

Wishing to give something back to the sport and to increase the popularity of racing classic machinery of all eras, Burnworth presented his first annual Vintage gathering at the new Rynoland Motocross Park. On a specially designed course, which was without question one of the longest seen in Vintage racing, a great turnout of classic machines from the early 1970s through the late 1980s were being prepared for a day of racing.

The course was considered a true old-school outdoor layout, winding its way up, down and around a brush-covered mesa, and there were plenty of elevation changes, sand-filled turns, and sections of hard-packed ground to challenge everyone present. Mike "Too Tall" Bell, 1980 Supercross champion, remarked that the course was challenging enough to make you work, but not so bad as to make you want to quit! Inter-Am and Trans-Am veteran Bill Silverthorn, one of the first Americans to take on the European legends in the late 1960s and early '70s, said it was truly a traditional track and very closely resembled a track from the early years of U.S. motocross.

On that track, former factory Pros Bell, Burnworth and Jim Gibson (19, above, dicing with Burnworth) put on great displays of riding skill. Burnworth took some time from being the event's promoter to engage in a two-moto duel with Gibson. Although actually entered in separate classes - Burnworth in the Vintage Expert 250 class, and Gibson in the Vintage Expert 500 class - the two put on a spirited battle just for the fun of it. Burnworth's ultra-lightweight Ossa stayed ahead of Gibson's exotic, titanium-laced Suzuki TM-400 in both motos.

Bell put in some of the fastest laps on the more-than-two-mile course in the Open Age Evolution Expert class. His two-moto domination saw him completing the course in just over three minutes per lap. Finishing behind Bell were Sterlyn Rigsby and Lendon Smith.

Other race winners included Charles Hilton, in the Revolution 250 Intermediate division; Bill Hagen, in the popular Open Age Vintage Expert class; and John Woolsey, who took the overall honors in the Over 50 Vintage Intermediate division.

The general consensus of the riders was this inaugural event was a rousing success. Other than a faulty starting gate that had to be repaired and horrendous 40-mph winds that blew all day, the majority of the participants stated they would definitely be back for Burnworth's next event.

Results

MINI PRE-1990: 1. Mike Garcia.

MINI 1991-MDRN: 1. Evan Woolsey; 2. Donovan Tryon; 3. Sean Bell.

VINT 125 EX: 1. John Stein.

VINT 250 INT: 1. Michael Salsman; 2. John Woolsey; 3. Chuck De Ran; 4. Scott Piddington; 5. Dave Peabody.

VINT 250 EX: 1. Scott Burnworth; 2. Gary De Forest.

VINT 500 NOV: 1. Frank Maney.

VINT 500 EX: 1. Jim Gibson; 2. Gary Faxon.

EVO 125 NOV: 1. David Sobodos.

EVO 125 INT: 1. Randy Skinner; 2. David Gale; 3.Dave Peabody.

EVO 125 EX: 1. Trevor Bell; 2. Mark Arsenault.

EVO 250/500 NOV: 1. Mark Martin; 2. Brian Pusey; 3. Ross Gregory.

EVO 250/500 INT: 1. Steve Weidler; 2. Tim Devlin.

EVO 250/500 EX: 1. Mike Bell; 2. Robert Lightfeldt; 3. Darrell Spilsbury; 4. Ed Stovin; 5. Lendon Smith.

REVOLUTION 125 INT: 1. James Farren.

REVOLUTION 250/500 INT: 1. Charles Hilton; 2. Brent Kolbe; 3. Dennis Carlock; 4. Douglas Farren.

REVOLUTION 250/500 EX: 1. Chip Howell.

OPEN AGE VINT INT: 1. Michael Salsman.

OPEN AGE VINT EX: 1. Bill Hagen; 2. Gary De Forest.

OPEN AGE EVO/REVOLUTION NOV: 1. Ross Gregory.

OPEN AGE EVO/REVOLUTION INT: 1. Ron Baker.

OPEN AGE EVO/REVOLUTION EX: 1. Mike Bell; 2. Sterlyn Rigsby; 3.Lendon Smith; 4. Tony Boswell.

50+ VINT NOV: 1. Dana Yenawine.

50+ VINT INT: 1. John Woolsey; 2. Chuck De Ran; 3. Craig Walker; 4. Randi Perkins; 5. Tom Winkless.

50+ VINT EX: 1. Gary Faxon; 2. Bill Silverthorn.

50+ EVO/REVOLUTION INT: 1. Dennis Carlock; 2. Mark McNulty.

50+ EVO/REVOLUTION EX: 1. Chip Howell; 2. Phillip Hall.

MDRN 2-STRK INT: 1. Brent Kolbe; 2. Ignacio Rivera; 3. Randi Perkins.

MDRN 2-STRK EX: 1. Ed Stovin.

MDRN 4-STRK INT: 1. John Stein; 2. John Hutchison.

MDRN 4-STRK EX: 1. Robert Lightfeldt; 2. Don Hutchinson; 3. Brian Catterson.