Price and Compare Vehicles: Every year, the Desert Vipers put on a Grand Prix that draws massive crowds of spectators, and a whole bunch of racers. Each year, it's been part of the District 37 (SoCal) AMA Grand Prix Series, but this year, things were different. A huge feud broke out between the AMA and the Vipers over entry fee money.
Then AMA was demanding that all entrants join both the District and the AMA, which, combined with the normal entry fee, would have sent the cost of competing in the event to over a hundred bucks. The Vipers simply pulled their race out of the Series, creating a huge rift with the AMA. We were prepared to sit down with the two factions, and find out what was brewing, but as of the last few weeks, apparently they kissed and made up.
Word is that the Adelanto GP will once again become part of the AMA's Grand Prix Series, which has proven enormously popular with the SoCAl racers. This year, the event drew 1000 plus competitors and an estimated 25,000 spectators over the two-day weekend. As in years past, the town of Adelanto (smack dab in the middle of the Mojave desert, just north of Victorville) opened up the streets to the racers.
The actual race starts on the streets, then heads out into the desert. To please the spectators, the Desert Vipers groom a motocross-style section, complete with grandstands, and pop in a pair of huge jumps that let the fast guys indulge in 120 foot leaps. Common sense rules, however, as the club designs an either/or section, that gives the riders the option of taking the intimidating jumps, or simply taking a longer (easier) path around them. This keeps riders with lesser skills from taking trips in the meat wagon.
Most races run about an hour around the course, which is normally about 6 miles long. It's just the right distance, and requires no pit stops from a regular tank. One exception is the big Pro Money Race, with a $10,000 purse, which runs nearly double the time of the regular events. This event drew a lot of big names, and interest was high. For a while, it looked like it was going to be a Kawasaki 500 freight train, as Shane Esposito completed lap one with a huge lead, followed by a sea of green, and most of them big-bore bikes.
Desert/Baja specialists like Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld were running strong in the top five, but Esposito increased his lead over the field every lap. Then, with only a handful of laps left, Esposito pulled his bike off the track after landing from the huge front straight jump, looked at his bike and slammed the it to the ground in disgust... and strode off the course.
We ran over and checked the KX 500 out. Half the spokes were ripped off the rear wheel and chunks were pulled out of the hub. We talked with some race officials who were on the spot, and expressed the usual "bad luck sympathy" words. But the race official said the perhaps the DNF experienced by Esposito saved a lot of hassle, because it was reported that he had been seen cutting the course every lap.
The official said there would have been one helluva an uproar during a protest, especially with a huge purse on the line. We received no other information about the subject, and can only report it as conjecture. Still, when all the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the big money winner was Destry Abbott on, of all things, a 250 Kawsaki. He was followed home by Ty Davis, on a YZ 250. The first big bike in was piloted by Baja racer, Steve Hengeveld, on a Honda XR 650. Some much for the prevailing theory that the big bikes would dominate this race. Other notables included Paul Krause on a KTM 520 four stroke in 4th, and legendary, Larry Roeseler, in 5th overall on a KX 250. Some early hard chargers like Johnny Campbell and Rocket Rex Staten suffered mechanical problems. A CLASS FOR EVERYONE
One of the big draws for the Grand Prix racing, is that there are classes for just about every skill level, and type of vehicle. Heck, they even have it broken down via age groups. Here's a look at the class structure:
This year, the weather cooperated with the club, and none of the windy-dusty conditions of some past years were encountered. As usual, the Desert Vipers put on a superb event, with excellent crowd control, a tough demanding course and a class for everybody except blind Tokyo cab drivers. The one thing that is missing, is someone to handle the sound system and let people know what's going on. Maybe next year?
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