It’s time to get the bike ready and bags packed for vintage racing April 12-13 at the 13^th Annual Corsa Moto Classica at the famed Willow Springs International Raceway, 85 miles north of Los Angeles in Rosamond, Calif. As the third stop in this season’s American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s www.ahrma.org (AHRMA) Historic Cup Roadrace Series, it’s also the only chance for West Coast vintage racing fans to take in AHRMA racing without leaving the coast.

Launched by custom bike builder and Garage Company owner Yoshi Yosaka (www.garagecompany.com), the Corsa Moto Classica has become a magnet for vintage race fans and a mainstay of the AHRMA racing season. Willow Springs, if you’ve never been, is one of the few surviving tracks from an era many riders think of as the Golden Age of motorcycle racing, the 1950s. American racing great Kenny Eggers stormed to victory at Willow Spring’s first motorcycle race in 1954 riding for BSA. He also took first place at Daytona that year, and recently built a replica of the bike he rode to victory in both races. Go here to read our feature on Kenny’s race-winning BSA Star Twin.

As with most AHRMA events, there’s more than just racing to keep attendees busy. Saturday’s classic bike show reliably draws a spectacular selection of vintage iron, including everything from a Honda CB750 to a Vincent Rapide, and the obligatory swap meet provides classic bike owners the opportunity to score needed parts, like a set of shocks for that little Aermacchi 250 Sprint you’ve got squirreled away in the garage that’s just waiting for a new lease on life.

The gate fee’s a paltry $10, so if you’re in the greater L.A. area you really don’t have an excuse for missing one of the best vintage race weekends of the year. To take a lap of Willow Springs watch the video below.

 

More info at www.willowspringsraceway.com – Richard Backus

Word comes that Dale Walksler, owner and curator of the renowned Wheels Through Time Museum (www.wheelsthroughtime.com) in Maggie Valley, N.C., is selling off a major chunk of his collection and moving out of the Maggie Valley digs he’s called home since 2002. Since moving in, Walksler has built up one of the most incredible collections of vintage American motorcycles in the world, featuring examples of rare marques like Dayton, Pope and Yale, and with one-of-a-kind bikes  like Traub and Flesher. With this announced sale, it appears the museum as we know it is coming to an end.

According to Walksler, the museum is shifting gears and embracing a new initiative, Wheels Around the World, with a goal toward providing motorcycles and curatorial services to groups and institutions interested in putting on exhibits of their own. Walksler says the new program “will allow the history of American motorcycles to be shared with a larger audience than only those able to visit the physical museum itself.” Walksler says he’ll be offering full exhibit development to organizations interested in promoting motorcycle history.

While we’re sure the challenges of running a museum must be great, it seemed that Walksler’s Wheels Through Time had met with great success; ever met anyone who didn’t know about it? Be that as it may, Walksler has scheduled an auction of 150 of his prized collection, to be held on the museum grounds Sept. 25-27, 2008, with RM Auctions running the show. That will leave some 200 bikes in the collection, certainly more than enough to provide for Walksler’s new program. Still, we think it’s a shame the bikes are going to be split up, and that vintage motorcycle fans are losing a seminal collection of vintage American bikes. – Richard Backus

 

After assuming the helm of the American Motorcyclist Association last March, new AMA CEO Rob Dingman made it clear that one of his first orders of business was to get the AMA out of the expensive and time-consuming business of managing its professional racing series.

Dingman got his wish last Friday, when he announced that Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG) was taking over the job of promoting, managing and sanctioning the AMA Pro Racing series, a hallmark of AMA activity for years.

But that, says Dingham, was precisely why the AMA needed to get out of racing. “We needed to have firmer grasp on the legislative and regulatory issues that face us, our member benefits and services have become average at best, and we just had a complete inability to market and promote our professional racing series,” Dingman told a packed house at the Daytona International Speedway media center, where Dingman and DMG head Roger Edmondson made an official announcement of the sale.

And make no mistake, this is a sale, with DMG assuming full ownership of the AMA racing series, a fact Edmondson underscored when he told those gathered, “We are not licensing or borrowing or leasing AMA Pro Racing rights, we are buying them. We will replace the AMA as the sanctioning body for AMA Pro Racing activities.”

Stay tuned, because this is sure to get even more interesting as the AMA continues its quest to reinvent itself. – Richard Backus

Best known as the host of the award-winning My Classic Car, Dennis Gage also happens to be a passionate motorcyclist and classic bike collector, with a bevy of old BMWs and Guzzis to his claim. We spilled the beans on Dennis’ motorcycle addiction in the May/June 2007 issue, and since then he’s been busy crafting a series of must-see motorcycle adventures for the tube, Trippin’ on Two Wheels.

With his son Sam and regular Motorcycle Classics contributor Neale Bayly along for the ride, Gage and crew take viewers for spectaculars rides around the globe. The first episode features a magical run through the wilds of Scotland, and the second episode, airing on SPEED on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific),  finds the trio exploring the beauty of Sicily riding the latest Moto Guzzi’s.   

Unbelievable scenery and a great story make this an absolute must-see. The film work is top-notch, and the narrative from Dennis, Sam and Neale as they ride their way through new territory really makes you wish you were with them out on the road. Don’t miss it, and make sure to pass the word on to your other riding friends. Click here to watch a special sneak preview.