2009 Bonneville Vintage GP

By Richard Backus
Published on December 2, 2009
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Classic motorcycle racing at the 4th Annual Bonneville Vintage GP at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
Classic motorcycle racing at the 4th Annual Bonneville Vintage GP at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
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Classic bikes from around the world filled the Motorcycle Classics tent at the Bonneville GP.
Classic bikes from around the world filled the Motorcycle Classics tent at the Bonneville GP.
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Doug Polen (#23) chats with Mick Hart (#775) and Tim O’Mahony after winning the Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start.
Doug Polen (#23) chats with Mick Hart (#775) and Tim O’Mahony after winning the Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start.
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Racers gather for a pre-race meeting.
Racers gather for a pre-race meeting.
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A strong contingent of Triumphs, the featured marque.
A strong contingent of Triumphs, the featured marque.
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Craig Haggart looking good on his 1966 Honda CB160.
Craig Haggart looking good on his 1966 Honda CB160.
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Bill Eley garnered our People’s Choice award for his stunning Norton Atlas Café.
Bill Eley garnered our People’s Choice award for his stunning Norton Atlas Café.

Quick. What’s one of the hottest vintage motorcycle racing venues in the U.S.? Mid-Ohio? Willow Springs? Barber? If you didn’t answer Miller Motorsports Park, that’s only because you haven’t attended the annual Bonneville Vintage GP.

Now heading into its fifth year in 2010, the Bonneville Vintage GP at Miller is hands-down one of the highlights of the vintage motorcycle racing season. Organized by vintage racer and classic bike nut Tom Kullen, the event has quickly become a favorite of American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) racers across the U.S., who stream in from both coasts and every state in between to race their vintage Hondas and Harleys at the Miller track, as they did for the Sept. 4-6, 2009, event.

Classics on track

Located just outside Tooele, Utah, and about 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City, there’s no denying the Miller track is a bit off the beaten path. Built in 2006, the track was the brainchild of the late Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz basketball team and a successful line of car dealerships. Miller’s success allowed him to indulge his passion for cars (he put together one of the world’s foremost collections of Shelby production and race cars) and racing, and led to the construction of the Miller complex.

The Miller track is actually two tracks in one, with a 4.5-mile road course that can be split into two courses. The Bonneville GP uses the more technical East Track, which runs racers through 14 turns and just a little over 100 feet of elevation change. That latter figure is pretty modest, but the racing gets fierce through those 14 turns, especially the back three esses, or the “Attitudes” as they’re called by the racers, where the elevation changes come as quickly as the turns before riders head for the final two turns, “Wind up” and “Release.” Those turns play out pretty much as they sound, the riders winding up their bikes as they push out of the former before seemingly slinging out of the latter, a 50-foot wide, 9-degree banked sweeper that spits them out onto the main straight. Very cool, and very fun to watch.

Upping the fun-quotient this year was four-time World Superbike champ Doug Polen, who competed in Saturday’s Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start exhibition race, in which riders dash across the track to their waiting bikes, jump on and then bump start them before blasting off toward Turn 1. It’s become a hallmark of the Bonneville Vintage GP, and it’s a huge crowd pleaser.

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