FARM 14

AHRMA National racing made its inaugural debut at the Farm 14 MX and training facility in Centreville, Mississippi, much to the delight of the 300+ entries of the weekend. Kevin and Dotie Windham along with their children and staff members were excellent hosts for one of our more successful races in the post-covid era. The track utilized for our motocross racing was a mix of rolling hills, switchback corners, easy jumps, and very wide for multiple passing lanes. The starting gate would lead you to a gradually-elevating, sweeping right-hand corner that was one of the safest in terms of width and ability to separate the pack well. The weather was fantastic the entire weekend and with a good turnout of racers representing over 25 states, the stage was set for both great racing and great fellowship of the racers.

Saturday’s vintage motocross program led off with our 60 Plus Expert and Intermediates. It was madness going into the wide sweeping first turn, and as we have become accustomed to, it was Bill Hester at the top along with Bob

Speiss. Speiss was running hot and midway on the first lap he started to separate from the pack. Dale Burroughs had now put himself into second place with a hard-charging Rhett Smith. That’s how the expert class was running. Meanwhile, the Intermediates had James Goliher running in with the Experts all of moto one. However, a hard charging Jim Voelk had started his ascent towards the top. On lap three, Voelk appeared to go down, opening the door for Mike Hance to move up to second and maintain that spot through the checkered flag. The second moto nearly started the same as the first with Speiss and Hester to the front quickly. Dale Burroughs quickly worked his way into the second spot passing Hester on the opening lap. Golliher also was up in the mix of Experts only to have a malfunction of his bike on the third lap. Quickly taking over first place in the Intermediates was Mike Hance with Larry Decker, Gary Davis, and Jim Voelk immediately behind.

Hance’s 2-1 finish gave him his prized wooden trophy of first place with Larry Decker’s 4-2 finish placing him second overall and Davis placing third. Speiss rode incredible in this first race earning him the overall for the Expert class with Dale Burroughs’ 3-2 finish gaining him second and Rhett Smith’s 2-3 for third place. Race two was our Sportsman Novice class, featuring great racing up and down the ten-person gate. Yamahamounted Philip Bush was clearly the guy to beat this day for the Novice group as he led every lap of both motos. However, it was the racing behind him that was quite spirited. Relative newcomer to AHRMA racing, Dakotah Winter was running second place in the first moto, but found Buddy Byrnes slowly closing the gap each lap, and by the end of the moto, Byrnes almost made the pass on the leader Bush. The crowd was quite pleased to see Buddy, aka “Captain Flatbill,” turn in some hot laps and press for a win. The second moto, Byrnes was gassed, and it was Bush with a comfortable lead; with his 1-1 finish, he claimed the overall. Winter took second place by virtue of his 3-2 finish, and it was Byrnes on the podium with third place.

The fifth race on Saturday was a barnburner as our 50 Plus Intermediates and Experts lined up. On the Expert side, it was the “Jamie Adams Show” as Adams was quick to the top of each moto and the win in the Expert side with Wade Doering second and James Sanchez third overall. The Intermediates was where the excitement lay. With most of the group from the South Central region, they were all familiar with one another, and seeing the back and forth of positions was not a shock. A relatively new member, Rick Allen, from Leesville, Louisiana, found himself in the mix of Charlene Campbell, Gary Davis, and Brian Oakley. Each rider was pushing the other throughout both motos and the finishing order was very tight. Davis with a 2-1 finish edged out Allen for first place; it was Campbell once again fending off Oakley for third place. Very notable ride from John McCullough out of Houston, Texas, who seems to have been on a program the last year, and it showed. Our Premier and Open Age classes were on display in race six. Our

Premier Lightweight Intermediate entry Glenn Gallimore took his BSA to a first-place finish. It was a testament to our Premier racers as Glenn took on some near roller coaster-type hills and jumps while maintaining good speed. Kenneth Jeter won the EES 500 Intermediate also aboard a BSA. Kevin Cleveland, making the trip down from West Virginia, edged out Greg Conn to win the Open Age Intermediates. On this day, a youngster was introduced to riding a bike with 4 inches of rear wheel travel and it was quite a treat to watch Dayton “Goat” Shirah blast around the track and overtake the legendary Bob Bean during lap three of the first moto. The second moto, Shirah found out how finicky old bikes can be when pushed to their limits and it took him a while to get the bike off the starting line! For the moto it was Bob Bean winning with a 2-1 finish, newly-minted Expert Jacob Taylor going 3-2 for second place and Shirah for third.

Race eight was another feature race as the highly-competitive Sportsman 125 classes would be lined up along with our Women’s class and Classic 125. Tim Borgfield snagged the holeshot of the first moto but quickly it was Taylor Blackwood to the lead of the first lap. Young-gun Rider Mattox worked his way into the lead on lap two. We never saw Borgfield make lap one, so a mechanical on the Honda CR125 was the most likely culprit. Blackwood found himself in a Mattox sandwich as immediately behind him was reigning champion Jerry

Mattox. The next group found Jason Elder, Reed Borgfield, and Carl Mabrey fighting for fourth through sixth place amongst the Experts. Rider Mattox went on for the win on the day with dad, Jerry, taking second, Blackwood third, Elder fourth, and Reed Borgfield fifth. In the Intermediate Sportsman 125, Heath Abbott put in a great ride to win the class. In the Women’s classes, it was Kasi Cross making her way back to vintage racing to win the Intermediates and Charlene Campbell taking the Expert class.

Saturday night those in attendance found themselves with a good meal from our Louisiana chef racers, and later, live entertainment was provided. After a very long day the food was worth the wait and having a few drinks with friends while listening to live music put a cap on a very successful race day.

Post Vintage and Next Generation motocross was on the Sunday program with one of the early highlight races being race three with a mix of Historic 125 and 250’s, and

40 Plus age classes. Joel White, racing in the 40 Plus Expert class, was out of the chute quickly in moto one. Behind him saw some great battles as Curt Jaimet and James Sanchez were wheel to wheel for much of the action though with the 2-1 finish of Jaimet he took the overall from Sanchez in the Historic 250 Expert class. The 40 Plus Intermediates saw Sam Huggins ride the wheels off his Maico in the first moto to work dead last to second place just behind George Crafton. Moto two, Huggins had a much better start to take the win and first place away from Crafton. Team Rocketship Vintage Racing was on full display on Sunday, and it was their lead pilot, Tim Borgfield, on his new ride for 2023, a 1977 Suzuki RM 125, for the win over fellow past champion Keith Canfield in the Historic 125 Expert class. By the end of the day, it was great to see Canfield working his way back into racing shape after a year of low activity. Mike Larson edged out Greg Conn for the Historic 250 Intermediate win.

Another action-packed race was our 60 Plus Post Vintage Intermediates and Experts. Possibly one of the tightest races of the day was in the Expert class as Stuart McAvoy, Brian Smith, and Rhett Smith rarely had over two bike lengths at any one part of the races between them. Rhett Smith held them off for moto one but in moto two it was McAvoy and Brian Smith trading spots and Smith pressuring McAvoy the entire moto. McAvoy’s 3-1 gave him the top spot with Brian Smith taking second, and Rhett Smith going 1-3 to finish third. The Intermediate group was amazingly fast as well; Jim Voelk, from Platte City, Missouri, had to battle with a very fast James Golliher, Iani Johnstone, and Mike Larson. Voelk held them off both motos for the win, though this may have been one of the fastest races witnessed by Golliher. Extremely talented Intermediate group here!

Speaking of James Golliher, he was on another level in race nine aboard his 1980 Honda CR 125. This race featured our Grand Prix and Ultima small-bores. Jamie Adams and his 1983 Yamaha YZ 125 were unstoppable. However, Travis Shackelford, working his way back from a year off, was aboard his Grand Prix Honda ready to mix it up. Shackelford had great starts each moto to lead Jordan Rapp and Keith Canfield for the win with Rapp taking second and Canfield third. In Intermediate Grand Prix 125, Golliher was on another level to take both motos. A fun battle for the remaining podium spots ensued as Darrick Newmann worked his way to the front for second overall with a 2-3 finish over Roger Harris’s 4-2 for third and defending champion Troy Howell finishing fourth. Rick Slaughter just edged out Jon Anderson for the Ultima 125 Intermediate victory and Adams beating out a fast ride from Taylor Blackwood in the Expert Ultimas.

One of the fastest rides of the day came from Scott Slay aboard his Kawasaki KX 500 in the Pre-Modern Expert class. The Mississippi rider put on an amazing display of speed in a gate of various Next Generation 250cc and 500cc classes. There were a ton of classes and not a slow one in race twelve. Other winners on the gate were Jim Voelk taking first over Bill Lawson in the Next Gen 500 Intermediates, Bob Speiss almost held off Scott Slay in moto one for the fastest overall but Bob did win the Pre-Modern 250 Experts. John Fedor won the Next Gen 125 Intermediate class, Chuck Lindsey the 125 Next Gen Expert class, and Bob Bean won the Pre-Modern 250 Expert class. The talk of the weekend was our Post Vintage 100cc class action. As for 2023, AHRMA now includes the four-stroke models up to 200cc displacement. The XR 200 Honda now has its chance to compete regularly with the Yamaha YZ 100! Kevin Windham was going to line up aboard his now Al Lamb Honda XR200 with sixteen other fast Intermediates and Experts. The drama ensued as Windham could not manage to make it to the line for the first moto as a clutch cable seemed to be the culprit of a mechanical issue. Forrest Smith, Jamie Adams, Jason Hulsey, and other various winners from earlier in the day were back on this gate. Adams got the holeshot and managed to hold off

Forrest Smith for one lap. Smith put in an incredible ride to win moto one over Adams and Hulsey. Over in the Intermediates, it was newcomer Jason Briendin of Allen, Texas, holding off Rick Allen and Brian Smith for first place in moto one. Moto two, Windham made it to the line and immediately went to the front of the pack, picking up several seconds each lap over the remaining competition. Adams and Hulsey had a death match to the very end of this one and by virtue of Windham’s first moto mechanical Hulsey won the Expert class with a 3-2 finishing order, Adams was second, and what was a very inspiring ride from Jason Elder placed him third in this ultracompetitive class. Brisendin won the Intermediate class with Rick Allen finishing second and Joe Gentle of Plano, Texas, finishing third. This race may be the real kickoff to what many wanted to see out of our super smallbore class bikes.

Our day ended with a trophy celebration at which Kevin Windham helped present the trophies, signed autographs, took pictures, and talked it up with all the racers and families. The weekend was a great success and if anyone left the facility with a few extra pounds, thank our cooks for the weekend as we had on-site meals Thursday through Saturday night at the track. The track preparation was very good with genuine consideration and care from the Farm 14 team. As the new-to-AHRMA seventy-year-old Ted Landry told me after the race, he was quite intimidated after a nearly fifty-year layoff from the sport; but after one lap on the track, he had no worries about the layout. Thank you again to the entire Windham family, the staff, the cooks for the weekend, volunteers, and the great people of the Delta. Everyone needs to mark their calendar for this event in 2024!