Monster Mountain - MX

Sept. 5-6, 2020

2020 Redwood Engineering AHRMA National Vintage & Post Vintage Motocross Series By: Tony Paul / Photos: Sharon Bean

Monster Mountain was going to be our kick-off race in the East in 2020. However, weather hit, flooded the parking lot, we had to cancel last-minute and move to later in the year in September. The September weather was typical Alabama, warm but not terribly hot. For VMX on Saturday, we had 36 racers show up for a total of 62 entries. On Sunday, for PVMX/Next Gen, we had 38 racers and 61 total entries. Saturday’s racing kicked off with a great natural terrainstyle track on a hillside with nice loamy/sand corners as is common in South Alabama.

Race One consisted of some heavy AHRMA hitters with Chet Malito and David Aldana roosting each other in the Sportsman 500 Expert class. Chet Malito checked out and easily claimed the victory in both motos. Bob Bean, in Open Age Expert, and Oscar Gaetan, 50+ Expert, raced pretty much side-by-side for the entire moto. Curt Jaimet, in Classic 250 Expert, trailed the likes of those four great racers yet he still finished in front of ‘the Legend,’ the one and only Beno Rodi, racing in Premier 500. The deep loamy sand corners didn’t stand a chance against Beno on his firebreathing Premier 500 motocrosser. Beno hardly had to get above Idle to blow out those sand berms.

Race Two was a gate half-full of Intermediate riders. Mike Bickley had a hard-fought race with the sand, yet he still came out victorious with a 1-1 score in the Classic 125 Intermediate class. In Vintage Open Age Intermediate, there was a stacked field of intermediate riders with Keith Canfield, Tommy ‘Tommy Gun’ Gates, Sam ‘Huggy’ Huggins and George Crafton. Keith was the winner with 3-1 finishes. Tommy Gun was Mr. Consistency with 2-2 motos. Huggy won the first moto yet fell back to third in the second moto for third overall. Crafton went 4-4 both motos for a fourth overall finish. 70+ Intermediate featured another tight race with Dan Beher, John Johnston, Jim Bradford, and Richard Light. The race winner was Dan Beher with a 2-1 finish. JJ Johnston (3-2) second, Jim Bradford (1-4) third, Richard Light (4-3) fourth.

John Johnston

Vintage Open Age Intermediate and 70+ Intermediate start. L-R: John Fedor (56J), Tommy Gates (71Y), Daniel Beher (19B), John Johnston (26L), Sam Huggins (51H), Richard Light (79E), George Crafton (105G), Jim Bradford (49Z)

60+ Novice riders lined up in Race Three with Bubba Gale, from Gale Force Suspension, taking the win, Steve Clark taking second, Raymond Woodard third, Bill Wright fourth and John Henderson fifth. Classic 500 Intermediate was long and slow with Wes Wyman chasing Kenneth Jeter both motos. Classic 500 Novice, Glenn Gallimore, managed to finish ahead of Premier Lightweight Expert, Beno Rodi.

Race Four: 60+ Expert Chet Malito and Bob Bean battled head-to-head with Chet edging Bob Bean each moto. Sportsman 125 Expert, Jc Roberts, placed 2-1 for first overall against John Gott’s 1-2. Sportsman 125 Intermediate Mike Bickley (1-1) conquered the deep southern sand racing against Brian Miller who scored 2-2 with Stepehen Gautreau completing the podium with a 3-3. Reed Borgfield put up a 1-1 in 100cc Intermediate aboard a beautiful Hodaka Parts Inc.-prepped machine ahead of Jim Bradford’s 2-2. The Premier Lightweight Intermediate winner was Dan Beher.

In Race Five, Glenn Gallimore won Premier Lightweight Novice, Sam Huggins was the winner in 40+ Intermediate with George Crafton second. 50+ Intermediate: Perry Hayes first, John Moore second. 60+ Intermediate: James Golliher (1-1) took the overall; John Fedor and Wes Wyman went back and forth both motos with John edging out Wyman (3-2) over Wyman (2-3). Tommy Gates was holding up the rear both motos with a consistent 4-4 finish. In Race Six, the race of the Open Twins, Dan Beher (Intermediate) beat Beno Rodi in the Expert class. You can’t help but love the sound of those twin cylinder machines ripping around the sandy terrain of South Alabama. Sportsman 250 Novice, William Miller (1-1), edged Johnathan Notchie (2-2). David Aldana was victorious in the 70+ Expert class over the man of the Ozarks, John Gott The fast guys lined up for Race Seven with Tim Borgfield on his Hodaka Parts Inc.-prepared Hodaka 100 going 1-1 in the 100cc class. Early Sportsman Stock 250 Expert

Tim Borgfeld

L-R: Tommy Gates (71Y), John Moore (7M), James Goliher (17J), John Fedor (56J), Sam Huggins (51H), George Crafton (105G), Perry Hayes (10H)

John Fedor (black jersy), Unidentified (green shirt, and Bob Bean

Jim Bradford (49Z), Steve Blakley (04)

Curt Jaimet

was an easy win for Curt Jaimet as he took a water break every lap of this moto. Oscar Gaetan won Sportsman 250 Expert as Anthony Paul sat out, helped score this event, and was not able to race. Sportsman 500 Intermediate was a battle of ‘Tommy Gun’ Gates and James ‘Jammer’ Golliher swapping moto wins with Jammer edging Tommy Gun out for the overall. Robert Wood (3-3) took third. The last moto of the day, Race Eight, was full of winners, except for one guy, Keith Canfield, who finished 2-2 to Wes ‘the Cajun’ Wyman’s 1-1. Other winners were Beno Rodi in Premier 350 Expert, Brian Miller in Classic 250 Intermediate, Johnathan Notchie in Early Sportsman Stock 250 Novice, Kenneth Jeter in Early Sportsman Stock 500 Intermediate and Glenn Gallimore in Open Age Novice.

Sunday was another amazing day of racing with our Post Vintage and Next Gen racers taking a stab at the loamy sand sections of Monster Mountain.

Race One featured a father/son battle with Keith Davis (father) and Race Davis on the track at the same time in

two different classes. Both racers finished 1-1, but if my memory serves me correctly, Keith edged Race for the win. In Historic 125 Expert, Tim Borgfield, on the sleeper, the Junk Yard dog, was able to go 1-1 against John Gott’s 3-2 and Jc Roberts’ 2-3. Historic 250 Expert rider, Oscar Gaetan, and Next Gen 250 Intermediate, Wes Wyman, both finished with 1-1 scores. Next Gen 60+ was a battle of the Johns with Fedor first (1-1) and Foster second (2-2). There were some big-bore two-strokes blowing out the sand in Race Two for the guys in Race Three. Justin Terry and Greyson Gilliland, both on 500s, put on a great race both motos. Justin (1-1) finished ahead of Greyson (2-2). Next Gen 250 class rider, Bob Bean, was able to limp in with a bum ankle (1-1). In the 40+ Intermediate, it was Huggy Sam Huggins going (1-1) and George Crafton in second both motos. Ultima 500 Intermediate was overalled by the Jammer James Golliher going 1-1 followed by Richard Freund (3-2) and Keith Canfield (2-3). Bobby Davanport was victorius in the Historic Four-stroke Intermediate class.

Race Three was a race of winners on their small-bore motorcycles defeating the deep South Alabama sand: Ultima 125 Intermediate, Mike Bickley; Grand Prix 125

Bill Funderburke

L-R: Keith Canfield (669), James Goliher (17J), Sam Huggins (51H), Richard Freund (59K), George Crafton (105G)

L-R: Greyson Gilliland (251), Brian Wormlen (119), Oscar Gaetan (16D), Steve Bakely (04)

Intermediate, Jordan Rapp; Historic 250 Novice, William Miller; Ultima 250 Novice, Bubba Gale; PV 100 Intermediate, Reed Borgfield; PV 100 Expert, Jc Roberts; Pre-Modern 125 Intermediate, Brian Miller; Next Gen 125 Intermediate, Frankie Lapina. There was a great Grand Prix 250 Intermediate battle in Race Four with winner, Steve Blakely, making easy work of the five-racer field. Frank Roland second, John Fedor third, Keith Canfield fourth, Bill ‘Fun Man’ Funderburke fifth. Next Gen 500 Experts, Justin Terry and Greyson Gilliland, went head-to-head again with Justin once again taking the victory. Next Gen 50+ Expert Scott Slay, Next Gen 60+ Expert, Bob Bean, Modern 250 Open, Bryan Wormlen and PV 50+ Expert, Oscar Gaetan, won their classes.

Race Five Grand Prix 500 Intermediate, Richard Freund, PV 70+ Intermediate, Jim Bradford, PV 70+ Expert and Pre-Modern 250 Intermediate, Brian Miller, all finished 1-1. PV 60+ Novice once again saw Bubba Gale on top of the box with 1-1 scores. Bill wright took second and John Henderson third. Race Six was interesting. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but Curt Jaimet was able to win both motos on two different machines in the same race. I hear stories about, “when men were men,” but this takes the cake. (Two 500cc monsters at one time.) This guy needs a factory contract. Scott Slay (1-1) won the Pre-Modern 500 class as he found it easier to race only one 500cc machine at a time. PV Open Age Intermediate was a show of Keith Canfield (1-1), Sam ‘Huggy’ Huggins (2-2) and George Crafton (3-3) taking up the last step on the box.

Todd Rapp won the final race of the day in the Grand Prix 125 Novice class. I’m not sure if GP means “go pro” or “go practice.” Maybe we can catch up with Rapp and get to the bottom of this. Bubba Gale won the Pre-Modern 250 Novice class. In the battle of the 50-year-olds: Larry Sparks (a weekend warrior) first, Frank Roland second, Bill ‘Fun Man’ Funderburke third, John Moore fourth and Steve Blakely— who walked away from the field in the first moto—DNS the second moto. In the 60+ battle of the day, John Fedor took first and James Golliher second to finish out the warm and sandy day in South Alabama at the MONSTER known as Monster Mountain.