Scott Fabbro (381), Pete Hokenstad (57R), John Litsey (422), Damian Doffo (36R), Ted Kasparian (885), Yoshi Kosaka (22X), Marc Rittner (129), Mitsuhiro Kiyonaga (53), CJ Bonura (71B), Andrew Gray (113), Mark Miller (11M)
Willow
By: David Stark / etechphoto
April 23 - 25
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Springs Raceway 2021 Bridgestone Tires AHRMA National Historic Cup Roadracing Series
Regardless of the size or age of your motorcycle, Willow Springs will test you. On paper, the 3.2 mile, nine-turn track isn’t intimidating. But AHRMA doesn’t race on paper. It races on pavement. It races against the wind. It races through uphill, downhill, off-camber, and decreasing radius corners. It races on half-mile long straights. It races, throttles pinned, across rippled, bouncy pavement. Did I mention the wind? The wind hits you from the front, scrubbing speed, it hits you from the side, pushing you offline, it hits you from behind, going downhill and everything gets quiet, and you go really, really fast. This is racing at “Big” Willow. 25 years ago, Yoshi Kosaka had a vision to bring AHRMA to the Fastest Road in the West. That vision turned into an annual reality that has included the Motoclassica bike show, a swap meet, priceless machines turning race-pace parade laps, and even Jay Leno once arriving on a gas turbinepowered motorcycle. Kosaka was honored as the Grand Marshal during the event April 23 and 24 at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA. His involvement was more than ceremonial. Kosaka also raced his vintage superbike hard, earning podium finishes. Highlights from each event showed how racers managed the wind and the competition. 18
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Race 1 The weekend got off to an inauspicious start as an incident with a Class C Footshift racer during the first lap brought out the red flag. The second iteration launched without incident. Four laps later, there was less than five thousandths of a second between 200GP race winner Gabriel Droetti and Christopher Akaydin, while Damian Doffo took third. In what may be a new AHRMA record, there were four other Doffos in 200 GP: Marcello, Maria, Brigette, and Samantha. The Sunday podium featured the same Droetti, Akaydin, Doffo podium. In Formula 125, Laf Young from Maui, Hawaii, on his 175cc Husqvarna held off Michael Enns and his 1972 Yamaha CS5 two-stroke twin during Saturday’s race. On Sunday, the victory came down to Young winning a drag race with Enns to reach the checkers first by just over a halfsecond.
AMERICAN HISTORIC RACING MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION
Gary Swan chased by Grant Spence (24) and Lewis Leonard JUNE 2021
