The Making of
Cahuilla Creek
a New AHRMA National Event By: Terry McPhillips I always knew there was a lot of work putting on an event, but I was surprised by the amount of effort that goes into it even after attending several and thinking I had an idea of what it took to make it happen. The Cahuilla Creek National event included Trials, Cross Country and MX of all forms in a single weekend, March 6th and 7th. AHRMA had events at Cahuilla Creek MX several years ago with VMX, PVMX and Trials. People kept asking, “When are we going to race at Cahuilla Creek again?” So, when a few SW Regional folks volunteered to help with the Trials, Cross Country, and MX, and with Curt Comer and Tony Paul’s support planning this event back in November, I figured we had plenty of time to get everything in place and ready to go. This event would be one of the first in recent Off-Road history where AHRMA would be the promoter!
Cross Country Course and Trials Section Layout: There were a lot of folks who met with us to set up the trials event to make certain it was worthwhile for those attending. Many Zoom meetings were held for this. I especially appreciated this input as I am a Trials newbie without a clue what would have been required otherwise. These meetings included requirements for running, layout and the other things necessary to conduct an event of this diversity. Pat Wilkenings (Patch Wookie) was the primary contact for setting up the Cross Country layout. Morgan Proffitt was the Trialmaster. Pat, Luke Sayer (trustee), Morgan and I converged to set up the locations for Cross Country and Trials in advance. This required multiple trips to Cahuilla prior to the 26
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When we convened and listed what needed to be done, it was a surprise to me. The list became longer and longer the more we talked. Thanks to all the Regional Coordinators and Off-Road Director for putting together a checklist of the many things required to make any MX event happen (along with Brian Oakley who gave us a copy of the checklist he put together for his Louisiana event as a starting place!).
Overall Coordination, initial planning and preparation: There were many folks who were involved in the process of putting this into place. Tony Paul, our Off-Road Director, was the point of contact for everything that went on. He contacted the track owners, getting the dates, venues and contracts set up initially. He also set up the requirements for an on-site ambulance for both days (Saturday’s Trials and Cross Country events and Sunday’s VMX, PVMX and Next Gen events). He followed up on insurance procurement, not to mention all the other required contractual stuff.
event in order to see what was available, and to determine the best possible layouts for both the Cross Country route and the Trials sections. Pat, Tony and Jeff Bushey set up the final Cross Country route and Morgan and Luke set up the actual Trials sections with Matt Parsons in charge of two sections. Rob Poole and Matt Parsons arrived in advance of the event to offer their suggestions, as prior Trialmasters, with ideas to make the trials sections better. Marketing: Pat Wilkening and Kerri Kress devoted many hours creating a flyer for the event. It was outstanding and featured Joel Robert. Cindy McLean was a huge help in making sure that the National and AHRMA Southwest websites were up to date.
AMERICAN HISTORIC RACING MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION
MAY 2021
