Motorcycles in the Springtime!

Round #1 Walt James Stadium 3/8 Mile
Willow Springs Intl Raceway
Rosamond, Ca Sunday April 29, 2012
Story by Joe Dean
Photos by Jim Wray

Warm, sunny, springtime weather and a deep, moist, perfectly groomed dirt track welcomed friends and fans with the thrill of dirt track racing when the opening round of Mulder’s Series fired off during Vintage Days weekend at Willow Springs Intl Raceway. Saturdays’ practice day allowed riders a chance to get in as many laps as they could handle on the big, cushion track. The Amateur Nationals are coming up so some used this opportunity as their tune-up. Some were first timers. There were many happy, tired faces as the final practice checkered flag waved for the day.

For Sunday’s races, 154 entries competed in 21 heats to set the starting grids for the days 16 Main events. The first business of the finals was the Specialty Fabrications Inc. $1,000 Dash-4-Cash which, with many generous contributions, grew to over $3,500 for the top two finishers in the three Digger Open Pro heats. The 6 Dash qualifiers lined up were #9 Jared Mees riding his Honda 450 on pole with the fastest heat win, 10z Briar Bauman on a Kawasaki 650, Sam Halbert #7, new Nat’l #98 Kayl Kolkman on the Simi Valley Kawasaki Rotax 600, #54 Mike Rush on Ron Woods’ 600 Rotax and #26 Brandan Bergen on a 450. At the green flag, Mees grabbed the hole shot with Halbert and Bauman close behind. Young Bauman was on a mission and after a few laps passed both #7 and #9 to get to the front. Pulling away with a two bike length lead, at the stripe Bauman convincingly cashed in on the majority of the hefty purse. Halbert came home second, Mees third and Rush took the final paycheck position fourth. Kolkman and Bergen finished fifth and sixth respectively. This was Bauman’s first Dash win.

Some highlights of the days races were former Nat’l #37 Ron Moore in the 60 and over Vintage class on his 66 Triumph 650 holding off Senior Novice #17q Herb Wolff on his EM Replica Triumph 750 wire-to-wire to take first in the K&N Filters Super Sr/Sr Novice class. 2011 Class Champ #33u(running #79x) Tim Thomas on Cary Tanners Harley Davidson 750 narrowly edged out Bakersfield’s Jack Alexander #96a taking third and #97 Fred Berger took the fifth place spot for the final trophy position in this class.

The three Youth classes had racers ranging from age 5-15 with #3g Hunter Goodwin from Keenensburg, Or. getting the hole shot in both the Motion Pro 80cc and Barnett 150cc races. #95 “Crazy Clay” Williams passed Goodwin on lap 3 to take the lead and go on to win the 80cc main with #63e Evan Souza 2nd and in the 150cc main, #117 Sean Heeney got by him on lap 2 to hold on and capture first place, giving Goodwin third and second place finishes for the day. Not bad for his first time there!

Former WCDTS Champ Mike O’Neil moved away to North Carolina a few years ago but longed for the big, banked, cushion of Willow Springs so he hopped a flight West, borrowed Dave Cheney’s Lazer framed Honda 350 and entered the Rod Lake Racing Modern 500 class to race against some of his old rivals. O’Neil’s expertise of this track hadn’t waned in his absence as he grabbed the hole shot at the waive of the green flag followed by #25d Steve Craft in second, Jeff Lessley #12e third and #75 Ryan Gifford rounding out the top four going into turn one. O’Neil held the lead 4 of the 6 laps until Lessley decidedly made his move past him on the fifth lap and went on to win. O’Neil came home second with Gifford third and Craft fourth.

The final race of the day is the one for all the bananas. The Digger Open Pro finale had $12,000 as added incentive for the top 10 finishers. Former Nat’l #57 Digger Helm has sponsored this class for the last 8 or 9 years, increasing the prize money generously every year for these young pros, struggling, racing for a living. Round #1 had 14 entrants lined up according to their heat race finishes. The front row six were the same as in the Dash, #9 Mees, #10z Briar Bauman, #7 Sam Halbert, #98 Kolkman, #54 Rush and #26 Bergen. Row #2 held #30 Bronson Bauman, the younger of the Baumans, #42 Bryan Smith from Flushing, Mi., #67 Davis Fisher, who won his 250 Open main event, from Warren, Or. #77v Mikey Avila on Jason Cravens 600 Rotax, #88e David Bush, #4 Brandon Rothell, #43 Ajay Hateley and #38 Jethro Halbert on Lloyd McGregor’s Honda 650. When the green flag dropped, Mees shot to the point, grabbing the hole shot. Bauman on his heels in 2nd with Kolkman edging out Sammy for 3rd going into turn one. Halbert, on Donnie Howard’s 600 Rotax, was riding his mount hard in third place when, almost halfway to the finish, it started smoking. On lap 11 Halbert’s ride expired putting Kolkman back in third to stay with Rush and Smith battling it out in fourth and fifth. Smith pulled off on lap 18 advancing Rush to fourth, Jethro Halbert to fifth and Bronson Bauman to 6th. With 2 to go, Jethro got by Rush to take the fourth position. At the checkers it was Mees, winning wire-to-wire on his H-D 750 with Briar Bauman 2nd, Kolkman 3rd, J. Halbert 4th and Rush 5th.

The days’ racing was fast, safe, smooth and exciting. Sun kissed faces with wide, white toothed grins accepted their awards and thanked their sponsors at the trophy presentation. The crew wrapped up the event and as the sun set in the West, it turned the lights out on the first round of the 17th season of Eddie Mulder’s WCDTS. Round #2 will be the Sacramento Vintage Mile Sunday July 29 (after Bob Bellino’s Sacramento Mile National July 28) at Cal Expo Fairgrounds during the Calif. State Fair.

To enter or for info go to www.RaceTraxEntryPoint.com/EMWCVDTS/