Chuck Moline, double moto Novice winner in AHRMA new "Gran Prix" long travel
suspension class, leads second place overall Tom Johnson.

The town of Rangely, located on Colorado's western slope about 90 miles north of Grand Junction CO, was the site of the second annual "Rangely Vintage Days." This event was the second round of the AHRMA Rocky Mountain Regional Motocross and Trials series for 2000.

Rangely on Colorado’s Western Slope, Where the Buffalo Roam?

The town of Rangely Colorado sits in a valley that makes one think of an old time Western movie. There is sagebrush everywhere with beautiful buttes and flat top mountains in the distance. The weather was typical western Colorado, blue skies, puffy white clouds, and thunderstorms in the late afternoon. More rattlesnakes, little critters and coyote than you can shake a stick at too. The good people of Rangely must have a real knack for picking good local politicians too. Why else would the city financially sponsor a vintage motorcycle weekend? This event draws a good crowd too with most riders coming from the Denver area, which is more than 6 hours away.

#77 Danny Vitaletti leading off the Premier Lightweight Class.

The motocross course was laid-out at the west-end of town of Rangely just south of the middle school. The MX snaked through the sagebrush with sweeping vistas of Colorado as a backdrop. The course was expanded from last year, but was still a little narrow. It held up well and did not become hard-packed due to mountains of wood shavings that had been mulched-in to the surface.

Who says that Vintage Bikes can’t jump? Graham Barber, 250 Honda, demonstrates.

The expected MX match-up in the "Over 30" Expert class produced a great battle between Rocky Mountain speedsters, Graham Barber (Honda) and Dave Lindeman (Penton). It also produced a very scary end-over-end crash for Lindeman that he was lucky to escape shaken, but not broken. In the first Moto Lindeman lead off with Barber close behind. The battle went to the last lap when Lindeman got bottled up in lapped traffic allowing the very aggressive Barber to pounce and win the first moto. In the second go-round, both riders were left at the gate due to a faulty starting system.

Boots and wheels = big time crashing!

Both Lindeman and Barber were riding hard, slicing through traffic by using the edges of the track and swooping by the slower riders. As the battle went to the front both riders driving in from the outside going into a long straight when contact was made.

After the crash, Dave Lindeman shaken but not broken!

When asked about the contact Barber said, "My foot got caught somewhere on Dave’s bike so I just gassed it, hoping that my foot would come loose." Barber's boot was monetarily stuck between Lindeman’s front wheel and forks, which nearly tore the sole off Barbers boot and took out a few spokes from Lindeman’s front wheel. Of course, all this stopped Lindeman’s front wheel and sent the rider and his Penton doing forward flips down the track. Both men agreed that the crash was just racing and left the day as they started, friends and competitors.

Robin Webster on a big bore Maico, first place Women’s Intermediate.

Van Hice, who must be the fastest "sit-down" rider in vintage racing today kept his Open Class Maico at the front of the first Over 40 moto, with none other than Dave Lindeman nipping at his heals. Hice was hard on the gas due to the near constant pass attempts from Lindeman for the moto one win. The second moto started out the same but Lindeman finally made the pass on Hice for the moto and overall win.

Tony Asnicar, 62 Greeves, second place Premier Lightweight Intermediate.

In the Premier classes, the best race of the day was between Lightweight Intermediates Danny Vitaletti on his 1964 Cotton Scrambler 250 and Tony Asnicar on his 62 Greeves 250. It was a close battle all the way to the finish with the more experienced Vittaletti besting the new-to-vintage MX, Asnicar. Asnicar’s riding has been improving each time out on the MX course this his first year racing.

G. C. Ayres, Honda 250 leads the start of the + 30 Class.

AHRMA’s newest MX classes "Historic" for early (75-77) long travel bikes, and "Gran Prix" for later (78-80) model long travel bikes were well attended. "GP" class Expert George Vasseur took two straight moto win for first overall, with long time Rocky Mountain Region series sponsor (European Dirt of Silt Colorado) Daryl Back finishing second overall on his 81 490 Maico. The Historic Expert class win went to Scott Berryman, who was also the promoter of this weekend of vintage events. Second overall went to Scott Templeton.

Eagle (Colorado) Motorworks, Bob Egan, Montesa Cota, second place Modern Classic Intermediate.

The weekend got off to a great start with the Trials held on Saturday in the Gillam Draw area. This area is dominated by large rock outcroppings, sweeping vistas, and steep cliffs that remind one of the Painted Desert. The sections were well laid-out through and over the rocks and gullies while still being vintage friendly. The course featured many climbs and drops from large rocks and twisted through the scenic arroyos.

Jon Drindak of Rangely, age 59, doing a good job riding his first Trials event on a Bultaco Sherpa T.

The day started with very pleasant weather, with the afternoon thunderstorm holding off until after the competition was complete. A large turnout of 42 vintage Trials riders challenged themselves on this course, with no one going home with a clean card.

"Vintage Dave" Wilson, 1967 Husky narrowly beating Brad Smith to the Classic 500 Expert class win. Photo by Dick Headwall

Class winners were Modern Classic Expert, Dave Lindeman, Intermediate, Dave Wilson, and Novice John Hatch. Tony Asnicar won Premier Lightweight Intermediate, and Dick Headwall won Classic Intermediate. First in the Beginner class went to Tom Maddox.

A BBQ was held just after the Trials on Saturday in the middle of town at the Elks Park. As an added feature, the Town hosted a vintage bike display at the BBQ site. As last year, Scott and Jada Berryman of Rangely organized this two-day event. The Rocky Mountain Region is lucky to have the people of Rangely and their continued support of AHRMA regional Trials and MX.


AHRMA Trustee Rob Stickler, 1965 Triumph Rickman 650, leads start to finish in route to an overall win in the Sportsman Open Twins Intermediate class.	Graham Barber, Sportsman 250 Expert winner, 1974 Honda.	George Vasseur, Yamaha, winning both motos of AHRMA's new "Gran Prix" class for bikes from 1978 through 1981.