Diamond Don's 9th Annual Riverport AHRMA Vintage National April 15-17

[SG Berm book]

Holeshot Magazine / BERM Texas Motocross Chronicles was on hand for Diamond Don's 9th Annual Vintage National held in Jefferson, Texas. Gary Bailey headlined the event as Diamond Don's legend for the weekend. The race is a who's-who of former World Champions, National Champions, Local Bad-Aces, and extremely fast motocross racers from yesteryear. However, don't let that fool you.. some of these guys still haul ace faster than most current racers on modern bikes.

The weekend kicked off with Cross-Country and Trials racing on Friday. Saturday would host the Vintage MX races and one of the largest BBQ & Crawfish Boils this side of LA. Sunday would hold the Post-Vintage MX races with a huge Wind-down party after the awards ceremony. The wind-down party is as big as it gets... Drinks, Bands, FIREWORKS and as much food as one could ever come across!

Lone Star VINTAGE Racing at it's best!


The host, Diamond Don, has been a staple in Texas motocross since the very early 1970's. Here is the old H&H Music MX Racing Team ad that ran in 1972/1973. Diamond Don is the man in the bottom left hand corner just above the H&H. In fact, his longevity in TX-Moto earned him a special award and interview at this years Houston Supercross. If you were there you would have seen him on the jumbo-trons!


Diamond Don & wife - Francene


This cannon fired off on Saturday morning to start the motocross weekend.


With races only held this one-time per year - the course is over-run with rich green east Texas grass... And quickly turned over by knobby impressions!


Legends Parade Lap - Steve Wise, Brad Lackey, Trampas Parker, Gary Bailey



STEVE WISE - arguably the GREATEST M/C racer of ALL-TIME, and 2nd/3rd on the All-Time TEXAS MOTOCROSS GREATS list. The Texas speedster out of the Valley region conducts Sunday mng's Church Service




With the lovely Liz


Signing his chapter in the BERM book for a fan.


A view of the river & RR tracks that both flow along Diamond Don's beautiful property.


Davey Coombs w/ Racer X was on hand for some metal-moto. DC was hauling ass, shooting the breeze w/ everyone, talking some history, enjoying fajitas... And of course during all of that - staying glued to his I-Pad for his seemingly never ending work ethic. Always good conversations w/ Davey!


DC ripping in the woods part of the MX track.


Tom Hudson (Andrew Short's father-in-law) and Brad Robertson act out their roles in the Spring 2011 smash hit "Driving Miss Davey!"


Burnett was ripping this berm


The Poison Ivy vine growing up the tree is not your only concern!


Wasn't all Vintage


JP interviewing Rio Bravo MX Park's owner Danny Erdeljac about the upcoming Old School MX'ers Reunion in September, and the AHRMA National that will make a tour stop at Rio Bravo in November.


Texas legend, and all around funny guy, Bobby Pickard!


Bobby P. giving Trey Jorski some rely-on gate techniques!

[SG Berm book]

Sweet Green


Past TVRC president - Mike Shelby gives an in-your-face thumbs up to old racing friend Bobby Pickard!


Wasn't all Vintage II - Miss P.




There is a LOT of PRIDE at this event - and I don't mean selfish pride. The atmosphere is unlike any of the modern races of today. The flag below represents what the weekend at Diamond Don's is all about. Brotherhood - many of the relationships between these racers have lasted 40+ years, when these men and machines were just starting out at the grassroots level of hwat we call MOTOCROSS. Many of these same guys were at the fore-front and made an impact here in the the United States, and in Texas motocross!




Jeff Marks w/ Canton Cycles grabs himself a holeshot w/ former Factory Riders Jim Gibson and Tommy Croft in tow.




Saturday's Raw Vintage


A proud moment for Lord Hance


KTM


Two Time World Champion - Trampas Parker singing his chapter in the BERM book.








The area truly is Gator-Land


Steve Wise running a Lone-Star jersey


Oklahoma Legend - Trey Jorski still Hauls-Ace in a very commanding way! Definitely one of the weekends top-speedsters.



Them old dogs on the gate may have been just-a-little distracted!


JP "The Mouth of the South" and Roy Jenkins were cued in w/ excellent announcing throughout the weekend!


Time Travel.

[SG Berm book]

Dr. Retro Feelgood




Joe Busby






Kirk Spencer #82 is wicked fast. The Carrollton, Texas resident is among the Top-10 fastest racers to ever come out of the Lone Star State. In 1981 Kirk dominated 34 motos in a row... That's right - THIRTY FOUR --- 34 consecutive moto wins = 4 moto wins per weekend (2 classes) = about 9 race weekends = 2.5 months of solid wins between the 250 Pro class and 500 Open Pro class. A feat, I doubt that was, or has been matched by anyone else. And to put it into perspective... current local Pros... Hackley, Millican, Parks, Moore, Oldenburg, $mith..... hell even Lemoine, Cunningham, Hahn, Demuth, none have, or could dominate from one weekend to the next in both Pro classes for 2.5 straight months. Between competition & bike failures... it would be hard to pull off that record again.
#82 The Doughboy - Kirk Spencer was, and still is "The Man" - a complete missile on the track.


Kawasaki is one of the sponsors of Diamond Don's annual event!


Jorski should know better than to take out the camera man -- close call -- Balls to the Wall


The Legends and Heroes Tour was on hand. Many of you may have seen them in the pits at both the Houston and Dallas SX's.


Awards Presentation:
Billy Click - has been at the game as long as anyone out there - 60+ expert Champion... still motos hard and several times a week!


Albert Newman w/ DD


Eric Bourgeois w/ DD











Lord Hance - doing what he does best for everyone to enjoy... Snow Drift Cerveza's!



As the weekend wound down, over 1,350 MX fans and racers happened upon the event. Big-name riders such as Gary Bailey, Brad Lackey, Steve Wise, Marty Tripes, Trampas Parker, Trey Jorski, Kirk Spencer, Jim Gibson, Tommy Croft and several others had all graced Diamond Don's Riverport National.

Check out www.DiamondDon.com for 2012's 10th Annual event info!

[TeamCramp]

Best write up a Vintage National has ever had! Once again, thanks Shand for your ability to go back in time and make it feel like you came from there!

You get it! See you next year doing some racing!!

[SG Berm book]

Thanks Team Cramp - enjoyed it!

[CamP]

Thanks for the write up and pics Shand. Nice work!

[WhipMeister]

Was a blast. Great write-up, Shand.

Jess

[SG Berm book]

Your welcome Cam - was expecting to run across you at anytime, but never happened. Did get to hang w/ McClasky quite a bit!..... and also pulled a good one over on Hance - Haha!!

[TorkiT]

Great vintage race coverage, I enjoyed reading the race reports and it was a nice MX history lesson. Thank you sir, you did good.

[CamP]

Your welcome Cam - was expecting to run across you at anytime, but never happened. Did get to hang w/ McClasky quite a bit!..... and also pulled a good one over on Hance - Haha!!

It's not often that anybody pulls one over on Hance. Wish I would have been there to see it but couldn't make it happen this year.

[SG Berm book]

Tork-it --- thanks man. The speed that a few of them carry is down-right wicked!

Cam - the best part was I lied directly to his face... innocent look... when he questioned me about it. For the next 3 hours, as he drove back to H-Town... I sat in the VU chair in the Holeshot Mag pit and laughed to myself for the next 3 hours! PURE GREATNESS!

[Daniel]

This is our second year in a row to attend this event and we have made plans to attend next year. Diamond Don puts on one hell of a Motocross Event. Once you pass through the gate you go backwards in time. Those bikes are works of art and they race them !
Daniel and Brady Blankenship(#43)
BlankenshipMotorSports
New Boston, Texas

[MX154]

I was blown away this weekend at that race, I couldn't believe how fast Gibson and Jorski were! Plus seeing the new JT Gear in person was pretty sweet too. It was seriously like stepping back in time being there, the sights/sounds/smells were awesome.

Diamond Don's put on an awesome event, I'll be back next year, maybe if I can find a bike I'll race the thing!

...and now time to be "that guy" Shand... A buddy of mine traveled here from Florida to race the expert classes and swept all 4 of his motos. Did you happen to grab any photos of the 457 on an 83 CR250?

[SG Berm book]

No Colin - I sure didn't. You should have come over and said something. I said hi to Hummermike in the woods, and he looked at me like a ghost... I guess he did not realize it was me.

[MX154]

No Colin - I sure didn't. You should have come over and said something. I said hi to Hummermike in the woods, and he looked at me like a ghost... I guess he did not realize it was me.

HA! Mike can be clueless at times! I saw the trailer when we got there but didn't see anyone around. There's always next year!