Barber Vintage Festival 10/6-9/22
Atlanta Motorcycle Club members Jeff Fisher, Henry Gregorich, Graham Foster, Beno Rodi and Andy Blackburn participated in the cross country and trials competition at Barber. Beno also made it over to the road race track to ride his Manx Norton. Warm weather greeted this years participants, which was a welcome change from last years heavy rain. Competition highlights were Jeff's win in the 60+ Vintage Expert class on his BSA as well as Graham's victory in the Premier Heavyweight Expert class in trials on his Ariel.
Jeff, Henry, Beno and Andy also spent many hours prior to the event laying out, clearing and marking the cross country course. A special thanks to Jeff for bringing out his side by side, chain saw and picks and shovels to help clear the course for this year's event.
Henry on his TY175 at Barber.
AMC members Compete at Daytona Motofest 1/7-9/22
Fun at Daytona!
The inaugural Daytona Motofest was well attended by AMC club members who participated in dirt tack, motocross, cross country and road racing events. Participants enjoyed the sunny, warm weather as well as the tracks at the Daytona facilities.
David, Charlie, Beno, Buck, Rickie and Andy participated in dirt track and enjoyed racing under the lights in front of a good crowd of spectators. The hard packed sand/limestone track offered good traction and both David and Rickie raced to class wins. (Photos by Dragan Harbov.)
The motocross was a new venue held on land owned by the Speedway a few miles to the north. Former World MX Champion Trampas Parker designed the new track which was well received by the riders. Henry, Beno, Charles and Andy earned first place finishes in their classes.
The cross country event was held in the same area as the MX and featured wide grassy sections along with some challenging tight woods. Bill, Beno and Henry participated in the competition.
As is his custom, Beno participated in the road race as well, experiencing the famous high banked turns of the Speedway. It makes one wonder how Beno is able to be at all of these places at the same time!
Dave Aldana and Charlie Williams at Daytona.
Diamond Don's Riverport National 9/9-11
AMC members Jeff , Henry and Beno made the trip from Georgia to Jefferson, Texas to compete in motocross, cross country and trials events in one of the best attended nationals on the AHRMA calendar. Jeff, who was attending Diamond Don's for the first time, had impressive performances, winning the ESS 500 Expert class in MX and the Vintage 60+ Expert class in cross country. Beno placed first in the 350 Premier class and second in the open twins class in MX, while also finishing first in the Premier class in cross country. Henry placed second in the Classic 125 Intermediate class in MX while also competing in trials and cross country. Congratulations to these AMC members for their performance at this high profile event.
Beno riding by the bike sculptures at Diamond Don's.
AMC British in the Blue Ridge Ride 6/25
Several Atlanta Motorcycle Club members met at Mitch's house in Otto, North Carolina the morning of June 25 for a group ride to the British in the Blue Ridge gathering in Hiawassee, Georgia.
Bill (BSA), Lonnie (Triumph) and Beno (Triumph) kept in the spirit of the event by riding their vintage British bikes. The rest of the group rode an eclectic mix of more modern European and Japanese machinery.
Mitch knows most of the twisty backroads in the area and led the group on a scenic route from his house to Hiawassee after cooking everyone breakfast!
Despite the threat of light showers, the day turned out to be warm and comfortable.
There were many impressively restored bikes at the event and British bike fans were not disappointed.
Look for email notices of coming club group rides. It's a great opportunity to blow off the cobwebs of the machines some of us have just sitting in the shed as well as enjoying the fellowship of our fellow club members.
Bonnie, Bill, Lonnie, Mitch, Beno and Jeff at Hiawassee.
AMC Fall Ride 11/20/21
On Saturday, November 20, a dozen club members met at the Cupboard Café in Dillard to enjoy a meal before heading out as a group to ride some of the scenic mountain roads of Northeast Georgia.
After the last bowls of banana pudding were consumed, the group took a short ride into North Carolina to a staging area to park transport vehicles and unload bikes. Mitch and Robert had planned loops for both dual sport and road bike groups that took riders up to Highlands, south to Pine Mountain and then east on War Woman Road back to Clayton before finally turning north on Highway 441 back to the staging area. Mitch led the dual sport group while Robert and Bill took turns herding the road group along.
Although too late in the season to enjoy the fall colors, the route took the riders past spectacular overlooks as well as along some perfect twisting roads well suited to two wheeled travel.
As expected, many club members showed up with vintage bikes for the ride. Beno brought his all original BSA Gold Star, Bill rode his BSA Rocket 3 (all the way from Atlanta and back), Lonnie brought his Triumph 650 for its “shake down” ride, Donna had her Honda 500 Interceptor, Terry rode his Yamaha DT250, while Andy ring-dinged along on his Yamaha RD400. And what would a ride on vintage bikes be without a little mechanical drama? Terry and Lonnie both had electrical gremlins sabotage their ride (although Lonnie made it about 97% of the way). The only other casualty was a bent front brake lever on Donna’s Honda. (Which she is not going to talk about!)
Thanks to everyone that pitched in to make the ride an enjoyable experience. We hope to see even more club members at our next event.
Lonnie, Donna, Jeff, Mitch, Robert, Beno and Bill pose with Lonnie's Triumph.