Raced the 6th edition of the Biltwell 100 race last Saturday in the Vintage 1970 and Earlier Expert Class. The race course is south of Ridgecrest CA in the Mojave Desert. A place where Malcolm Smith and Harvey Mushman raced.
I raced a 1968 Norton P11, it’s a 750cc Atlas engine in a Matchless derived chassis, it was a purpose built scrambler/Desert Sled specifically for the American market. The P11 was a competitive desert racer when introduced in 67 but the dominance of the big British twins in desert racing ended just a couple years later with the rise of the much lighter big bore 2-strokes. I felt very fortunate to be offered a ride on such an historically significant machine. My race bike weighed around 375 LBS and had a whopping 3.5 inches of travel! The perfect desert machine 
!
The event itself is kinda like Burning Man with old dirt bikes. It is a two day format with the vintage, ADV and cool oddities-pull start mini bikes, 1930’s rigid Harleys, and ultra modified Hooligan Sportsters-racing on Saturday and modern bikes racing on Sunday. There were about 480 entries in total for the day on Saturday. The course was 25 miles and the total race length was determined by class, anywhere from 1 to 4 laps. My class was scheduled for 3 laps.
I had originally intended to sign up for the British Desert Sled Class (2 laps), but my browser timed out twice trying to check out and by the time I could get it to process 6 minutes after online registration opened, it was sold out!
So, I signed up for the next best class that the Norton was eligible for, 70 and earlier vintage, which was scheduled for 3 laps. My class was won by “Mad Dog” Chris Moeller of S&M Bikes riding a Husqvarna 400, the bike that ruled Baja in the early 70s. Being an 80s BMXer myself I though this was RAD AF!!!
My race was going well until mile 15. While running in 4th within sight of 2nd and 3rd on a faster section of the course that paralleled the train tracks, in the dust, I didn’t see that there was a tight 90 degree turn through a narrow tunnel under the tracks until it was very close. I locked the brakes and slid sideways to scrub off speed but didn’t cover the clutch quick enough and stalled the engine. I made the turn into the tunnel but coasted out of the other side. I kicked and kicked and kicked, but the bike would not fire. 38 minutes later after the bike had cooled off I was able to get it restarted. I was very happy it started but very disappointed to have lost so much time. The rest of the lap was uneventful.
When I got back to the pit we realized a bunch of the case cover hardware was missing along with about 1/2 the oil! By the time everything got sorted about 40 minutes had gone by. We also determined the capacitor in the magneto was going bad and that was why it would not start when hot. Note to self…Do not stall! I began to think about the cut off time and how I would need to manage the next 2 laps.
I left the pit knowing I needed to run a good pace and have a clean couple of laps. It was not to be. Around mile 4 I was passed by a pair of T7s battling for position. We were 3 wide entering an 8 ft wide left hand turn into a sand wash. Pushed wide I caught my right toe on the wall edge of the wash, twisted my leg and the bike fell on top of me with my foot backward under the bike. The T7s kept going and no one was in sight. F…!!! I felt the intense heat of something tearing in my foot / ankle. Luckily the sand was soft enough to dig my leg out and get unstuck. I laid there for a bout 20 minutes, long enough for the bike to cool, and for me to convince myself that if my boot was tight enough I could make it to the road crossing at mile 7 where race staff could help.
If you’re going to be stupid you better be tough! With adrenaline pumping and my leg numb at the road crossing I figured if I can go 3 miles I can finish the lap, so I just kept going. At least I would complete the number of laps for the class I had intended to race in, that was some sort of consolation, right?
At mile 23 on the steepest, longest, rutted down hill on the entire course and within sight of the pit I came up on a rider bull dogging down the hill out of control. I yelled, “on your right”, which resulted in them hooking right and falling 5 ft in front of me. I panic braked, ran over their motorcycle, and managed to stay up. Unfortunately, locking the back brake with the throttle closed stalled the engine. I tried to bump start, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, nope, just a skidding rear wheel. I coasted to a stop. The rodeo rider passed me. I wanted to cry!
28 minutes and several very painful kicks later the the Norton roared to life once more. Two miles later I finished my 2nd lap and made my way back to the pit. 50 miles on a 58 year old motorcycle, 21 of them on a busted leg. I felt accomplished for not giving up and pretty bummed for how it had turned out.
When I got my boots off my right ankle and foot were 3x the size of my left and a nice shade of reddish purple. Two hours later we were planning our revenge ride at the 2027 edition of the Biltwell. (My other buddy’s ignition fried on the start line and he didn’t get to complete a single lap, 1970 Greeves Griffon 380) It was a fun drive home… The following Monday I found out I had bone bruise, stained and torn ligaments.
Videos:
Some history on the P11 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzfPza2ON7k
XR 500 in the later 1980 twin shock class @ Biltwell 100 (this bike has about 2x the suspension travel and is 130 LBS less than the Norton- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4mI8MJeLsY
Between the injuries, and excerpts like this:
