Comes a time when the forces of man and nature combine to produce an event so magical that it instantly becomes legend. It happened famously in a Woodstock pasture full of peace, love and rock n’ roll in the summer of ’69, and it also happened off the coast of California during the ’50s, when a different kind of music—BSAs, Triumphs and Velocettes—bellowed and tore at the Catalina Island dirt. And just as every child of the ’70s knew about Woodstock, every SoCal motorcyclist worth his handgrips grew up hearing about Catalina. Held from ’51 through ’58, the event became one of America’s top races, following only Daytona Beach in mystique. Off-road racers such as Bud Ekins claimed overall victory here to cement their names in legend.
And then it was over. Like the often-rumored Beatles reunions, the Catalina Grand Prix never resurfaced, despite the passage of a half-century. That is, until now. It took an L.A. car salesman by the name of Vinnie Mandzak and sagging island tourism to finally convince the Avalon City Council that holding another motorcycle race made good business sense. Last fall, a permit was issued on a one-time basis.
Rather than summertime, though, the revived 2010 Red Bull Catalina Grand Prix would be held in early December, the start of the rainy season, when the community most needed a cash injection. Long story short, it worked. Throughout the event, restaurateurs and innkeepers reveled in the best December weekend in memory, and a Saturday-night showing of Travis Pastrana’s latest Nitro Circus movie sold out the landmark 1000-seat casino theater, purportedly for the first time in history.
Garage Company’s Yoshi Kosaka on the “other” Yamaha Catalina racer replica and France’s Di
Originally slated to use 80 percent dirt and 20 percent paved streets through the port town of Avalon (similar to the original GP), the 2010 version ultimately used more like 95 percent dirt (due to concerns about closing public roads), with just a ribbon of asphalt connecting sections together. The nearly 6-mile course began at a wide uphill starting area, funneled into a silty, 180-degree first turn that sent many riders to the ground, and wound through a long motocross section peppered with double jumps, tabletops, berms and a mudhole. From there, a steep descent merged riders onto a hillside horse trail where passing was nearly impossible. A short blast up the asphalt ribbon led to a fast, serpentine fireroad, where a strong motor and steel nerves could yield a ton of passes—and a bad mistake could bring a five-story swan dive off a cliff.
Thad Wolff on a BSA, John Hateley on a Triumph and Ryan Cameron on a Velocette are all smi
Altogether, the course was interesting, challenging, fun and reasonably safe—as long as you didn’t blow a crucial turn. All it lacked was the downtown streets of the original event, but that is a bureaucratic issue rather than any oversight on the part of My Cuz Vinnie Productions or the AMA’s District 37, which sanctioned the event.
There were 46 classes baked into 12 events over two days, starting with Saturday morning’s vintage race and ending with Sunday afternoon’s Pro race that attracted the likes of WORCS Champion Kurt Caselli, multiple Baja 1000 winners Kendall Norman and Johnny Campbell, Supercross legend Rick Johnson, America’s first 250cc world motocross champ Danny LaPorte and even mayhem maestro Travis Pastrana himself. But impressively, the rekindled Catalina GP also brought out some of history’s warriors, such as ISDT gold medalist Preston Petty, racing for the first time since the ’73 Baja 1000. The Catalina setting is wonderful, like a dirt setting for the Isle of Man, said the man who brought dirt riders the plastic fender. Entries also included ’60s Triumph flat-tracker John Hateley, ’50s Catalina competitor Homer Knapp (on the same ’28 Harley-Davidson JD he raced back then) and the irrepressible Malcolm Smith, who raced a new KTM in the 60+ A class.