There is a reason that the Adelanto Grand Prix is legendary. It is a one-of-a-kind race held yearly by the Desert Vipers Motorcycle Club in the normally sleepy California high desert town of Adelanto, and it's the kind of event that you only have to attend once to know that you will keep coming back year after year. It is also arguably the largest race in the country with over 3,000 competitors racing over two days, many of them racing in multiple classes. It is also the one event with classes to suit everyone. Whether you are 8 years old or 80 years old or somewhere in between, there is a class for you. It doesn't matter if you are fast or slow, as long as you have a bike or quad that will pass the tech inspection, there is a place for you at the Adelanto GP.
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The silence is broken as 140 bikes are kicked to life and roar off the line | 
The 4-Stroke Unlimited Experts make the transition from asphalt to dirt |
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The transition zone can be a dangerous place | 
The 40+ Novice Class takes their positions on the line |
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While the draw for the pros is the purse money, the draw for the rest of us mortals is the flavor of the event. Where else can you see a perfectly restored vintage BSA desert bike, a TTR-90, a KLR 650 in full street trim, and a CRF450 ridden by a guy in a clown suit all racing on the same course at the same time? Only at Adelanto.
The Adelanto GP is also a family event. As with most desert races, it attracts the best of our sport, the folks who live and breathe to trail ride on the weekends and who escape to the desert with their families as often as possible. It is almost a coming-of-age event. If you haven't been to Adelanto, then you really don't know what this sport is all about.
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The Vintage Class lined up behind the Dual Sport Class | 
There were some fast Vintage entries at Adelanto |
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Keeping it legal. Dual Sport rider signaling the right turn | 
The sad end to a massive holeshot in the 250CC Novice Class with 100+ riders thundering down the front straight at full speed. |
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For many of the folks who race and attend the race, this is the only race that they will race or attend each year. It is truly one of the special gems that every off road rider, racer, and fan should have on their calendar each and every year.
The format for Adelanto is classic Grand Prix, with a pavement start, and a seven to nine mile mix of desert, more pavement, more desert, and a motocross track at the end. For most classes the start is a dead-engine start, with three to seven rows of 20 competitors each kicking their bikes and roaring off the line towards the first turn. There are multiple classes in each race, which means 200-500 riders in each race with a new group coming off the line every 20-30 seconds. If this sounds chaotic, well, it is, but it's in a good way.
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Davis with a huge lead in Saturday's Pro Race | 
The race was close for Sunday's Pro Team event. Mike Childress leads Ty Davis through the motocross section |
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Adelanto also has its heroes. It is impossible to mention the Adelanto GP without also mentioning Ty Davis. Davis is known as the King of Adelanto, as he has dominated the expert and pro classes here for what seems like an eternity. Each year he has new challengers, and each year he somehow manages to come out on top. The 2006 Adelanto GP was no exception, with Davis coming home victorious in five of the six events that he raced, including both the Pro race on Saturday, which he dominated, and the Pro Team race on Sunday, which he narrowly won with teammate Bobby Garrison over the intimidating Honda team of Steve Hengeveld and Mike Childress.
The majority of the real racing at Adelanto is between the Pros and the faster experts. But with such large numbers of competitors in each race, the true heart of the Adelanto GP is what amounts to a really fast trail ride. The competition for the average racer is the group that you go off of the line with, which, if you are lucky, includes a couple of riding buddies that you can bounce off of and roost on occasion. And while the reward for some is bragging rights for the next year, the reward for most is just the joy of participating in event.
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Ty Davis wheelies to victory in the Pro Team Race | 
The infamous Adelanto Water Jump |
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It's really ugly when you don't make it | 
Proof that chickens don't fly |
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The average competitor at Adelanto races only one or two events, while spending the rest of the weekend drinking beer, bench racing, buying parts and race food in vendor row, and mostly just taking in the spectacle that surrounds the race. The Desert Vipers and the City of Adelanto continue to improve the event each year, with bleacher seating around the motocross section, great announcers, a mini-carnival for the kids, and.......
The Water Jump!!! If there is a centerpiece to the Adelanto GP, it is surely the water jump. Take away everything else and boil it all down to its core, what will be left will be the water jump and the alternate whoop section. This is where all of the action is, this is the wreck on the side of the highway that you can't help but slow down and look at. This is where the heroes shine and new heroes are made. This is the one obstacle that everyone wants to conquer, but only a few dare, and often only on the last lap when bravado and confidence are at a peak.
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Flat landing the Water Jump | 
Even Steve Hengeveld fell victim to a squirrely landing off the Water Jump |
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Rolling the whoops the hard way | 
And another... |
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And another... | 
Sometimes crashing in the whoops becomes a group activity |
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The water jump is also where the carnage happens as heroes and would-be heroes launch themselves over the small pond and pray for a safe landing on the other side. Most make it with nothing more than a brutal jolt on the flat landing. Others panic, slow down and land in the middle of the pond. A few go bouncing away in some random direction, to be scraped up by medical personnel. All leave with the knowledge that they have given the crowd what they came to see.
The alternative to the water jump isn't much better. For those of us who know that the water jump isn't a good idea, and then actually follow that instinct, there is a nasty, narrow whoop section that goes around the water jump. So, if falling from the sky and splattering yourself on the water jump isn't you cup of tea, you can always charge through the whoops with most of the rest of the field.
A few go slowly through the whoops, which puts you in danger of being run over by the guy behind you that decides to banzai the whoops. Then there are those who know they aren't good through whoops, but get so caught up in the racing that they charge in way too fast for their own good. What all of this amounts to is a nearly non-stop circus of tumbling bikes and bodies and scrambling flaggers trying to dodge the flying bikes while keeping the course clear.
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The calm before the storm | 
It takes a special kind of person... |
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Just when you think you've seen it all, the Quads race. I'm not even sure how to describe this. Just imagine 300 or so quads blasting off the line in groups of 60-80 down a short section of street and trying to make it into a slippery turn where the dirt transition occurs. Exactly....so much for that wall of hay bales lining the outside of the turn. To top it all off, the last group to come through with the quads is the sidehacks, where the men and the monkeys once again merge and evolution takes a step backwards. The quad race is also the one race where all skill levels race at the same time, and it is truly interesting to see the pro quads rolling through at 60+ miles per hour blowing by the old guy on his utility quad who is just trying to stay out of the way.
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Tangled up in ... green?
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This can't be good |
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Saved by the bale | 
MOM raced with her Tiara....and her ice chest. You gotta love MOM. |
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While the purpose of the Adelanto GP is racing, the true spirit of the event is just plain old fun, for the competitors and spectators alike. It's like going to a desert race and having a costume party break out. The simpler forms of decoration are the helmets, decorated with Mohawks, beer cans, pimp hats, streamers, and almost anything else that you can think of. The more extreme forms of decoration include a guy in a chicken suit, a young girl on a trail bike wearing a fur coat and high-fiving her buddy at the finish, another guy racing in his skivvies, a gorilla, and a middle-aged quad mom with a big sign on her back saying MOM and a tiara glued to her helmet.
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He came to Adelanto, and he conquered | 
There's room for everybody at Adelanto |
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The fast quads were really, really fast |
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And the crowd loves it all. Between the oohs and ahs that constantly come from the vicinity of the water jump, to the roar that goes up when the top pros come through, it is a constant feast for the eyes. While the top pros are the highlight of the event, even they are occasionally upstaged, as was the case during Sunday's Open race where a guy and his dog got the biggest cheers of the entire event as they raced their three laps. Even more impressive was that this man-dog combination didn't shy away from the water jump, electing to roll the jump and ride the puddle each and every lap. The crowd roared each time this team came through.
Ah yes, but what about the dog? Well, this is one special dog, who takes safety very seriously and always wears his helmet. This same combination of rider and dog was also the hit of the more remote reaches of the track and was seen cruising the various pits all day Saturday and Sunday. Do dogs get monkey butt? Makes you wonder...
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The real winner of Adelanto, at least from the crowd's perspective | 
Cheesehead |
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Mini with style | 
Doesn't everyone ride in a fur coat? |
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Adelanto helmet art | 
There is nothing worse than getting beat by a guy in a gorilla suit |
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At the end of the day, it is the efforts of the Desert Vipers that make this dream come true year after year. The Vipers have weathered changes in sanctioning, environmental pressure, changes in the Adelanto City Council and the encroachment of housing developments, but this may be the last year that the race runs in its current location. The Vipers have vowed to continue the race and to find an alternate site, which may be just a few miles north or west of the current site, or could potentially be much further away. Either way, the fans of this event will follow it wherever it goes, as there is truly no other spectacle that compares to the legendary Adelanto Grand Prix.
As you can imagine, running a race of this magnitude takes lots of people and lots of volunteer time. It is also a scoring nightmare with the number of people on the course at any one time. The official results will be posted at the Desert Vipers website in 2-3 weeks time. The results will eventually be found at http://desertvipersmc.com/adelanto/
Even if you aren't looking for results, show the Vipers a little love and check out their website at http://www.desertvipersmc.com/main.shtml . There you will find a brief history of the club and other tidbits of information. When you are done with this, pull out your 2007 calendar, circle the last weekend in February, and start making plans to be there next year. You really don't want to miss this event.
If you are a participant in this years event, or know someone who participated, and are looking for event photos, go to http://bbs.off-road.com/photobb/index.php/cat/3336 and check out the ORC Photo Galleries. All of the photos in the gallery are available to purchase as large prints or large scale digital images. Just click on the photo that you want, wait for the larger image to appear, and you will see contact information and pricing for various options.