Joined: May 2005

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By Gary Ilminen
We’ve offered a number of items here at RideApart in the recent past on amateur motorcycle racing.

For example, check out:

• Vintage Motorcycle Racing: The Next Adventure in AHRMA”
• Racing for Everyone: the AHRMA
• When You Fall Off the Horse Get Back On—A Women Who Ride Profile
• Time to Get on Track
• Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials Registration Opens

These articles say a lot about the avenues available to riders interested in amateur racing. This time around, we’ll zero in on motorcycle land speed racing at Bonneville to follow our piece on registration for participation in the event. The 2015 event runs from August 29[SUP]th[/SUP] to September 3[SUP]rd[/SUP].

Bonneville is the citadel of speed—promoted as the fastest race course in the world. It's the place where world and national speed records are set and legends are made. The fastest cars, trucks, bikes and one-off custom speed machines in the world compete there. Just going there and standing out on the vast expanse of rock hard sodium chloride is memorable; to take a machine out there and run it on the salt, well, that may well be the experience of a lifetime.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials is the “Run Watcha Brung” part of the event. That's your chance to take your everyday rider to the legendary Salt Flats to take two runs on the competition course and have them timed. You can’t qualify to set any records, but the cost is lower than record runs and you’ll have a ride you’ll never forget to tell everyone about. It’s also a great way to get the feel of running on the salt surface so that if you decide to give a record run a shot sometime, you’ll have some experience with it.

Though the rules aren’t as involved as those for record contention, you’ll still need to know how to prepare in terms of your bike and riding gear, so check out the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials website for more information at: http://bonnevillespeedtrials.com/ and click on the “Rules and Records” tab. As I write this, the 2015 Run Watcha Brung rules aren’t on the site just yet, but the 2014 rules are and those will help you get an idea of what is required. Keep checking back though because you’ll need to go by the 2015 rules if you want to participate.

To run for AMA National Speed Records, you must be an AMA member and follow the rules for competition, including the supplemental rules for land speed racing. Check out membership costs, benefits, and competition rules at: http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/

Getting to Bonneville is easy: Just stay on I-80 from either west or east until you reach Wendover, UT, and you’re there! West Wendover, NV is a twin-town with the state line dividing what seems to be more or less one town, but you’ll know when you’re in Nevada—West Wendover has the casinos and bright lights.
Because of the casinos, West Wendover has a lot of lodging and restaurants to offer, but Wendover, UT, has lodging and other accommodations as well, including the Western Ridge Hotel where motorcycle speed record legend Burt Munro is depicted as staying in the movie “World’s Fastest Indian,” and where scenes for the movie were set.

The Bonneville Speedway is unlike most any other motorsports venue in the world. There is no permanent infrastructure at the track except the salt surface. Virtually everything required to stage an event must be hauled out on the salt at the beginning and hauled off the salt when it’s over.