AMA District 17 Awards Banquet
Pitsticks Pavilion
January 28, 2006
It was “Party time” for the seven-hundred or so riders,
wives and girlfriends at the annual AMA District 17 Awards Banquet hosted by Ed
Pitsticks at the “Pitsticks Pavilion’ on highway rt 23 outside of Ottawa,
Illinois. The lights were dim but the decibel level was high and going higher
added to by the efforts of Melodic Blues DJs who would peak out after dinner and
the award ceremonies. Also a Blues Brother duo look alike would entertain with
an energetic dance routine before the actual dancing began.
The Awards! Applause if you please, and
never give a thought to the early hour wake-ups so you could be on the road to
make it to the event by sign-up times. The guilt feelings for the cost of your
hobby and the hours your family spends at the events so you can enjoy your hobby
when they could be pursuing their own. But you have plans on how you are going
to make it up to them. The anger of an equipment failure, the exhilaration of a
win, or near win and the satisfaction of a feeling of progress as your class
standings move upward. Yet frustration, when you know you could have done better
but didn’t.
Your name is called, your peers cheer, but
the biggest smiles and loudest cheers are from those who supported you all
season. You accept the award and smile back at all the people you know and some
you don’t. But your name is in the book and it’s a new season. Was it worth it?
You bet, there’s something about winning that makes it worth it.
The “Red Rider” AMA District 17 council
Secretary, and perennial Awards Master of Ceremony, Bill Holt called the throng
to the serving lines. There
were three of them set up in the large adjoining
room. After working their way thru one of the lines they were confronted with a
rare, medium or well-done array of “rounds” as Ed Pitsticks referred to them,
sixty-pound chunks of beef that he and two assistance were carving and serving
to passing diners. ”We served a total of five of the “rounds”, that is a lot of
beef. Add the fried chicken and all the fix’ng and it’s a big dinner,” said Ed.
A few random comments from the AMA Council President and
the directors:
AJ Waggoner president: Actually
good things have happened to the District this year; I can’t remember for sure
if its 12 or 13 years I’ve been president but each year our attendance has gone
up and event participation has grown. Some years more than others of course but
in the right direction never the less and consequently rider and events count,
D17 is the largest in the AMA’s organization. All of this despite three dollar a
gallon gasoline. We will have about three hundred and thirty events this year
like I just said making us one of the largest in the AMA. That’s everything,
Hare Scrambles, Enduros, Dirt Tracks, and Motocross the whole nine yards. The
Enduro discipline picked up a couple of events from last year but the Hare
Scrambles has pretty well taken that over. They can run the events on a closed
course off the roads and still keep the woods flavor. What the District has been
doing is working so we aren’t going to try and reinvent the wheel. Myself I’ll
be starting this season all in one piece, no broken bone or anything like that.
Occasionally I can make it thru a season without doing great bodily harm. I like
to think that as I’m getting older I’m riding smarter, but I think I’m just
hanging back. The Banquet was a hugh success. I mean hugh. People are coming
thru with two and three plates and they are full and try as they might they
never eat it all. This year we had about seven hundred and twenty of them
trying. In closing I would just like to thank all the members for their
participation and the Directors for their dedication and hard work. They make it
happen.
Bud Northrup outgoing hillclimb
director turned the reins over to Gordon Green but assisted with his final
awards presentation. “I’m going to ride again this year but it’s time for the
younger people to take over. “I won three classes this season,” said Bud. “It
was a fluke, everyone in my class got hurt, or moved away. Jason (Northrup), my
competition in the Open class, moved to Vegas, where he is now teaching school.
I don’t worry about what people will think or say about this record as I get
older, we all know that ‘the older you get the faster you was.’
Gordon Green hillclimb director:
Bud Northrup has retired this year and I’m taking over. We have a working
program and there won’t be many changes. Our main objective is to climb hills
and going over the top is always a rush but and those who are new to hill
climbing will soon find out the trail back down can also be a heart stopper.
Stan Camp Dirt Track Director: At
the end of his second year as Dirt Track Director Stan Camp said, it’s a good
job and I enjoy it. It went great this year. I also was able to compete and won
the vintage class and third in the Vet’s class. I broke my leg in July or maybe
I could have done better. We have a lot more races this year. We are up to 39
and probably will pick up a couple more before the season starts. The short
track and the TT are both at Springfield this year, the night before the
National. The half-mile has yet to be determined. It was going to be at
Rushmore, but the Fair Board backed out. I would like to thank all the support
the riders and the club gave us. They made the job easy.
Jeff Wikert Trials Director: I
took over this year after JD Schultz retired this year. He’ll still be around
competing, he likes the competition. We have some new classes this year a couple
that were combined. We want to expand and get more events and get some more of
the kids interested in trials.
Ryan Moss Enduro Director: “Fly’n
Ryan” from Rockton, Illinois double A champ took over for his first season from
Mr. Six’s Days Jeff Fredette. That’s a big pair of shoes to fill but we’ll do
our best. We had a good season we’re up to thirteen events from ten plus a
couple of two-day events. We’re working with a couple of people and hoping to
grow and get more events. We would like to start a kids Enduro series. We’re
also working with the clubs on that and hope to get more kids involved. We have
a couple of states that have the kid’s series going and it’s successful, so
that’s good. So we’ve got a plan.
Jay Hall Hare Scramble Director:
Six Day Metal Winner in 2005 from Springfield Illinois and co-owner of Hall’s
Cycles said; We took over in 1999 with 14 events and for the upcoming season we
have 36 scheduled. That is fantastic growth. The final responsibility belongs to
the clubs, we pleaded, cajoled and whatever but the clubs are the ones that had
to put the event on. So we want to give a big thanks to them for all of their
hard work. Now we are the second largest discipline in District 17 behind
motocross.
The Six Days was a blast, it was something
I’ve wanted to do all my life, I’ve went over and helped them, but always
thought I was too slow for the team. But after talking it over with my wife she
pretty much pushed me out the door and said go do it. So I did and I did. I rode
on the team with Jeff Fredette and JD Hamet, we were the third highest American
team and I got myself a Bronze medal. We did OK for a bunch of old guys. Jeff
and JD are 47 and I’m the kid at 45. It’s going to be tougher to go this year,
you have to qualify in more events but I think I have one more in me.
Gerhard Ward Motocross
Director said in his own words: 2005 closed out the season, and even with three
dollar gas prices and no rain for the better part of the year, District 17 was
still slightly up in participation at year’s end. December and January go so
fast it seems like it's no time, and LTM is firing up for early spring races!
New for 2006 is a couple of New/Old promoters coming to the world of MX and SX.
Nadine, (kinda like the one name singers) every one knows who we mean, has
started up the track facility in Mason. Crossroads MX will be hosting a wide
selection of MX races in 2006. Mike Burkhart has joined the district in the
Stadium side of things with a variety of Fair races in the south and west part
of district 17. Mike is the owner of Midwest Motosports located Kakoia, MO. The
Championship races will be held at Motosports Park Byron IL in Sept, and the SX
championship at Pecatonica in July. The mid-season Championship race will be
held at Tri-city on the 4th of July weekend. If this banquet tonight is any
indication on how well the season to come will be, then one would bet that 2006
will be another good year for everyone in this district. Motocross, and Stadium
Motocross has been growing little by little every year, with all the places to
race, ride, people have a great variety every weekend to choose from. I would
bet no where in the US has the amount of tracks and facilities located in such a
geographic area.
Kelli Devine won the
approval of the District 17 Scholarship award for 2005, it’s a pretty simple
process to fill out, but the decisions are made on merit and how the application
is presented. We started this process like 5 years ago, it’s amazing that very
few take the time to fill out the application for the scholarship. Check the
website out, it has the complete application there and is downloadable. I think
in 2005 it was one the biggest years in submissions for the scholarship, but
"12" applications don't seem to be very many. We hope to expand this scholarship
type deal in the future.
This year seemed to work
alot better for the banquet layout and procedures. Last season we got caught
unprepared, this year the board made special efforts to make this a much better
banquet. Seating was revised, serving was enlarged, and we tried to streamline
the awards presentation. We had a few little incidents which were handled
quickly but nothing major like last year. HA! someone was "tailgating" at this
years banquet! Couldn't believe around noon a guy was out there "grilling out"
waiting for the ceremonies to start! You know the event is getting bigger when
that kind of thing happens!! One thing for sure, 12 months from now this will
all happen again, we will be ready, all we need now is some warmer weather! One
thought to leave with, WHY is 40 degrees in February feel so much nicer then 40
Degrees in October?
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