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Willow Springs GG, 1998
Sport Rider calls it "A Gathering of Gammas"
The first GammaGathering I attended was at Willow Springs in 1998. Using the RG500 mailing list, a group of us decided to get together for a trackday, and Sport Rider Magazine was interested enough in this event to send out an editor and photographer to join us.
I borrowed a truck from my brother in law, and set out with my wife on the 1,750 mile trip to San Diego. (2800 km one-way for you metric types!)
Anthony Gobert was there that day, doing hot laps on whatever he was riding at the time! I believe a Kawi.
We stayed with Greg Lewis and I did some final bike tweaks at his place, the trackday was great fun, meeting other RG owners was wonderful, getting to meet and hang with SR editor Kent Kunitsugu was a treat, it was all just GREAT. , and a day at the racetrack is always well spent!
The next day, I think, we rode up Mt Palomar. What a crazy deal to see so many bike enthusiasts in one place - and they had all ridden a ways to get there ! Toast and PB at the cafe on top - lovely! The biking scene in California was amazing, the freeway traffic was also impressive, and in all, it was the start of a long series of RG get togethers for me. One of Greg's buddies was riding a TL1000S, and I have to say this was the start of my moto-lust for that particular bike. In other news, I am a complete wuss on the street and all the local canyon-masters quickly showed me their taillights. Sigh.
Sport rider did a little article about the gathering (they were the ones who used the phrase- "A Gathering of Gammas"), and here's a copy of that issue that I saved as a PDF. I'm afraid I added my own notes at the end, as this PDF was intended for a friend. No harm, I suppose!
The best part for me was that Kent ran 1:30s on my bike and said it had "a few more seconds in it" but the track was pretty crowded, and he was threading through a lot of people. In the same issue as our Gamma article, SR had a mega 600 shootout at Willow Springs. The Yamaha R6 took top honors, with Andrew Trevitt and Kent K scorching a 1:28.4 laps on D207GP tires with the R6.
So.. two takeaways, I guess. All the way back in 1999, 600s were giving our 500s about all they could handle. That R6 went on to run a 10.70 quarter mile.
On the upside, the 13-year old RG (at the time) was a match for a new '99 R6 in the laptime department, ridden by The Fast Guys in search of laptime glory. Side note- that issue had a segment on 'Pi' Data acquisition systems. !! 8-)
June 1999 Sport Rider article on the Gamma Gathering at Willow Springs
If you have pix/ etc from your own local GammaGatherings, get a hold of me and I can link to your site or post photos here!
If you have some additional photos from this event, send them over and I'll put them up here!
I can be contacted at rg500delta@mac.com
