Have Fun Race, Kawagoe, J
DIRTY JEWELS
As if the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show wasn't mind-bending enough, a few friends of oval racing have cut an additional, very special little gem to grace the calendar of Japan's vintage motorcycle scene: The "Have Fun" flat track and short straight race the day after the big show.
Customizer Toshiyuki "Cheetah" Osawa and his friends
meet regularly on the first Sunday of the month in the "off-road village" of Kawagoe, Saitama Province, to thrash their vintage machines around the local dirt track oval. Because of the Yokohama show, the whole thing on this weekend is moved to the Monday, but the motto remains "Have Fun": no aggressive jostling for position, just having fun together driving absolutely show-worthy, detail-obsessed vintage gems and custom jewels through dust and mud - on the oval or sometimes on a short dirt track.
Many visitors to the Yokohama show
have long known
that the following race day is particularly sparkling: Because machines that were still glitteringly illuminated in the show hall on Sunday are now exposed to their native elements by a small, hard core group of V-twin and flat track enthusiasts.
Our Japan expert Minako didn't want to miss out
on this and threw herself into the fray with plenty of memory on her camera and a 6-meter-long W&W banner to hang on whatever was there.
In the morning there usually is free riding
for all, and in the afternoon the actual racing action starts. "Have Fun" is the motto, but the prizes put a little hot chili in the dusty air. We brought some tools and Bates tires to give the deserving winners ...
The evening award ceremony in the sunset
- by Cheetah himself - made this day shine in a particularly beautiful light and many people made a note of it in their calendars for the next one: December 2, 2024 (the day after the next Yokohama HRCS): "HAVE FUN", at Offroad Village Kawagoe, Saitama Province.
If you can't wait that long,
stop by Wheels&Waves in Biarritz and say hello to Cheetah - who is sure to bring one or two brilliant gems of his to the event.