The Legends & Heroes MX Tour will be
honoring Baja 500 Winner
Bill Silverthorn
at San Diego SX
February 16, 2011 - Merced, CA: Two-time
Baja 500 winner, Bill Silverthorn, will be honored on the Monster
Energy stage this Saturday night for his years of racing, contributions
to the motorcycle industry and accomplishments racing off-road
motorsports.
Bill started racing in 1965 down in San Diego’s
District 38 area in Desert, TT, and Scrambles. He won three district
titles during this time in 1966, 1967 and 1968.
Edison Dye brought the very first Huskies to the US in 1966. Bill
received one and Malcolm Smith the other. Ready to take the next step,
his hard work paid off and he was selected as one of two riders to
represent the United States in the European GP Series in 1968. This
was the first American team to compete in Europe. In the fall of 1968,
Edison Dye brought several of the top European riders to the US for the
first Inter-Am Series. Bill was considered a top American during this
time, finishing in the top five at several rounds. In addition to
competing in International venues, Bill won many Southern California
championships.
In addition to Bill’s early years of motorcycle racing, Bill is mostly
known for his achievements while racing in several Baja events. In
1970, Bill teamed up with Gene Fetty to win the Baja 500 overall. In
1971, he took second in the Baja 1000, but secured the #1 plate again
in the Baja 500 in 1972 and second place in the Mint 400 the same year.
Chenowth Racing sponsored Bill in a class one off-road racecar in
1973. It took two years to build it and to sort out the details to
putting a team together. In 1976, Bill won the Score Parker 400
overall and took the Score Class One Points championship.
Bill bought a Suzuki dealership in 1977 and managed to build a
successful business while staying in the industry for 25 years. The
dealership grew to four major brands to include Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha
and KTM. In early 2000, Bill started vintage/post-vintage motocross
racing and has thoroughly enjoyed the sport while winning several
National titles to include 3 AHRMA VMX titles in the 60+ Expert VMX
& PVMA and the Historic Expert Class in 2005. In 2006, Bill was
AHRMA’s 50+ & 60+ VMX Expert Champion. The 2007 racing season saw
a second place for Mr. Silverthorn in the 50+ Expert VMX class and
another first in the 60+ Expert VMX division.
With eight years into his vintage motocross career under his belt and
hundreds of logged hours over the entire 45 years of racing, he was
chosen as 1 of 4 Americans to represent the USA Team against the
European Team during the First “Vintage-Am” Vintage Motocross
Challenge, a 4 day competition promoted by World Champion, Brad Lackey
and vintage motocross pioneer, Diamond Don Rainey. The two weekend
format saw competition at two different tracks. The foursome, to
include Gary Jones, Danny LaPorte, Chuck Sun and Bill Silverthorn
brought home the gold and made their country proud. Finishing off his
2009 season on top, Bill continued his winning streak into 2010 with
two more AHRMA national titles in both the 50+ and 60+ vintage Expert
classes.
Congratulations Bill, for a life time of awesome accomplishments!
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