Look back a couple of posts and you will see the “rim lock” that we discovered. This time, a home made shifter.
The 100cc class has come alive for ACR here in the NE, so Gary decided to pull out a bike he could build for the class. Upon inspection, he found this:
This is a home made shifter - it is a rear brake arm, a bold and nut, with a stack of washers as the toe area of the shifter!
Clever, very clever.
The classes I picked have been keeping me up at night - really, riding a 125 is what was kind of eating at me.
I am not a small guy. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 290 fully loaded to race. I bent fork tubes and foot peg mounts last year from some of the awkward/hard landings I took. Going into this I knew that the 125 was going to take a beating, but the bike I am building has the large RM shock and the 43 mm forks. However, the little 125 cc motor was was going to be the ‘weak’ link.
The motor is no longer a concern. I bought a complete 1979 PE175 motor that will bolt right into my 1980 RM250 frame. This will give me a couple of advantages - mainly 50cc more in the motor, and all on a frame that I am already comfortable with! This is also going to cut down on the fool around I have to complete to have a race ready bike for the end of March 2010!
I will post pictures soon of this PEM when I can!
When you fool around with bikes that are 25+ years old, many of them are at the end of their life. Along the way most of them have been held together by imagination and ingenuity more than appropriate maintenance and parts. These next two photos really demonstrate what I am talking about……
Look close - there seems to be a nut and bolt sticking out of this rear tire! Let’s take a closer look…..
Wow - a carriage bolt that runs through the rim and out the tire - a “clever” rimlock!
Wow, all i can say is wow…….
Congratulations to Riccardo Prati - UISP Regional Champion!
If you look back in my posts you will see that Riccardo bought my 1982 RM465 and shipped it back to his home in Italy. Over the summer he was nice enough to send me a few pictures and updates. The grass track pictures he sent me were truly epic.
Yesterday I got an email that read like this:
Wow, the days are flying by!
As promised in the last post I have decided on what classes to race for 2010. I took into consideration the following things:
So, for 2010 I will race:
The bikes I will run for 2010 will be any of the following:
My 1980 RM250 will most likely stay under a blanket for the season. Maybe I will ride it again in 2011?
Next post I will put up some pictures of these bikes and talk more about what equipment worked for me in 2009 and what changes I will make for 2010!
My first class championship ever. 8 different world class tracks, 10 races, mud, sun, and perfect weather the entire time.
I also was able to finish second place overall for the year in the ACR Open EVO Novice class. This is the second year in a row for a second place finish overall in this class. Always a bride’s maid, never a bride….
Englishtown is always a good time. This year was no exception. Both my father in law and brother in law went with me for this trip. The bus is set up well for extra people, as I have the bunk beds and plenty of room in the back for an air mattress, even with the bike stored in the bus!
Englishtown is fun for all of us, in that it is a true motorsports complex. On Friday night we walked around the pits of the Drift Racing competitors - it was cool. Then, Friday night drag racing started and we saw some really fast cars.
Racing on Saturday was a little long - there were 27 gates - that is 54 races total! The bike ran fantastic, we ate like Vikings, and pitted next to some great people.
This was a bittersweet year. Yes, I won a championship, but both of my sponsors went out of business due to the tough economy. I achieved a lot of my goals with the ACR website, but also found out what a daunting task it will be to give the site a full make over. I cut down a ton of fool around time by riding one bike this year, but I also found that I really missed racing my Vintage 80’s bikes.
Next update on my blog I will cover what equipment worked (and did not work), I will give an update on the bus, and I will also give my first impressions on what classes I will ride for 2010!
Karl Alan Poindexter crosses the finish line, at speed, in moto one. Karl won the first moto of the PV 50+ Intermediate class at Log Road Old Iron Classic AHRMA National MX.
Congratulations to Karl for making the cover of the current issue of the Vintage Views!
Finally, a good race day at Southwick!
If you look over the posts since 2006, Southwick has not been very good to me. I have crashed, broke, and just had a miserable time there.
The weather was perfect this year, with a high of about 75 and sunny. The track started the day groomed to perfection.
Lots of guys showed up for this round. It seems that the Southwick round brings out lots of guys.
Racing in al of my motos was a great time. The bike performed like a champ, even in the deep sand sections.
As the day wore on, the track became nothing but rolling whoops of every size. The second motos of the day were really tough.
It was fun to take the bus even though this was a day trip for me. I parked next to the powerhouse G&G Cycle racing team. At the end of the day Gary cooked up some awesome hot dogs and burgers….
I am still leading the +40 EVO class, and I am still in second in the EVO Open Novice class. Thanks to Gary for beating the guy who is chasing me in points in the +40 EVO class.
Because of Gary’s efforts and me finally finishing strong in all of my motos I only lost 8 points to the second place guy in my class!
Englishtown will be the deciding race day for me. If I finish 5th place or better in the first moto of the +40 EVO class I will win the series. If I finish 2nd place or better in both of my EVO Open Novice motos and the current leader does not show up, then I could also win that class for the year, too!
See you at Englishtown on September 5th!
If you look back through my posts you will find that I sold my RM465 to a guy from Italy, Riccardo. Riccardo has been very cool about sending me pictures and giving me updates about his racing exploits on the RM 465. However, these pictures are something special.
I raved and went on and on about how much I liked the Grass Track at Broome Tioga. They basically took the top open pasture portion of the complex and mowed a path, then we went racing. Riccardo’s club also put on a grass track race. This race was held in the town of Giaveno, Italy. This is in northern Italy.
As you look through these images, take a look at a few details - the ribbon marking the course, the rolling landscape, the beautiful hills in the background, and of course, how cool Riccard looks on the NYE206 built Suzuki RM465!
Now that is how a grass track should look!!!!!
Hurricane Hills was a good time this year. The track extended all the way up the second hill AND used the flat track portion of the complex, then came back down to the main area.
Mark and I camped out in the bus Friday night. Mark cooked up some chicken on the grill while I unloaded the bus and cooked up some mashed potatoes and rice. We ate like Vikings.
With the bunk beds now built in the bus Mark was able to sleep with little thought about what storm might roll in. On Saturday morning he even told me not to change a thing about them - as it was the best nights sleep he has ever had on our camping trips.
While I enjoyed the comfort of the bus, Mark’s good company, and hanging out with all of the other racers, I do have to say that the racing took a toll on me this time. Gym time has been very scarce for me, and my performance showed it. I could only run with the pack for maybe a lap, then I had to go into basic survival mode to even hang on for the rest of the race. I was embarrassed.
Time to get back to the gym…….
Even with my poor conditioning I managed to keep the lead in overall points in the EVO +40 class and really put myself in a solid second place overall in the EVO Open Novice class.
Southwick is right around the corner on August 8th - hope that the curse of the Wick does not eat me up again this year!
