I got to Barber Thursday afternoon and got set up, pitting between Dennis and crew and Juan Bulto and crew and got the bikes through scrutineering.
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| My TC200 Suzuki and ERTT racer |
That evening, I went to Rusty's BBQ in Leeds with Canadians Doug MacRae and Herb Becker and introduced them to fried okra.
Friday, I went out on the CT1 first. It seemed close though was a little reluctant to rev at the top. We looked at the plug and, if anything, it looked rich, but we decided to leave it. My ERTT also seemed close in the first session.
In the second round of practice, on the 3rd lap while approaching 11K rpm in 5th gear the motor slowed a bit, I clutched it and the it stopped abruptly. It had indeed seized. One theory is leaking crank seal. The cylinder wasn't bad, but the piston was and they had no spare. The bike was parked and I scratched from the 200GP class.
I put a new sparkplug in the ERTT to get a reading on jetting. But, I stalled the motor going out pit out and couldn't push start it after a couple of attempts and had to walk it back to the starter rollers. I finally got out on the track and almost immediately the red flag was thrown, so I got no plug chop. It was already clear the rain was coming before the weekend was out and the question was when. Paul Germain told me that his weather sources indicated that it would be raining by 1p Sat. So I decided to change my front tire during Saturday's lunch break. I had a Continental ClassicAttack front tire, which I had proved to myself didn't work in the wet when I crashed on a damp track at New Jersey M/S Park in July. I asked Juan Bulto if he had ever raced on the Conti tire in the wet and he said he hadn't and that people in Spain agreed that they were no good in wet conditions. Al and Dave Hollingsworth helped me change the tire to a new Avon AM26. As I was finishing up re-installing the wheel, a fellow in a shirt with a Continental logo came up and I explained what I was doing and why. He suggested that the 90/90 X 18 tire that I had been using wasn't a race compound as I had thought, but rather a 'high performance' street tire. He said that the smallest tire available in the race compound was 100/90 X 18. He got Buff Harsh of Todd Henning Racing, a Conti dealer, to stop by and Buff confirmed what I had been told. Buff suggested that while the first versions of the race tire maybe weren't so good in the wet, the new ones were OK. But, 100/90 X 18 is too big for my WM 2 rim, so I'm sticking with the Avon.
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| After I changed the front tire and put in a bigger main jet. |
I went out in the 3rd practice session and scrubbed in the new tire and got a plug chop which indicated the jetting was lean and I went up a jet size. In the final practice session, the motor started running poorly as I went out on the track and died as I was approaching turn #5. I realize at the last moment that I had forgotten to turn on the fuel. Luckily, there is a a connector road between Turn #5 and the back straight after the turn #10 chicane and I was able to bump start the motor with the help of a corner worker on our second try and re-enter the track. I passed Jon Munns on his 350 Sportsman Honda, he passed me back, and I chased him for a while. This was just what I needed to step up the pace and get my head right. Again, the plug looked lean and consulting Peter Politiek, Sn., I went up another jet size.
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| Changing the main jet. Matthew Jones photo |
Sunday dawned cloudy but dry. The scheduled had been altered with the Pro Sound of Thunder money race moved from Sun. to Sat. and people were speculating that racing might be canceled Sun. as Hurricane Nate was heading for the Gulf coast. The 350GP race was the second of the day and I started on the pole as I was leading the points (and, in fact, had cinched the championship some time before). 350 Sportsman was gridded behind us in the second wave and Novice Production Heavyweight in the third wave. I nailed the start and led into turn #1. A bit after halfway through the first lap, the red flag came out as there had been a start line crash in the 2nd or 3rd wave. After what seemed like an interminable delay, we went out for a 2nd warm-up lap.
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| After the red flag on the pre-grid waiting for the re-start. George Roulson photo |
I again got a good start, but Jack Parker on his DT-1 Yamaha got a better one and led in turn #1 and went right to the curb in turn #2 to block and chance of me getting underneath him. This only postponed the inevitable as I out braked him into turn #5 and pulled away. Later, Jack's exhaust pipe broke and he faded back. Peter Politiek, Jr., riding Ed Sensenig's 350 Ducati, passed Paul Germain for second but then the piston came apart and he didn't finish. In turn #11 on the last lap, Taylor Miller came by from the 350 Sportsman class with Rich Midgely chasing him. Taylor apparently has little race experience and was riding John Miller's CB350 Honda, while John took a break from racing after a recent crash and head injury. Germain ended up 2nd almost 13 seconds behind with Alex McLean, in his first race on a newly acquired short stroke Drixton Aermacchi, was a further nearly 18 seconds behind Paul's DT1 Yamaha. Alex told me that he was still learning about the Aermacchi and there was more to be had, so he could be a real challenge next year. Finally, the jetting looked good and I left it for the 500 Premiere race.
I came to Barber leading the 500 Premiere Championship, having scored all my points on a 350 Sprint. This says less about my brilliance as a rider than the poor participation in the class. Participation in the older classes in general seems to be falling as rider/owners get older, and in the 500 classes in particular as they are 'Balkanized' with 500 Premiere, 500GP, Formula 500, 500 Sportsman, and Classic 60s. The classes need to be consolidated, with 500GP particularly silly, as it is almost identical to 500 Premiere. Anyway, only Andrew Mauk or I could win the Championship and I thought my chances were an extreme longshot as, even though I led the points, AHRMA only counts the best ten finishes and I already had ten while Andrew only had eight. Therefore, I would have to better my one 5th place and 3rd place to gain any points while any point that Andrew scored would add to his total. And, my chance of beating him (or Wes Orloff, for that matter) was remote. But, one never knows and I was going to make him work for it. We were in the second wave behind the Bears and ahead of the third wave Formula 500s. Andrew was on a mission and led from the start with Wes 2nd and me 3rd. I expected that Ron Melton and Helmi Niederer would challenge me, but it never happened. We started catching some Bears bikes and then Tyler Waller came by on his Honda and Dean Singleton on his Yamaha from the F-500 class. So, Andrew won the class and I was third and then it was announce that Sunday's racing was canceled. Andrew asked Race Director Cindy Cowell if double points would be awarded for Saturday results as was done at Talladega when Sunday racing was canceled. She replied "Absolutely not". Therefore, Andrew thought that I had won the Championship, while I thought that he had. But, when I sat down and did the math, Andrew was right: I ended up with 8935 points and he with 8505. Andrew told me that he came to Barber thinking that only an 'act of god' would keep him from winning the Championship, but that's what happened. Andrew and the bike's owner/tuner, Keith Leighty, were extremely gracious with the results and I hope I made it clear to them that I love racing with them and that points and championships are extremely arbitrary and therefore don't mean much.
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| Keith Leighty's trailer/workshop almost packed and ready to go home to El Paso. |
Some rain did come after the 500 Premiere race and several people did fall down, including John Ellis, a guy who almost never crashes, but he was on Continental tires. The rain stopped and the final races were run in dry conditions and I was able to get packed up and eat some fish tacos with Andrew Keith, Wes and friends before it started raining again and I headed out to visit friends in Savannah.
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