Dave Roper Racing: AHRMA Roebling Road 2021

My 2021 racing season kicked off with the traditional February Roebling Road Raceway date. I only brought my 250cc CRTT HD Sprint and my 350 wasn't ready. The 250 had a pretty extensive rebuild over the winter: new crankpin and big end bearing, new main bearings, new gearbox, new cylinder bore, new rings, new valves and new exhaust seat and guide. And a new rear tire.

My '67 CRTT H-D Sprint as it arrived

So I signed up for Fri. afternoon practice. I rained Friday morning and, while it had pretty much stopped raining by the time I got on the track, the track was fully wet and I was very cautious. By my 2nd practice the track was drying, but there were plenty of damp patches and the odd puddle. The motor started easily, sounded fine and accelerated fairly well, but didn't seem to want to rev and I wasn't pulling the gearing that I had in the past, so I dropped a tooth on the gearbox sprocket.

Saturday morning was quite cold with temps in the low 30's and I took it very steady. By now the sun was shining brightly and it had warmed up a bit. I went out for the 2nd practice and on my out lap when I cracked the throttle in turn #3, the rear tire broke loose and I low sided. I slid on my ass on the track then into the dirt without tumbling, but I did wear right through my leather and got a raspberry of my left cheek.

Wore right through my leathers. Darleen Drehmel photo

The bike wasn't too bad, but the fairing was pretty smashed up and dirt was packed everywhere. It seems like I'm making the rookie, cold tire turn #3 crash an annual tradition as I did it last year, though then I tucked the front.

After the crash. Kenny Cummings is very disappointed in his 'dad'. Courtney A. Black photo

I abandoned the fairing and mounted number plates. Now I have an air filter on the carb, so I didn't have to take the head off to clean out the dirt as I did last year.

mounting number plates with Dr. Dan Levine. Courtney A. Black photo

I installed a new CO2 cartridge in my inflatable vest. I got the bike re-teched and was able to do a scrub lap in race #2, and everything seemed OK for race #3, my bump-up race, 350GP with 350 Sportsman gridded behind us in one wave.

heading out for a 'scrub lap' Darleen Drehmel photo

As soon as I started the warm-up lap, the motor started cutting out intermittently. I pulled in pit lane and saw that one of the leads had pulled off the coil. I shoved it back on and got a push start and started the race from the pit lane after everyone got rolling. Three of the 350GP and three of the 350 Sportsman bikes started pulling away. After a couple of laps, I saw I was catching Colton Roberts riding his Dad's TD2b Yamaha. Jason Roberts had crashed in practice when an oil line failed on his Aermacchi and oiled the rear tire. He broke three ribs and offered his Yamaha to his son. Colton had never turned a wheel on this bike before the start of the race and he was clearly figuring out how to ride it. I was able to pass him in several corners and he would blow by me on the straights. By the last lap, Colton had gained enough confidence in how the bike was going to act that I was unable to pass him and he finished 0.9 seconds ahead of me. So I was 4th in class and 7th overall.

The 250GP class was in race #11 gridded behind Sound of Singles 3 in the first wave and Vintage Superbike Lightweight in the second wave.

On the front row of the 250GP grid, behind the VSL grid, in the 2nd wave. Darleen Drehmel photo

I got ahead of a few of the VSL bikes at the start and soon caught some of the SOS3 bikes. SOS3 may have the greatest range of speed of any class. The first two in that class lapped me (and all but 7 of the 30 starters)on what were effectively Moto3 bikes--modern watercooled, fuel injected 250 singles in full race chassis. I passed 6 of the SOS3 bike and two of the VSL bikes for 1st in class and 17th overall.

Sunday morning was even colder with frost everywhere. There was only one round of practice and I managed to complete 5 laps without crashing. I still wasn't pulling the gearing, so I added two teeth to the rear sprocket. Then, Art Kowitz told me that he was taking his X-6 Suzuki to the Hall brother's mobile dyno to sort it. I didn't realize that it was there, and I followed Art down and after he made a run, we put my Sprint on. Rob Hall was able to alter the ignition timing while Jake kept the bike running. Rob advanced the timing 2-3 times to optimum and noted that the fuel/air mixture was a little rich, so I went down one jet size.

Sunday's 350GP/Sportman race went much like Saturday's except Jason Roberts wasn't riding his dad's TD2b. I had a fairly lonely ride after the first 5 pulled away and ended up 3rd in class and 6th overall. My best lap was more than 0.8 seconds slower that Sat. without the encouragement of chasing Jason and maybe his draft, too.

There were a couple of crashes in close succession around race #7 that required both the ambulances to transport riders, which shut down racing until one returned. After racing resumed, there was another red flag delay so, by the time race #11 came up, the race was shortened from 8 laps to 6. Again, I led the 250GP class from the start. I passed three of the VSL bikes and two of the SOS3 bikes to finish 1st in class and 17th overall. I was only lapped by the leader of the SOS3 class (as were the next 16 bikes). What I didn't realize until after the race was that I finished just 0.315 seconds ahead of Don Hollingsworth on his 250 Sprint. I had a slightly faster fastest lap than Don, but mine was on the 3rd lap and his was on the last. Clearly, I was goofing off and he was smelling blood. Would I have been able to respond if the race had gone the full 8 laps?

My fasted lap of the weekend last year on the same bike (also without a fairing) was more that 3.3 seconds faster then my fastest lap of the weekend this year. I'm willing to accept that some of that is because I'm a broken old man (or rather more broken, older man), but I was definitely pulling more revs with taller gearing last year. Why is mystery that I'm still investigating.