Grattan

From Road America,I drove to Chicago and spent three and a half days with some dear friends that go back to college days.  Once again, Ken Kales of The Sports Car Store let me use his shop facilities to work on my bike.  I tried to methodically check everything to cure what ever was wrong at Rd. Am.  I took the points out and dressed them, replaced the wire from the points to the coil, replaced the condenser, repaired the battery ground wire.  I found the ignition timing well retarded, but that could have been from removing and replacing the points.  I checked the valve clearance, which hadn't changed, and did a leak down test, which was excellent.  I checked the coil for resistance and found no evidence of shorting.  I took the carb apart and found that the tip of the air screw needle was broken off and jammed in the jet.   Knocked the broken off piece out of the jet and got on the phone to find a replacement.  But, I didn't think that was the problem, as I hadn't touched the screw in years  and suspect it had been that way for a while.  I didn't feel like I had found the smoking gun, but couldn't think of anything else to do.  I started it up and it seemed to run OK, but couldn't run it through the gears, so I went to Grattan with my fingers crossed.

The line up of spectator bikes at Grattan

I don't know which change or changes that I did made the difference, but the motor ran well at Grattan.  Unfortunately, I had lots of trouble with missed shifts.  I had had a few missed shifts at Rd. Am., but I had other problems to worry about.  Now it seemed to be getting worse.  It was almost exclusively on the up shifts.  More often than not, it would undershift from 2nd to 3rd and over shift from third to 4th, so I'd try to be very firm and deliberate for the former and lightly tap the shift lever for the later.  But, it wasn't entirely consistent.  I had a lot of slop in my shift linkage and I spent a fair amount of time tightening that up by bushing the arm on the shift shaft and replacing the clevises and pins in the linkage, but it didn't seem to help.

An A-50 BSA

Again, the 500 Premiere race was before the 350GP and we were gridded in front of 500GP, 500 Sportsman, Formula 500 and Vintage Superbike Lightweight.  I got a fair launch and then missed a shift and was swamped by the field.  Karsten Illg on his RD 400 based Yamaha won overall and F-500 with Tim Joyce winning 500 Premiere on Maurice Candy's Manx Norton.  Andrew Mauk and Wes Orloff, both on 450 Honda based Premiere bikes were having a good diced when Wes missed a downshift and ran off the track stalling the bike in a gravel trap and not finishing.  Kenny Cummings was next on his Seeley G-50, so I ended up 4th in class, though Alex Mclean came by on the 500 GP Mckeever Manx Norton, making me 7th overall.  My fastest lap was slightly faster than Kenny's, but my lap,times varied by some 3.5 seconds depending whether I got it in gear or not.

The 350GP race was gridded behind the 750 Sportsman and ahead of Formula 250 & 125.  Things went slightly better in this race, but I had token opposition in class as Paul Germain decided not to bump up from 250GP as his DT-1 Yamaha was running poorly, and I beat the other two starters, both on 250 Ducatis.  I finished behind two 750 Triumphs and three XS650/750 Yamahas and ahead of three Yamahas and a Triumph.

It rained hard over night and into the morning and I took it very gingerly in practice.  It stopped raining and the sun came out by the time racing started, but there was still water streaming across the track in several places.  Wes Orloff didn't start the race Sun., as his gearbox broke in practice.  Tim Joyce saved a big slide on the stream in turn #1 and pulled off after the first lap.  Kenny Cummings pulled off after the second lap.  Then it started to rain again and two 500 Sportsman bikes went down in the turn #10 'keyhole', with me having to take evasive action as one of the riders ran into my path.  The race was red flagged and on the restart, it was only Andrew Mauk and me in Premiere.  We were both trying to be really careful in the tricky conditions and I push Andrew hard, finishing a little over 0.1 of a second behind in third overall.  Andrew has been racing a long time in all disciplines and he said that when ever he raced on his birthday, he won a race.  He thought that streak was going it end this weekend racing against Tim Joyce on Maurice Candy's Manx, but he was wrong.  The streak continues.

Keith Leighty's CB450 based Premiere bike that Andrew Mauk rode to a 2nd and 1st

Keith and Andrew make a great team but they're unusual in that Keith lives in El Paso, Tx. and Andrew in Milwakee

The rain stopped again before the 350GP and the sun was out, but still lots of water streaming across the track.  The Robinson father and son on Triumphs sandwiched the Hargis father and son on Yamahas.  I got ahead of Pete Beyer and Mike Dixon, both on Yamahas, pretty early on, but they started to figure out conditions and both got back by me near the end of the race.  We swapped back and forth a bit and, in the end, I finished behind Pete in 6th overall, and 0.016 seconds ahead of Mike. After the race, I drained the oil out of my motor and a gear tooth came out with it.  I dropped the bike back off with Bill Himmelsbach on my way home and he took it apart and found two broken gears and the dogs badly worn on another.

3rd gear layshaft

5th & 3rd gear layshaft

Worn dogs on 4th gear layshaft

Road America 2015

After I had the trouble with my 350 Sprint at Summit Point, I dropped the bike back off with Bill Himmelsbach.  The intake valve had started to seize in the guide and the question was lubrication or clearance.  Bill found a partial obstruction in the oil feed through the rocker cover.  He also talked to Kibblewhite, the manufacturer of the valve and guide blank.  He ended up giving it more clearance than before and putting a different finish on it.  He then ran it on his DYNO, and everything seemed good.  I picked up the bike on my way to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wi.

The motor didn't want to start for the first practice Sat.,and I convinced myself that it didn't have any spark.  But, after much checking and futzing around, I realized that I did indeed have spark and evidently had just failed to flood the carb enough.  Somebody give me a dope slap.

I did get out for the second practice, but the motor ran very poorly with lots of miss-fire.  I changed the main jet, needle position, point gap, fuel hose from float to carb, changed the break-in oil, and charged the battery.

Starting to work of the ERTT

Some or all of that helped considerably, and the motor ran much better for my first race, my 'bump up' race, 500 Premiere.  I totally blew the start with the bike in neutral when the flag dropped.  Once I finally got rolling, I was a bit tentative, having gotten no good practice.  But, by the end of the 6 laps, I was starting to get into it and closed on Helmi Neiderer, finishing 5th in class and 8th overall.

I dropped the main jet again, and in the 350GP the bike ran better yet.  We were gridded behind the 750 Sportsman class.  I got a decent start this time, though Jack Parker and Paul Germain both got better starts (as they usually do).  I got by Paul and several 750 Sportsman bikes going into turn #1.  I got by Jack before the end of the lap.  I caught Pete Beyer and Nick Hargis on their XS Yamaha 750 Sportsman bikes and we went back and forth some. Nick Hargis is the son of the race leader Jeff Hargis and was competing in his third race weekend.  After passing me back a couple of times, he decided to follow me for a while and he picked up some tips, then went by again and pulled away.  I was able to get right on Beyer into the last turn, but he was easily able to out drag me to the finish line.  So, I won my class and finished 5th overall behind four XS Yamaha 750 Sportsmen bike. The day had been a steady upward trend and finished on a high note.

It rained some overnight and was raining for practice Sun. morning.  My bike ran terribly in practice with a heavy misfire under any kind of a load, and I pulled in after two laps.  I suspected it must have to do with the rain, as I had done nothing to the bike since I won the 350GP race Sat.  I pulled the points cover off and water came out, so I thought that must be it.  I cleaned everything up and sealed the cover and tried riding around the paddock; no better.  I found a high resistance in the battery ground cable and bolted a cable directly from the battery to the motor with on/off switch; no better.  I put a smaller yet main jet in the carb; no better.  I took the float apart, changed the spark plug, and checked the valve clearance.

Continuing to work on the ERTT

It stopped raining and the sun came out and I hoped that would make a difference.  I started the bike up for the 500 Premiere race and, as I was waddling down to pre grid blipping the throttle, the motor died.  I put it on starter rollers and it started, but died again.  And again.  And again. Then it wouldnt start and I did not start either race Sunday.  I was totally baffled, but some days are like that.

There's always a good turn out of Guzzi singles at Rd. Am.

A Sport 15? from the '30s

80 some odd years of evolution

A beautiful Bridgestone 350 GTR with 79K miles on the clock

It must have lost it's taillight lens wheelie-ing over backwards

7th Annual Rossi TT

Memorial Day weekend means the Steve Rossi Tiddler Tour, this year the 7th annual.
Fri. morning, I rode up to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Haddam, Ct. on my CBR250R beater bike.  Then, when I arrived, I took Amy's brand new '16 Moto Guzzi V-7 II Stone out for a ride.  It's a very nice bike with plenty of power and it steers very nicely.  I'd prefer slightly lower bars and more rear set footrest, but it's quite comfortable as is.  Then, I took my brother newly restored '64 Norton Electra.  We both agree that it seems geared too low which makes it very busy when the speed gets up there.  He's already got a bigger gearbox sprocket ordered.  But, it handles very well and is quite comfortable, and everything works including the electric starter and turn signals on the ends of the handlebar.
Sat., our friend Gordon Pulis rode up from Easthampton, Long Island, taking the ferry over to New London.  I went out on my Airone to give it a shake down before the next day's TT and met Gordon on the road on his was up from New London.  After we got back to the house, we followed Doug on his Electra on a ride to check out a new voltage regulator.  Gordon rode his '70 CL175 Honda and, having established that my Airone was mint, I rode Amy's '65 CZ175.  The CZ is a hoot and the automatic clutch release when you shift is brilliant.
Sun. was a beautiful day and there was a decent turn out for the Rossi TT.  Steve rode his latest acquisition, a '74 electric start 350 Harley Sprint.

Steve Rossi's '74 350 H-D Sprint, all original except for the Sportster mufflers

 Bill Burke rode the only other Sprint to show up, his Giro legal 310cc bike.  This uses a late, non-electric start, 5 speed 350 motor with an early, long stroke 250 crank assy.

Jeff Zelek brought this totally original '67 YR-1 350 Yamaha

Rick Bell brought a later iteration of the 350 Yamaha, a '72 R-5c.  He's had the bike since '74 and modified it extensively over the years.  It has an RD 350 front end, Dunstall clip-ons, rearsets, and expansion chambers, but a stock motor.

Rick Bell's '72 R5c Yamaha

Gino Bernardi rode a later still iteration of the 350 Yamaha, a watercooled RZ 350.
My brother rode his '65 260 Benelli.  Al Anderson rode his R27 BMW.  Jawa/CZ was well represented with Mitch Frazier on a 175 and Tom Halchuk and Scott Rikert on 250s.
Jean Frazier rode a late '60s Honda CL125a

Behind Jean Frazier's CL125a Honda is Mitch Fraizer's 175 Jawa/CZ and Rich Hosley's Ossa Wildfire

Honda, which she says is her favorite in the garage because it always starts.

Jean Frazier's CL125a Honda

There was also a BSA B25 Barracuda, '72 Kawasaki 175 F-7, Yamaha DT250, Honda XL 175, and Yamaha SRX 250.
Steve's route led us down to Old Lyme from East Haddam, through Moodus, Lyme, Hadlyme, and East Lyme.  I was afraid that heading to Old Lyme on Memorial Day Sunday might ensnarl us in Summer People traffic, but it wasn't bad at all.  I guess everyone was already at the beach.
After lunch in Old Lyme, we headed north again, stopping at Gillette Castle State Park.  This was the home of William Gillette, a famous stage actor of the late 19th century who made the transition to film.  Gillette was also a motorcyclist and on display in the visitor center of the park was a 1923 Ner-a-car, similar to one he had owned.

A 1923 Ner-a-car, similar to one William Gillette had owned

Apparently, before Gillette had owned the Ner-a-car, he had owned a Triumph from the teens.  There was a reprint of a newspaper article along side of the Ner-a-car display recounting how one day Gillette rode his Triumph down from his castle to the the Chester ferry.  The brakes failed and he went across the dock and over the Cheslyme ferry into the Connecticut river.  He swam back to shore and got some dry clothes on his yacht.  He was talked out of trying to retrieve the bike as it was in 20' of water,  but it later was salvaged.  When a director friend of Gillette's heard about the incident, he lamented that Gillette had wasted a $10,000 shot on a mere 5 spectators.
When I got back to Steve's house, I took his Sprint for a ride.  I was surprised by how much it vibrated, esp. through the seat, much more than my race bike.  I wonder if the balance factor that worked on the backbone frame, didn't on the dual down tube frame of the '73 & '74 bikes.  But, I was also impressed with how well it shifted despite the conversion from right to left hand shift on these bikes.
By the time I got back, Paige and Josh, who has joined us at lunch, arrived and Paige let me ride her brand new KTM RC 390.  The bike has a fabulous motor and steers really well.  I had read some criticism of the brakes, but they seemed fine to me.  It seems like a great play bike, but might be hard to live with day in and out with a bit radical riding position, low bars and a hard seat.  I'm hoping that Rich Midgely will bring his KTM 390 Duke to the Roper Tiddler Tour July 4th, so I can compare it to the RC 390.
Memorial Day, I escorted Gordon back to the New London ferry with my Airone via some back roads.  After seeing him off, I hooked up with my cousin, who lives in New London, and had lunch with some of his friends.  After riding back to Haddam, I loaded up the CBR and rode it back to Hicksville in amazingly light traffic for Memorial Day.  Everybody must have beat the rush by leaving early.  So, I rode six different bikes over the the three days on some fabulous road in glorious weather.  I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

Summit Point

Less than a week after getting back from California, it was off the Summit Point, W. Va., for a WERA Vintage event, this time to race my own bike for a change.  After I got back from Phillip Island, Australia last year, I vowed not to race my ERTT Harley Sprint until it got the complete rebuild.  The motor had more than 5500 miles on the big end bearing and almost 3500 miles on the piston.  I figured I was running on borrowed time.  I asked my old friend Bill Himmelsbach if he would undertake the rebuild and he agreed.  Bill and I raced together in AAMRR in the '70s and he had raced a CRTT Sprint himself.  He didn't promise any quick turnaround, but it ended up taking longer than either of us suspected.  This was in part because the amount of deferred maintenance involved and the fact that Bill and his wife have elderly parents who required a lot of their time.  But, the motor was finally done with a reground crankpin, oversized rollers and the conrod race honed to suit; a new cyl. liner and piston and rings; new valve guides and seats; and new valves; and a re-shimmed gearbox.  I drove to Bill's house in Quakertown, Pa. and installed the motor in my chassis.  We bumped the bike off there and it sounded good.  I installed the fairing that Steve d'Angelo had recently repaired and painted.  The bike looked better than it had in a while.

A fresh motor,  fresh paint job on the fairing and a new windscreen. 

Saturday morning I took it out for the 1st practice slowly breaking in the fresh motor.  It seemed to be running well and I worked the motor up to 7000 rpm and some load.  On the 5th lap, it mis-fired a  couple of times, cleared for a bit, then died.  When I got it back to the pits, I discovered that the intake valve clearance was 0.045", a huge amount.  Hmmm, that's odd.  Usually you'd expect the valve clearance to reduce as the fresh components settle in.  I re-adjusted the valve, but then it seemed like it had no compression and wouldn't start.  I checked the clearance again, and I had none.  OK, maybe I made a mistake and adjusted the valves on the the overlap rather than on compression.  So, I adjusted the valves again and now I had compression and it started.  By this time I had missed the 2nd practice, so I arranged to do a 'scrub' lap on the warmup lap of the 2nd race.  The motor ran fine below 4000 rpm but wasn't at all happy above that.  I checked the valve clearance and it had changed once again.  Frank Giannini thought it looked like the intake valve collets were pulling through the retainer.  I was less convinced as they normally sit very deep in the retainer and this wouldn't explain the changing valve clearance.  But, if they did pull through, it would be disastrous, so I took off the cylinder head and removed the collets and retainer.  I had to struggle to get the valve out of the guide, but when I did, it became apparent what the problem was.  The valve stem was 'picking up' on the guide and you could see valve guide material on the valve stem.  Either there wasn't enough clearance between the guide and stem, or the guide was the wrong material, or it wasn't getting lubricated properly.  In any case, this wasn't going to be fixed before my races were up.
I had noticed that Joe Traino's CB 350 Honda with an XL 350 motor in it was pitted next door with a for sale sign on it.

Joe Traino's CB 350 Honda powered by a '74 XL350 motor

Bill Johnson had brought it for Joe who had moved on physically and moved on with his life and now wanted to sell the bike.  Bill was curious and had taken it out in practice but was racing his own CB 350.  I had raced the Traino bike at Summit Point 2 years before, with some success.  So, I explained to Bill that my bike was dead and that I didn't suppose that I could race the Traino bike, as we'd have to check with him.  But, Bill assured me that Joe would be honored if I'd race his bike.  I didn't challenge this assumption.

The bike was built by Stan Lipert many years ago and is for sale for $3500

By now, it's just before the start of the 500GP race,  so we quickly change the numbers from 222 to 7 and I put my transponder on the bike.  There was just one minor wrinkle:  the bike wasn't legal for the class.  There was no time to change classes and I decided that it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.  The warm up lap would be my practice on the bike.  The digital tach either didn't work or I couldn't read it anyway, so I was just shifting by ear.  The one V-2 entrant was gridded in front of us, Rich Lucas on his RD 350.  I got a good start and led down towards turn one, but was unsure of my brake point, so Rich, Bucky Sexton and Bill Johnson all went by on the brakes.  Rich checked out.  I got back by Bill fairly quickly and followed Bucky around and drafted him down the straight.  I braked later, but still not late enough and continued to follow Bucky.  But, the next lap I got him.  I finished 22.5 seconds behind Rich and about 8 in front of Bucky.  Bill almost caught Bucky, finishing just over 0.1 sec. behind.  After the race, I went to several of the contestants and told them that the bike wasn't legal for 500GP and if they had a problem with that, to please protest me.  No one did.  So, I figured that I might as well also cheat in 350GP, which was the 2nd race after the 500GP.  Here we were gridded behind two Formula 500 machines: Mark Morrow on a RD400 based racer and Rich on his RD350.  This time, Mark checked out and I kept Rich in sight.  Starting the 3rd lap, Rich Midgley came by. We swapped back a forth a bit before he started to pull away from me and close on Rich Lucas' RD 350.  On the 5th lap, when he was right on Lucas, Midge tucked the front end in turn #5 and went down.  I had to ride off the track to avoid him, but I was able to do that without going down and was able to close back up on Lucas, finishing 3 1/3 sec.s behind him.  Bucky was alone in 4th overall and Steve d'Angelo, on his beautiful 350 Ducati,  finished less than a quarter second ahead of Bill Johnson.
Two years ago, I turned high 1:33 minute laps winning the V-1 and V-2 races.  This time I turned a low 1:37.  Does that mean that I'm getting old?  Or that practice DOES help?  Or that a tach DOES help.  Or that the track was faster then?  Who knows?  In any case, my thanks to Bill and Joe for salvaging the weekend for me.
The Stan Lipert built XL/CB 350 is a fun bike and a good value at it's asking price of $3500.  If anyone has interest in it, they can get in touch with me and I'll pass on Bill's contact info.
It was a light turn out for both the vintage and modern classes, especially considering how beautiful the weather was.  I hope we can just chalk that up to it being Mother's Day Weekend and that it doesn't represent a trend.

Goldstar Ron Memorial Ride.

Ron Halem, better know as Goldstar Ron, was a Goldstar and IOM fanatic.  He poured all his resources into his G/S race bike and racing it, esp. at the IOM Classic TT.  Kenny Cummings, Brian Filo, and I all raced his G/S here in AHRMA races, as well as various riders at the IOM.  Ron died last Nov. after a protracted battle with cancer.  Ron provided a model of how to die by insisting on living until he died.  Here are links to a couple of videos featuring Ron that give an idea of the kind of person he was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZGTtyA5OQ
https://vimeo.com/111265713
So, the BSA Club of Northern California organized a Memorial ride in conjunction with the AHRMA races at Somona Raceway.  Fri., and bunch of people took a ride to the track to watch the races.

A throughly modernized Goldstar.  This bike was originally built by Mike Bungay.  Below is how it looked, in three evolutions, before Mike sold it.  Mike Bungay photos

Some of the bike that showed up at Sears Point for the Goldstar Ron Memorial

 Sat., we met in Novato and took a 100 or so mile ride through Marin County through Tomales to Bodega Bay and back to Tomales for lunch.  I had arranged to borrow a bike from my old friend Parra O'Siochain.  Parra is an Irishman who has lived in the Bay Area most of his life, worked for Dudley Perkins H-D, was Sandy Kosman's first employee, worked closely with Dick Mann and Mert Lawill, did a lot of work for Team Obsolete, and has been heavily involved with motorcycle flat track, drag racing, road racing and trials.
Parra took me from the track to his home in Forest Knolls and Sat. morning we rode to Novato.  I rode Parra's TR5T Triumph, arguably a Triumph 500 twin in a BSA chassis, and he rode his Honda FT500 Ascot.  Parra had replaced the 21" front rim with a 19" alloy rim on the TR5T and was running it with out a battery.

Parra's TR5T Triumph

Parra started the bike for me and I flipped on the headlight.  I found the bike delightful, being very torquey, steering very well and having good brakes, though I thought it was very stiffly sprung for my weight.
When we got to Novato, we met up with Don Lange, among others.  Don is an old friend of Kenny Cummings, having both been musicians in Seattle years ago.  They reconnected a couple of years ago and Don became intrigued with Kenny's hobby of motorcycle racing and started coming to the races and filming.  He got sucked in and last fall bought a CBR300F Honda.

Me trying out Don's CBR300F.  Don Lange photo

He very sensibly took a riding course and very methodically practiced by riding in an ever increasing radius from his home.  This would be his first group ride and probably his longest ride and he was a little concerned about etiquette and if he'd be able to keep up.

Me talking with Parra before the ride started.  Don Lange photo

The line up in Novato before we left.  Don Lange photo

After smoozing for a while, people started to mount up and head out.  I kicked the Triumph a number of times, but it didn't start.  Parra then kick it a bunch with no results.  Then I did the run and bump and it started.  By this time, Parra, Don, and I were the last away, but that was OK as Parra knew the area and knew where we were going.  We had a great ride through the swooping, flowing roads of rural Marin.  We caught up with the group in Tomales for a late morning break at the Tomales Bakery.

At the Tomales Bakery.  Don Lange photo

 More smoozing ensued.  When it was time to leave, again I kick the Triumph with no results and after a couple of pushes got it started.  Once running, it ran fine.  We stopped for gas in Bodega Bay, site of the famous Hitchcock movie "The Birds", though this wasn't the gas station that went up in flames in the movie.  After I gassed up, again it didn't want to start.  Another rider suggested that I turn off the head light.  He had noticed when I pushed it at Tomales the headlight flickering.  Without a battery, the headlight sucks most of the juice and it won't fire.  Sure enough, I flipped off the headlight and it started on the first kick.
From there, we took a roundabout way back to Tomales for lunch in the William Tell House.  Among the 40ish bikes on the ride, there were 7 or 8 Goldstars, BSA A-10s and A-65s, a B-50 single, at least three Norton Commandos, and an Atlas, Triumph Bonnevilles and Daytonas.

An A-10 BSA,  400 Can-Am, and Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 among others at the William Tell House

Goldstars and a Commando at the William Tell House

A KH Harley with a Gimeca front brake.

A BSA Rocket 3 and A-65, and Kennie Buchanan's 370 Suzuki

Gary Roper rode with his wife Debbie on his beautiful Commando

A BSA B-50 in front of it's predecessor, the Goldstar

A Norton Atlas, a H-D bagger, Brian Filo's FZR Yam, and a A-65

From lunch, things broke up with people returning to there homes.  Don following a few back to Novato and Parra and I peeled off for Forest Knolls along the way.  Don did great and said it may have been the most fun day in his life.  The ride went a long way towards making up for missing the USCRA's Spring Giro in Oneonta, N.Y., which has conflicted with the AHRMA Sears Point races the last three years.

Sonoma Raceway

From Willow Springs, I traveled with Kenny Cummings and we drove to my friend's house in Lompoc, while Karl and Mike headed back to Sacramento with the two crashed bikes.  Mon. morning, I ordered a new helmet first thing and Kenny got on the Bay Area Rider's Forum (BARF) and found someone who could repair our leathers quickly.  We got on the road late morning and drove to the San Francisco airport and picked up a rental car so Kenny could keep his Sprinter parked and he'd have a way to get to the Airport Sat. morning.  I followed Kenny to his in-law's house in Berkeley where we ditched the Sprinter and drove to Vallejo and dropped off our leathers with Richard Lee [(415)621-2738, www.blondiesdesign.com], who promised them for Wed. afternoon.
Tues. morning we went into S.F. and visited Jennifer Bromme's Werk Statt motorcycle repair shop.  I first met Jennifer some years back when she was racing a CB160 with AHRMA.  Since she's become a mother, she's quit racing, but not riding.  She's run her motorcycle repair shop in San Francisco for more than 20 years and it's an impressive operation with three mechanics.  They do it all.  Among the bikes outside waiting to be serviced was an early 70's CS-3 Yamaha next to a 201X Ducati Hypermotard.  Jennifer showed Kenny some software that he thought would be helpful running his business, NYC Norton.

With Jennifer Bromme at WerkStatt.  Kenny Cummings photl

We left there and spotted a new 961 Norton in the window of the legendary Munroe Motors, who claim to be the oldest bike shop in S.F., so we had to park and check it out.  After checking out their operation, we drove to Fort Mason Center to meet Paul d'Oleans, the Vintagent, and his partner Susan McLaughlin at Greens Restaurant, which has a fabulous view over the Bay.  Paul was keen to do a portrait of Kenny and me with the 'wet plate' photography that he's become enamored with.  These are photos on a chemically treated aluminum plate that are given a relatively long exposure and developed immediately.  It's a process that goes back to the early days of photography.  After much discussion about what would be the best venue, it was agreed that we'd meet at an alley in the Mission district the next day after picking up John Thorndike, Kenny's employee and BEARS racer, at the S.F. airport and taking him to what Kenny considers the best burrito joint in the Bay Area, if not the world.
But, before going to the airport Wed., we visited Motion Pro in San Carlos, just south of the airport.  Motion Pro manufacture an amazing array of motorcycle specific tools.  I had gotten to know Rick Yamane, the majordomo at Motion Pro, through Moto Guzzis and he graciously gave us a tour.  A significant part of their business is making cables, both production and custom, and this was a fascinating section to observe.  One of Rick's primary responsibilities is maintaining Chris Carter's, owner of Motion Pro, personal collection of motorcycles.  The emphasis is on motocross and enduro bikes of the 60's and 70's and flattrackers, though there are road bikes too, going back to the teens.  Everywhere you look in the building are photos, posters, trophies, and memorabilia.  Who knew that Jim Rice road raced an A1-R Kawasaki and won the worlds tallest trophy?

With the "World's Tallest Trophy" at Motion Pro.  Kenny Cummings photo

Rick introduced us to Chris Carter, who is an ultra enthusiast.  In his office is a framed jersey signed by Joel Robert, the Belgium M/X World Champion, which Chris got in the late '60s from Robert after bugging him at each round of the Inter-Am when he was just a kid.
From Motion Pro, we went to the airport and picked John up and headed to Taqueria Cancun, then met Paul d'Orleans and Susan McLaughlin at an alley a few blocks down from the restaurant.  They picked this spot as there is very little traffic and very colorful background graffiti.

Paul d'Orleans takes a wet plate photo of me in an alley in S.F.'s Mission district.  Kenny Cummings photo

While they were shooting us, an elderly gentleman with a huge mop and beard came down the alley.   Paul and Susan said 'we've got to shoot him', and he couldn't agree more.  The guy was a '60s hippie who never left.  A delightful character and slice of local color.

Susan McLaughlin photo

Paul d'Orleans/Susan McLaughlin wetplate  photo

From the photo shoot, we went back to Berkeley, got the Sprinter and John and I drove to Sonoma Raceway, aka Sears Point, to get set up in a garage while Kenny drove to Vallejo to pick up the repaired leathers.
The AHRMA  racing there is on Thurs. and Fri., there being AFM modern bike racing on the weekend.
Gary Roper had had very little to do on the Velo, just adjusting chains and clutch.  Mike and Karl, on the other hand, had worked flat out straightening forks and brackets, replacing footrests, stripping engines to get the rocks out, and doing body work and painting.
The '51 MAC  Velo worked great right from the start except it was geared tall.  The Sprint however, wanted to shake it's head, something it had never done before.  And, it was geared too tall.  When Walt Fulton III tried to go out on #2 Sprint, he found that it wouldn't engage any gears.  While Karl tried to diagnose this, we agreed the Walt and I would share bike #1.  He agreed that it was shaking it's head and we both felt the front brake could be stronger.  Karl and Mike carefully adjusted the wheel alignment.  And they changed the shocks to the ones from bike #2.
It quickly became apparent that the gearbox of bike #2 wasn't going to be repaired in the next couple of days.  A later strip down revealed that all but three teeth had been broken off the sleeve gear.  Was this the result, or the cause, of my Sun. crash at Willow?  I guess we'll never know.
So Walt would ride bike #1 in 350GP and I would ride it in 500 Premiere.  The only problem was that the 500 Premiere race came before the 350GP and it was made clear to me that I better not crash the bike before Walt had a chance to race it.  Unfortunately, the 500 Premiere grid had been decimated by the carnage at Willow, so there were only three of us starting at Sears.  Kenny Cummings was not able to repair his bike, but rode Helmi Niederer's Seeley G-50, as Helmi was not able to make it because of business commitments.  And, Jeff Elings rode his G-50 Matchless.  Behind us was 500GP, Formula 500, 500 Sportsman, and Vintage Superbike Middleweight.  I led from Turn #1, was never headed, and turned the fastest lap of the race.  Second overall was Motorcyclist Magazine's Ari Henning in the 500 Sportsman class riding one of his Dad's CB 350 Hondas and I was pleased to turn a faster lap than him as he's an excellent rider with a fast bike.  I was brought back to earth when I saw that he turned a faster lap in the following 350 Sportsman race on the same bike.  Kenny rode very cautiously as he could not afford to damage Helmi's bike while he had extensive and expensive repairs to do on his own bike.
Next up was the Velo in Class 'C' footshift, gridded on the last row in the third wave behind Novice Historic Production Heavyweight, Formula 250, 250GP, Formula 125, and Class 'C' Hand shift.  I was able to pass 16 on my way to finishing 10th overall, 1st in class, behind 7 250GP and two Historic Prod. Hvywght bikes.

Going around Kelly Clark on a Montesa and leaving Neil Jensen's Honda behind.  Etech Photo

Walt won the 350GP race on the Sprint, finishing 6th overall behind five Triumph Thruxtons.  Motorcyclist Magazine's Zack Courts won the overall.  Like Ari Henning, I've  known him since he was a kid growing up in the paddock while I raced against their dads.  John Thorndike won the Bears class, having never before been to Sear Point, a difficult track to learn.
But, Walt wasn't at all happy with the Sprint, the headshake bothering him more than me and unhappy with the front brake.  So, Mike and Karl took the front brake apart and carefully massaged and adjusted it.  The shocks switch hadn't made any difference.

Karl and Mike massage the A1-R Kawasaki front brake on Sprint #1

Friday, Walt and I agreed the front brake was better, if not brilliant.  In the 500 Premiere race, I led for several laps, but then Ari came by on his Sportsman CB350.  We got into a good dice and I stuffed him good going into the turn #9 chicane and he stuffed me good in turn #3A.  I got right on his tail through the turn #5 carousel and got a perfect draft, pulling around him approaching turn #7, only to find I was in way too deep/fast and I had to stand it up and go wide while he slipped underneath.  That effectively ended my chances and I finished a little over a third of a second behind.  We both did our fastest lap on the last lap, his 0.051 seconds faster than mine and my fastest lap was nearly 2 sec.s faster than I had gone the day before.
The Class 'C' race started well on the Velo and on the third lap, I went almost 0.2 sec.s faster than my fastest lap Thurs., but then the motor started misfiring at high RPMs.  I started short shifting, but the misfire was coming at lower and lower revs and less and less throttle.  Many of the people that I had passed, passed me back.  I started to wonder if I was going to finish.  But, it did keep running (barely), though if the first four hadn't lapped me, it might not have, and I had built enough of a lead that no one in my class caught me and I wasn't last off the track.  We surmised that the magneto must be failing.

On Gary Roper's '51 Velo MAC . Etech photo

Walt again won the 350GP again finishing 6th overall behind five modern 865cc Triumph Thruxtons.
So, despite many problems, it ended up being a very successful event.
One of the races that I especially enjoyed watching on Fri. was the Sound of Thunder 2, Open 2 Stroke, Battle of the Twins and Sound of Singles 2 race.  Ari Henning was riding his hot rodded CBR250R Honda in SoS 2 and Zack Courts was riding Luke Conner's Triumph Thruxton in BoT.  Ari's Honda now has a 300F crankshaft in it and has an overbore, so it a full 300.8cc, and it has a special top yoke so he can mount the clipons under it, but it doesn't change the geometry.  And, he runs slicks on stock wheels.  But, still, it's and humble entry level bike built to a price.  Ari and Zack got into a tremendous dice and Ari prevailed, beaten only by two SoT 2 848 Ducatis, and only the winner having a faster fastest lap, to me an amazing performance.  I often moan about 'theses kids now-a-days', but Ari and Zack are a couple of 'kids' who are superb racers, excellent journalist, and delightful people to spend time with.  I'm fortunate to call them my friends.

Tim Fowler's CB160.  Tim is arguably the founder of CB160 racing.  Google 'Fowlerformula'

Tim about to ride Jeff Scott's '47 GTP Velo

Jeff Scott's Velo Endurance