Upper Mid-West swing

I left for the AHRMA race at Gingerman, near South Haven, Mi., with my H-D ERTT Sprint and my '46 Moto Guzzi Dondolino, although the Dondo wasn't finished.  It just needed the belly pan and exhaust installed, the rear sprocket changed, and a ton of safety wire.  I figured that I might be able to get that done on Sat. at the track and race it, or at least practice on it Sun.  Also in the van was my '68 TC 200 Suzuki road bike.

Though my Ram Promaster is the lowest, shortest one they make, it seems plenty big to me and I was able to sleep in it on the way out without unloading anything by suspending a cot crosswise above the bikes with ratcheting tie-down straps hooked to the roof.

I got to the track Fri. eve, unloaded, and rode the TC 200 into South Haven to get some dinner.  The bike ran fine at full throttle, but in town one cyl. cut out.  When I stopped, I realized that the carb was flooding.  So, riding back to the track, I was turning the petcock on and off to maintain an approximate fuel lever in the float bowl.

Pitting with Stu Carter and his Seeley 7R

Sat. morning, practice went well with the bike running fine and me refreshing my memory on the part of the circuit that I had ridden before and learning the new part built since I was last here in 2006.

My first race was my 'bump-up' class, 500 Premiere and I set off chasing Helmi Niederer on his Minavation replica Seeley G-50.  But, my bike started to run slower and slower and soon I was swamped with 750 Sportsman, Bears, and even electric bikes.  I did finish, but 5 th of 5 in class and 13th overall..  Back in my pit, I pulled the sparkplug out and found that the center electrode was broke off flush with the ceramic insulator, giving a 0.057" gap for my poor 6volt, total loss battery/points ignition to jump.

broken off center electrode

I didn't find anything else wrong, so I just put a new plug in.  

It started to rain shortly before the start of the 350GP race and I took it very steady on the warmup lap.  When the 'one' board went sideways, my throttle hung up and I couldn't get the bike in gear.  Everyone in the first wave left and I finally reached down with my throttle hand, grabbed the gear lever, and yanked it in gear.  The motor almost stalled but I did get off, last.  People started crashing on the very slick track and, in a couple of laps, I found myself in the lead in class and maybe 3rd overall.  Then there was a crash blocking the track, the race was red flagged, and it was decided to do a complete restart on Sunday.

Jason Roberts working on his Drixton CRTT

Sunday morning was still wet, but better weather was coming.  My bike ran fine in practice, though I was very carefull on the wet track.  On the warmup lap for the restart on the red flagged Sat. race, my motor misfired badly and it got worse after the green flag dropped.  The motor died completely after turn#3 on the first lap and I pulled off onto the infield.  While sitting on the bike waiting for the race to finish, I pulled off the the battery ground strap and examined it, but didn't see anything obvious.  Once back in the pits I plugged the ground back in and put the bike on the rollers and it started instantly.  Closer examination showed a bad connect in the ground cable, and I cleaned it up before the start of 'Sunday's' races.

Helmi Niederer dumping the fuel from his Seeley G-50 replica

The bike ran well again for the 500 Premiere race, but unfortunately, Helmi dropped out early and the other Premiere entries--Tim Joyce on Maurice Candy's Manx and Andy Mauk on Keith Lieghty's CB 500 Honda--pulled away rapidly.  First Wes Goodpaster (Bears), then Mike Dixon (750 Sportsman), Craig Chawla(Bears) and Ben Robinson(750 Sportsman) came by, giving me 7th overall.

Finally was the 350GP race and I got in the lead early.  At least four times Paul Germain, on his newly built DT-1 Yamaha, stuck a wheel in on me at the end of straights, but each time I backed him down and went on to win the class and overal by 8.5 seconds, with the fastest lap of the race.  It was a satisfying way to end what had be a somewhat frustrating weekend.

Paul Germain's newly built DT-1 Yamaha

Paul made his frame out of thin air

Paul rubber mounted the motor

Andy Findling C-15 BSA

a golden intake manifold

John Rickard's two SR500 Yamahas

John had the swing arm spindle break and took the one from his 'B' bike to use on his 'A' bike

Stu Carter's trick custom transponder mount on his Seeley 7R

I spent a few days in Chicago, as I traditionally do between the Upper Midwest back-to back weekends, staying with friends and working on bikes at the excellent facilities of Ken Kales Sports Car Store.  I prepped the ERTT and finished the Dondolino.  Ken hosts the Chivinmoto weekly garage night while I'm there and it's always  a good bash.  I was also able to finally pull off the right carb on the TC200 and clear the debris in the float needle seat that was causing the carb to flood and forcing me to turn the fuel tap off and on.

Ken went to AHRMA racer Tim 'Merciless' Mings to get parts for this 600 Honda he was working on

A Berkeley car that the original Excelsior two stroke motor had been replaced with a 400 Honda twin motor

This could be yours: a Citroen Traction Avant from the '50's is for sale

Fri. at Road America, I rode the Dondolino around the grounds on the access roads and it seems to run OK, but there seem to be inadequate lubrication to the exposed valves and I discovered a blockage in a restrictor in the supply.  In Saturday's Class 'C' race, the motor misfired quite badly and I finished a distant 2nd to the one other foot shift entry but ahead of the tank shift H-D.

My '46 Moto Guzzi Dondolino

 In the 350GP race, I overhauled Jack Parker on his DT-1 Yamaha, but he came back by.  Game on and we swapped a few times until a bolt fell out of my shift linkage.  Not only was I stuck in 4th gear, but the lever was hanging straight down and when I leaned into the last right hand turn, it grounded and sent me onto the grass.  I was able to get back on the track and still managed to finish 2nd.

Jack Parker's CT-1 Yamaha 200GP racer

I found a loose high tension lead on the Dondolino and thought that might be the cause of the misfire.   But, I also found I had lost clutch freeplay and adjusted the cable to the limit.   I didn't see an easy way to get to the bottom of the clutch freeplay issue and decided the misfire was a magneto issue, so I didn't practice at all with the Dondolino and just nursed it through the race.  With the misfire worse than ever, I diced with the tank shift Harley until he crashed.  So, and even more distant 2nd of two.
With the shift linkage repaired on the Sprint, it went well in practice.  But after, I noticed that the swing arm was cracked.  I took the bike to Framecrafter's pit and Randy Illg welded as much as he could without removing the swing arm.  It wasn't ideal, but it was all the time we had and figured it would get me through the day.

It's hard to see, but there is a crack on the left side of the gusset.  Years ago, it cracked the right and you can see the weld repair

 Again, Jack Parker and I went back and forth, but I figured I had the upper hand.  While in the lead more than half way through the race, the spark plug lead fell off and the motor died.  DNF.  Unlike Gingerman, it was a very unsatisfying finish to a frustrating weekend.  But, the failures were better than a conrod through the cases.

A couple of H-D XR1200 racers

Paul Germain's 550 Seca Middleweight Superbike  and his 'old' DT-1 which he had to pull out when his new bike failed

Chris Spargo's RD 400 Yamaha F-500 racer

A clean T-150 Triumph triple Sportsman bike

Martin Morrison brought the ex-Gina Bovaird RG 500 Suzuki.  Gina used this to be the first woman to qualify for a 500 GP World Championship race.

Fettling the square four motor

A very nice AJS M-18 500

Stu Carter's Sound of Singles racer.  He just swapped the 450 Yamaha motor for a 450 KTM

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday, I rode my '59 Horex Resident from my Brother's house in Haddam, Ct., to the New England Motorcycle Museum in Rockville, Ct., about a 42 mile ride.  While the Museum is not officially opened yet, they had several bikes on display including a beautiful '49 Nimbus, a XLCR H-D, and several Ossas.  The Museum is an impressive project.  Ken Kaplan, its owner, has invested millions into restoring an abandon textile mill, parts of which date back to 1812.  Ken had hoped to have the official opening this weekend, but that's had to have been delayed.  Apparently, the State fire marshall has over ruled the local fire marshall, and more upgrades and mods have to be made.

On my way back to Haddam, I passed by Steve Rossi's home in East Haddam, and saw him in his driveway. So, I did a U-turn and pulled in and we chatted for a while.  When I went to leave, the Horex didn't want to start.  After a bunch of tries, where it would fire but not run, Steve suggested that I push it down the hill on his road.  He gave me a push and I got well down the hill building up speed when I finally dropped the clutch and, though turning over rapidly, it still didn't want to run.  then I noticed that there was about 1.5" of inner throttle cable pulled out of the outer.  Either the slide was hung up in the bore or the cable had broken at the slide end.  I parked the bike on it's center stand ( it has no side stand) and started walking back to Steve's house.  He had already figured out that I had a problem and was driving his pickup towards me.  When we got back to the bike, we found that it had fallen over.  We righted the bike and just managed to get in the back of the truck with his short ramp.  Steve drove me the 6 miles back to my brother's.  When we got it unloaded, we found that not only had the end pulled off the throttle cable (it was only crimped, not soldered), but the right exhaust pipe had broken when it fell over.

In the mean time, our friend Gordon Pulis had arrived on his '71 CL 175 Honda.  He and I set to soldering the end back on the cable.  Miraculously, the end was sitting in the bottom of the carb and had not been sucked into the cylinder when the engine was spinning over rapidly down the hill.  Now that I think about it, maybe it's not so miraculous because the slide was totally shut, so the cable end couldn't get by.  That fixed, we attacked the exhaust pipe.  The head pipes on the bike are in really rough shape and the right one had a section of EMT electrical conduit welded into it and it broke right next to the weld.  This pre-existing repair had caused the pipe to flare out too far outboard, so the break in the pipe offered an opportunity to tuck it in more.  I oxy-acetylene welded the break in situ, then removed the pipe and finished it up with MIG.  It wasn't elegant as I burnt through the very thin pipe many times but, with a bunch of grinding, was serviceable.

Gordon and I put everything back together, switched bikes, and went fo a 35 or so mile test ride.  Gordon pointed out that the motor's refusal to idle down after it got warm was perhaps just due to a lack of free play in the throttle cable and not an air leak or ignition advance problem.  But, investigating that would have to wait as Sunday was the Steve Rossi Tiddler Tour.

Steve is active in both the Italian Motorcycle Oners Club and the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club, so I rolled out my '53 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport for the TT.  Rich Hosley brought his Ossa Wildfire to Doug and Amy's house and, after he took the Horex for a quick ride, we all left for Steve's house across the Connecticut River, Doug on his '65 Benelli 260 and Amy driving her Subaru with a trailer running sweep.  

Rich Hosley heading out on his Ossa Wildfire.  Amy Roper photo

It was another gorgeous day and there was a big turnout, although there seems to be some displacement inflation in what people consider appropriate at a Tiddler event.  There were no Brit bikes this time, but plenty of Italian, Japanese, German and Spanish bikes.  In addition to my brother's and my bikes, there were at least three Sprints and three Ducati singles.

My '53 Airone Sport. Amy Roper photo

There were two DT 250 Yamaha singles, an XT 350, and a CS5 Yamaha 200 twin. Honda was represented by a CL 90, a CB 125 single, a 125 twin, an XL 175, and a CA 77 Honda Dream. 

Jean Frazier's 125 Honda twin

 There were three R-27 BMWs and a MZ 125 from Germany. And a Bultaco Alpina and Metrala in addition to Rich's Ossa from Spain.

Scott Rikert kicking Bill Burke's Metralla. Amy Roper photo

I finally bump started the 'taco and it ran fine for Bill the rest of the day.  Amy Roper photo

In the morning, we headed west and crossed the Connecticut River on the Chester ferry.  It arrived on the Hadlyme side just after I arrive so I nearly had to wait.  I was a bit outraged by the $6 fee for motorcycles as cars are $6 and bicycles are $2.  There's no justice.  Though last away after disembarking on the Chester, I missed the first turn and, even though I don't see how it could be shorter, I ended up ahead of the others on the ferry with me and was one of the first to stop for lunch in Durham.  Steve Rossi had some trouble getting his newly acquired 250 Ducati Monza started, but with a run and bump we got him going.  After Rich Hosley gassed up his Ossa Wildfire, he discovered he had a gas leak and put the bike on Amy's trailer.  But, it turned out the leak was high in the tank tunnel and, after it leaked down below, it stopped, so he pulled the bike off the trailer and rode it into the finish.  That was the only business Amy and Lynn had in the sweep vehicle. 

Amy Roper photo

After a good smooze at Steve's house, many retired to Amy & Doug's where the party continued into the evening.  Once again, great roads on a beautiful day with good turnout of bikes and riders.

Steve Rossi's Falcone

Steve is a Citroen nut, too.  An Ami 6

and a CX

Track count

I'm way behind on the blog and I'll probably have to do a condensed synopsis of the first half of the summer.  One of the reason that I'm behind is that I got involved in chronicling my track count. 

At Gingerman, Swiss Neiderberger celebrated reaching a goal that he had set for himself: racing at 50 racetracks.  I don't mean to rain on Swiss' parade, but it got me to wondering how many race tracks I'd ridden.  Here's the list so far, in pretty chronological order. Some of the tracks I didn't actually race on, just paraded, and I'm considering different versions of a venue separate tracks.

Bridgehampton, N.Y., '72

Loudon, N.H.

   Bryar, '72

   Noduol (Bryar 'backwards') '72,'73?

   NHIS, '90

Summit Point, W. Va., '72

Pocono, Pa., '72, '73?

Virginia International Raceway

   Full circuit, '72, '73?

   North circuit, '01

   South circuit, '09

West Palm Beach, '73

Daytona

   3.81 mi.,'73

   1.6 mi. Infield, '81

   1.74 mi. Infield,'85

   1.76 mi. Infield, '87

   3.56 mi.,'90 (95?)

   2.85 mi.,'02

   3.51 mi., '09

Dade City, Fl., '73

Dallas, Tx., '73

Charlotte, N.C., '73

Gainesville, Fl., '74

Road Atlanta, Ga., 

   2.54 mi., '74

   With modified 'gravity cavity, '98

   With turn #3 chicane, '03

   With modified turn #12, '09

Lakeland, Fl., '75

Thompson, Ct.

   'Version 3', '76

   1.7 mi., '16

Ontario Motor Speedway, '79

Sears Point

   original, '79

   Current, '13

Road America, Wl.

   Original, '80

   Current, '08?

Lime Rock Park, Ct., '80

Talladega Super Speedway, Al.,'81

Laguna Seca, Ca.

   Original, '82

   GP., '97

Shannonville, Ont., Canada

   Nelson, '82

   Pro, '99?

Roebling Road, Ga., '83

Mid-Ohio, '83

Blackhawk Farms, Illinois, '86

Watkins Glen, N.Y., '86.

Mosport, Ontario, Canada, '88

Heartland Park, Topeka, Ks.,'89

Talladega Grand Prix, Al.

   Original, '91

   Current, '13

Grattan, Mi., '91

Rockingham, N.C., '92

Las Vegas, Nv., '93

Seattle Intl. Raceway, Kent, WA., '93

Putnam Park, In., '94

Gateway Park, E. St.Louis, Il., '94
Willow Springs, Ca., "96

Atlantic M/S Park, Shubenacadie, N.S., Can., '96

Deland, Fl., '97

Stafford Springs, Ct., '97

Gunstock, Belnap, N.H., '99

Carolina M/S Park, S.C., '99

Cayuga, Ont., Canada, '01

Frontierland, Loudon, N.H., '01

North Florida M/S Park, '02

BeaveRun, Pa., '03

Barber M/S Pk., '03

Sandia, N.M., '04

No Problem Raceway, La., '04

Autodromo St. Eustache, Quebec, Can., '04

Thunderhill, Ca., '04

Gingerman, Mi.

   Original, '05

   Current, '16

Pueblo, Co., '05

Miller M/S Pk., Ut., '06

Portland International Raceway, Or., '10

Motorsport Ranch, Tx., '11

NOLA, La., '13

The Ridge, WA., '13

NJMP, N. J.

   Thunderbolt, '13

   Lightning, '14

You'll notice that the above is only circuits in North America, so now I'll add public road races in North America:

Steamboat Springs, Co.,'84

La Carrerra, Baja, Mx., '86

Delmar, Ca., '96

Maybe Deland, Gunstock, & Frontierland should be in this category.

Now we go to overseas circuits

Caldwell Park, Eng.

   Club, '75

   Full, '86

Darley Moor, Eng.,'75

Donnington Park, Eng.,

   National, '81

   GP, '86

Brands Hatch, Eng.,

   G.P., '82

   Indy, '89

Oulton Park, Eng., '81

Mallory Park, Eng.

   Original, '82

   With 'bus stop', '89

Adelaide International Raceway, S.A., Aus., '85

Mallala M/S Park, S.A., Aus., '85

Winton, Vic., Aus., '85

Circuit Paul Ricard, Fr., '86

Autodromo Riccardo Paletti, It., '86

Snetterton, Eng., '87

Assen, Nl., 

   Longer, '87

   Shorter, '99

Misano, It., '87

Knockhill, Scotland, '87

Pukekoe, N.Z., '90

Ruapuna, N.Z., '90

Autrodromo de Linas-Montlhery, Fr., '96

Nurburgring, Ger., '96

Eastern Creek, N.S.W., Aus., '98

Artic Circle Raceway, Norway, '98

Tsukuba, Jpn., '02

Jurby, I.O.M., '13

Phillip Island, Vic., Aus., '14

Finally, the overseas public road courses:

Mountain course, I.O.M., '82

Villa Real, Portugal, '84

Dundrod, N.I., '84

Brno, Czechoslovakia, '84

Oliver's Mount, Eng., '95

Total:115

I thought I might have add one more this weekend at the USCRA event at the new circuit at Canaan, N.H., but I didn't feel well.  I may hit 115 at the VRRA even at Calaboogie, in Ontario, near Ottawa in Sept.

Thompson, Ct.

Last Sunday, Team Obsolete participated in a "Vintage " track day at Thompson Speedway in the extreme northeast of Connecticut.  The track has a long history starting in the 1940's, based around a 5/8th mile oval.  The 1.7 mile road course uses at least half of the oval. I had last raced at Thompson in 1978 and shortly after that there was a fatality when a stock car lost control and hit the gap in the oval where the road course pealed off.  After that, the road course (which was in rough shape with orange cones in the potholes down the back straight) was abandoned.  A few years ago, the road course was revived, totally repaved, and lengthened and altered slightly.  There hasn't been any racing on the revived course, perhaps because of a lack of runoff, but several track days.  This one was in conjunction with a swap meet and bike show, sponsored by Indian.

The fans take photos of the Team Obsolete bikes.  Ken Richardson photo

Team Obsolete brought three bikes: an Arter Matchless, a works BSA 750 triple, and a works 350 Benelli four.  This Arter Matchless G-50 is know as 'Wagon Wheels' as it is perhaps the first bike to be raced with cast magnesium wheels.  It's the bike with which Peter Williams finished 2nd three times in the Senior TT at the Isle of Man, to Ago's MV in '70 & '71 and Jack Finlay's 500 Suzuki in '73.  In '73, Williams did a lap of 102.7 mph which, I believe, was the fastest lap by a single cylinder bike until 1989 when Robert Dunlop won the Ultra Lightweight TT on a RS 125 Honda and probably the fastest lap by a four stroke single until Bob Heath won the Senior Classic Manx GP in 1991 at a race average of 102.62mph.  In 1989, I did the fastest lap of the Senior Classic MGP at 102.52mph, but the course was much quicker then than in '73 with places like Quarry Bends straightened, widened, and smoothed.  Tires were better and I'm sure that I had more power  in the Team Obsolete G-50 than Peter had in his relatively standard motor.  I'm in awe of his '73 lap.  Team Obsolete has been invited back to the IOM for the fourth consecutive year to participate in the Jurby Festival and Lap of Honour and Wagon Wheels is the bike we'll be taking this year.

on the Arter Matchless 'Wagon Wheels" with T/O mechanic Josh Mackenzie.  Ken Richardson photo

The BSA A75R is the bike that Dick Mann road raced in 1971.  This Is a bike that I've raced many times over the years and over the years we modified it to keep it a competitive vintage racer.  But, it was last raced in 2002 (with a different motor) and it was decided to return it to as close as we could make it to the way it was when Dick raced it in '71.  This was completed recently and Thompson was a good opportunity to see if it was right.

The BSA A75R in the middle in front of it's owner Rob Iannucci.  

Likewise, the 350 Benelli four was rebuilt recently and needed to be tested.  This is a works Grand Prix racer from 1968 of the type raced by Renzo Pasolini and Kel Carruthers.  It's motor is DOHC, four valve, and seven speed. I had raced this bike several times, including the IOM where I crashed it on the first lap of the '93 Junior Classic Manx GP while leading and took a ride in the helicopter.  It was last run in 1997 at Schubenacadie, Nova Scotia, where we had an engine failure.

The DOHC, 16 valve, seven speed 350 Benelli with it's beautiful  dry clutch

I went out on the track first on Wagon Wheels.  It's a bit awkward as the clip-onscreen very close together and inboard of the fairing.  Williams idea was to get the bike as narrow and aerodynamic as possible.  But, once I got rolling it wasn't a problem.  I did have some trouble shifting initially as the shift lever is a bit too long for me, but I managed once I got used to it.  When Alan Cathcart did a racer test on it at Mallory Park, he described the front brake (a Lockheed caliper with a 10" iron rotor) as "so wooden, it gives trees a bad name".  But, at the pace I was going, it seemed fine.  And, that pace was slow as someone crashed on our first lap on track at what seemed like a very low speed.  I guess just cold tires as the track seemed fine as we gradually upped the pace and I scrubbed in the new tires.

I took the BSA out next and, like the Matchless, I had some initial trouble shifting as it's lever was too long, also.  After a few laps, we were gelling nicely as I was reacquainted with an old friend.  It's a big, heavy bike with a heavy crankshaft/primary drive and therefore lots of gyroscopic effect which require some muscle to overcome, but it steers very well and has great brakes.

Finally, I went out on the Benelli, another totally different animal.  It shifted the best of the three and, with it's seven speeds and a relatively light crank, that's a good thing.  It was smoking a bit with rings that hadn't seated and I was shutting off early on the straight in deference to drum brakes and tires from 1997 which we hadn't had time to change, but it still seemed fast and I was getting into top gear.

Almost all of the other bikes participating in the track day were much newer that ours, but it wasn't a problem as there were few bikes overall and it didn't seem to be a problem going out in either group.  With plenty of track time, everyone seemed to pack up before the official end.

However, there was a good turnout for the bike show and there were lots of spectators for it and the swap meet and it has the potential to turn into a real event.

Talking with my old buddy, Bill Burke.  Ken Richardson photo

Mike Gontesky tells Bill Himmelsbach how it is on a cool, windy day.

AHRMA Sonoma raceway

From Willow Springs, I rode up to Sacramento with Karl and Monday got working on the bike.  Mike determined that the swing arm pivot failure that we experienced at Willow was from a D shaped retainer, which the spindle socketed into, had broken free, allowing the spindle to back out of the retaining bolt on the other side.

 Mike started to work on repairing the fairing.

before

During

I discovered a broken spoke in the rear wheel.  Mike had another wheel with a broken spoke and I harvested two spokes from a third wheel to repair the two.

harvesting spokes

Tuesday, we took the bike over to Karl's and he came up with a plan to fix it.  This involved Mike and me finding some 2" diameter steel bar stock.  This took us to a neat old welding supply store in Auburn in a building that dated back to 1865.  We dropped the bar stock off with Karl, then drove to Davis to pick up some supplies from Mike's storage facility.  Back at Mike's house, I started cobbling a bench to put the bike on, because at my age I don't want to work on my knees.  After dinner, we drove over to Karl's and put both bikes in his pickup and took them back to Mike's.  In the morning, we finished the bike (except for the final paint on the fairing), organized the tools and spares, loaded everything up and headed for Sonoma.  There we rented a garage and unloaded the pickup and waited for the track day to finish to move in.

Garage mates Don Lange arrived from Seattle and and his old musician buddy Kenny Cummings arrived from NYC via SFO.  Several years ago, Don had become intrigued with Kenny's hobby of racing vintage bikes and started coming to the races and filming.  After a year or so, Don bought a street bike, a Honda CBR300F.  After another year or so, Don bought a race bike, a CB 175 Honda.  The weekend before the AHRMA Sonoma race, Don took a race school and made his race debut at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Washington.  This allowed Don to race at Sonoma and he invited Kenny to share his bike, racing it in 250GP, while Don rode it in the CB160 class and 200GP.

Kenny Cummings on left and Don Lange or right with Don's CB175.  Don's made a brilliant start to his RR career.  photo by Stacie B. London

On the first lap of my first practice Thurs., the gas cap flew off when I braked for turn #9.  I came right into the pits and we were able to bodge a solution with tape and an aerosol spray can top and a zip tie and I was able to get one for one or two more laps.  A couple of laps into the 2nd practice, I saw my teammate Walt Fulton III on a sister bike had crashed at turn #2, but was up and looked OK.  A couple of laps later, I was given the black flag at start/finish, and I pulled off at the next corner worker in turn #2.  I couldn't see anything wrong with "my" bike, while Walt's was a bit rough, and we both came back on the crash truck.

Always could be worse, but bad enough to put it out of commission for the event 

I found the black flag was for exceeding the 103db noise level.  I was told that track policy was three strikes and you're out: exceed 103db three time and you could no longer put the bike on the race track.

Mike and Karl, with the help of Andrew Cowell, fabricated a crude deflector to try to direct the exhaust away from the noise meter.  It was decided that "Walt's" bike was too badly damaged to fix up and that he and I would share "my" bike.  Therefore, I changed my entry from 350GP to Sounds of Singles 3, the single cylinder class for the smallest bikes, so Walt could race in 350GP.  SOS3 was gridded last behind Sound of Thunder 2 and Vintage Superbike Heavyweight in the first wave, and Triumph Thruxton TransAtlantic Cup and Electric bike class.  The other bikes in SOS3 were Mick Hart on a RS125 Honda, Mark Hunter on a Morwaki 250, Kurt Hipp on a pretty standard RC390 KTM, and Austin McCabe on a tricked out RC390 with reprogrammed ECU, special twin exhaust, special yokes, etc.  Austin led from the start with me second, but Mick came by in turn #5 on the 1st lap.  Mick got by Austin at some point , but they were well ahead of me and I finished a mere 0.008 seconds ahead of Mark.  We had passed one of the SOT2 bikes, two of the Vintage Superbikes, three of the Thruxtons and all of the e-bikes.  Good fun, but when I came in, I was informed that I had again exceeded the noise limit.  Strike Two.  

So it was decided that I would sit out the 500 Premiere race that I was entered in to ensure that Walt would get to ride in the 350GP.  Walt's significant other, Nancy, rode her bike to an auto parts store in Novato and got some radiator hose with elbows and some hose clamps and Karl and Mike made a better deflector for the exhaust.  The 350GP was also a second wave start and Walt, focused on a new to him starter, screwed up and launched with the first wave.  He immediately realized what he had done and stopped and waited until the entire second wave had left to start himself.  He consistently closed on the 350GP leader, Jim Neuenberg on Fred Mork's short stroke H-D Sprint, and came up less than 3 seconds short, but with a fastest lap more than 2 seconds quicker than Jim.  When Walt came in after the cool off lap, the radiator hose deflector was missing having fallen off sometime during the race, but he never tripped the noise meter.
At Willow Springs, I felt that the Grimeca front brake didn't make that much difference, but one doesn't brake much at Willow.  At Sonoma there are many hard braking areas and the Grimeca was definitely better but both Walt and I felt that the weight of it made it much harder to heave the bike from side to side through the esses.

This big Grimeca 4LS front brake definitely stopped better than the previous A1R, but it's weight also made it harder to change direction.  There's no free lunch

Karl took the exhaust pipe home with him and made a more secure connection for another radiator hose elbow.

Mike drills while Karl directs to attach radiator hose deflector to exhaust

Friday, I figured we had the noise problem licked, but in practice I short shifted by the noise meter to be safe and didn't have any problem.  In Friday's SOS3 race Austin McCabe didn't start, nor did Ari Henning, who showed up with his well developed KTM RC390, but both of them raced SOS1 and SOS2.  This may have to do with their bikes being of at least questionable legality for SOS3.  The rules say:"Single-cylinder machines with production chassis (with street-legal VIN) must retain stock bore and stroke, stock frame, forks and wheels.  Eligible machines include KTM 390RC and Duke."  Austin had told me that he bought the race version of the RC390, which may well have not had a 'street-legal VIN'.  Ari started with a street-legal RC390, but I don't know if it had stock forks and wheels and, in any case, he never entered SOS3.
So, in Friday's race, I was running 2nd to Mick Hart when, starting the 7th lap, I got the 'meatball' flag.  I assumed it was for noise again and wondered if I should pull off.  But, a couple of corners later, Zack Courts lapped me on his SOT2 FZ-O7 Yamaha, so I knew I would get the checkered flag the next time around and something in the back of my mind told me that I had a couple of laps to respond to a Meatball flag (as opposed to a black flag).  So, I didn't pull off and took the checker, finishing 2nd in class to Mick Hart and 15th overall of the 27 finishers and ahead of one of the SOT2 bikes, two of the Vintage Superbikes, two of the Thruxtons, and all of the e-bikes.  But, when I came in off the cool off lap, I was told to report to tech.  Cal Lewis, the AHRMA referee, told me that I had indeed gone over the sound limit again.  I told him that in practice I had short shifted by the sound meter and had been alright.  He told me that until the track said that I couldn't go out again, he would interpret the 3 strikes rule as per day.
So in the 500 Premiere race, I led off the line from pole position, but Ari Henning and Jon Munns came by me between turns #2 & 3 on their 500 Sportsman 350 Hondas.  I had a big slide on the exit of turn #5 which cooled my jets a bit, and then I really short shifted by the noise meter and lost touch with the two of them, but stayed close enough that I was able to watch a really good battle between them.  My fastest lap was more than 1.6 seconds slower than in the SOS3 race, largely because of short shifting for the noise meter, and I finished 3rd overall and 1st in class.
Walt got the start right this time for the 350GP, though he follow Jim Neuenberg for a few laps as he had ridden at all Fri. up until then.  He passed Jim and won by just under a second.  Walt didn't short shift by the noise meter and never exceeded the limit.  Did we take different lines, sit on the bike differently, shift at different points?  Who knows, but I tripped the meter 4 times over the 2 days and Walt not once.  Life isn't fair.  My best lap time this year was 2:02.434; last year I did a 1:58.490, almost 4 seconds faster, and that was on a frame that turned out to be significantly bent from the crash the previous week at Willow Springs, and was subsequently straightened.  It's not entirely valid to compare times year to year as a lot of things change, but 4 secs.  The brake might have been a bit of that and maybe the tires were getting a bit old, but 4 secs?  It can't be because I'm getting old, can it?

Lenora Cox, editor of the Velocette Owners Club newsletter, rode this MAC to the track

Lenora let me ride it around the paddock and it's badass

Jeff Scott fettled the MAC and made this exh. clamp

An interesting character assembled this tableau outside our garage

Saturday, I did a 85 mile road ride with my good friend Parra and three other Roadoilers.

With my old friend Parra in what could be mistaken for his native Ireland.  Great photo by Robert Bleeker

 Last year,  I rode Parra's TR5T Triumph, but it played up with a leaking fuel line, so I road his Dick Mann Special TT500 Yamaha.

With the Dick Mann Specialties TT 500 Yamaha (despite what the tank says) Robert Bleeker photo

Dick made nearly 200 frame kits for the XT/TT500 between '76 and '81.  Parra had initially cow trailed the bike but later converted it to road use.  It has Betor forks with Marzocchi yokes, Kosman front wheel with a Lockheed caliper and a Yamaha MX rear wheel and fuel tank, and Works Performance rear shocks.  Gus rode his '58 BSA Goldstar,  Robert rode his '83 Honda VF 750 Interceptor, Parra rode his FT500 Honda Ascot, and Jim rode his 2011 XT250 Yamaha, which may have been the smallest bike, but it was also the newest and Jim is an old roadracer and he led and set a great pace.

L to R Parra, me, Jim and Gus.  Robert Bleeker photo

 Parra, Robert and I left Parra's house in Forest Knolls and met Jim and Gus in Pt. Reyes Station.  From there we headed north through Marshall, then headed inland through Fallon, Valley Ford, Two Rocks, Dillon Beach and stopped in Tomales.

I critique the DMS TT500 for Parra.  Robert Bleeker photo

Robert headed back to the East Bay and Gus, Parra and I left Jim there and headed back to Forest Knolls with Gus peeling off at the end.  It was a gorgeous day and Marin was quite green after some recent rain.  The roads were fabulous and what an eclectic collection of bikes.
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