Dave Roper Racing

Dave Roper, the first American ever to win an Isle of Man TT, will be riding a restored 580cc Indian TT model v-twin in the 2011 TT. Roper has a lifetime of achievement in vintage racing, including more than 20 AHRMA national championships as well as his win of the 1984 Senior Historic TT on a G50 Matchless. Support the first motorcycle to ever win the Senior TT on the Mountain Course, the only American marque to win at the event and the only American racer to ever win the Senior Historic TT!

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Willow & Sonoma 2017

I flew out to California for the annual AHRMA Willow Springs/Sonoma Raceway back to back events still suffering from a cold that started a week before.
At Willow, I practiced first on Gary Roper's '51 Velocette MAC and it seemed fast immediately, if geared a little short. Gary said it had the tallest gearing he owned, but when he got to Sonoma, he discovered that it had a 22 T gearbox sprocket, not the 23T that he thought that was on it. So I ran the whole weekend under geared and revving the hell out of it. In the 2nd practice on the MAC the right handlebar moved on the fork and Gary tightened it up. In the 3rd practice, it moved again an Gary replaced the plan nuts on the pinch bolts with stop nuts and I tried moving it again. Then Mike Bungay saw that it wasn't the clip on moving on the fork tube, but the tube turning in the yokes, and tightening up the pinch bolts in the yokes solved the problem.

Gary Roper's '51 Velocette MAC

On the 350 H-D Sprint, it goes well, but I have some shifting problems. The 1st quick practice, I just scrubbed in new tires and the freshly refurbished front brake, but miss the 4th to 5th shift once. The 2nd practice was red flagged after a lap. In the third practice, I turn a good lap time, but it pops out of 5th gear twice. I think it's because my foot is hitting the connecting rod in the shift linkage and Karl bends out the shift pedal.

Karl Engellenner with the two Sprints, mine #7 and his #177, which Walt Fulton III rides.

For my first race, the 350GP class was gridded behind the 350 Sportsman class and in front of Formula 250 in the first wave with Vintage Superbike Lightweight and Novice Historic Production Heavyweight in the second wave. As I was completing my warm-up lap and coming to the grid, the gearbox seemed reluctant to downshift and I kept hitting the shift lever, eventually finding a neutral. When I kicked it into gear when the flag dropped, the motor stalled immediately because the clutch didn't disengage and I was probably in a false neutral between 3rd and 4th. Behind me, Robert Aegerter got a good launch and found me parked in his path. His shift lever hit my left foot and was folded back, preventing him from shifting and ending his race, too. I had a struggle getting my bike off the track as the clutch wouldn't disengage, but eventually found neutral.

Robert Aegerter's shifter, bent when it hit my left foot.

Walt Fulton, on Karl's sister bike to mine, chased Juan Bulto and closed on him, turning the fastest lap of the race, but came up just under 1/4 second short and 2nd overall.
Disassembly of my clutch revealed that the lock washer for the nut retaining the outer clutch basket had broken and the nut had backed off into the clutch hub preventing it from disengaging. Some shimming and Loctite solved the problem.

the broken clutch basket nut lock washer

Karl working on the clutch

But, in the mean time, I was out immediately in the Class "C" Footshift class on the Velo MAC. The 200GP class was gridded in the first wave with Class "C" Foot and Hand Shift in the second wave and Novice Historic Production behind us. I led the second wave from the start and started catching the 200GP bikes. I ended up passing all but two of the 200GP, Lorraine Crussell and Thad Wolf, and turning the fastest lap of the race.
Karl got the clutch working on the Sprint and I did a 'scrub' lap before the day was over and the shift was OK, but not perfect.
There were some legendary retired racers there Sat. and, though I didn't get to speak to Wes Cooley, I did talk to Mark Brelsford who, in 1970, raced the ERTT I own at Talladega at the beginning of his road race career. Mark lives in Alaska and was down in California for the annual Trailblazers Dinner and show. And, I was introduced to Marty Lunde, a Californian who started racing in this country in the 60's then lived in England for a while and raced at the Isle of Man and some Grand Prixes. We talked about the IOM and TT racing. Then, the next morning, I ran into Mark Miller, the second American to win a TT. I constantly have to correct people who say that I'm the only American to win a TT and tell them that Mark won the electric bike race in 2010. Some people scoff and imply that the electric bike race wasn't a 'real' TT. But, I'm sure many people think the one and only Senior Historic TT that I won was not a 'real' TT. Mark raced in 49 TTs in 11consecutive years and is the fastest American to lap the Mountain Circuit. Mark is also an excellent writer and I told him how impressed and moved I was by reading his description of almost dying in a crash approaching Quarter Bridge when he was running 5th in the Senior TT and had just achieved his goal of being the fastest American to lap the course. I wondered after I read this if he would go back there and race again and, sure enough, he did. But he, like me, decided that he had some good runs there and got away with it, and that he didn't need to race there anymore. He also wrote an excellent report of racing at Macau last year. Mark was racing a full house GSXR in Next Generation Superbike at Willow.

Two of the nicer bikes from the annual show at Willow Springs

A 125 Ducati and 150 Moto Morini

a couple of Roland Ortiz' Bultacos

Roland took the rider school on this 250 Bultaco

An electric bike built by Ely Schless from an RS 250 chassis and Brammo running gear.

Jason Linquist's CB175 Honda with his DT1 Yamaha and Kerry Beriont's T-20 Suzuki in the background

In Sunday's 350GP race, I didn't get the best start, not being quite ready for a quick flag. In turn #1, I saw that Walt got pushed wide and I got by him on the inside. We got by the 350 Sportsman bikes by turn #5 and Juan and I were 1st & 2nd overall. His 350 Bultaco really accelerated well, but slowly I caught up to him. I was able to dive under him at the exit of the Omega, but he was able to motor past on the back straight. At one point, we came upon a back marker in turn #9 and somehow I knocked my gearbox into a false neutral. I shifted up into 5th to be safe, but realized that I had to go back to 4th and Juan gapped me a bit. I was able to close back up and pulled along side several times. Two or three times I'd get right on his rear wheel coming out of the final turn #9, but he would slowly creep away up the straight and that's how it finished with Juan beating me to the checkered flag by just over 1/4 of a second.
I was immediately back out on the Velo MAC. This time, Lorraine Crussell, winner of Saturday's 200GP race, stalled on the grid at the start, and there was quite a delay before they let us go in the second wave. Despite that, on the last lap I caught the leading 200GP bikes and won overall, again with the fastest lap in the race.
From Willow, I drove up to Roseville with Karl and, for most all of the next three days, we worked on the bikes. We took the clutch apart on my bike and Karl crated more clearance between the outer clutch basket and the inner hub. We noticed that a bushing for the shift shaft in the outer cover had moved outboard and thought it might be related to the reluctance to downshift, so pressed it back in with red Loctite. Karl made a clevis for the shift linkage to replace the Heim joint to eliminate an interference between the shift lever and the connecting link. I took the front brake apart (200mm 4LS Kawasaki A1R), which had been freshly relined and turned by Vintage Brakes. The shoes hadn't fully seated yet as one doesn't use the brakes much at Willow, but they were on their way. I made some screens for the air scoops. We change the gearing for Sonoma by adding two teeth to the rear. But, the big project was putting a muffler on my bike. Last year, I had repeatedly tripped the noise meter at Sonoma despite efforts to quite it down and ultimately had to roll off the throttle by the sound meter, which killed the lap times. Oddly, Walt Fulton, riding the same bike, never exceeded the noise limit. Karl had previously acquired a Cone Engineering megaphone styled muffler and ultimately made a completely new exhaust system which was well tucked in and proved to be significantly quieter.

Karl at work on the pipe

Karl's beautiful Ducati 750GT

The Cone Engineering muffler installed

We changed the gearing on Karl's bike which Walt rides, washed it, then tried to start it. It fired some, but wouldn't stay running. We took the carb apart and checked connections, but it still wouldn't run. Karl checked the timing, which hadn't changed, took the carb apart again and put in a new sparkplug and it finally ran.
We loaded up both bikes in Karl's pickup with all the spares and tools and drove the 1 1/2 hours down to the track, arriving around 5:30 Wed. afternoon. Gary Roper and Don Lange, with whom we were sharing a garage, had already arrived and we unloaded our pile. Karl pulled the head off his bike to repair a minor oil leak, got it buttoned back up an headed back home. I went with Don and his brother Bill to dinner and a motel in Novato.

Don Lange's CB 175 Honda

Gary wasn't able to get his Indian running close to properly, so he elected to race his Velo MAC instead. I changed my Class 'C' entry on the Velo to Sounds of Singles 3 on the Sprint. SOS 3 is the smallest modern class for single cylinder bikes and allows slick tires and tire warmers.
Thurs. morning was pretty cool and on the first lap of practice I had a slide accelerating out of the turn #10 chicane, then saw the red flag and returned to the pits. After the mess was cleaned up, we went out again and when I got to turn #8, the rear end snapped sideways when I got on the gas. I went sky-ground-sky-ground and the bike slid down the track, over the grass and back on the track. After I figured that I was alright, I ran to the bike to get it off the track. But, I couldn't lift it without putting my bak to the oncoming bikes, so I left it and walked to the corner worker station. The bike laid in the middle of the track for two or three laps before they finally redflagged the the practice again. It was a stupid cold tire/cold track mistake on my part, but I and the bike made out surprisingly well for a perhaps 75mph crash with a fair amount of tumbling. So, we got right to work on the bike, The left footrest and brake pedal were bent, the left clip pushed in, the windscreen partially broken, and the left fairing mount bent.

Pete Hokastad loaned us a great aluminum pipe with which we straightened most of it. We trimmed the jagged edges of the windscreen and put a layer of tape over it. We had to replace some Dzus fasteners and receiver wires for the fairing.

The Sprint kicked it straight after my dumb crash

We got it all done and run back through tech inspection just as the second round of my practice group was starting and I got in 7 laps, this time setting a more prudent pace and working up to speed. We just had to make a couple of minor adjustment and the bike was ready to race.
Race #4 had the electric bikes in the first wave, the three 500 Premiere bikes in front of the ten 350GP bikes and the two Formula 250 bikes in the second wave. I got a good start and led the wave out of turn #2. On the first lap, Juan Bulto came by on the brakes going into there turn #10 chicane, and I gave chase. I did get by him as we went through the electric bikes, but he came by again in the same place making excellent use of the 210mm 4LS Menani front brake on his Bultaco. As the race went on, my front brake lever was coming back to the grip as my freshly refurbished brake bedded in and I had some trouble downshifting and Juan prevailed with me second and Walt Fulton third.

Hub Zemke's 350 Bultaco superbly developed by the Romero brothers in Barcelona

The Bultaco lineup with a modern e-bicycle, Juan's 250, Hub Zemke's 350 and Jim Neuenburg's 250

Karl re-adjusted the front brake, and we found that the shift shaft bushing had again moved outboard again and Karl pounded it back, but he and Mike both had to leave before the SOS 3 race #8.
Bears, Vintage Superbike Heavyweight, and Formula Vintage were gridded in the first wave, with Sound of Singles 3 and Novice Historic Production Heavyweight in the second wave. I got a decent start, but Motorcyclist co-editor Ari Henning came by like a shot on his well developed KTM 390R and disappeared.

Ari Henning's 390 KTM

After a couple of laps, Mick Hart got by me on his RS 125 Honda. I found that I had an advantage on Mick exiting the turn #1 chicane and driving up the hill to turn #2 and I could lead from there into the turn #5 carousel, but Mick would come by on the exit. We repeated this a couple of times but again, my front brake lever started coming back to the grip and I failed to make the downshift into the last corner and Mick gapped me.

Mick Hart's RS 125 Honda

We came up on Peter Hokestad and Darrin Gauvin on their Vintage Superbikes and Mick and I got by them both, but Pete got back by me, but not Mick, and I finished third in class and fourth overall.
I decided that my bike was geared too tall and added a tooth to the rear sprocket, I adjusted up the front brake again, and dropped one mainjet size on Karl's recommendation, before we left the track for the night.
Fri., the first practice went well except the tach stopped working because I hadn't charged it's battery properly, so I couldn't get an accurate fix on the gearing change, but it felt better. Karl put in a new spark plug for the second practice to get a fresh reading on the jetting change and the front brake adjustment seemed to be stabilizing as the shoes bedded in. Again I got a good start and led the second wave out of turn #2 and again, Juan came by on the brakes into the turn #10 chicane.

I believe the 1st lap of Friday's race #4. Photo by Carmen Lynaugh

photo by Carmen Lynaugh

I'm leading with Andy Mauk #95 on Keith Lieghty's CB 450 based 500 Premiere bike, #177 Walt Fulton III, Juan Bulto obscured behind Walt and Jason Linquist #13 on his DT1 Yamaha. Carmen Lynaugh photo

This is the exit of turn#2 and one can see the second wave going into turn #1 at the top. Carmen Lynaugh photo

He is demon on the brakes. I chased him a couple of laps, then failed to get the motor downshifted for the 180 degree turn #6 at the far end of the course and Juan gapped me. I figured that it was over, but after another lap or two, Juan was coming back to me. On the second to last lap, Juan got baulked by traffic in turn #6 and I got right on his rear wheel.
We came up on two back markers on the approach to the turn #10 chicane. Juan chose to go to the left around the outside of the initial right, while I dove to the inside. Juan got baulked again and I got by and led over the line starting the last lap. As I expected, once again, Juan came by on the brakes into the turn #10 chicane but, as we exited, the red flag came out before we got to the last turn. This meant that scoring reverted to the previous lap when I led, so I was the winner with Juan 2nd and Walt 3rd. The win had a lot to do with the luck of the draw in traffic, but I had the satisfaction of the fastest lap of the race, just under 2 minutes at 1:59.977.
I adjusted up the brake one last time for the SOS 3 race. Again, Ari shot into the lead on his 390 KTM. On the first lap I saw Mick out of the corner of my eye as we exited there turn #5 carousel, but he didn't make it past until the same place on the next lap. I suspect that Mick had rejetted or change his gearing, or both, as it didn't seem that I could close on the drive up to turn #2 as I had the day before and Mick steadily pulled away, and put in a 1:59.095 lap, while I went a bit slower than I had in the 350GP race. Still, I ended up third and this time third overall as the three of us from the second wave got by all the other bikes.
It was a great week of racing between the two tracks with excellent dicing with Juan and Mick.

a 1960 Lotus Elan

A very original '69 H1 Kawasaki

Motorcyclist co-editor Zack Courts raced this Kramer powered by a 690 KTM and SOS1 and Sound of Thunder 2 both days

A road racer built out of a Rickman Montesa dirt bike

Love them wavey cylinder head fins

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Carolina Motorsports Park

The AHRMA event at CMP was a weekend of two halves. My 350 Sprint ran great and I won both races on it. My 250 Sprint was lots of trouble and netted a DNF and DNS. My 250 hadn't run for almost two and a half years since it dropped a valve in Oct., 2014 at Daytona. Karl Engellenner renewed the complete top end, working on it between his many projects. This involved welding up and machining the head, new valve seats, valves, guides, springs and retainers, new intake manifold and carb bell mouth, new exhaust head pipe, new cylinder and new piston. The piston was a big delay as it took about 9 months for J.E. to produce it. I started it up for the first time the Sunday before I left for CMP on Thurs.

When I got to CMP early afternoon Fri., I started the 250 and found that the Smiths chronometric tach didn't work. As soon as the cable spun, it would go from 0 past 12,000 rpm and stay there. I took it apart, but was completely overwhelmed by the gazillion tiny gears, springs and levers. Dave Hollingsworth and Beno Rodi took a look at it, but to no avail. So, I stole the tach off my 350 and put it on the 250. I then took the bike to the Hall Custom Vintage dyno. Jake and Rob Hall bring a Dynojet in a trailer to the track and I wanted to get the timing and jetting close before putting the bike on the track. We made one run and the 'sniffer' indicated that it was a bit rich and Rob, looking at the sparkplug, thought the ignition was a bit advanced. In retarded the ignition a bit, but Jake noticed that one of the cylinder studs was flopping around. We removed it and found that it was broken off in the crankcase, which seemed better than the threads pulled out of the case. Everyready Al Hollingsworth had a spare stud that was only slightly longer that my brokren one. Now the challenge was getting the broken off end of the stud out of the case, as it was broken off below flush. Rob had a left hand drillbit with him and, drilling into the stud got it it move a bit. I was able to borrow an e-z out, and the broken piece came out without damaging the case.
But, when we removed the head, we saw that the intake valve had touched the piston both on the edge and floor of the valve pocket. I borrowed a Dremel tool and burrs that Rob used to open up the valve pocket a bit and while I got thicker base gaskets. We also set the the valve lash a little looser.
I got out for Saturday morning practice a little late and only got two laps in the first session on the 250. I took it super easy both out of concern for a fresh engine and because the tires on the bike were really old--the rear from the 35th week of 2008 and the front from the 47 week of 2004. They are the Dunlop KR 825 front and KR 124A rear, neither of which are made any more, and both my preferred tire, so I wasn't going to throw them away without trying them. They weren't a problem at the speed I went.
Bobby Birdsall loaned me a spare Scitsu electronic tach which I put on the 350, but it's battery wasn't charged, so it didn't work in the 1st session.

Bobby Birdsall's Scitsu tach on my ERTT

I took it pretty easy on the 350 also, as the tires on it weren't that old but were very worn. But, the motor ran great. For a while, I had been chasing a carburetion problem, a stumbling or miss fire in hard cornering, which I finally figured out at Roebling Road was not a carburetion problem at all, but an ignition problem. The ground plug, which the Harley factory put on the bike in 1970, had evidently worn enough that it made intermittent contact in hard cornering. I install a new, similar plug and the problem was gone.
In the second practice on the 250, I started to wick it up more and the tires were still working fine. But, towards the end of the second lap, I lost my clutch release and decided that I didn't want to ride with a fresh engine and not being able to disengage the clutch, so I pulled off. Turns out that the handlebar adjuster had just backed off and a bit of safety wire cured that. I was able to get the bike back on the HCV dyno and we retarded the timing, then retarded it again, but that was too much, put it back then dropped one main jet size.
The 350GP race was first for me and we were gridded behind the 500GP class in the first wave with the Formula 500 and Novice Production Heavyweight in the second wave. I got a good start and led into turn #1 and led overall for a couple of laps. Then the F-500 bikes started to come by, first Dean Middleton followed by Mark Morrow, both on RD400 Yamaha based bikes, then Jim Hinshaw on his H-1 Kawasaki. Dean's motor seized and Hinshaw got by Mark. On the last lap, I heard a bike behind me and coming out of the last corner, Alex McLean came by on a 500GP Manx Norton and out dragged me to the checker. So, I was first 350 GP and 4th overall.
For the 250GP, we were gridded in the second wave with Vintage Superbike Lightweight, Sportsman 500, and Novice Production Lightweight in the first wave. When the first wave left, there was a crash in turn #1 and the second wave wasn't flagged off and we were returned to the pits, as there was a considerable delay. Eventually, we went out for a second warm-up lap and this time the the race got off OK. I followed Juan Bulto into turn #1 and initially thought that his air-cooled TSS Bultaco wasn't that much faster than my Sprint (though who knows how far he was opening the throttle). He pulled away steadily, but that seemed to be more a matter of corner speed than power. He's an excellent rider. I seemed to be a comfortable second in class until the 3rd lap when the motor misfired some and lost power and I pulled off at turn #12. DNF, but not last as Robert Brangaccio broke before I did. I found that the ignition stator had come loose and cocked, touching the rotor. Some Loctite on the insert that the stator bolt goes into cured that. I also noticed that my remote float bracket had broken, allowing the float bowl to flop around a bit which probably accounted for the motor surging or hunting at times. A couple of hose clamps effected a bodge repair.
Saturday evening, one to the AHRMA officials celebrated his birthday by putting on a BBQ open to all. I was good food and a good smooze.
In Sunday's first practice, I only got less than 2 laps before the motor started misfiring and I pulled off into the pits. This time I found a coil wire had come loose and was making intermittent contact. I pushed it back on well and taped it. I just did a couple of laps on my 350 to check that it was OK and not use up to much of what little tire I had left. I took the 250 out again for the second practice and on the second lap, missed a shift and the motor went sick. I found that I had bent an exhaust pushrod and I replaced it with a spare that I had.

But, then I found that I had no compression and removing the head revealed a very bent valve, for which I had no spare. Game over.

the cylinder head removed from the CRTT

bent exhaust valve

On the 350, I again led overall for a lap or two until Jim Hinshaw came by from the second wave with his H-1. He pulled steadily away and finished almost 15 and a half seconds in front of me. But this time, Mark Morrow didn't catch me and I finished more than 16 seconds ahead of him. For some reason, Alex McLean pulled off after three laps, so I was first in class and 2nd overall and my fastest lap was almost 1 second faster than Saturday.

the front tire on the ERTT after Sunday's race

the rear tire on the ERTT after Sunday's race

Stu Carter had brought his 200 Honda, which he had just put new carbs on and he put it on HCV's dyno and the sniffer showed that it was way rich. Stu decided that he wasn't going to race it and that I could in the 250GP. I went looking for smaller jets but was only able to find ones slightly smaller from Miles Fredrick at Street and Competition Cycles. While not ideal, I figured it was still worth trying to race it to shake it down. But, when the time came, the motor didn't want to turn over as it evidently leaked fuel past the float needles and hydraulic locked. We pulled out the spark plugs to try to clear the cylinders, but then noticed that the fuel tank was leaking, so I didn't start.

Stu Carter loading his ill fated 200 Honda

Despite the disappointment of the 250, I enjoyed the weekend as the weather was gorgeous and I enjoyed the track more than I had remembered, having last raced there 11 years before in 2006.

My pit mate, Aleksey Kravchuk on his BMW outfit

Alleksey's new passenger, Jessie. They worked well together

an interesting two wheeler I spied at a gas stop on the way back. I like the style.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

AHRMA Roebling Road; the 2017 season begins

The AHRMA season traditionally begins with Roebling Road in Georgia and this year it was the 25-26 February weekend. In total contrast to last year, the weather was very warm with temperatures on Fri. and Sat. in the 80's and Sun. pushing 70 and sunny.

Team Obsolete's Surtees Special AJS 7R

In addition to my 350 H-D Sprint ERTT, I brought Team Obsolete's 'Surtees Special' AJS 7R to test in practice. This bike has a chassis designed by John Surtees in 1959 and built by Ken Sprayson of Reynold Tube. Surtees never got to race it as Count Augusta, Surtees' employer at the time, forbade it. Surtees sold the bike to Rex Butcher who, for some reason, couldn't get on with it. He let Mike Duff ride it on a practice day at Brands Hatch and Duff loved it. Duff got Tom Arter, his sponsor at the time, to buy it and he raced it with success. After Duff was hired by Yamaha, Peter Williams raced the bike. They both speak very highly of the bike. This became the inspiration for subsequent Arter Matchlesses. After Arter died, his family put the bikes up for auction and Rob Iannucci bought several of them including the Surtees Special. We recently restored the bike and this was the first opportunity to ride it.

I took it out for two sessions on Fri. afternoon and immediately felt comfortable on it. It handled great and the 230mm Oldani front brake was excellent. The ergonomics were good, except that the shift lever was too long and was too close to the exhaust pipe which caused me to miss a couple of the downshifts going into turn one. We were running it without a fairing as it hadn't arrived yet from England and the overall gearing was too tall, so I didn't use 6th gear in the Schaffleitner gearbox. But, I still turned a 1:31.188 lap time which was just over half a second slower than I went on my Sprint in Sunday's second race, with a fairing and geared correctly. The bike has potential.
My Sprint had been freshened up with new rings and a valve job and the drive train had been considerably revamped. Stripping it at the end of last season revealed more broken dogs in the gearbox, so I had Bill Himmelsbach install a modified '73 road bike gearbox. Replacing the sleeve gear and corresponding gear on the layshaft raises the 4 lower gear ratios closer to 5th and makes a good set of ratios for racing. It's a little wider ratio with a lower 1st and 2nd gear, but 4th is actually closer to 5th. I also had bought a light weigh clutch assembly from Jon White of Prova which has an alloy basket and hub and more, but thinner plates.

#35 is Doc Batsleer's 1934 Indian racer behind my ERTT

When I rode the bike around on Fri., I felt the clutch slip a couple of times and when I examined it, I found that the outer most friction plate had come out of engagement with the splines and dropped down. I took it apart and found two steel plates back to back and removed one. This gave the outer most plate more engagement with the splines and in Saturday's two practice sessions, the clutch seemed to work fine, though I didn't do any hard, clutch slipping launches. Everything worked OK, but the motor was stuttering some when loaded hard in the corners, something that I've been riding around for awhile. Peter Politiek, Snr., thought that this was because the carb was jetted to rich. I was somewhat skeptical as I've played with the jetting and float height and hadn't seen much difference, but I did drop the main jet one size before the 350 GP race. We were gridded first with Formula 500 behind us in the first wave and Vintage Superbike Lightweight and Sportsman 500 in the second wave. I got a great launch with the lower 1st gear definitely helping and led briefly until Jim Hinshaw came by on his F-500 H-1 Kawasaki. I tried to hang with him and could close a bit in the corners, but he'd jet away on the straights and pulled steadily away with his fastest lap being about one and a half seconds faster than mine. On the last lap, my clutch started to slip quite badly and I nursed it to the finish and had enough of a lead over Bobby Birdsall in 2nd 350GP that I finished more than 6 seconds ahead of him.

Jim Hinshaw's H-1 Kawasaki

I took the clutch apart again and found that the friction material on the outer plate that had dropped down before was virtually gone. So, I put in an OEM friction plate, which was thicker and engaged on the inner hub rather than the outer basket, but seemed like it would work fine. The motor was still stuttering quite badly in some corners, so I dropped the needle one notch before my next race. This was 500 Premiere, 500GP, and Sportsman 350 in the first wave and Formula 250 in the second. I was the only entry in 500 Premiere, a sad state of affairs, and, although my bike qualifies for 500GP, I enter Premiere as I feel we have too many 500 classes, that 500GP is redundant, and I don't want to see the Premiere class go away. The rules for 500GP are identical to 500 Premiere except the bike must weigh a minimum of 285 lbs. (I don't think a bike has ever been weighed in AHRMA), retain the original stroke and have a maximum of a 5 speed gearbox.
I was gridded alone on the front row, but a 350 Sportsman bike mistakenly pulled up to the front row also. Again, I got a great launch and led the first lap. Finishing the 2nd lap, John Miller on a Sportsman 350 bike come by on the front straight. But, as we approached the start/finish line, they held out a 'meatball' board for the rider who started on the front row with me and John momentarily thought it was for him and rolled off the throttle. This allowed me to get by and back in the lead. I figured John would come back when he realized his error, but instead it was Alex McLean who came by on his 500GP Norton Manx. We went back and forth a couple of times and at least once I was able to draft him down the straight and out brake him into turn #1. But, finishing lap 6, my motor died and I coasted across the finish line a found that my spark plug cap had come off and the guts had come apart and wouldn't stay on. So, I DNFed, but still won my class as one just has to complete one lap to be considered a finisher. A hollow victory, indeed. I did have the third quickest fastest lap behind Alex and Paul Garland on a F-250 Yamaha.

The McKeever Norton Manx's that Alex McLean races, the Classic 60's bike on the right, 500GP on left

The plug cap I had been using was the type that go over the threaded end of the plug. These seem to work well initially, but then get harder and harder to take off, which causes me to force it, then the clip inside breaks. I was able to get a replacement cap that goes over the 'nut' on the thread end of the plug for Sunday's races. The motor had run maybe slightly better, so I dropped the needle to the final notch.
In Sunday's first practice, the ground lead came off the battery and I came in on the pickup truck. I run an AGM battery with has the spade terminals, rather than the lugs. So I crimped down the female end and made sure it was on well for the second practice. The motor ran terribly in the second practice, stuttering and misfiring everywhere. I came into the pits after two laps and when I went to pull the other end of the ground lead out of the frame, it felt loose. So, I pushed it back in firmly and immediately went back out and the motor ran the best it had all weekend. Clearly, the carburetion problem I'd been chasing was an ignition problem.

On the Works Manufacturing starter rollers with my dear friend Harriett Delong in the background. Darleen Dremel photo

For the 350GP race I made sure all the connections were good, then wired and taped everything together to make sure nothing could fall off. Again, I got a good launch and led briefly and again Jim Hinshaw came by on his H-1. This time he pulled away quicker and I gave up any pursuit. After a couple of laps, Bobby Birdsall caught me napping and passed with his beautiful short stroke 350 Aermacchi. I got back ahead, but he motored me down the straight. The next lap, I got right on his rear wheel coming out of the last turn onto the front straight and was able to stay in his draft until he shifted into 5th and I had to pull out to avoid touching his rear wheel. I pulled along side, but then he motored ahead again. I was able to out brake him into turn #1 to lead the class again. I figured he'd be back as his bike was clearly faster and he was riding very well, but we were getting into lapped traffic and I was able to loose him. So again, I finished 1st in class and second overall, this time with only the 4th fastest lap behind Hinshaw, Daniel May on his Vintage Superbike Lightweight BMW twin and Brian Wells on his VSL Honda.

Bobby Birsall's 350 short stroke Aermacchi

I didn't change anything for my last race a the bike was working the best it had all weekend. I was expecting to have another dice with Alex Mclean on his Norton but I'm told that he came in the pits after two laps and then went back out for reasons I don't understand. Instead, Daniel Miller on his F-250 350 Honda twin came by on the last lap and I had no answer for him and he finished 0.805 second ahead of me, his fastest lap being 1.853 seconds faster than mine. John Miller and Scott Turner on Sportsman 350 bikes also had faster fastest laps than me, but not enough to them and I finished ahead of them by about 2.5 seconds.

Juan Bulto on the left with one of the Romero brothers working on his 250 TSS Bultaco

Juan Bulto, son to the founder of Bultaco Motorcycles, again came from Spain, after having impressed everyone at the Barber Vintage Festival last year with his very fast 250 air-cooled TSS Bultaco and his superb riding. Juan won both 250GP races and on Sat. went slightly faster than I did on my last lap on Sun. He could be winning 350GP races with his 250 but, so far, hasn't chosen to, perhaps because the motor has a short fuse. They did change it once this weekend. Juan says they may well come back for the next AHRMA race at Carolina Motorsport Park in Kershaw, S.C., as he really likes the atmosphere here. He and his crew are a pleasure to have at the races.