Motor Races: Bonneville Vintage GP

I arrived back from the IOM at JFK at 6:30pm Wed., and left JFK for Salt Lake City at 3:55pm Thurs., for AHRMA's 9th annual Bonneville Vintage GP. I was to race the Mike Bungay/Karl Engellener 350 H-D Sprint and the Gary Roper '51 Velo MAC. While Walt Fulton III and I had shared the Sprint at Willow Springs and Sonoma Raceway, Mike and Karl had finished a second bike for Walt.

Karl working on 'Walt's' bike, Mike working on 'my' bike with the Gary Roper tuned Velo MAC in the backround

Walt signed up for a half day practice on Fri., and did a couple of sessions on the new bike without problems except that the new fuel tank that Mike had made had a small leak. Mike switched the tank from the 'old' bike while he sealed the new tank with 'Seal-all'. Walt was happy with his ride, so I asked him to take 'my' bike out to run it in and check that it was ready to go for Sat. Having raced at Miller M/S Pk. many times, I didn't feel that I needed extra practice time and thought it might be prudent to give my body another day to recover from the 7 hour time change from the IOM.

The two Sprints are very similar. Both have frames and swing arms made from the same jigs by Jim Belland. The fuel tanks, seats, fairings and mudguards are made from the same moulds by Mike. The motors were built by Karl to the same spec. 'My' motor had just been rebuilt after a bearing failure discovered after winning six races in a row at Willow and Sonoma. It had a new cyl. liner and piston and rings, new 12mm tappets and bushes, and a re-ground cam. Where the two bikes differ is in suspension, front brakes and tachometers. 'My' bike has Ceriani forks and 'Walt's' Marzocchi, both reworked by Catalyst Reaction, who supplied the rear shocks for Walt's bike, while mine has Works Performance shocks. Walt's bike has a 210mm Fontana front brake, mine a 200mm Kawasaki A1R, both four leading shoe. My bike has a Stack electronic tach, which requires us to carry a fairly substantial battery, while Walt's bike has a mechanical Veglia tach.

Sat. morning, I went out on my old friend, the '51 Velo MAC, first and it was good, then the Sprint which had some clutch slip over 7000 RPM. That turned out to be a matter of the clutch spring nuts not fully reefed down, and everything was good for the second round of practice.

I had three races in a row later in the day. Race #8 was my 'bump-up' race of 500 Premiere; race #9 was the Class C foot shift race for the Velo, and race #10 the 350GP. The six entries in the 500 Premiere Class were gridded in front of the 500GP class in the first wave, with Sportsman 750, Heavyweight novice Production and Sound of Singles 3 in the second wave. In addition to Walt and myself, were two Minovation Seeley G-50s fetteled by NYC Norton with class point leader Helmi Niederer on one and his friend and mentor Lee Acree on the other. Lee was a top AMA pro in the late '90s and '00s and is an instructor at the Kevin Schwantz School, which is where he and Helmi met. This was Lee's first race on a vintage bike. Ron Melton was on a 500 Manx Norton and Jeff Elings was on a light weight G-50 Matchless. Ron got the holeshot from the front row with Lee getting to Turn #1 from the second row in front of me. Lee made a pass on Ron before the end of the first lap and I started dogging Ron. Ron's bike seemed to be all over the place and, on the third lap, we made contact as I went around him on the outside. Once I got by him, I'm told that Ron dropped back quickly, clearly dealing with a problem. Lee pulled steadily ahead and I finished a distant 2nd. Walt had stopped on the side of the track with a broken shift linkage. At the end of the cool off lap, I had trouble down shifting, and I mentioned this to Mike as I asked him to check the tire pressures and we moved the transponder to the Velo.

The four of us in Class C foot shift were gridded in front of the three Class C hand shift Harleys, but behind the Novice Production Lightweight in the second wave, with Sportsman 350 and 250GP in the first wave. I got a good start and was driving around the outside of a Novice Prod. L.W. CB 350 Honda. This evidently surprised him and he stood it up and looked at me rather then where he was going and we bumped and both went off the track, but both recovered and got back on the track with Alex McLean getting by on the McKeever ridged 500 OHC Norton. Alex pulled away and I finished a distant 2nd ahead of Fred Mork on his 500 Norton and Gary Swan on a pre-unit Triumphh and the tank shift Harleys, catching a few of the 250s on the way, finishing 12 overall of the 28 starters.

I hadn't realized there was a bit of a break between races #8 & 9, and I should have been checking out the shift on the Sprint, as Mike and Karl were dealing with the broken shift linkage on Walt's bike, which they got welded and reassembled in time for the start of the 350 GP race. We were gridded in front of the newer Formula 250 bikes in the first wave with Vintage Superbike Light Weight and Classic 60s in the second wave.

I got a good start from the pole, but then had trouble down shifting for turn #1. I managed to hold on to the lead for a while but sometimes it wouldn't downshift and I'd be a gear too high, and some times it would go into a false neutral. Walt came by me, but I was able to get back by him into the lead briefly. The shifting problem became worse and Jim Neuenberg came by on Fred Mork's short stroke 350 Aermacchi followed by Walt. I decided that I should just leave the bike in 4th gear, reving the snot out of it on the straights and bogging it in the slow corners and try to salvage some points. I carried on like this for more than a lap, then the chain came of the rear sprocket and I coasted into the pits. I the mean time, Walt got by Jim and won his first vintage race.

It turned out a nut had fallen off, allowing the bolt that connects the shift arm to shift rod to foul the frame preventing down shifts. The chain had come off because the safety wire had broken on both sides of the rear axle and the axle nut was gone! We removed the rear wheel and found nothing wrong and concluded that the only explanation was that the axle nut wasn't tight enough and vibration and chain pull had caused it to loosen and break the wire. Mike had a spare nut with him and he and Karl got it all back together and then tightened the nut 'two turns past blue' and wired it with 0.041" wire rather than 0.032".

Sun., I did a good long practice on the Sprint and all seemed good. After a quick practice on the Velo to make sure nothing had changed there, I took Walt's Sprint out for comparison. I didn't feel any significant difference in the suspension, but his front brake was definitely better and maybe my bike shifted better, though I didn't miss any gears on his bike. Walt and I both agreed that my bike vibrates more and I thought that the tachs might be reading differently and should be calibrated to each other.

In Sunday's 500 Premiere race, again Ron got the holeshot and again Lee got by him on the first lap. But, this time Ron's bike seemed to be handling much better and he smoothly pulled away to leave me finishing third. Walt finished 4th.

We had a cleaner start for the Class C race and again Alex pulled away to win. I was circulating a comfortable 2nd when I turned into the 'Attitudes' corner a little late and tried to turn harder/lean more and lost the front end. I slid unhurt and quickly picked up the bike and got it out of the way.

Gary Roper and his once beautiful '51 Velo MAC after I slapped it down. The tight primary and secondary chains made us wonder if the frame was bent, but Gary tells me it was just gravel in the chains. It's not too bad.

I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get back to the pits in time for the immediately following 350GP race. There were several bike pick ups, so I was able to get back in time to make the warm-up lap.

Sat., Paul Germain had seized the motor on his very quick 250 DT1 Yamaha in the 250GP race and had therefore been unable to start the 350GP race. He installed his spare motor and won Sunday's 250GP race, so I knew he'd be a factor in the 350GP. And, predictably, he got the holeshot, but I was able to stuff underneath Paul and Walt in turn #1 to take the lead. I was a bit annoyed with myself for having thrown away the beautiful Velo unnecessarily. It seems I have to try to break the lap record every lap regardless of where I stand in a race. So, I wanted to redeem myself and made an effort and was never headed after turn #1, with my best lap being almost 2 2/3 seconds faster than anyone else in the race.. Walt however, lost the front end in turn #5 and took a tumble. He was quite sure he broke a rib, but seemed more troubled by not understanding why he fell. Sometimes it's inexplicable and those are the most troubling.

So, it was a weekend of ups and downs. Fortunately for me it ended on an up and, unfortunately for Walt, it ended on a down. I suspect that he will be undeterred; I certainly hope so, because he's a great addition to the team.