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

2015 Race Record

In 2015, I raced at 13 events at 13 different venues, all of which I had raced at before.  I entered 47 races and started 44.  I had 22 wins, seven 2nds, three 3rds, four 4ths, four 5ths, and one DQ (forgot to mount the transponder).  I had five DNFs, three of which were crashes.  Three crashes is about my average for a year.  One was on oil, and one might have been as a result of a mechanical failure, but maybe I was pushing too hard.  I raced 13 different bikes owned by 10 different people.  A reasonably successful season and I won the AHRMA 350GP championship again, though it seems like I had more than my share of mechanical issues.  This completes 44 years of racing, without missing a year.
In addition, I did the Lap of Honour at the Isle of Man, three Tiddler Tours, and a Moto Giro.

2014 race record

For 2014, I competed in 13 different events, missing two events due to my late June street bike accident.  The 13 events were at 13 different venues, two of which I hadn't been to before: Phillip Island and the New Jersey Motorsports Park Lightning Circuit, and it had been almost 12 years since I had been to Shannonville.  I entered 54 races and started 50 of them, all of the non starts being mechanical issues from as minor as a wire pulled off the coil to as major as a dropped valve.  I did this on 18 different bikes belonging to 15 different people, the most I've ever raced in one season.  I got 22 wins, 6ea 2nds, 13ea 3rds, and 1ea. 4th, 5th , and 6th.  I had 6 DNFs, three of which were crashes plus one practice crash.  This is a little more than average, but fortunately, none of them stopped me from racing the same day.  In addition to this, I did the Lap of Honor parade at the Isle of Man, a Tiddler Tour, a Moto Giro, and a Pewter Run.  Another busy, successful year (with a little bump in the road in the middle).

Grattan

 Because of the problem with the cracked frame it was decided that it would be better to not ride the Seeley G-50 at Grattan.  So, I went to the track with no ride, but after dragging my pitiful self around with a hang dog look on Fri., Trish Damon offered me a ride on her CB175 Honda.

Trish Damon working on her 175 Honda

I would race it in the 250 GP class, while Trish would race it in the CB 160 race and 200 GP.  Then, after briefly considering an offer of a CB 750 Honda, Don Drake asked if I'd like to race his 350 Ducati.

Don Drakes short stroke 350 Ducati

Trish's Honda was quite stock and not super quick, but worked fine.
250GP ran with 500 Sportsman, Pre 40, and Formula 125.  Francis Ganance's freshly rebuilt 250 was running very well and he was riding very well, and he finished 5th overall behind four 500 Sportsman  bikes.  Trish's bike was no match for Lorraine Crussell's 175 Honda, and Lorraine was also riding superbly and I finished almost a minute behind her, 13th overall and third in class.

Trish's Cl175 Honda

Don Drake's 350 Ducati is a short stroke, i.e. a 450 top end on a 250 lower end, and the more I rode it, the more I realized it wanted to rev and I kept lowering the gearing.  Come the race, Francis Ganance was bumping up with his 250 Ducati.  He got a better start than me and I got balked a bit by the Vintage Superbike Middleweights, who out dragged us to turn # 1.  Not wanting to lose touch with Francis, I tried to dive under Alex Cook's 850 Guzzi in the turn # 10 'bus stop'.  I thought I was by him, but we were on completely different lines and we collided.  I went down and, while Alex didn't, I knocked the seat off his bike, and he couldn't continue.  I banged my big toe and pinky, but was otherwise OK.  Don and his crew kicked the Ducati straight and Alex was able to remount his seat, so we were both ready for Sunday.

Trish's 175 was not, however.  It wouldn't start and she and her crew couldn't figure it out.  But, she found me a different 175 to race Sunday.  Now, I would race in the 250 class the 175 Honda that Anders Carlson was racing in 200GP.

The Cl 175 Honda I was sharing with Anders Carlson

 This bike was quite different than Trish's.  It shifted in the opposite direction as it just had a reversed shift lever while Trish's bike had a linkage.  This was more awkward shifting and the riding position was awkward for me, too, but the bike was faster than Trish's.

But again, not as fast as Lorraine's and Lorraine briefly got ahead of Francis on the first lap.  They both steadily pulled away from me with Francis finishing 5th overall again and me this time less than half a minute behind Lorraine in 10th overall.
Having geared Don's Ducati down again, I thought I might be able to make it a race with Francis in the 350 GP, but it would require using the draft of his very quick 250, and on the first lap, I missed some shifts and lost touch with him.  I finished less than 3.5 seconds behind him, he in 5th, me in 6th overall.
all in all, not a bad weekend for having arrived with no ride.

Steve Pieratt picked up this beautifully crafted twin engine Bonneville on his way to Grattan.

Another tasty bike at Grattan was Geoff Maloney's GP Tech Yamaha powered Moto 3 bike.

2014 Quebec GP

5 September, I drove up to Autodrome St. Eustache just west  of Montreal to once again race the '72 TR3 Yamaha of Len Fitch.  Len brought his stable of three solos and a sidecar to sponsor a bunch of us.  Showers started in the afternoon, so the 1/8 mile drag races were canceled Fri. night.  As promised, we awoke Sat. morning to rain.  I don't recall ever riding the St. Eustache road race course in the wet and I spent the two practice session feeling out the traction.  It seemed quite rideable to me and I was surprised by the number of riders who elected not to ride in the Saturday heat races.  Sunday was forecast to be fine, but still, why pass up another chance to crash one's bike?
My first 8 lap heat was for the Period 2 Heavyweight/Middleweight Production race.  I motored past early leader Bill Quail on his SR 500 Yamaha on the back straight and led over all.  On the 3rd or 4th lap, I had quite a slide out of the last corner and that cooled my jets a good deal.  On the last lap, Brian Henderson came by on his CB 500 Honda.  I motored by him on the back straight, but Brian rode around the outside in the last corner and took the overall win with me 2nd O.A. and 1st P2 HW.  Brian rode really well, especially considering that he had started from the pit lane having arrived late for the warmup lap.

Brian Henderson's CB 500 Honda

By the time of my second heat, the 2nd to last race of the day, it had stopped raining a the track had largely dried, though there were still puddles around.  This was the GP race for factory built two stroke race bikes.  It's divided into Modern GP Lightweight (125) and Middleweight (250) and Vintage GP, up to 1989 Lightweight (125 watercooled & 250 aircooled), Middleweight (350), and Heavyweight (351 and above).  Eddy Burnett on his 2002 Honda RS 250 disappeared.  I motored by the modern 125 on the first lap but a couple of laps into it, Paul Gagnon on his '89 RS 125 Honda came by and that's how we finished, the first three winning their respective classes.
Sat. eve, Joe Bar Team, local Quebecois racers and friends, provided food, beer and musical entertainment while the stock car races went on on the oval, which the road race course uses part of.
Sunday was a beautiful day.  The TR3 wouldn't start for the first practice.  Apparently, the fuel tap leaks and the crankcases loaded up with gas over night.  By the time we got it cleared out and new spark plugs installed, we missed the practice session.  I made a point of being first out for the second round of practice and had a good session.

Pregrid for the P2 HW/MW Prod with Bill Quail #711 on my left and Brian Henderson #93 behind me.  Michel Martin Photo

In the P2 HW/MW Prod final, I got a great start and led flag to flag and turned the fastest lap of the race.

Leading in Turn #1 with #560 Peter Hurst Rickman Triumph and #95 Brad Monk XS 650/750 Yamaha following. Michel Martin Photo

The 10 lap GP final was the last race of the day.  Again, Eddy Burnett disappeared.  Chris Hurst, who didn't run the heat race, came by on his Nikko Baker framed TZ 350 Yamaha.  Then, Patrick Gagnon on his RS 125 came by pursuing Chris.  On the penultimate lap, Chris' TZ died and on the last lap, Eddy Burnett lapped me and Patrick, i.e. the whole field.  Eddy is a superb ride with a very fast bike.  His fastest lap was just over 7 seconds faster than my fastest, this with a lap time of under 50 seconds.  I'm not used to getting lapped in a race where I win my class.

Eddy Burnett changing the tires on his 2002 Rs 250 Honda.

Tucking in on Len Fitch's 1972 TR3 Yamaha.  Michel Martin Photo

I love this Michel Martin Photo of the last turn with the sparks coming off the washers that I 'Shoe-Goo' onto my boots.

Some bike one doesn't see too ofter at the races:

A Ural sidecar outfit

A Honda NS 400R three cylinder 2 stroke

A nice original 250 Bultaco Metrella

Another fun and successful weekend in Quebec.  My thanks to Len for letting me ride his well fettled, fast TR3.