Last year I raced at Portland and had a great time.  While I was there I heard a number of rave reports about a new track in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington west of Seattle.  This year, when I found that the local club, WMRRA, was holding their vintage weekend at The Ridge over my 65th birthday, I decided I had to go.
My friend Mike Bungay, who's 350 H-D Sprint I'd raced many times, was game for the trip as long as he could find someone else to haul the bike from his home in Sacramento to the Seattle area.  After some scrambling, we did find that person.  And, one of WMRRA club members said they'd try to find me a 175 Honda to race.
I flew to Seattle on Wed., and Don Lange picked me up and put me up.  Don is a film maker who I met through our mutual friend, Kenny Cummings.  Don had become intrigued by Kenny's hobby, vintage M/C roadracing, and started to make a film about it.  He had come to Sears Point and Road America with a couple of his colleagues and started filming.  Don was able to take Thurs. off and we visited several area motorcyclist and checked out their piles.
First was Tim Fowler, one of the founders of the CB 160 racing movement, a M/C missionary out to save old bikes, and a prolific artist.  His garage had in it a NSU Max, a Zundapp SuperSabre, a 250 DKW twin, an AJS 500 single, a Triumph 500 twin, a Norton 16H flathead, and a relatively modern Suzuki DRZ 400 dual sport bike.  But this was just the tip of the iceberg, as tucked away in various sheds and basements were a Bultaco Mecurio, more N S U's both 2 & 4 stroke, an Adler, scads of CB160 Hondas and many more bikes I'm forgetting.  Virtually all the bikes were runners and Tim tries to exercise them regularly with his friends, but he's finding it increasingly hard to keep up and is slowing thinning the herd.  In addition to the bikes, Tim has several old cars and trucks.

Tim Fowler's 500 AJS on left and 500 Triumph on right

Then there's the art, beginning with a mosaic wall rivaling Gaudi in Barcalona and reminiscent of the Watts Towers in L.A.  

the gate

The wall

There re many mosaic and wooden sculptures in the yard or mounted on walls or adorning roofs. 

A shed Tim build w/gargoyle.  Note the sculpture lurking in the bushes on right.

 Inside, Tim showed us woodcut prints, paintings, and beautiful wood carvings of Deco trucks from the 30's/40's.  tim is amazingly prolific and a delightful character and it was a real treat to visit what he calls 'The Museum of the Mundane', which is anything but mundane.

Tim Fowler's '49 Chevy 'El Camino' race transporter

Tim did the conversion after a truck hit the back end.

Next, we took the ferry over to Vashon Island to visit Dick Casey.  I know Dick through the Velocette Owners Club of N.A. and have run into him at the I.O.M.  He's also a former Moto Guzzi Airone owner.  When we got to Dicks place, a beautiful early '60's 250 Aermacchi was out front.  

Dick Casey's Aermacchi

This was a bike he had gotten from Tim Fowler as a total seized roach.  Back when the Dr. Ben Casey show was on T.V., Dick got dubbed 'Dr. Casey'.  So, on the side covers, Dick had attached laser cut 'il Dottore' emblems and had removed any reference to Harley Davidson.

  He had made a scoop for the front brake backing plate that looked like the original casting. 

A home made scoop on an original backing plate

 In his very well equipped shop, we saw his latest project, a Seeley AJS.  The motor was a 500 pushrod, but Dick had added to, and cut away finning to the the head and barrel, and was making a dummy chain case to make the motor look like a AJS 7 R/ Matchless G-50.  Dick prided himself with doing everything the hardest way possible, and rather then buy a brake cable splitter for the four shoe brake he was putting on the Seeley, he made a beautiful one out of thin air.  He had seen an elaborate oil tank cap latch on an early M.G. and decided the Seeley should have something like that, so again he fabricated one out of thin air and was working on a larger version for the gas cap.  With Dick was Jody Heintzman, editor of the Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiast news letter and he gave us back newsletters and Tee shirts.  Jody couldn't make it to the race at The Ridge as he was going to an AHRMA vintage motocross that weekend and Dick couldn't make it because he was off to the Velo club annual 5 day rally, this year in Volcano, Ca., on his beautiful Thruxton.
Then, it was back on the ferry to Seattle to meet Steve Arnett and his son and  girlfriend for dinner.  I've known Steve for years through AHRMA racing where he and our late friend, Bob Sinclair, would race their near identical 750 SS bevel Ducatis.  Afterdinner, we went over to Steve's house and saw part of his collection: a 125 ohc Ducati that he'd done a couple of Giro ' d Italias on, a 250 Ducati single, a 900 SS bevel, a 750 Sport and a 900 SS belt drive.  He also had a '55 Porche 356 Spyder project nearing completion.  Steve would be racing his 750 SS at The Ridge on Sun.
Three very different collections, but all three passionate motorcyclist.
Friday morning, Don dropped me off at the airport where I met Mike Bungay.  He picked up a rental pickup, and we headed to Tacoma where the race bike had been delivered. 

Mike Bungay's killer 350 H-D Sprint

 From there, we checked into a motel in Lacey, then continued on to the track in Shelton.  We unloaded the bike and  Rod, the track owner, drove me around for three laps in his truck.  The track definitely lived up to it's reputation with lots of elevation change, blind corners, and a great mix of fast and slow turns.
Sat. morning, we were a little late getting out for the first practice and I only got in 3 laps, which is not nearly enough to learn this 16 turn track.  Luckily, we had made the right guess on the gearing (tall, as it's got a long straight), and the bike was working great.  I got out for the start of the second practice and it was starting to come together, but I could see there was more to be had.  Michael Bateman had brought his 175 Honda for me to ride, and they let me do a couple of laps on it during their lunch time track tour.

Michael Bateman's 175 Honda

 Everyone at the track and in WMRRA was extremely accommodating.
The first race after lunch was the Sounds of the Past 160/250 race.  Mick Hart and Daric Cheshire took off and gapped us and I got into a dice with Tim O'Mahony.  We went back and forth a few times, then Mica  Grohn came past.  She then got into the Corkscrew too hot and ran out of track and crashed unharmed.  Though I out braked him at the the top of the Corkscrew, Tim came around me In the last corner and out dragged me to the finish line.  Daric's selector spring broke after he had got around Mick on the last lap, and Mick passed him back, so it was Mick, Daric,Tim, then me.
With a race in between, I then went out on the H-D Sprint for the SOPT vintage 500/750/Lwt. classic SBK race.  Again, Mick Hart jumped into the lead, this time on his 750 Triumph. 

Mick Hart's 750 Triumph

 I eventually got past Duncan Craic in his 750 Seeley Westlake and John Nilsson on his 750 Honda four.  Just before the white flag, Gary Ryder came by on his 850 Norton Commando.  Gary pulled away and closed on Mick, but didn't catch him, despite turning the fastest lap of the race.  It seems that Gary was getting used to a new close ratio four speed gearbox and was slow off the line then had to learn to cope with some front end chatter before getting really rolling. 

Gary Ryder's 850 Commando (I'm a terrible photographer)

 So I was 1st 500 and 3rd overall.
Next came the 160 (175) LeMans race. I was gridded 8th of 9 and I hobbled across the track and jumped on the bike and waddled.  Although the bike had started very easily several times before in the pits, it didn't this time and I was last away.  I caught up to Tim O'Mahony and we started at it again.  We got the white flag and I chased Tim on the last lap when we got the white flag again which Tim and I both mistook for the checker, and we but pitted on what we thought was the cool off  lap, but was actually the last lap.  Oh well.
Next for me was the SOTP 500/750/ Lwt. classic SBK on the 350 Sprint.  I made a big effort from the start as I thought Gary Ryder would be coming on his slow starting Commando.  What I didn't know was that his clutch cable broke just as he was going out, and he didn't start.  So, I didn't need to make that somewhat rude pass on John Nilsson on his 750 Honda in the blind turn#3 and ended up 2nd to Mick Hart's 750 Triumph.  The day ended with the 2nd 160/250 race.  Tim O'Mahoney didn't start this one as he had an oil leak.  Again, Mick Hart and Daric Cheshire went at it in the lead and again Mica Grohn blew by me on the straight.  I got by her to get back into 3rd.  On the last lap, Mick ran out of track in the Corkscrew and crashed, so I inherited 2nd to Daric.  Mica crashed again, further down the Corkscrew behind me, but again wasn't really hurt.
There were an unusually large number of crashes during the day, which no one had a convincing explanation for and which caused lots of delays.  But, the track has no curfew, and they ran all the laps of all the races and we finished near 7p.
Sun., the 160/250s ran with the 500/750/ Lwt. Classic SBK, so I only planned to run the Sprint.  Mick Hart had left Sat. night, but others had showed up and beyond Gary Ryder, I didn't know who would be the competition.  I got a good start and was learning how deep I could send in in turn #1.  I went around Duncan Craic in # 2 and underneath Paul Brodie on his amazing Excelsior in#3. 

Paul Brodie's homebuilt 1919 1000cc Excelsior in his own chassis.  The story on this bike can be found at: http://flashbackfab.com/

It uses a Triumph gearbox

Bevel drive to the single overhead cams with exposed coil valve springs.

 I went around John Nilsson on his 750 Honda on the outside of turn #6 carousel for the overall lead.  John came back by me down the straight but I was able to go underneath him in #4, and led the rest of the race.  Gary Ryder inherited 2nd when John crashed in, you guess it, the Corkscrew on the last lap.
After the race, Mike discovered that one of the screws holding the stator plate to the crankcase had stripped out of the crankcase and the other screw was held on by half a thread.  The stator had been hitting the rotors and it was decided we couldn't run it in the second race.  

After the stator had got loose and was rubbing the rotor

So I went back to Michael Bateman's 175 Honda for the 250 Class.  I ended up having a great race with Daric Cheshire and Dana Clark on their 175 Hondas and Steve Arnett on his 750 SS Ducati.  Steve hadn't raced for a couple of years and was still learning his way around The Ridge.  He had motor on all of us, but we could make it back on corner speed and late braking.  Daric and Dana had motor on me too, but I could dive bomb them in a couple of places.  The four of us swapped back and forth a million times.  Steve's power prevailed, as the finish line is a fair distance from the last corner, with Dana, then Daric then me.  It was a ball.  Duncan, on his Seeley Westlke won the overall.
Rod, the track owner, asked me Sat., after I had run a couple of races, how many tracks I had raced at and how did The Ridge ranked.  I made a wild guess of forty racetracks I had ridden.  Before coming to The Ridge, I would have said the north circuit at V.I.R., Barber, Mid-Ohio, maybe Oulton Park were my favorites.  Now, I'm thinking The Ridge maybe my favorite race track in the universe.  Of course, one tends to think that the last track they were at is their favorite, so maybe we'll have to give it some time, but The Ridge is right up there.  Unfortunately, the original partners in the track had a falling out and the long term development plan isn't proceeding until lawsuits are settled.  So, the track lacks the infrastructure for big time events at this time.  It needs a pedestrian bridge to gain access to infield viewing and showers at a minimum.  Hopefully, the legal disputes will get settled and they can proceed with their master plan.  In the meantime, if you're willing to rough it a bit, it's a fabulous track.

Last Sat. we had the 5th annual Roper Tiddler Tour hosted by my brother Doug and his wife Amy.  It set new benchmarks for attendance, route quality and after ride food.  By someone's count, there were 48 riders.

McCallister's Ducati Monza, the only Ducati on the ride

This may indicate we're going to have to get more serious about shaming the riders of the bigger and more modern bikes into getting something old and small--a Tiddler.

A very nice GB 500 Honda, but pushing the definition of a Tiddler

Ken Richardson's CL 90 Honda with custom flyscreen, a true Tiddler

 Douglas laid out a superb route with 85 miles to the East in the morning and 54 miles to the West in the afternoon.  While there were a few roadside adjustments, everyone came in under their own power.
I got my beloved Moto Guzzi Airone running the previous weekend, after it had been apart for 13 months.  A lot of this time was tracking down a rebuilt crankshaft assy. and having the crankcases 'trued up' and the bearings re-sleeved.  I went for a shake down run the previous Sun., and the bike seemed good after tightening up several things I had forgotten to tighten.  But, at the end of our run, I had the front brake cable pull through it's nipple while coming down a very steep hill to a 'T' intersection.  I just barely sneaked between the pickup truck and the stone wall, but then slid out on the grass and dirt and ended up in the middle of Rt. 82 on my side.  Luckily, no cement trucks were coming and I was able to pick the bike up and get it out of the road.  We were able to straighten the footrest enough to be able to shift it and I was able to ride it back to my brother's very slowly with no front brake.  This was the same front brake cable I've had on the bike since I got it almost 9 years and 14K kilometers ago.  Possibly I had never squeezed the brake lever so hard.  Inspection revealed that the cable hadn't broken, but rather pulled through the nipple, which was literally a spoke nipple, not a proper brass cable nipple.  It was very sobering as it could have been very ugly.  As it was, I made out fine with only a jammed thumb.  It re-enforced my belief in the motto 'wear all the gear all the time'.  I had on a one piece Aerostich Roadcrafter, Arai Corsair, a back protector, thick leather gloves and boots.
The crash created a lot of work to be done to get the bike ready for the following Sat.: straightening the shift lever, straightening and welding the footrest, repairing the fishtail and baffle in the exhaust,  and straightening and welding the speedo drive.  But, I did get it all done and was able to take it for a quick spin Fri. to check it out.
I rode the morning loop with Mike Peavey on his '54 Airone Sport which seemed to have the legs on mine.

Mike Peavey's '54 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport

The route went through Salem, Lyme, Old Lyme and Hadlyme with absolutely great roads with very little traffic.  We picked up lunch at the end of the loop and returned to Doug and Amy's house to eat.  There was a bit of wrenching going on including Douglas replacing the baffle in the muffler on his 250 Benelli, which had fallen out and been picked up by Henry Syphers, who was riding his CL 350 Honda.  Mitch Sheitelman had the splines on the shift shaft of his Cl 72 Honda fail and I welded the shift lever to the shaft with Doug's MIG welder so Mitch didn't have to do the afternoon loop in 4th gear as he had finished the morning.

The shift lever welded on the shift shaft of Mitch Sheitelman's CL 72 Honda

I rode with Mitch in the afternoon, and his bike shifted fine.  Gordon Pulis on his CB 175 Honda rode with us and we picked up a fellow on a 250 Benelli like my brother's (Mark Turkington rode a third one) and Peter Davidson on his C-15 BSA.

Peter Davidson C-15 BSA

The afternoon route went west through Killingworth and Durham.
Some weeks before, when I was puttering on the Horex Resident project I have at my brother's house, I discovered the frame was broken on the right bottom tube between the center stand mount and the rear motor mount.  So, I took the engine out, jacked the frame apart, and made a slug to fit in the frame tube,  then pulled the frame together again and welded it.  After we got back from the afternoon loop, I organized a work party to put the engine back in the Horex.
Then we got into an excellent feast, followed by fireworks and carbide cannon after it got dark.  Several people stayed overnight and the final stragglers left mid morning Sun.  That's going to be a tough TT to top.

From Road America, we went to Chicago to stay with old friends from college days.  One of the high points of my stay in Chicago in the week between Rd. Am. and Grattan is the rotating garage party that the member of ChiVinMoto put on.  For this week, it was at Ken Kales Sports Car Store, not far from where I was staying.  A friend pointed out that I had met Ken a few years before at Road America.  I called Ken and asked if there was any chance I could work on my race bikes at his shop and he said 'no problem'.  So, Tues., I set up there.  While Ken works on sports cars (specializing in Alfa and MG) and has raced them, he's definitely a bike guy and his man Alex was working on a scooter when I got there.
My Moto Guzzi Dondolino had broken the last time I raced it, in May at Loudon, N.H.  It has roller rocker cam followers and a roller spindle had broken, allowing the roller to fall to the bottom of the timing case and the rocker to bear directly on the cam lobe, galling it.

  As luck would have it, a friend in California had a Dondolino cam sitting on his shelf that he didn't need.  What are the chances of that?  He sent me the cam and two rocker assemblies and they arrive just before I left for the Midwest.  The rockers he sent me had been modified and the bushes had been replaced with needle bearings.  The bushes were 13mm I.D., but the needle bearings were 1/2" I.D., so a ground down rocker spindle was included.  This meant that I had to make a little shim 0.004-5" thick, so the spindle wasn't sloppy in the case.  I got it assembled, but when I went to put the rocker box on the head, it wanted to open the valves even though I had the adjusters backed all the way off.  After much head scratching, I finally realize that these roller rockers were for a Falcone and were different than Dondolino because a Falcone has enclosed valve gear.  I had brought a new set of reproduction Dondolino rockers with me, but they didn't have rollers or spindles.  So, I had to press the spindles out of the Falcone rockers and take those rollers and spindles and press them into the Dondolino rockers.  Except it wasn't as simple as that because the spindles had be peened or swedged and had to be relieved and the holes in the Dondo rocker had to be opened up, then the rollers offered up and the spindles pressed in then swedged.  This involve a lot of fiddling and Ken was a huge help in this with his shop facilities and a lot of good ideas. Wed. afternoon I finally got it buttoned up and we fired the bike up outside his shop and it sounded good.  I got my van loaded up before the big thunderstorm, which included hail, that was just tapering off as the garage party was to start.  The storm may have scared some of the lightweights away, but there was still a good turnout and we enjoyed Ken's beer boiled and barbecued brats.
Thurs. morning I headed to Michigan and visited Buck and Constance Boudeman.  Buck is the owner of the 1896 Sylvester Roper steamcycle, as well as a big collection of Stanley Steamers and Miller race cars.  Constance is the great grand daughter of one of the Stanley brothers (F.O., I believe) and she and Buck met through steam.  Buck got the Roper steamcycle by trading Coburn Benson a Stanley Steamer for it.  When Buck got it, he powered it up with compressed air and everything worked.  He was afraid to fire up the boiler as it's old and light weight.  Now he's decided that he wants to get it running and has asked me to ride it (I'm Sylvester's 2nd cousin, four times removed).  We're looking into non-destructive testing of the boiler now.  This will certainly have to wait until Buck gets back from taking his Miller 'Golden Submarine' race car to Goodwood.
From Buck's, I drove to Grattan.  Fri. I just puttered, changing the gearing on the Dondolino, then warming it up and re-torqueing everything.  I did a little crude body work on the ERTT.

I patched the hole in the fairing where it slid on the tach drive.

Both bikes worked well in practice and I didn't have to change anything.
I got the jump on Alex Mclean on Bob McKeevers rigid, cammy Norton, as I often do, I suspect because I have a lower first gear.  Alex came by just before we got the last lap flag, and I was surprised that he didn't have that much speed on me down the straight.  But, he still manage to put a bit of a gap on me before we got the Checkered flag.  I suspect the main advantage he has over the Dondolino is fatter 19" tires as opposed to my very skinny 21" front and rear.  He also has a hydraulic damper on his girder fork, when as I just have the friction dampers.

Hydraulic damper on the McKeever Norton

On the other hand, I have rear suspension, whereas his bike is rigid.  Whether that's an advantage is debatable.

McKeever's pre 40/Class C bike in the foreground and Classic 60's bike behind

Despite the big scoop, Alex says it doesn't have much brake

The classic Norton motor

The 350gp again ran with F-750 and 750 Sportsman.  I got the jump on Paul Germain's DT-1 Yamaha, which is unusual as in this class, I have the taller 1st gear.  I was able to get by Mike Dixon's XS650 Yamaha in the first lap chaos and could close right up on an entertaining battle between Kenny Cummings on his 750 Seeley Norton and Bob Newby on his RD 400 Yamaha based racer in 'the bowl' each lap, but then they'd pull away again.  I ended up 6th overall.  

We had heavy rain over night and the track was very wet for Sun. morning practice.  The sun came out and it got hot, but in several spots water continued to stream across the track for most of the day.  Sunday's races went much the same for me as Sat.  I again led the Class C race on the Dondo for several laps, though Alex came by sooner than Sat. and, just before the last lap, David Bourbeau came by on his tank shift H-D and I was not able to pass him back.  This may represent the first time and tank shifter has finished ahead of the Dondolino when it's been running right.  Bourbeau was impressive.
Sun., Germain did beat me off the line, but I passed him going into turn #1 and didn't see him again.  Going over the jump on the 1st lap (or was it the 2nd?), I locked the front brake landing and went into a tankslapper and some how kicked my right footrest up.  It took me a couples of corners to finally get the footrest down and be able to downshift twice to get in the proper gear.  Several people came by during this including Stu Carter on his Seeley AJS 7R.  When I got organized again, I was able to get Stu back and he finished 2nd in 350gp for the second day.  Sun., I was chasing Mike Dixon rather than the other way around, and I finished 5th overall.

That's Stu Carter on the left behind his Seeley AJS 7R with Francis Ganance or the right

Sunday's win in the 350gp class meant I cinched the class championship I believe, as I've won 10 of the 12 races held so far this year (with one 2nd and one crash), and there are only 8 races left.  This may speak less of my brilliance than the state of the competition theses days.  For one thing, Bruce Yoximer isn't racing this year, and he always gave me a good run.  And generally, entries are down from the glory days of years back.  But, I'm still having fun and intend to carry in this perhaps slowing dying sport.

Fred Sahms just sent me four more photos from Road America June 8th, 2013

That's Daryl Foster on his XS 650 Yamaha behind me

Big D's 1951 Triumph

This bike won the AHRMA Class C foot shift championship last year in the hands of Ryan Ambrose

I recently got back from my annual pilgrimage to Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wi. and Grattan, Mi. with a stay with friends in Chicago in between.  While my Moto Guzzi Dondolino had broken at Loudon in May, the parts to fix it arrived just before I left for Rd. Am., so I threw it in the van with my 350 H-D Sprint.  I wasn't actually planning to race the Dondo at Rd. Am. as Keith Martin at Big D Cycles had asked me if I'd like to ride his Class C Triumph there.  Of course I would, as the bike had been impressively fast last year in the hands of Ryan Ambrose.  Ryan is pursuing a modern bike championship on a 675 Triumph in the CRMA this year, so the Class C bike was available.  The Triumph is a pre-unit 500 with telescopic forks and rigid rear end from 1951.

I went out for practice on it first and was just starting to get used to it when it stopped.  A bolt that secures the stator had backed out and Keith had to re-tap the hole in the case bigger.

While he was doing that, I went out on ERTT.  On the fourth lap I was following a Suzuki four Vintage Superbike.  Exiting the carousel, I saw a huge cloud of smoke come out of it when the #2 conrod came through the front of the motor and I was down instantly on the oil it threw out.  I tumbled some but it seemed my bike just slid on it's right side.  I was a bit beat up, but not too bad, though I did go to the Aid station to have a gash in my left hand cleaned up.  The bike wasn't too bad either: broken windscreen, puncture in the fuel tank, broken front brake cable, and broken shift lever, and a little dirt in the carb.  It had slid on the tach drive and that was wiped out.  Fortunately, my friend Phyllis had come to the event and we set about cleaning and patching it up to get it ready for the race, one of the later ones.  

Darleen Drehmel photos

I went out on the Big D Triumph for the 2nd round of practice and was getting into it when it stopped shifting after a few laps.  A pin had fallen out of the selector and it was a pretty easy fix for Keith and we were ready for the race.  I got a decent start as was quickly building a good lead as the bike is really fast.  Keith warned me that the brake weren't so hot, but I thought they were good.  The bike jumps around a bit when you wind on the power, but it was predictable. The lead was for naught as on the 3rd lap we got a red flag.

Saturday's Class C race was red flagged and we're exiting the track at turn #5  Darleen Drehmel photo

We restarted, but on the warm-up lap, the Triumph died again.  When Keith replaced the stator bolt, he hadn't realize there was supposed to be a spacer between the stator and crankcase. So the stator was cocked and the rotor was hitting it and it finally gave up.

Back to work on the ERTT. Randy Illg of Framecrafters welded the shifter.  We patched the fuel tank with epoxy putty, cleaned the carb, and re-soldered the front brake cable.  I started the race with no windscreen and no tachometer.

Darleen Drehmel photo

This is the warm-up lap of the F750/750 Sportsman/350gp race.  I'm following Kenny Cummings' Seeley 750 Norton probably out of the chicane.  Kenny had a mechanical DNF in the race.  Fred Sahms photo

I went back and forth with Jack Parker on his DT-1 Yamaha a bit before I was able to pull away and win the 350gp and finish 6th overall behind one Formula 750 and four 750 Sportsman bikes.  Keith Martin's son Jerrett was third over all, 2nd in class, and had the fastest lap in the race, but was just beat out by Jeff Hargis in a photo finish.

For Sunday, Keith took the old school magneto off another of his Triumphs and got rid of that new fangled electronic hocus pocus and the bike ran just as well in practice.  There was a shower in the morning, but it stopped before the first race.  On the warm-up lap, I saw the track was still damp.  In turn #6, while trying to take a big sweeping arc to not load the tires too much, I ran too wide at the exit and just caught the painted rumble strip and the bike snapped sideways and spit me over the highside.  I felt like a complete idiot, crashing on the warm-up lap on a bike that should have won after Keith had put in so much work on it.  It banged up the fuel tank and right exhaust, shift lever and throttle.

Sorry Keith

The crash didn't do me any good either, esp. my chronic right ankle but, as I always say, the best thing for what ever ails you, is to get on a race bike.

Jason Roberts gave me one of his old cracked windscreens and we fitted it to the ERTT.  

The bike had misfired a few times in practice so I checked the points and valve clearance and charged the battery.

Again, I had a bit of a tussle with Jack Parker's quick starting DT-1 Yamaha before I was able to clear off with my bike running well.  But, as the race wore on, I again had a bit of misfire.  Then, on the last lap, the motor cut right out and Pete Beyer, on his XS 650 Yamaha came by.  The motor started running again then cut out again.  I was wondering if I was going to finish.  It cut out a third time and I crossed the finish line with a dead engine, but won the 350gp again and again 6th overall behind the 750s.  The motor came back again, then cut out for good on the cool off lap.  When I got back to the pits, I found my fuel tank was empty.

So, it was a weekend of ups and downs with two wins and two crashes, in one of which I was an innocent victim, the other was completely pilot error .  I was feeling pretty beat up but I had plenty of work to do to get ready for Grattan the next weekend.

Sat. I raced at Summit Point, W. Va., at a WERA vintage event.  I had planned to race the Dondolino there but, when I broke it at Loudon three weeks ago, I put out the call.  Joe Traino answered the call and offered me a ride on his XL350 Honda in a CB350 chassis.

This is a bike built by Stan Lipert back in 1995, a vintage vintage bike.  Stan is someone I have great respect for both as a rider and tuner,  so I gratefully accepted the offer.   The motor is from 1974 and is derived from the '72 XL250, which was Honda's first 4 valve per cyl. production motor.

Being a singles kind of guy, I was curious to see how it would compare to a CB350 with the twin cyl. CB350 motor.
There was quite a light turnout of modern bikes (maybe there were scared off by the mid 90's heat), but a decent vintage entry.  Only two of the vintage bikes were not Japanese: a 750 Triumph and Steve D'Angelo's 250 Ducati.  The vast majority of the bikes were CB350/360 Hondas, with a few RD/RZ 350/400 Yamahas, a XT500 Yam, and an H2 Kawasaki.
The XL 350 bump started very easily and I went out in the first practice to get familiar and check out the older Avon tires on the bike.   I wasn't too impressed by the front brake (450 Honda), but other wise the bike was good with decent handling, tons of ground clearance, and a torquey motor.  The broad power band and relatively wide gearbox ratios meant I didn't shift it much.

This must be practice. I'm followed by Rich Midgely (461))and Steve D'Angelo(507), or could Rich and I be lapping Steve's 250 Ducati?  Photo by George Roulson

The first practice was red flagged after 3 laps, so I was just starting to get the feel for the bike.  I got more laps in the 2nd practice and started to gain confidence in the tires, which were of an indeterminate age.  But, we checked the tire pressure when I got back in and there was 17psi. in the rear.  Did Joe just misread the gauge when he set it or did we have a leak?  We pumped it up and kept checking it before my first race, #7 which was actually the 5th race of the day because of combined/canceled races due to the light modern turnout.  It seems we did have a slow leak, but not something that would be a problem for an 8 lap race and pumped it up to 33psi.
I was on the pole in V2 with 500gp and 250gp gridded behind me.  I didn't do the best start, letting out the clutch too quickly and bogging and wheelie-ing slightly.  Rich Oldakowski shot by on his XT 500 Yamaha and I chased him the first lap.  But, just starting the 2nd lap, he raised his hand and pulled off.  He suspected his coil died.  It's doubtful that I would have been able to keep up with Rich but, with him gone, I took the win overall.

George Roulson photo

We checked the tire again when I came in and it was 35psi.  I have to confess that I didn't really feel any difference between 17 and 35psi.
There was one race before the last race.  Formula 500 was gridded first; I was on the 5th row in V1 with 350gp gridded behind.  I got a better start this time and followed Richard Lucas on his RD 400 Yamaha down to turn #1.  I out braked his disc brake with my drum brake and slipped underneath him into the corner.  I had discovered that my brake wasn't too bad with more use and squeezing really hard.  I figured that Richard would come back by down the straight with his bigger two stroke engine, but I didn't see him again and I was overall winner once more.

leading Richard Lucas #345, RD 400 Yamaha.  George Roulson photo

WERA does almost all of their vintage races on Sat., with only the newest/biggest 'vintage' race on Sun.  So, Sun. was a day off for me and I took a bicycle ride with my friend Ellen in the morning.  First, we checked out all the facilities at the track.  There are now four circuits there.  In addition to the one I've always raced on (since 1972), there is the Jefferson and Shenandoah circuits, which both had auto track days going on, and a go-kart circuit.  I was impressed that they had refurbished the old restroom and brought it up to the excellent standard of the newer restroom/shower.  The track gets used a lot and hard and has had a reputation of being slippery and bumpy, but I found it in very good repair.
We left the circuit and bicycled many miles away and I was impressed by how far away one could hear the bikes practicing.  We chatted with a local fellow in 'downtown' Summit Point who had worked for the State Department training drivers at the circuit.  I asked him if the community 'got along' with the race track and he said it did.  The race track was there first and treated the community well and people accepted it.  This was reassuring as the houses have definitely moved closer and closer over the years.  It's a big operation and clearly a big part of the local economy.