1st Race Update

Race season is upon us!

Opened up the season with WERA at Talladega GP 2/7-8....not an outstanding showing. Bike had a lot of ground clearance issues, the brakes were mediocre at best, and I melted a piston in my 2nd race. Got a 4th place / 9 bikes in the 500 GP race and a DNF in the V1.

After a quick rebuild, exhaust move, rearset raising, and oil change, I headed south for the AHRMA opener at Roebling Road. Bike was quite a bit more settled, even if the rider was fighting off a terrible cold. The competition forgot to show up so I took an easy win in Classic 60's 650.

Saturday we had the awards ceremony from 2008 at the Holiday Inn in Deland, FL. The awards I received were the #1 plates and plaques from Heavyweight and Lightweight production, and the Triumph International Owner's Club trophy - half a motor mounted to a base! This is awarded to the rider with the best performance on a Triumph for the season and my name is on it alongside some pretty good company.

Onto Daytona International Speedway for two days of racing. We were running the 3.51 mile track this year, which is very hard on equipment, and there were quite a number of wrecks - cold track, cold tires, long offseason, who knows, but it took its toll on the grids. 5 bikes were entered in my class for Monday and 3 made the grid including myself, an HD K model, and a pre-unit BSA. I was gridded so far back it was hard to see the flag stand so I didn't get a great start, but I caught and passed the BSA right out of the International Horseshoe. Then I caught and passed the K model on the banking with superior top end performance. The long track at Daytona is definitely a horsepower competition - you can make up a little time in the infield turns, but if you've got motor, you can leave them all on the banks. The HD and I had a good battle until the last lap, where he pushed it too hard into the west horseshoe and tucked the front end, wrecking out. He was trying to make a pass stick because he knew I'd motor past once we got on the banks racing towards the checker. So, a win at Daytona! The bike was running good and I finally felt the fog clearing from my head during the race, so I was psyched for Tuesday.

Another clear cold day Tuesday - good for race motors but bad for riders. More folks went out in practice and wadded themselves and their bikes up, riding too hard, too soon on cold tires. 3 bikes made the grid again, but today a nice Norton replaced the BSA from Monday. I got a great jump into turn one and was off in pursuit of bikes from the class ahead of me, leaving behind the guys in my class. I was dicing with 2 bikes in the Vintage Superbike Middleweight division (80's Japanese bikes) and having a good ride, when coming out of turn one, the bike sputtered and lost power. I'd fought a battery problem since Roebling and it finally quit on me in the race. Argggghh! I had completed 2 laps so I was scored in 3rd place, otherwise known as last! It does add to my points total though, so with two wins and a 3rd place I should be leading the chase for the championship.

Next event is a WERA race at Jennings Florida this Saturday. I'm in GA prepping the bike (and replacing the battery!) and will head down Friday.

Cheers and stay tuned for more updates,

Chuck