Whats going on at the tracks

[lecroy]

That seems very quick for a 550!! Good job!

[lecroy]

The eBay crank made its way home today. All I can say is WOW. John did a real nice job with it. I looks brand new and even with John replacing the little end with a big one, putting 4 brand new 493 Kat rods and bearings plus, installing a streight cut 1100 gear and welding the whole thing up it was still a good deal.

I finally have a spare crank. Now if I can make the motor live for more than a pass or two I will be happy.

For those of you who do not know, John Pearson from Pearson racing near Dayton Ohio has been building cranks for a while. He specializes in the older engines, like the GS and KZ. We found him a few years back when he shipped Greg a crank which was supposed to have came from FBG. After this we started shipping parts to him direct. He does some nice work and is VERY honest. He is not one to tell the customer what they want to hear. If you send him junk, he will let you know. He will not waste his time or your money on parts that he does not think are going to hold together. The first thing he wants to know is what your doing. If your trying to build a 6 second drag bike or a 12 second street bike he will take this into account when checks your parts out. He may very well tell you something like, this crank is good for 9.0s, or in the case of the previous crank I sent him it was something like, this is the last time this crank can be repaired. He has a lot of pride in his work and it shows.

John has been very helpful, answering any questions that come up and explaining the details about each job. He not only builds cranks, he is setting up a clutch for me now and I guess he does some head work over the winter months along with some transmission work. He doesn't have a website and doesn't take credit cards. COD only.

[lecroy]

Friday there was a guy on a bike that it must have been his first time to a track. One of the little sport bikes flipped off the line and slid down the track.

There was a kid in a car, did not know how to stage, drove thru the stage lights, backed up. Yep, he left the car in reverse. Just missed the car that was waiting in the burnout box.

We took second and third place. Team Green gained a point on us.

I guess we are all signed up for the big IHRA funny car event the weekend after next. $150 per bike to enter and run with the cars. It covers the weekend which makes it worth it. I guess the wives got jobs at the track carrying the banners or something. There are going to be over 30 T/F cars running. Should be a fun time.

http://us131motorsportspark.com/news_detail.asp?news=56

All the parts are coming in this week for my bike. I think I have everything sorted out this time. Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have a repeat of that last run.

[lecroy]

The kid took second place last weekend. I think he is just a few points off the lead now. It's going to be tight. This coming weekend is the big event. Should be able to get some nice video. I no longer have my fast website setup, so if you know of any free places to host some videos let me know.

I assembled the next motor on Wednesday, then spent all day Thursday breaking it in. Taking things much slower this time around. Can't aford to blow a third one up. Took it out in front of the power plant for a test run on Friday. There is a nuclear plant very close that has a nice section of streight road with no houses. The wife and I pulled up, unloaded and fueled the bike. I drove the about an 1/8 of a mile down the road, turned around and hit the throttle till it came up to 10 PSI. Put the bike back on the trailor, got in the car and there was the AEP truck. With all the changes after 9/11, I'm sure they saw me on video, thought I was a guided missle heading for the plant or something.

With the weekend event there is no test and tune till the week after next.


Did the rest of you give up racing with the hot weather we have been having?

[RacingJake]

Nope, It's only 100 degrees outside and at the track I feel like a bake potatoe, I think I loss 5 pounds last week.

I picked up this thing last week and I can't push the bike up into it. Looks like I need a trailer



But there's always the Harley I can ride to the track.

Check out this idiot on a Harley, I think he needs a sportbike if he can't take a turn :roll:

http://www.twistedlimit.com/

and click on Harley going off cliff, also check out the chic on the bike when this guy lays it down on this web page. Cool stuff

[rosco15]

we've just been having alot of off weeks and weeks rained out. I store my trailer in Painesville and it got hit by the flood along with just about everyone else around here. No damage just 18 inches of water got into it and brought in some mud. Nothing a good cleaning can't fix. I did get me a pit bike. An 03 Honda XR70. Perfect size. I'll have to post a pic later.

If your looking for some place to host vids try putfile.com. Get an account. I think you can upload up to 25mb. like this.

http://media.putfile.com/tom-53

[lecroy]

Nice looking truck. Are you going to get a little electric lift for the back to pick your bike up?

Pit bike? I thought your working on the rideable slider?

The first time I rode a car tire bike was being pushed by a pit bike. Now I push. I keep thinking I need a pit bike camera. People move out of the way for a loud drag car, but a little 100cc bike with a full exhaust, they won't ever turn their heads. It gets a bit hairy at times.

I will stay with the lockup and electric start for now.

Two years ago we were in St. Louis at one of the Prostar events and I saw a Kaw. tripple 2-stroke run in the 7's. Last weekend we were at the local track and I am standing in the pits and here comes a bike that looks very similar. I asked the guys if this was their bike I saw make that pass. Sure enough. Of course I asked if we would see a repeat performance at Martin. Their first pass was a little lame and the engine was breaking up a bit. Pass number two put the bike into the 7's. We ran right after them and the pit guy comes up and says thats just for me. When we got back to the trailor they all came over and they said they lost a piston in the run.

Speed kills alright, your pocket book.

[RacingJake]

Thanks Mark, I've been looking at a few 4x7 open air trailer's. Easy to move and cost less than 500 bucks. I can mount an air tank and storage box for everything and be ready to go racing 24/7.

[lecroy]

I just have a little utility trailor I bought in 94. I bolted a couple of 2X4s to it for the tires and drilled four holes for the straps. I keep it inside. Between that and all the oil that gets spilled on it, it stays in great shape. No signs of rust or rot.

I would like to get a small enclosed trailor just to keep the bike safe from the rain. I have to keep some shower caps in the back of the car that I put over the electronics.

My friends are the opposite. They just bought a second motor home with three of those pull out sides. The trailor is nice, all custom painted. We can pack six bikes in it, plus all our junk. It's way more than I would ever put into the sport.

[Baatfam]

If your looking for some place to host vids try putfile.com. Get an account. I think you can upload up to 25mb. like this.
http://media.putfile.com/tom-53

Hey Ryan...how ya doin'?
I checked out a bunch of the free video sites including putfile, but I finally just bought me some web hosting space. Much easier and not too expensive.
I went with www.1and1.com
Good service, 50Gb of space, 500Gb of traffic, 2 domain names....all for $4.99 a month.
Right now they have a deal on the same package....$3.74 a month.
Besides, havin' a web site is kinda cool for all the out of state relatives...
And my videos are more than 25mb.....:-D

Later,
Bob T.

[rosco15]

Lost in the final when the bike didn't shift into third gear. Guessing it's just a loose chain. The important part is that I locked the bike class. We only have 2 races left and I'm up on second place by 12 rounds. No way he can pass me. We only go abougt 4 rounds a week.

[RacingJake]

Way to go Ryan.

I make the round trip to DFW to send my mother in-law home and decided to hit the track at the last minute. No time for the Suzuki so I rode my Sporty and had a heck of a time with red lights. Need one of those staging disk for the front wheel, I guess it being a 21 inch rim and small tire it's doesn't take much movement to send you home like Grand-Ma

[lecroy]

I have never had my Harley down the track, or my GSXR. I am guessing I could get the Harley up to 70 at 17 seconds or so. It's a real pig. I have the controls in the front, so I would be worried about wrecking it.

All locked up, Great news!!!! We are still clawing are way to the top. We have four more points races I think, so it could still happen.

What a weekend it was. Good food, friends and I still have nitro in my nose and can't hear. We got into the money, but did not come close to breaking even. I noticed when I was pushing the kid back from the second time trial that there was some bad sounds coming from the tranny area. He had blown fifth out of it the week before (took every dog off of fifth, no wonder it wouldn't shift) and we had a brand new tranny in. I took the support plate off, noticed the bearing had cocked. Something just not right with it.

I took some video that I will try and put up on the free site. Is there a limit on the quality size or format? They had a few new records set. I don't think a lot of the car guys wanted us there, but the people sure did seem to like them. A lot of kids were asking questions and taking pictures. May be hope for the next generation of racers yet.

Suzuki had a booth setup at the track. They had the GSXR and the Busa there. I just did not like the tail section of the GSXR and the nose did not seem to fit very well together. I like the weight, about 100 pounds less than the Busa. I have had enough close calls with my GSXR, I think this think would be the end of me. I liked the Busa.

[lecroy]

We did pretty good this weekend. The kid went out in the second round and came back to win the gamblers race after six rounds. Dad went on to win the points race taking out team Green in the finals. Real close race. The Kaw made it into the forth round, then caught a 6 something light and that was the end of it. We can still catch Green, but time is slipping away.

I did not get to see it, but I guess we had a small wreck with one of the bikes. One of the regulars let his kid on his bike (we think for the first time). We were watching him at the far end of the track and he was doing real good. I could see him playing the game at the far end and it really looked like he had been riding for a while. I heard in the third round he switched to the left lane and the bike tossed him when he launched. I guess the bike was spinning in circles as it slid down the track. The bad thing is I don't think he was supposed to be on the bike, he is only 16 with no IHRA license, no test passes....... It may be a while before they let him ride again.

Next weekend is the last all bike drags. Three days of non stop motorcycle action. I plan to run the old GS in street E/T.

[rosco15]

We're back on another 2 week layoff. They had an NSCA race this weekend. Really fun to watch. 6 + 7 second door slammers. Next weekend they have an import only race.

Took the busa to Norwalk last wednesday. lost in the final. Broke out pretty good. I'm used to spinning and slowing down in the later rounds. Not at Norwalk you just go fastser. They keep the track real sticky. No spin at all. Only downside is getting home at 1:30. At least I'm on vacation.