First off, I would like to give thanks to Ed Milich of Guzzitech.com/bimotacagiva.com, My Dad, Pierre Pfeffer, Mike Curtis of Fleetserve.com, Friends, Cretins Motorcycle Club, LA 2 Wheel Social Club, The Alazzurra and Pantaheads Lists, Pirelli Tires, and Johnson and Wood for supporting my racing career. With out your support and help, I wouldn’t be racing.
Since last month, I traded my little Chevy S-10 for an extended cab Dodge Ram 1500. Although the new truck is higher up and it makes it a little more difficult to load the bikes; it was so worth the trade. So much more room in the cab and the bed to load up; plus the truck has a V8 which makes getting up and over the mountains much easier. I guess as we all know it cost a few extra bucks to roll in style.
Since last month, Ed and I work hard on making the 750 Ducati a little faster since my fierce competitor was only running a .250 faster than me in Vintage Heavy weight. We actually only lost a few un-needed pounds on the bike in hopes to gain at least a half second and mounted some awesome dual Brembo Brake Calipers in the front. We mounted a cool vintage fiberglass Pantah race tail section that was a bit lighter than the old stock seat. I of course had to put my touch with graphics on the number plates. Haha
Well, Jesse came out this month and help load Saturday morning. Thanks to myself for creating a race list of things to bring because it took me a few hours to finally wake up Saturday after a long work week. Plus, I had to run down the night before to Torrance to trade bikes with Ed so that I could get more seat time on the red 750, and I could bring out my cb 450 for a shake down with the new front suspension.
Saturday practice was a bit hot, and the track was fast because the wind was not an issue. I rolled out the CB 450 through tech and got a few lookers, and everyone could hear me coming with those dual reverse megaphones. Haha, Ed had donated a Cagiva front end for the 450 which has some better geometry to help out the high speed wobbles I had been experiencing with the original front end. Ed helped measure the travel and we had it set up. Well, it felt like driving a limo around the track; therefore, I dropped the front end down ¾ of an inch to see if there were any drastic changes. Going drastic help me figure out which direction I wanted to go with setting the front end up with only 3 practices. I felt a substantial improvement on the next time out; although, a head gasket leak would end the day for the shaking down of the 450. The red bike felt great except the corners of the new tail section kept poking my hamstrings.
Saturday night, Jesse and I hit dinner with Jeff Tigert and friends at the Mexican cantina restaurant in Rosamond. Later we stayed in the Devonshire Inn on the other side of the highway in Rosamond. Not a bad place btw. Thanks to Ed for helping me out with the cost of the room. Last month was rather uncomfortable plus the bugs were a nightmare.
Oh and big thanks to Jeff for the post practice safety meeting. I got some good tips from you. Later that night we all rolled over to the 1/8 mile paved oval, at Willow Springs, and watch some stock car racing. That was super cool and fun. Here is some video I took with my little Canon Camera. Not the best but fun to watch.
Sunday morning, we rolled into the track and got our pit set up. Ed showed up a little late; therefore, we got no seat time on the blue bike because we needed to put a new rear tire on and last practice was up already for lightweight. The weather was hot and the track was fast. Loyde Johnson showed up on a sick looking Ducati to race in Vintage Heavy Weight. It was low to the ground and had an exhaust pipe sticking out behind the center of the seat.
Race 2 Vintage Heavy Weight.
I lined up on the outside of a pretty good competition. Two Honda Hawks, a Ducati behind me, and couple of others lined up, and the green flagged dropped. I dropped the hammer, and the bike revved to almost 11grand! The clutch slipped widely as we left the line and everyone was out in front. I eased up on the throttle going into one and around two in hopes of getting the clutch to start working again. I still was able to pass the Russ on the 650 Hawk going around turn 2 and follow the Ducati and Chuck on his 750 Hawk. I made a pass around the Ducati in turn 8, but he again passed me going down the straight. I late braked into one and made another pass attempt on the Ducati and was able to hold him off. On the third lap I was up on 750 Hawk and made a pass on the outside of turn 3. I led through the Omega and around 6, 7, and 8. As I entered into 9, Chuck was right there on the inside. I knew he usually goes wide coming out of turn 9, but I wasn’t going to give up my lead that easy. It was hairy and tight going through but I was able to keep the lead position. All three of us were running tight down the straight away and Chuck jumped up front. Then the Ducati was pressuring me and passed me on the next lap. I came back and passed him before turn 9 and focused on Chuck again. On the last lap, I was giving it my all and Chuck was close. I made a slight change going through turn 5 to keep the momentum up, but when I hit turn 6, the front end lightened, and I gained a slight tank slap and lost a little speed. As we entered the fastest part of the track just out of turn 7, Loyde slams the door on me coming around the outside. Although he may not accept this race interpretation; he came inches from crashing us both. As I noticed him coming across my front tire; I let off the gas and put my right leg out. I just knew I was going to hit his rear tire and be slammed to the pavement going 130+MPH. Letting off when I did was a good reaction because he missed me by less than an inch. It was seriously the scarcest moments in my racing career. I ended up third place behind the Ducati and the Hawk in first.
All three of us ran our times down in the 133’s! It was a super fast race, but I wasn’t able to come out in first.
Vintage Light Weight.
Russ and I lined up with a few other racers. Green flagged dropped and the Hawk jump out in front as usual. I stalked him for 2 or three laps. He was running fast and blocking lines for me to pass, but I know he felt the pressure. Into lap three I late braked on the inside of Russ and made a smooth pass. I had been running the way down the straight in 4th gear instead of jumping to 5 because of a slight wind started up. When I passed the Hawk; I accidentally popped down into 3rd. Well, that ended up being a great thing. It gave me a burst of power coming out of one that I need to pull away. I then popped back up the 4th entering into turn 2 and brought the up the RPM’s. After that, I kept my head down and started clicking down two gears into turn one and was liking it. Russ chased me for a lap, but then had engine troubles again. I pulled into the pits with a first place finish and wondered what had happened to the race Russ and I had going.
Until next month buddy!
Well, another great weekend for Cretins Racing; even though fellow Cretins racer Eric O. wasn’t able to make it out again this month. One 1st and one 3rd place finish. Charles is now 1 point behind my lead in Vintage Heavy Weight; therefore, we have to win next month in order to keep the lead. The funny thing is, I didn’t race the first month in Vintage Heavy Weight because there were no racers, and now 9 months later, it has more bikes and competition than the lightweight class.
Next week I’ll be rolling out to Miller Motor Sports Park in Utah for an AHRMA event on my Sportmans 500 Honda CB 450. Cretins Racers Wayne and Eric are coming as well. There are also a few Cretins Racers coming down from Seattle to race as well.
Oh, and my talented and fast competition, Ari Henning, will be joining us as well. I’m totally looking forward to dicing again with him. It’s going to be a kick ass race weekend!!!
Thanks again to all that helped make this a great race weekend. Until next month,
Rick Carmody aka “Highside”
Jesse, Ed, and I
Russ and I
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