Harescrambler adventure

[Big Mac]

5/29/05 Alderdale MX, WA - From Race Day Stories •

I take the little Penton out on the line for my first race of the day, moto #3, vintage 250 int. White flag comes out for moto #2, and I'm not going to bother to dismount to go for the right foot kickstart procedure...it's a finely tuned race bike and starts easy, so I'm giving it the manly left-foot boot while astride. One semi-wimpy left-footed half stroke and it pops once and then purrs to life nicely. Starter points down the line, I snick it into 2nd, scream it a bit and watch for the flicker of the gate drop....Gate goes down and I gun it and unload the clutch...and....while bikes all around me tear off the line, the little Penton lurches...backward.

Whaa? Is the tranny stuck between gears or? The competition is quickly disappearing as I quick pull in the clutch and snick it down to 1st. More gas, less clutch, and the Metzler is spinning backward throwing a roost up under my feet!

It takes like 2 seconds for me to realize this is that urban-legend, backward-running MX bike story, come to life in my hands. I hit the kill switch, bang it into neutral, jump off and kick it over again (right-footed, hard and manly this time), and I'm off and running fast, about 1/4 mile behind the back of the pack. Now, determined to make good after the start gaffe, I'm riding like the madman I only dream of being, beating the little Penton into submission as I come up short on the mellowed-out doubles to crush the suspenders again and again. But now I'm determined and I make time. By the end of Lap 1, I'm catching the backmarkers just past the start turn. For the first time I clear the big tabletop and scream down the ramp passing a CZ like I'm possessed. Then in the humps and bumps I see a rider off his bike, restarting after a washout...it's Roger Landberg! I'm saving my race and ahead of King Roger!
 


Now into Lap 3 and I see more target riders up ahead. The bike's running perfect, everything is happening automatically and I'm in my zone. I catch and pass a Husky and I'm on the tail of a Honda as I go through the big off-camber left in the bottom and enter jumps section. I see that right corner coming up with the small shoulder-hump on the right. Honda-man is going for the easy wide...perfect...I pin it and take the shoulder-hump inside line, turn just right for a clean pass, and drift across his line a bit to close the door...then accelerate hard up over that first blind hill to catch a decent launch, with a crazed gleam in my eye....

...Just as the realization sets over me that this was THE blind hill after which the track veered slightly right around the BIG SHEER DIRT BANK. Now THE bank stood directly across my committed line as my free-from-earth slow-motion spinning wheels hummed uselessly just above the ground, providing absolutely none of the valuable friction required for steering.

In the time it took for my stomach to travel completely into my esophagus, Ker-whack, my front tire and left  handgrip dig into the wall, followed by an immediate left turn into the face of the bank. This, of course, ejected me into an over-the-handlebars faceplant into the wall and into a dust-cloud heap, while the arse-end on my little Penton traded places with the front. THANK GOD for Brad Price's excellent flagger work, because before my vision cleared, several former passees were flying blind over the hill at me like missiles on Baghdad...Honda man, Husky boy, a CZ, Roger.

When it went quiet and my head cleared, I took stock. I felt ok and the bike looked all there, so I kicked it about 10 times and lit off again. I was spitting dirt out, felt over-heated and physically shot, so I hoped, prayed, for a checkered flag as I went around. No luck and I didn't want to quit. I felt a bit better once underway so I tried to get back on it a bit. Finally, last lap, all alone.      But wait... A bike up ahead and I'm gaining ground! Maybe a single pass after all this? I charged with all I had left in me...running out of track now...must make move...one corner left for the pass...aaargggh....across the finish now, beat by Mr. 2nd-to-last-place by half a bike-length!

A most non-glorious moto experience, but an unforgettable, tell-the-grandkids-someday old guy racing experience nonetheless. Which is pretty much what it's all about, eh?


Jon McLean
Lake Grove, OR

[firstturn]

Great story Jon and you make the Penton 250 look like a Mini Bike [8D].

Ron Carbaugh

[Big Mac]

Ron - yea, I almost know how Rik Smits feels when he see riding pics of himself.[)]

When I was done racing that day, I noticed that the upper shock bolts had been bent up at an angle and one of the Works shock's upper eye had been driven about half way out over the bolt and rubber. Yikes. Went to hardened allen bolts with fender washers after that.

Finally decided I couldn't bear to hammer the mostly original Harescrambler any longer, sold it in favor of bigger frame/longer travel.

[JCHubbard]

Good story Mac!

[garrettccovington]

This is a pretty good story.  I enjoyed reading it.  I felt like I was there.  Thanks!

G

72 six-day
79 KTM MC80 250

[Britt Boyette]

Are you still racing this season?

Britt Boyette
76 400 MC5 (project)
77 250 MC5 (uberproject)
77 Husky WR250
75 Can Am (future flat tracker)
76 RM370
75 Hodaka Road Toad
83 YZ250
Too much of a good thing?

[tomale]

Had the same thing happen to my MC 5 at Tulsa in 04 The strangest thing.... I did not think it could happen but it did,,, That was such a great weekend... Just think, we both came home with Gold that weekend... Great story Mac,

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)74'
250 hare scrambler (project bike)