VMD - let's get ready to rumble...(Results!).

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I won't even go into the day-by-day particulars, but short story long is I could not get the 36mm Lectron to work on the MC5.  I couldn't get the bike to clean up at idle, partial throttle -right where I wanted this product to shine! If ya show up at Mid-Ohio, I will definitely cry in your beer on this one.  Mr. Gary Ellis is going to  bring it back to his shop and try and figure out what is going on. No doubt it had nothing to do with the carb.  MAN, it looked cool mounted up on the MC-TooClose 250.

So...back to the Bing and we are just about set to go on the MC5. I previously mentioned the Renthal Mini-highs - NICE! I'm kinda thinking I should have grabbed a new rear tire now, but...I just wanna ride for chrissakes....

Six Day is good-to-go, with new 13.5" Works mounted up, and 28mm Mikuni carbing cleanly.  I have a 30mm Mikuni on the bench, but just didn't get a chance to sort it out with time and energy that was put into trying to get the MC5/Lectron set-up to work.  One "problem" - I have a Circle F pipe and boy is it a "ringer" at the cylinder/pipe mount.  Has anyone else experienced this vibration and do they have a suggestion? Maybe some kinda high-temp O-ring set-up?  Thanks for sharing if you know what to do.

I'm traveling with Loren Westcott this year - he's got a 5th wheel camper set-up going and he can carry six bikes (6!!).  We're gonna sleep in the camper.  This year is like Mecca to him - he has a 73 Husky 450 WR and a 77 Husky 250 CR.  Needless to say, he's a bit excited that Mr. Smith is Going to VMD (and rumored compadres that are supposed to show up....).  Last year was his first year back in real competition -he raced a couple of Novice classes on the national AHRMA circuit and brought home championships. I accused him of cherry-picking, but I've also heard stories of guys that STILL race Novice in AHRMA when they should have moved on a while ago.  Oh well....

Loren is also going to bring his 78 KTM 400 (Mark's Swap Meet, this site) with a For Sale sign on it.  He's down to $2600 these days on this solid bike.  And the sixth bike is....probably my TTR125 pit bike, which was very effective at getting around The Complex last year.  But..Gary Ellis may leave his Golf Cart (rental) with us in the evening, so we shouldn't have any problem visiting the masses - and of course - Penton Village!  Hmmm...I wonder if Gary took out insurance on that cart.....

I'm bringing a set of "For Sale" Red Wing shocks (13.25") that I used on my Six Day last year.  They have been rebuilt with Real shock oil by Shockaholic up here in the upstate.  They work great - stop by and make an offer on a set of decent trail shocks.

I'm signed up for Vintage and Post-Vintage HS on Friday and totally missed the "Close Date" for MX (July 3rd).  You CAN enter at the track if you too had your head between your legs like I did.  Plan on running the Six Day and the MC5 on Saturday (EV1 for the MC5).  Obviously, the 125 SD may be outgunned in the "pre-75" 125 class, but I'll try and have some fun.  Loren has signed up for the Race of Champions event, hoping he can rub elbow with Heiki Mikkola in Turn One.

[Ernie Phillips]

Bob has two Penton motorcycles.  Bob has worked very hard on bike and body.  Is he ready?  Are his bikes ready?  Let's hope so.  Go Bob go!

Pre-entries VMX:

http://www.xtrm.com/web/Promoter/Event/EventInformation.aspx?oTFq%2fMXv29dsDBl4qGxRdw=%3d12abc12

click "attendees" tab

Bummer that they charge $70/race for post entry.  Post entry surcharges is bad for business.  With pre-entries so low, seems like the organizer would want to encourage participation and not charge a premium. Good luck to all Penton racers!

ps:  Bob, 6-Day Secret - start in 2nd gear, that eliminates one very critical shift off the line.  The rest of the time, shift slow and deliberate.  You can shift 10 times "slow-deliberate-positive" to every one of your jabbed-at missed gears.  


Ernie P.
Chattanooga, TN

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Thanks for the advice, Ernesto..

OUCH on that post-entry fee....

I'm jumping in shower now, loading up at Loren's within the hour.

SOS to Pentonisti at VMD - my 250 is still sick. I think its the carb - please stop by and help with diagnosis.  Should be all the way south on east side of the South entrance road.

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Tapping away on my Blackberry,heading east on I-90 back to the state on Onandaga...

First-I won Vintage 200B Cross Country.. Not sure how I won, wasn't even sure who I beat (about 8 or 9 other guys).  Wierd-but thought I had never caught some guys when we first went into woods. THIS year, we did a lap of the moto-x track before heading north into woods.. Rode well, no falls, trail got greasy towards end, but I consciously backed off a bit on laps 4-6 because 1)PV started at Noon-I figured most rest I would get is hour and a half.., and 2)I had bent my shifter (toe piece) straight back on Lap 4, resulting in me not catching another gear higher in some sections for more speed. So I had a bad vibe for some reason... A wicked quick guy came by me on last lap on a Can-Am and I thought "that's it, you may not even get a trophy, Boy Blunder".

Adding insult to injury, Cory B finally catches me on Lap 6 just before barrels. Okay FINE, he's catching me for the second time! But my analysis told me I was DONE and sure enough- I got the checkered flag.  Thank god. Thank Cory, who is god-like at this stage of his career-he was scary fast on the trail my friends. The Barrel People, who for the previous 3 laps had greeted me with "Who ARE you?" (they had not only screwed up my pre-registration, they also misplaced my post RE-registratio) greeted me with "Great job!"  Hmmm..sure, as in "You finished, great job".

An hour or so after my PV race, I finally went over to check the results.  Electronically, my name is last on the list on 200 B entries..I'm crushed- I didn't do that bad did I?  Only about 10 guys passed me in the entire race (Adam G lapped me also BTW).  Then I look over at the last column entitled "Pos" and there is a #1 next to my name. Geesus!! I call the lady over (who has sincerely apologized to me for the registration screw-ups) and ask her if this is the position that I have finished.  She replies.."I dunno, I don't think so..- I'll have to ask. Stay here, don't come in the scoring/results room-the other lady gets very upset if anyone else enters the room".  I look around for hidden Candid Camera, not believing what I am hearing. She goes into room,closes door, opens door, and says "Yes, you took first".

Ladies and gentlemen, I had some wet eyes for a minute or so. Last year at that same time I was staring at a 2nd place result and feeling the effects of what turned out to be 5 broken ribs.

THANK YOU, Poggers for your advice and support (particularly Gary Ellis). My Six Day sang a great song on that Friday morning in the woods of Mid-Ohio.

Now..how'd that PV CC go and what about those MX races on Saturday?  

I'll let you down gently now..Not Well- no more Wood was harvested, so to speak. But I had a swell time trying.

More later. Maybe.

[Ernie Phillips]

Yo Bob,  Great ride!  Tell us more -EP

Ernie P.
Chattanooga, TN

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Thanks for kudos Ernie..you're one of my inspirations.  Hopefully you'll make it to Mountainfest and open up a can of Penton Whoop-A___ on Chicago Jerry's CC course.

Anyway..exactly 1.5 hours after I crossed the finish line for the Vintage CC race, I was on the line for PV with my MC5 250. In a downpour.  The second downpour in the last hour.  I don't quite have down the hand on the helmet (live engine) start BTW.  Once again I grabbed the clutch and tried to grab 2nd gear and all I got was neutral for about 3 attempts until I calmed down, notched into 1st, short-shifted, and got going to catch the pack of 15 or so bikes that had left me on the line.  By end of the motocross lap I was back up into the top 5, but...it only got worse after that.  Back into the woods and it was just Sloppy World - water running down all the trails, slicker than slick, guys already not making it up the fricking hill climbs.  And me.  Who stalled my bike 3 times (sudden heavy rear braking action) and had to kick start it each time.  Damn - I'm using up energy! "Grab the clutch, dude" I quietly coached myself, which would have been fine, but the reality was I didn't have much clutch left after a while with the lever reaching the bar before it worked.  So...slowly my attention is more and more fixated on riding "around" my bike and less on the absolutely ****ty trail and I'm making mistakes.  There was some real slow stuff at a few points with switchbacks and stuff - no problem on the Six Day - but the 250 was just an animal given the conditions and...the bike.  If I didn't mention it, she also wasn't very clean from Zero to 1/8th throttle - may sound like some whining - but it was just one more distraction.  

And then I didn't make it up a hill on Lap 2.  Just stupid stuff, but I was already TIRED for chrissakes.  Heck, I made it to the top - but with one of those wick the throttle and throw it the rest of the way up maneuvers. The bike was on its side, I was face down, and I knew I was over-heated, camelback providing water or not.  I crawled over and helped a poor guy whose YZ was stuck on a root, then worked my way up to find an MC5 that would not start.  Helmet off, gloves off  - I was only good for about 3 kicks and had to breath.  Terry Cunningham goes by from the +50 guys, then Rick Smits (amazing rider by the way - turns out he has been "practicing" by riding GNCCs), then...GARY ELLIS...not hold on just a minute here, this is getting downright BAD!

I finally get going but easily give up 10 minutes on that hill and I know my bread is just about baked.  I ride the most awful 3rd lap in the world (you know the feeling, you're so slow and tired that the course just starts Sucking You into every rut and root ya want to avoid).  Terry and Rick go by me AGAIN before end of Lap 3 and I start dreaming of cold beer, a hot shower, and clean clothes.  Gary Ellis may have gone by me again, but I'll NEVER admit it.

And that was it - I pulled off.  I don't quit too often my friends (oh wait...that's the 2nd time I've "quit" in last two weeks - see Allen's Farm preps []).   But I had just gotten my butt kicked by my 250 and this very wet CC course.  Let me mention Gary Ellis again - he had a helluva race and definitely gets to have official bragging rights for the job he did on his MC5(MX6?) 175.  I think he actually had to take home a second place plaque because of some youngster on an RM125 that was also a blazing saddle that afternoon, but there weren't too many others that passed Gary.  

Gary Ellis - you are The Man.

BTW - I also need to give a shout out to John Frackleton, Vintage Can-Am racer and former PE factory pilot back in the day.  He took second to Adam G. in the Vintage 200A class in the morning. Followed him around for Lap 1, and a bit on Lap 4 that morning after he experienced some kinda problem.  But he is also a Fast Guy.  I gotta find some speed if I expect to collect some "A" wood next year. Noooo question.

BTW..did that hot shower and cold beer hit the spot.  Oh..and the 800mg Ibuprofen.  Can"t forget to mention that.

Next up...The Motocross Files.

[Lew Mayer]

You always write a great story.

Lew Mayer

[thrownchain]

Too bad you don't have pictures to go with it...

[MikeMurphy]

Bob,
I am glad to hear John Frackleton rode so well. I raced him once in New York last summer at the CC in Broome Tioga. Very nice guy and also a fast rider. That Can-Am fits him well.

Mike Murphy

Michael Murphy
1976 250 MC-5
And how many ROKONS can I sell you ?

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Yeh Mike...John-Boy was very Good In The Wood.  Also did very well on the MX track Vint Sportsman 125 - which means he kicked by butt there too with his Can-Am, complete with enduro lights.  []

He didn't bring his 80's CR125 (that's what he using to chase your snowmobile at Broome).  Brought an EVO-1 Can-Am 125 w/downpipe...not sure what happened but I'm sure his truck was full of trophies for the trip home.

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About those photos...I've asked the AMA - they had no Cross Country event photographers (sad, huh?) and apparently no one was "shooting" for dollars.  Maybe Mr. Gordan Brennan caught #567 in the woods?

Time for the Motocross Files - I'll really try to keep this short because the results do not justify keystrokes.  

MX track was kinda nasty on Saturday - started out very muddy from the Friday rains.  I completely skipped practice- I had spent too much time cleaning up my Pentons behind the shower/maintenance building at the east end of the Mid-Ohio facility the night before (yes, this is the only hose in the whole facility -and they still might yell at you and chase you off...).  

So...about a dozen bikes signed up for 125 "Sportsman" B/C and a few A bikes.  Nogate/live engine start and I don't get away too well, but things seem to sort themselves out after a couple of laps and think I'm 4th or 5th, taking WIDE lines around the mud and not riding too stupid, catch a TM125 and look ahead to see just a couple of guys but neither is really in reach by Lap 4.  Mr. Frackleton comes by (riding A)on his Can-Am, but I stay in front of the TM and finish 3rd in my B class on my Sixxer.

Two moto break and I'm on the line with the MC5 - I felt really warm between motos and soaked my head/chest with a towel soaked in icewater, so I was kinda worried.  Class is VERY light - maybe 6 bikes total in EVO 1, A and B riders together.  I'm staring at a Honda CR250 thinking "that's a nice looking SEVENTY-EIGHT model, goddammit!".  Oh well.   NOT a good start, but the MC5 is so damn fast that I make up my LAST place launch by running 3rd into Turn 2.  Again...wide lines - track is still pretty slippery at this time in the morning.  Sounds like someone is behind me, but no one passes.   I catch - and then accidentally run into - a guy on a YZ250 when he bobbles coming out of turn and we both head for the same line to the next turn.  He gives, I don't...I actually fall on Lap 4 in a muddy turn, but grab the clutch going down, save it, get going and only lose one place!  So....quiet 4rd place overall ends up being a 2nd place in B.

And I actually felt GREAT.  No over-heat present, which suggests the MC5 may have been an easier ride, and maybe I just rode looser without someone on my butt for half the race.

The afternoon motos' just did not go my way, Pentonisti.  Not a bad start on the Six Day in Moto 2, but I realized - too late - that I was still riding wide lines when some grooves had formed inside.  And I was just spooked by one deep rut across the track for water run-off that they had NOT fixed between morning and afternoon.  And then my shifter simply broke off.  Yes, I'll admit that I bent the shifter back (from it's HS damage) with a piece of pipe after that race. And I wondered if it was stressed and possibly cracked by my "repair".  Anyway, I started going backwards. SOME shifting was required to get around the track and I had to be very slow/deliberate to catch the remaining metal.  Too slow, too deliberate.  Passed.  Passed again as I fumbled with occasional neutrals.  And then I went DOWN in a perfectly harmless turn with the Six Day on Lap 4.   I've never crashed the Six Day in a MX race. Beautiful, expensive Falk front fender was broken off.  Bike took about 10 kicks to get going.  Race is basically over for me. I cut the course and resign myself to a DNF. Damn.  [B)]

Physically feel okay, but it is Warm in the sun.  I make a point of not leaving the shade of my pop-up until Lap 3 of the moto before me, pull up during the white flag lap.  Look over at the CR250 next me, complement the guy on his  bike.  Don't ask me why I didn't say nice SEVENTY EIGHT CR250 bike.  I just think - I'm gonna beat your ass this time, "Red" rider.  And wow - I get a decent start and beat this guy to the turn, and run 3rd overall for a couple laps.  But I STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT that I am running wide on a couple of turns that don't require that kinda line.  I get passed by CR boy, and then by the YZ250 guy and I know I'm now looking at possibly NO wood.  And then...the 250 bogs..and quits on Lap 4.  Huh?  She fires right back up after a few kicks but everyone is gone.  I'm actually in last place.  I just "tour" for my last lap and take the checkered. Crap.

Did I hit my kill button?  Did something plug a jet or interrupt my spark?  Dunno.  I'm gonna pull the Bing apart, clean it, replace a couple of things (float jet, maybe it's seat - are these sold as a set?).  Overall, the MC ran well in the MX, and the WPs seemed to work well on the various ruts.   I'll be honest - and hopefully not TOO serious in my assessment - I just don't think I'm riding/racing that good on the MX track.  I cannot count how many times my front end moved off line - probably because I was looking outside and NOT where I WANT to go.  And I come from roadracing, where THAT concept is a religion.   Or it could be that THIS is the first racing I have done this season....

A local MX track here in the upstate (Thornwood) is going to run a "vintage" class along with their modern schedule on August 1st.  I'm looking at it as practice.  And - of course - advertising and talking to others about what we do and why we race.  Since their "Vintage" class may include anything up to 1990, it may not really be a fair fight for MC5, but we'll have fun.  I think Alex Moroz and a few other locals vintage racers may make it.

A FINAL acknowledgement to Kent Knudson and his team Pentovarna bikes and riders. I feel bad that I haven't gotten to know this "Entourage" a little better but I get so caught up in my own race prep/poop that I haven't done so.  It really is great to see those polished tank Pentons put a whuppin' on the Vintage troops.  Buttrick, Giddings, and the others (did Gary Roach race this year?!?) put on a great show.
   
That's it.  VMD 2010.  Oh wait...I did have a nice time swinging by Pentonville, saying HI to the regulars and meeting some new faces from here on the site.  Loaded up on parts from Al B (including a new folding shift lever that a friend has already grafted on my existing Six Day "stub"), and got a nice tour of the brand new POG trailer. Great job!  Also seriously raided the lunch table scraps long after y'all were done.  Got 2010 Six Day t-shirt (long sleeve) - Nice!  My racing kept me pretty distracted for most of Friday and Saturday, but I certainly appreciate showing up at the tents and feeling "welcomed".  Kudos to Paul D and his team.