Race Report, S.I.R. Aug. 4,5

[Dave H.]

The Good news: I didn't crash my 125cc Penton road racer this weekend!  On Saturday the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association hosted a special "Sounds of the Past" vintage road race day, with plenty of practice laps, followed by two 6 lap races on the 2.25 mile 10 turn track. After my recent crash at Spokane, I started out cautiously, but by race time, I felt ready to rock and roll. What I hadn't planned on though, was someone tried to pass me on the outside of a tight downhill right hand turn, and tossed it right in front of me! (he was not hurt) I'm glad he was on the outside, 'cause I just managed to squeek past his bike with barely a foot of room. Had he crashed on the inside, he'd have taken me out too. Well, I got lots of laps in, but I wasn't able to push any harder after that, and I was happy to end the weekend unscathed.
My son promised to scan some photos to post on the net, so they're comming.
POG #414
WMRRA #49


 

[Doug Wilford]

Sounds like a good day at the races.  Thanks for the information.  You were reluctant to give us the results.   You know everybody loves a winner.

 

[stoo_man]

Interested in how you developed a Penton roadracer. Near to my heart as I retired from CMRA F3 after too many close calls! Not to discourage me from turning my basket-case SD 125 into something perhaps more unique, however......

 

[Dave H.]

Stoo-man,
my racer is still a work in progress, as I have some handling problems to sort out, the cause of a recent crash. But, here's what I've done so far. Brakes, suspension and traction are the main things you need. I laced a Bridgestone dual leading shoe drum to  an 18 inch front rim and put Avon racing compound tires on front and rear (90/90 front, 100/90 rear) I will go down one size next year since these are really too big. I have 35 mm Ceriani road racing forks on the front, and Koni shocks on the rear, which are way better than what I ran last year (I don't know what they were) And then I use a 1/2 inch bolt for my footpegs mounted in the hole located above the stock peg location (what is this hole intended for anyway???
Dave

 

[stoo_man]

Thanx Dave. Interested in how you set up front end. More detail if you please. Ever come to Texas World in College Station TX? Wicked fun, nothin' like an throw-away former NASCAR track to get yer jollies on, eh?.....Peace Out SD

 

[Dave H.]

Stoo-man,
I realy didn't do anything trick to the front end. The Ceriani road race forks are purpose built, but I know of a gentleman in Holland through our Emails that races a Sachs 125 powered road racer, with what looks like ISDT forks, cinched up in the triple clamps to lower the geometry. Check out this URL. The pictures are uncaptioned at this time, but I am #49, and Martijn (the Dutchman) is #88 The group photo was of a Dave Roper vintage race school that I attended (I'm in blue leathers, cap on backwards, sitting.) http://www.mindspring.com/~batduck/racing.htm