Yep, enjoyed that. This was my first year at the Vintage Weekend. Loved every minute of it, the track, the pits, the museum and .....the Brittens.
Great lead photo of Garrett Carter. He rode my old SV650 (sold to his Dad, Stu Hate McDead Carter earlier this year) on Saturday in SOT3. First time he'd every been on the bike. No practice. No laps. Finished third in a field of 40. Sunday in SOT3 he finished first. Going away. No one could hang with him.1:38's on a SS legal SV650. Even the superbike cheater SV's faded into the distance. A most impressive ride. Shows what a truly talented rider can do. I wish I could have watched. I was in both races, fading to the back ever so steadily. 58 bikes on the grid was ridiculous at best, criminally negligent at worst. Only time I saw that number of bikes on track together was Daytona, early 90's. And that is a 3.5 mile superspeedway -not 2.2 mile tight, twisty Barber Motorsport Park. Show AHRMA some $$'s and they'll make it happen fer ya'. Cheers, Dave
Dave, no doubt Garrett can ride. If only we could keep his dad from tinkering on the bike. LOL Hello Stu, see you next year, Ha Ha, Eboz
Yep, Stu's wrenching is, umm, legendary. But, he does provide quite a bit of weekend entertainment. A great weekend for sure. AHRMA needs to limit riders. 600 is too many. Guessing based on feel and years past, I'd say 500 - 525 probably max. Somewhere in that area. Space, safety, logistics . . . All mitigate in favor of a more select rider base. Raise prices, slightly. Require more than a single racing event with any org during the year as a prerequisite. There was some seriously stupid shit on the track. In saturday's SOT3 race, we had a red flag on the warmup lap. Yes, warmup. Never got the race started and we're back in the paddock shut down until after lunch break. 3 riders collided on the back straight, 1st half, between the bottom of the roller coaster and the chicane. WTF? Mechanical? Weird stuff. Maybe it would have happened any way, but fewer than 58 bikes on track at the same time would have helped avoid the situation. And, what's with 1000 cc Ducati's on track with 450 motards???????????? Closing speed differences in excess of 60 mph. Really? My beef's with AHRMA are well known. But, I simply cannot get over how an organization that has such a wonderful platform cannot avoid shooting itself. It ain't AMA/DMG, yet . . . . . Cheers, Dave
Lol except for the fact that he took his dad's spot on the grid on the front row when he should have been in the back where he belongs and had to battle through those 40 riders like myself and Parrish.... And you also forgot me running him down all while battling from 40th on the grid. A great ride no doubt, but had he started in the back where he should have, it would have resulted in him finishing way back again
Same race, through traffic a best of over a second faster and my bike is not only SS legal, it's old tired and worn http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3748026 Give me some clear track and I'll drop back in the 35's for ya. At any rate, was some good racing just hate to see someone knowingly start on the front row when they shouldn't have. Ps you're welcome for not protesting
Yes I will be back in the US January 4th and the WERA and AHRMA bikes have been freshened up for the season. I switched sides of Georgia, sold my house in Alabama and bought a house in Greenville. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Front row? How about row 3. Running him down? Is that what you call finishing 3.3 seconds back? You would have needed another 3 laps or so with the best of circumstances. My estimate from the tower was that you were 500-600 yards back. And, of course lets not forget, when you're 1st overall with no one behind you, it usually means a sort of cruise to the finish line. But believe what you will about 'him finishing way back again' because its only your version of revisionist history as you look in your mirror and see what you want to see (as I recall you have a habit of doing). The record stands for what it is; but please feel free to bench race it all you want. All in all, Barber was a great event. I suggest it for all WERA riders. And my apologies to Mongo for not making the GNF. Although I made 2 WERA regionals, I couldn't put it together this year. But to do both is one of the great one - two punches of motorcycle racing in America. I'll do my best to do them both next year. ___________
I didn't "forget" anything. I intentionally did not mention your usual ride, or Robbie's excellent performance, or the rides put in by the 20+ guys that finished ahead of me, or your insanely irresponsible, banzai outside pass at the second start of the race on Saturday, over the rumble strip, throwing up water, scattering bikes . . . . My point was to simply congratulate Garrett Carter on what I considered to be a damn good ride. People are always free to tell the world what great riders they are, how shitty others are, how wrong I am . . . . Cheers, Dave
