Race Report by Mike Caruso

Well round 2 of our 9 round winter season went off with a bang and ended up with a bang too. All went well except race #19 of the second moto. A few riders tangled up with one having to be airlifted out and another took an ambulance ride, hope they are well. Back to racing.

The track was laid out fairly long since it hasn't rained there in a while so almost all the track was available for our use. The track designers utilized many of the long straight and long flat corners to make the track very 4-stroke friendly. With over 200 racers and close to 20 kids in the R75 class it made for a long fun day of vintage racing.


I was slated to race races number 4 and 12, being 125 Vintage Intermediate and 4-stroke Vintage Intermediate. I'll use the Penda for 125 class and the XL350 for the 4-stroke class. For race number 4 we had 13 riders on the gate which makes for a fun race. The first moto of race number 4 I got off to a fairly good start, but ¾ the way around I went for a pass in the corner and the rider in front of me drifted wide and I went down. It took me a little while to get the Penda started, but I finally did and worked my way back to 4th from dead last with room to spare. Fourth out of nine, I'll take that. If I'm going to go down, just let it be on the first lap so I have time to recover. The second moto of race 4 I got about the same start and made a few passes, but this time I stayed on 2 wheels and finished 4th again for a 5 overall.

I was a little unsure about rolling the XL350 up to the gate for my first moto of race 12 since I just put the Mototek ignition on and hoped it stayed in time. I got off the line fairly well, but let off a little too early before the first turn and dropped back a little, something I'll have to work on. The bike handled fairly well but I think I'll go to a lighter fork oil since the braking bumps really took there toll the second moto. I ended up first in my class, but we only had 2 of us in it. My lower back was hurting pretty badly but I decided to race the XL350 anyway, even though I could have used the Penda. I kind of dogged it in the second moto but ended up taking first again, for a first overall. The good news is the ignition was great and let me rev it out fairly long and I was able to short shift out of some turns to prepare of an upcoming jump.

I also noticed quite few more XL thumpers out this weekend, a couple stock framed XL350's and a nice Rickman framed XL125. I have the chance to pick up a nice Rickman with a bad Sachs engine, so my neighbor and myself may build a Rickman/SL125 for his 16-year-old son. Also during practice I talked to a guy who is building his XL thumper right now and hopes to have it ready for this years VDR series. There's also talks about some of the other 125 racers in my class building mini thumpers too. So all in all the thumpers are alive and kicking in the Pacific Northwest. Remember to check for more photos at

http://www.gas-it-n-go.com/page/page/12845.htm and http://www.siegecraftnw.com/VDR.htm

'Til next month', Mike

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