Race Report by Mike Caruso

Well, Round 3 of the 2003-2004 VDR series was a blast! The track was dry and the weather was cool. With over 250 racers it was sure to be a great day of racing. The track was laid out this time with a couple of table top jumps, some nice long straights and a few hair-pin turns. We got a late start for practice because our EMT was stuck in traffic, but a VDR racer stepped up until he got there.


The Honda SL/XL's were well repesented this month at Woodland with both Vintage and Evo thumper patrolling the track. Newcomer Mike Jolma on a XL350 fared quite well in the +40 Vintage Amateur and 4-stroke Vintage Amateur. Another newcomer to do well was Russell Skiver, son of Ex-Dirt Traker and AHRMA champ Randy Skiver, riding Randys' Penda. Another Penda rider Dan Thoren had the 125 Vintage Intermediate class wrapped up for the overall until, with 1/2 lap to go, the chain came off. Oh well, next month. In the Vintage category the XL/SL Honda's ruled the 4-stroke classes from amateur to expert.
I ended up taking a 2nd and a 3rd overall for the day. My little Penda had problems taking on the BSA B50's and Triumph twins in the 4-stroke class. I could stay with the big thumpers in the corners and had to out brake them for a pass, but they could pull me on the staights if I didn't get a good jump out of the corner. The XL350 ran flawlessly again. Last month I thought the forks were too stiff and I was going to put thinner fork oil in, but decided against that and pulled my bars back a little and that did the trick, I wasn't over the front end all the time and it seemed to handle great. We'll see next race if I hold up.


With the weather staring to turn on us here in the Pacific Northwest it seems more and more thumpers are coming out. I saw at least 5 XL350's, 2 Pendas, 2 SL125's, 1 XL250, 2 xl125's and a few XL500's.

Remember to check out the following pages for pictures and results. We even have a track layout so you can see the ever changing track design. Go here for results http://www.siegecraftnw.com/VDR.htm if you want pictures of the day http://www.gas-it-n-go.com/page/page/12845.htm and finally our yahoo group with onboard video of the track at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VDRNW/. Until next month. MD

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