Wide World of Pantah Wackos

Here's a Pantah that's doing double duty in the dirt....sent by Ben in the Netherlands.

#1 Plate. Viva Cagiva!

As of Sunday's race at Barber Motorsports in Leeds, Alabama, I took the national championship and #1 plate in AHRMA Vintage Superbike Middleweight for 2006. THANK YOU to everyone who helped out this year, especially Alice, Mark Etheridge/Moto Guzzi Classics, Bruce Meyers, Sean Fader, BCM Ducati, and everyone else who made this posible. After 10 AHRMA races in this class, I ended up with 10 first place wins.

The track at Barber was simply bitchen. It was a superbly technical track with lots of elevation changes and the little 650 pantah was the perfect vehicle for it.

VIVA CAGIVA! VIVA DUCATI!

Cafe Guzzi Bella

Here's some photos of a nice cafe Guzzi that Bob Levesque in Florida just finished. Specs:
944 cc stock crank and rods, small valve Mike Rich heads, Mega Cycle 620-10 cam, 10.25 compression JE pistons, Ram clutch, 36mm Dels. 403 lbs with 3/4 tank of fuel. Bella!

October WSMC Races

The weather at the WSMC races this month was the best we’ve had in a long time. It was a gentle 80 degrees, and the wind didn’t start whipping up until late in the day, around 5 PM, and just as we were leaving the track. As a result of all the ideal conditions, most everyone’s lap times were very low. After trying to go up another tooth in the rear end, I backed off on gearing and decided to just rev the bike more. This strategy worked well as I then pulled off a 1:38.5 lap on my little Ducati 650 in my last race. This is the first race I’ve had the Duc back at Willow with the new 65 hp motor, new Bruce Meyers heads and a fresh bottom end. It performed flawlessly. I ended up with 1^st place in Vintage Lightweight and 2^nd place in Vintage Heavyweight.

The WSMC races always feature a variety of “personalities”. V. Heavy 1^st place finisher and custom home builder George Beavers has been piloting a 1980’s Suzuki GS1100 with modern brakes and wheels to the tune of 1:32 lap times. He is obviously smoking me like a salmon in V. Heavy class on that thing. Andy from West Coast GP Cycles related that the bike had dynoed at 136 hp at the wheel. George probably clinched the V. Heavy championship on this bike as of October. Nice Job.

Scott Fabbro, who is always a pleasure to race with […especially since his >100 hp GS1100 broke and since he’s been handicapped by having to race his GS850 street bike], took a 3^rd in Vintage Heavyweight. I’ve learned a lot by getting beaten by Scott in the past. I think he was off his game due to girl troubles, as I managed to outbrake him in Fearsome Turn 9, which is peculiar because that’s where his 20 years of experience at Willow Springs usually shines. He’ll probably be back in form next month.

Sean Fader had his V65 Guzzi out at Willow, too. It will probably be the last time it will be out in a long time, as we just found him a 650 Ducati like mine to race at Willow. The Guzzi in underpowered for the classes that are available at Willow. That rascal is about 50 lbs lighter than me, so I’ll be watching my back in 2007.

Warren Spradlin, current V. Light champion, finished 0.3 seconds behind me in V. Light this month. Warren’s been having medical problems with his foot. In fact, he showed me the IV that he was hooked up to between races. He’s set to take the championship in V. Light, so he couldn’t risk missing a race weekend. How’s that for dedication. The medical issues didn’t stop him from dropping 2 seconds off his lap times since August and almost getting past me, too!

Rusty

Rusty was an old dog by the time I’d met him.

In the end, he made it to fifteen,

Which is damned old for a dog

He was a helluva guy.

He’d been tripped over,

Had his balls cut off

Had his feet stepped on

Been hit by a car

Been shot with a handgun

And been subject to years of

Chemical, noise

and other industrial exposure

that comes with hanging around a motorcycle shop

He would always greet me

with a big Collie smile

and a friendly, but slightly vacant

Collie face

When female customers came to the shop

he would follow this greeting

by burying his face

in their crotch

and waiting to have his back scratched

Bastard dog got away with

this type of behavior, too.

In his younger years,

Rusty was known for

Making his own way

The two miles

between his home

and the motorcycle shop.

He indeed may have had

more than one master

other homes

and perhaps

a number of bitches

He will now sit

In a motorcycle cylinder

On the counter

Of the Moto Guzzi shop

His ashes entombed

Where his presence

Will be missed the most

In the end

Rusty left us

With Collie sizes holes

In our hearts

That will not heal

Completely

Heavy Metal Mania

The recent Celtic Frost show

At The House of Blues

On the Sunset Strip

Featured a mosh pit

That demonstrated 20 years

Of punk and heavy metal scenester archetypes

I watched all them from my balcony standpoint

There was the shirtless mosh police guy

Who watched the wild ones dance in a circle

And who gave a hearty shove

To any overly aggressive dancer

And also to anyone who he thought

had one coming

I saw the overzealous bouncer

Who was eager to practice his newest version

Of the headlock

On a hairy, sweaty House of Blues patron

in a Slayer Tshirt

who bumped into a girl

and spilled her Heineken

The heavy metal midget was there

He was four feet two inches tall

And wore a Testament Tshirt

The drunken loud guy

Banged his fist in the air

And moved his two hundred pound body

around a three foot radius

He showed me his Greyhound bus ticket

That he purchased in El Paso

That got him to L.A.

to see the show.

The over the hill metal fan was there.

He was balding

He had a moustache.

And he was singing along

with the words to “The Usurper”.

Numerous torn fishnet and spandex top-clad

groupie types

were in attendance.

They always are.

A fat metal kid

In size 55 waist Levis

Wore a studded black leather wrist band

Held on with a black laced shoe string

As the original leather strap must have broken.

There were also some modern scenester variations

Such as the vampire couple

Who wore pale powder white pancake makeup

And red painted lips

And black satin gloves

Both the guy and the girl, that is

In the twenty years that I have been

Going to these shows

The bands come and go

Some lead singers grow fat and bald

Drummers die

Guitar players marry, move to Minnesota

and release countless piss poor solo records.

Bass players devolve into their own private hell

And peek their heads out of their holes

For that brief hour and a half

The few nights per week

That they are on stage

The timeless creature

That is the crowd

At a thrash metal show,

Has, however,

Throughout time,

Basically stayed the same.

Uuuuh!!!!

Dude! Celtic Frost tomorrow night at House of Blues on the Sunset Strip! They're getting a bit long in the tooth, so they had better not suck!

Jeezis, H, but I spent $50 on a general admission ticket. I remember back in the good old days when shows were $10... mumble grumble...

Miller Motorsports/Sandia Race Wrapup

AHRMA Miller Motorsports Results: 1st Place, Vintage Superbike Middleweight (x2)

AHRMA Sandia Speedway Results: 1st Place, Vintage Superbike Middleweight (x2), 2nd Place,Battle of the Twins F3 (x2),3rd Place, Vintage Superbike Heavyweight.

There was some wacky stuff going on on these two tracks this last trip...it hailed and stormed during Friday practice at Miller. Luckily, weather on Saturday and Sunday turned out just fine.

At Sandia, I came around turn 1 and saw the yellow and red debris flag flying...only to find a handful of $20 bills floating around the race line. Someone stashed his wallet in his leathers and then accidentally dropped it on the track!

I traded one of my trophies from Miller to Bill Smithers from the Sugar House Barbecue in Salt Lake City. In exchange, I got a huge plate of barbecued tri tip, beans and corn bread! If you're ever in Salt Lake, stop by and see Bill's place. It has great food, and great motorcycle-themed ambience.