Just thought I'd show you guys my other passion, sport bike racing!  I've been doing it a while, and I really love it!  Last season I was racing a few novice classes, but this year I'm riding for a new team and am bumping up some higher class racing for a national championship.  I'm racing Middleweight Superbike, Unlimited Supersport, and possibly an all new series, but that is still undecided at this point.  Racing for Vortex racing this season, I'm hoping to have a great year!

Here's a couple pics from a test session last year.  The numbers on the front pic are chopped on because we needed some pictures of the bike with numbers on it, since we werent using any that day.... Bike looks completely different for this year, loads better!

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6538/choppedtd23jr.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8918/choppedtd2bh.jpg
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/6210/10230527bp.jpg


Moto89

Done it since 99. But due to unforeseen circumstances (ie lost job, new job pays half of old job), I havent been able since May 04 after my crash.

My old F2 I ran in CCS thunderbike, middleweight super sport, heavyweight supersport, and GTU.



Are you running at Arroyo or Firebird?

Havent been at Firebird since the late 80's

Not thunderbird, but Arroyo yes.  Actually I'm going there on friday for a race this weekend.  Will be running Middleweight superstock, Unlimited Superstock, and Formula Amateur.  Hope all goes well there, I've only been there once (last month) and wadded it up pretty good on lap 5.  So I'm going into this race with 5 laps around that track....

Just dont try to get off the bike over the bars at 80+mph like I did in 04.

Quoted: Just dont try to get off the bike over the bars at 80+mph like I did in 04.

From what I understand, it's rarely a good idea to go faster than your motorcycle.

BTW, fun pix!

Seems like there's a lot of crossover between gun people and bike people.
Here's one from a couple or 3 years ago in wera v7 at barber motorsports park. Man I love that track.

Hm... would've expected this many riders here, but no way would I have ever expected so many racers.... Maybe we're all a bunch of rednecks who like shootin' our guns and ridin' our motorscooters way too fast....

I try to stay off-road as much as possible



Unfortunately, them thar trees bite back

WIZZO

Quoted: Hm... would've expected this many riders here, but no way would I have ever expected so many racers.... Maybe we're all a bunch of rednecks who like shootin' our guns and ridin' our motorscooters way too fast....

You might be right about that.

Quoted: I try to stay off-road as much as possible Unfortunately, them thar trees bite back WIZZO

Nice bike. Those bark busters really save a lot of pain when ya have those "unexpected encounters" with trees.

Quoted: Nice bike. Those bark busters really save a lot of pain when ya have those "unexpected encounters" with trees.

Thanks, and Truer words have never been spoken about Barkbusters.

As you can see towards the outside of them, they get a lot of use

WIZZO

Never rode dirt. Then again I need a step ladder to get on a 125 or 250. WHY do they need seat heights of 38"?


BTW Wizzo, ever ride at teh dirt park near Rockford?


On a side note, I nearly cost Kawasaki a bunchg of bikes at teh Chicago Bike show a few years ago. Tried a KX250 out for size. As I was getting off, the bike tipped AWAY from teh side stand they mounted on it for the display. Damn near caused a chain reaction of bikes tipping over. Luckily somone caught the bike next to it after it tipped.

I've been up to Byron to ride once (the Nuke plant South of Rockford) but I mainly ride in various places within 30 miles of Sterling/Rock Falls.

WIZZO

Quoted: Quoted: Nice bike. Those bark busters really save a lot of pain when ya have those "unexpected encounters" with trees. Thanks, and Truer words have never been spoken about Barkbusters. As you can see towards the outside of them, they get a lot of use WIZZO

Man, back in the '70's before they came out with them (as far as I remember)... or at least before I knew about them, I cracked some fingers and a bone in my wrist from tree "incedents". As soon as I saw a pair of them in a magazine I bought some. Some of the best money ever spent!

Quoted: Never rode dirt. Then again I need a step ladder to get on a 125 or 250. WHY do they need seat heights of 38"?

That really is a good point. I mean, for racing I can understand needing every inch of ground clearance, but for plain old fun woods riding those super tall seat heights just really suck. I'm 5'10" and can handle the way they are these days, but to be honest I wish someone sold a "full size" bike with a lower seat height. I'd like to see seat heights on "play bikes" in the range of the old late '70's bikes... somewhere around the height of yamaha's current XT225 or so. Something that size with a bigger motor would be really fun in the woods. Over the last few years I've had to deal with this crap 'cause my wife rides and she's only 5'4", so she's stuck with either riding restored vintage bikes or something with a weak little motor. Very frustrating.

Quoted: Quoted: Never rode dirt. Then again I need a step ladder to get on a 125 or 250. WHY do they need seat heights of 38"? That really is a good point. I mean, for racing I can understand needing every inch of ground clearance, but for plain old fun woods riding those super tall seat heights just really suck. I'm 5'10" and can handle the way they are these days, but to be honest I wish someone sold a "full size" bike with a lower seat height. I'd like to see seat heights on "play bikes" in the range of the old late '70's bikes... somewhere around the height of yamaha's current XT225 or so. Something that size with a bigger motor would be really fun in the woods. Over the last few years I've had to deal with this crap 'cause my wife rides and she's only 5'4", so she's stuck with either riding restored vintage bikes or something with a weak little motor. Very frustrating.

You need to look into something from BBR--they make killer mini-sized bikes (CR85R, for example) with CRF230F motors (which can be easilyi bumped to 250cc and retaining the electric starter). They're not cheap, but they're awesome for those who don't like full-size bikes yet want something a little more sophisticated than the typical play bike (especially the suspension).

Quoted: You need to look into something from BBR--they make killer mini-sized bikes (CR85R, for example) with CRF230F motors (which can be easilyi bumped to 250cc and retaining the electric starter). They're not cheap, but they're awesome for those who don't like full-size bikes yet want something a little more sophisticated than the typical play bike (especially the suspension).

What I'd like to see is something along the lines of a YZ450F (except with a lighting kit for dual purpose use) stuffed in a bike the size of an XT225. It needs to be nice and light (unlike most/all 4 stroke dual purpose bikes) and yet powerful and have suspension travel in the 9" range in order to keep the seat height under control. Basically, if you're old enough to remember mid-late '70's 2 stroke motocross bikes, that's the physical size I'm talking about. To be honest, I always preferred 2 strokes back then, but these days the tree huggers have ruined that for dual purpose use... and they're trying to get rid of all of them. Too bad, 'cause they're sooo much more powerful and light than the 4 strokes. Oh well. I'll just keep on wishing. It's not the end of the world for me, but for my wife it sucks 'cause none of the bikes she can physically get on have any serious power. By power, I mean like 450 4 stroke motocrosser power as opposed to 250 4 stroke trail bike type power. Ya know? But nobody makes anything like that. Not as far as I've ever seen anyway. At the moment I'm considering trying to find her an old restored 2-smoke bike. As far as I can see, it's the only way to get power with a low seat height.

<<--- Not a road racer, but I had a couple of streetbikes that would run sub 9.00 sec. in the quarter mile.

What a nightmare.... I just got home from Arroyo and it flat out sucked.  Saturday was a trackday, and today was supposed to be racing.  Had a good time yesterday, even with the wind being high.  This morning I woke up to 50 mph winds and horizontal sleet.  Needless to say I didnt get to race today...

Quoted: What a nightmare.... I just got home from Arroyo and it flat out sucked.  Saturday was a trackday, and today was supposed to be racing.  Had a good time yesterday, even with the wind being high.  This morning I woke up to 50 mph winds and horizontal sleet.  Needless to say I didnt get to race today...

Damn. Looks like Mr. Murphy is following you around.
Somtimes it seems like whole weeks will go by with wonderful weather... then you get to the track and it storms. It's like someone is just waiting to rain on your parade. Oh well. We have a whole season ahead of us. I'm sure it can only get better. Right?

Check out this video someone posted over on the wera bbs. It's from a ccs middleweight supersport race at daytona. This year I think. I think he's on an R6.

www.kcplazasportbikes.com/videos/daytona/supersport.htm